Intriguing or Disturbing?

I consider myself to be a city girl.

This country life is so new to me, and I'm completely unaccustomed to it.

I'd never ridden a horse until I met Josh.

I'd never been on a ranch until I dated Josh.

I'd never milked a cow until after I got married.

I'd never lived on a dirt road until we moved to Salmon.

I'd never driven a tractor until a few years ago.

I'd never fed a pig until last year.

After each new country-life experience I have, I feel like I've accomplished some great task.

And because I'm such a curious person, sometimes I witness things now that I never would've thought I'd see growing up as a city girl. But, living on a ranch, I'm given the opportunity occasionally to see something new and I take advantage of it, just because I'm curious to see how it all works.

Like, for example, I've seen our female horse be mated. Intriguing, but I never want to purposefully watch that activity again.

I've witnessed cows giving birth. It's super interesting, but kind of gross, too.

And I've also watched our male horse be castrated. I took videos and pictures because I thought the whole process was so fascinating, as well as a little disgusting. But, I never want to see it again, or hear that c-rrr-unch sound again, either! {shudder}

And now I've got a new item to add to the list: last week, I looked on as the butcher cut-up our pigs that we'd been feeding and growing all summer long. Except, this time, I didn't purposefully intend to witness the procedure.

The night before it happened, Josh told me the butcher would be coming out to kill and cut-up the pigs the following day. He placed the pigs in a corral right next to the road to help make the job easier for the butcher. Knowing what was coming, I vowed to stay in the house all morning long until I knew for sure the task was done and the butcher was gone.

But much to my dismay, Josh called me late that morning and said he needed me to go give a message to the butcher regarding the pigs. So, I walked down to give the butcher the note, and saw that he had already started the job. He was cutting the skin away from the second dead pig's body. I was horrified, but could not force myself to walk away. Dang my curiousity! So I stayed, whipped out my cell phone, and took some photos instead (hence, the poor quality of these images). After he was all done skinning the second pig and removed its hooves, he attached a hook to the first pig, and pulled a cable from inside his truck until the pig was lifted completely off the ground. He finished removing its skin, cut its head off and split it open.

It was at this point that I started to become very nauseous and sick to my stomache. But, I couldn't just quit watching what I had started. I felt like I needed to see the job to its finish. My brain was saying "suck it up, tummy! we need to finish what we started!". So, I obeyed and I stayed.

After he cut the pig open, all of its inards came tumbling out--the stomache, the bowels, the liver, the heart. Everything. The intestines looked so weird: like one giant squirmy gray snake. I was too shocked at the image to even take a picture of that (luckily for you!). The butcher placed the guts, the head, the hooves, and the skin in the garbage can that he'd later take to the dump, and put the pig on the back hook in his truck and prepared to do it all over again on the second pig.

And it was at this point that I left. My stomache had finally overruled my mind, saying "I did it! Okay?! I watched it. Are you satisfied? Because I'm not, I'm upset. I hope you're happy". And my brain was saying "Yes, I'm very happy now, thank you". And my stomache was saying "Good, then let's go, otherwise you're gonna witness your insides being thrown up all over the ground too". So, I obeyed and I walked back to the house. And the whole way home I told myself over and over "dont throw up, dont throw up, dont throw up". Fortunately, I didn't throw up. Unfortunately, my stomache was sick the whole rest of the day.

When I picked up the boys from school that afternoon and told them what I'd seen, they were all sad that they didn't get to see it! They walked down and were excited just to see the remaining puddles of blood left behind as evidence. So, I suppose it's a good thing I DID take these photos! And I decided to post them, just in case there are any others in the world who find the whole thing intriguing but have never had the opportunity to see what I saw.

Most things that I've had the opportunity to witness on the ranch-life have been more intriguing than disturbing. But in this case, every single thing I thought was intriguing about it became completely overpowered by all of its disturbing factors. Seeing the pigs be cut-up was nothing but disgusting. And for those of you who find the whole thing just as disgusting as I did, and have NEVER wanted the opportunity to see what I saw, I'm sorry if you're sick right now after seeing the images.

But, to end on a positive note, the single good thing to come from all of this is the delicious ham and pork and bacon and sausage that the butcher is preparing for us! Because PORK is definitely my favorite food group!!! And home-grown pork is truly the BEST (despite the process it goes through to become so)!!!