Inseminated by Pigs

Well since some of our readers have been asking for a picture of us crammed in the "Roadmaster," I have included a picture of us in our luxurious Iowan ride. It's all about keeping our readers happy!

Now my experience in Iowa has gone from unreal to crazy! Flat out crazy! In the last two days alone I have witnessed hot pink pig semen spraying on three of my fellow MayXers, a person picking wild asparagus off the side of the road, crazy dog protestors,  and HN upping his coffee intake to 12 cups of coffee a day.  Yes, that is correct. I believe he could officially be considered a caffeine addict.

I'm sure that you are interested to hear more about hot pink semen. Two days ago when we went to the Friest farm, we learned how to artificially inseminate pigs. They asked for a volunteer, and of course since I love animals, I automatically shot my hand up. I was the lucky one who got to run the boar by the sows to see if they were in heat. I controlled the number of sows he passed. Emily got to open the little semen bags and attach them to the rod so she could hand them to Brent Friest to stick in the pig. Morgan, Sam, and Phillip were watching the insemination take place, and, of course, since they weren't doing any dirty work they happen to be the ones who got squirted with pig semen! The pig semen was for some reason hot pink and it squirted out as they opened one of the bags and hit Phillip in the face, Sam in the neck, and Morgan on her chest. Yes, they were lucky enough to get inseminated!

Now since I have been in Iowa, I have learned that asparagus grows on the side of the road in the ditch. I wasn't aware that asparagus grew in the wild, but apparently people pick it here and then cook it in their house. Phillip made a great point that car motor oil most likely runs off the road unto it, so it probably has a delicious oily taste. I decided I wanted to check out this wild asparagus, so I made Dr. HN stop on the side of the road. Unfortunately we were unable to find anything but overgrown asparagus stalks that had formed a bush, but in the process we got to see the sun setting. It was absolutely beautiful!

Now I'm sure you read Sam's post about the crazy dog protestors, so I won't go into too much detail about them, but seriously how often do you experience a two-person protest in a small town? Not very often! I couldn't even believe that it was occurring. After that, I actually felt like I was temporarily surrounded by crazies.

Although, I have experienced some clearly insane things in Iowa, I have experienced some amazing things too. Seeing and holding the baby piglets at the Friest farm was amazing. I can't decide which is cuter...a piglet or a puppy!

Also, I won a $50 dollar certificate to Barnes and Noble when we attended the Nicolette Niman book signing, so I guess I have prospered well out here in Iowa like many farmers do even if I have faced a couple abnormal circumstances.