Meet the neighbours

I have to be honest I was expecting blood on the walls when I got back to Rock HQ after a hard day at the office. We have press ganged a friend into helping get the boys ready for the show so she rashly agreed to bath them. Given the fact that she is probably half Reuben's weight it was to every ones amazement, mostly Reuben's, when she half carried him into the shower room and kept him there until he was gleaming. NO misbehaviour whatsoever. No doors off hinges, no lumps of flesh in the plug hole, just a very happy clean dog. Its like kids I suppose, they wont do as their parents ask but are as good as gold for everyone else.
News on the animal husbandry front, Thor the boar is arriving Sunday, say arriving, there is a plan to fetch the beast but so far no trailer other than Trixie which is a worry. Then on Wednesday a prize winning ram is being added to the ranks of the Ryelands, name to be confirmed but he will be the major contributor to the gene pool this year.
Back to neighbours, everyone needs good neighbours, we have Mr and Mrs Oracle, but up here on the Bonsai Mountain we have it all to our self. There is a house at higher altitude, but that has rarely been occupied since we arrived nearly 5 years ago. Rewind to last Tuesday while I was, ahem, borrowing apples from the tree, a voice said "They're not quite ripe are they" and as talking trees are rare, even here where there are Trolls, I suspected new neighbours and an end to free fruit.
Fast forward to a few hours ago, a man called Steve enters the yard followed by Mrs Steve. Steve is pushing a wheelbarrow. Unusual in that its a first, we have had people enter our yard carrying strange items, dachshunds, bits of rock and suitcases. But a wheel barrow was a first. This prompted further investigation, especially as they had descended the track, so were from up there. New neighbours wanting to donate a wheelbarrow of plums to the porkers. I asked about the fire, as they were closer than we were, they survived, clearly, but an oak tree in their garden didn't, not because of inferno but because of a fire engine that couldn't get past so sacrificed greater part of tree. These might be the same fire crew we heard swearing 1 mile away as they tried to back up along a treacherously steep track that not sensible fire crew would have taken 5 tons of mechanised equipment.

I surveyed the plums and sweating Steve, I did, just for second consider saying no thanks we are OK for plums, just to see what would happen (cue man sobbing, plums dumped in yard etc) but as that would be rude and not wanting to A) fall out with neighbours and B) Miss out on free feed for pigs I got him to push the barrow to the pig pen where he was introduced to the ravenous beasts. This proved highly entertaining to our new guests and once they got over the shock that the pigs ate the stones rather than spit them out they set off around the bonsai mountain probably because the wheelbarrow needed the exercise. Or liked the views. Either way its good to know we have new neighbours who are as mad as me.