Tales from the Bark Side

By Keith Ross | The Daily Journal

Published Monday, October 8, 2007

Welcome back to the bark side of life here in Ottertail where the leaves blow around like the wishes and dreams of an adolescent staring out the classroom window. Change is upon us. Like a harbinger of a fate clearly understood, the days linger a bit longer in warmth and harmonic splendor. The contest is coming to a close and the next one (if you want another chance to win prizes) will be interesting, if not entertaining.

We've had tales about raccoons, pygmy goats, strutting roosters, and charging bulls, our fair share of cat stories; and of course man's best friend. There is one creature which has been left out of the loop, though.

One of the most intelligent animals on the planet is the pig. I have Arlene Cole of Perham to thank for this week's tale. I hope you enjoy it.

Ever since she was a small child, Arlene loved to be around the pigs on her aunt and uncle's farm; feeding them and basically hanging out with them (as our youth so adroitly put it).

One day while passing along a fence line near a pea field, Arlene, her sister, and her nephew came upon a piglet stuck in the fence squealing like it was being tortured. Being the good soul that Arlene was, she tried to free it.

All was going well until momma sow arrived, answering the distress call of her impaled youngster. Arlene dropped the piglet, and tossed her small nephew over the fence and all escaped the wrath of a charging locomotive momma.

Later on in life Arlene married a man named Don who was a farmer. A postal worker friend of his, who happened to raise pigs, asked if he could leave a few of the pigs with them. The young bride thought to herself, “Are you kidding me?”

The obvious answer was rewarded with four pregnant sows of which three were wonderful loving mothers who fed their piglets profusely.

Number four had no milk in her teats and the nine babies were left to be hand-fed and to Arlene's chagrin, only four survived. They were well cared for but baby formula and bottle feeding can't take the place of mother's milk.

The piglets grew and Arlene would take them for a walk on a leash much like many of us do with our dogs. I would have loved to have seen that sight. They weren't even of the potbelly variety; which are famous for their jaunts around suburban neighborhoods all over the country.

They eventually met their inevitable demise — butcher shops or if they were really lucky, to be used for breeding. Such is a pig's life!

Today, Arlene owns more than 400 pigs — all of which don't move (except for dusting). Yes, she has a shop specifically for the porcelain squealers. Maybe you guessed the name. She's the proud owner of the “Pink Piglet” in Perham. You folks might want to visit her shop sometime.

Speaking of stopping by shops or places of business, I need to offer my deepest gratitude to our sponsors for this year's (best critter tales) contest.

• Wal-Mart

• The Country Store

• Dave Peter's Jewelry

• The City Bakery

• Cooper's Technology Group

• Don Pablo's Mexican Restaurant

• Dan's Vacuum's and Sewing

You can email me at info@rosswoodkennels.com or write to me at Keith Ross Richville MN 56576 or you can phone me a story if you are shy about your writing. 218-495-2195.