Pigs sheltered and cows pastured

Well we were finally able to move the large "box" type structure out of the barn and over to the pig pen. It is made of a heavy plastic sheets on a wooden frame, we're not quite sure what it was previously used for but I can tell you that it is now a pig shelter. We even placed a pallet in it to keep them up above the ground so that they can have a cool dry place :) Gotta love having handy stuff lying around.

Once we got the box out of the barn it was quite the puzzle trying to figure out how to get it into the pen as the gate is much narrower than the box. I looked at the box for a while and finally decided that we'd just have to suck it up and try to lift it over the fence. We would utilise the smooth back side of the box to try to slide it over. Well it worked but let me tell ya it looked nothing like I imagined it would. When we got it up I felt certain it would take down the fence. Thankfully it didn't, in fact the fence took the weight beautifully, bending with the pressure and then snapping back up one it was over. It was perfect.

It's been 3 days since we got back out to look at the fence. I found a spot I felt that Lot would have no trouble getting out and dh secured it. Since then we have sent them back out to pastured and they have not tried to escape. Of course I am still keeping my fingers crossed that that will last for a while. As we were working on the pig shelter I looked out to the pasture and saw them all over by the fence line, that immediately cause fear and panic. Given the distance I could not tell if they were on my side of the fence or on the road (darn street walking cows). I jumped into the focus as it looked for sure like they were on the road, I was so happy to be wrong. In fact when I got there I realised that the they were nearly as close to the fence line as they looked. I was very thankful for that.

All in all we have had a great start to the week, my garden is growing, the pigs are fattening and the cows are happy and content. I am almost certain the Ms Marian will be calving by late February. She seems to have put Christmas in July in her place and taken the lead as head cow, it's quite an interesting reversal of roles.

I'm looking for camera suggestions, here are the basic requirements that must be met, the rest is up to you. Must have: a rechargeable lithium ion battery, a lot of zoom capability so that I can snap photos of the cows when they are in the pasture, and the picture quality must stay sharp even when the zoom is used. Obviously I don't know much about cameras and those may not even be the real terms for what I want but I think you get what I mean :) I look forward to hearing from you :)