Frank's Independence Day

God clearly meant for us to live agrarian lives, based on the educations that livestock and gardens often give us.

This morning I went outside around dawn and heard a loud grunt. I turned to see 350 pounds of boar hog rushing at me. The first thought that went through my mind was, "Please, Lord, let this be Frank." Turns out it was Frank for he rushed up and started rubbing his head on my leg like a dog. Frank was very happy to see me. I bent and scratched him on his hams (which he likes) and then we went to see how Frank had gotten out of his pen.

Most pig pens I've seen are somewhat ramshackle affairs cobbled together out of available materials and mine is no exception. Frank had managed to bust loose some wire binding a hog panel to a t-post and make a hole big enough to squeeze through.

Frank had about an hour or so of freedom on this beautiful Independence Day which he spent (presumably) hunting for food, water, and lady pigs. He apparently found none of those and then sold his freedom for a bag of pork rinds. He was reestablished in his pen (now made secure) and fed and watered. He's given a few wistful looks at the outside and rattled the fence a couple of times but with his belly full he doesn't seem inclined to try it again right now. Maybe he's fooling himself that he can get loose anytime he wants.

I've got to run into town today for a replacement drill bit. All of the stores have been advertising today about Indepence Day sales, bargains, and low, low, low introductory APR on store credit cards. That's their bag of pork rinds that they're shaking in your face. Will you sell your freedom as cheaply as Frank did?

The nature of man is no better than that of Frank. Like Esau, we would sell our birthright for a bowl of cold porridge.