For most of the year, this is the perfect place for the animals’ water trough; it’s directly below the highest-volume downspout, not far from the stable, and it’s low enough that the pigs can drink from it as easily as the llama can. But from the beginning of June until mid-September, there isn’t enough rain to keep it full at all times, so earlier this year I hooked up a battered old hose to the faucet directly below the water tank in the utility room, and ran it through the basement to the trough. I check it two or three times a day, and when I find the water level low I turn on the spigot and fill it. But Louie has learned that on hot days, he can actually put his front feet in it and splash water all over his face and back; if the level is low enough or he’s persistent enough, he can actually empty the whole thing and invert it onto his back! I have seen him out there, looking like a tortoise with a rubber shell, but I never have my phone handy when he starts doing it. What all this means is that on hot days, I need to check it even more often because it can go from completely full to bone-dry in a relatively short time, should he decide to have a wade. And that may help those of y’all who have never lived around pigs to understand why we have given the word “pig” the metaphorical meanings we all recognize.
