I've been liberated! I no longer save left-overs! No more saving stale cookies, chips or crackers in zip-lock bags! And I no longer feed the garbage disposal! Now everything goes into a container for the pigs! How they love those left-overs! Everything from baked sweet potato skins to salad leavings, broccoli stems and cooked cabbage goes into their pot. They especially love macaroni and cheese and ramen noodles. The only thing I can't feed them is pork (after all, I don't want them to be cannibalistic)!
My refrigerator is cleaner and my shelves are neater without saved items to use "just in case." And I am not wasting food, I'm investing it! Perhaps those pink porkers will become bacon for our table! But probably not. If my husband has his way, they will reproduce and become saleable stock for the market. Right now they are just fun to watch and an investment in my husband's contentment and satisfaction as he sees them grow.
Yesterday we were about to enter the grocery store, clutching our wraps about us against the frigid gusts of winter wind. "I'm not going to get a basket," Howard said, since we were only picking up a couple of items and getting a cart was a hassle, what with finding and inserting a quarter, then returning it later.
Suddenly a car swept up to the curb and the door on the passenger side flew open. An elderly woman practically tumbled out as she cried, "Could you get me a cart? My legs are not strong and it's hard for me." She was holding out a quarter. Of course, Howard cheerfully got her a cart, even though he didn't get one for us. He joked amiably about the weather as she gratefully balanced herself against the cart.
Just before that, we had noticed a bare-armed, quite large lady returning a cart then meeting us as we walked up to the store, "Young lady, you'd better get a coat on!" my jovial husband exclaimed, to which the flustered lady said something and laughed in delight. The unaccustomed cold spell seemed to release a note of conviviality among the shoppers.
The tidbits I toss out for the pigs may be unimportant to me, but they are very important to the pigs! And they are part of our investment in their happinesss and well-being. The small kindnesses and courtesies we may show to people do not cost us anything except a moment of thoughtfulness, but they may mean a lot to someone who might be feeling alone and insignificant. They are often a bright note of cheer that may lighten their mood, if only for a few minutes.
"Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it." Proverbs 3:27.
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