• Tuesday-What'sUP February 15 - 06:57 pm

Tina Hyrkas and Susie look right at home on the farm, cavorting with the pigs and hamming it up for the camera! During the winter months, you may have to shovel your way to the pig-pen, but you don't have to shovel the trails for the piggies themselves, their little hooves pank down a trail all their own. If the snowfall gets deep enough, then you worry about them walking right over the top of the fence on a breakout! My hubby and I farmed for a number of years, raising cows, chickens, pigs and turkeys, but the pigs were always my favorite. Most folks think of them as dirty animals. But in truth, they really aren't if you keep their pen clean, they stay clean too. All that rolling in the mud during the summer months is to cool them down, since swine don't have sweat glands. Of course in the U.P., during the winter months, that's not something you have to worry about.

How 'bout some HAM and eggs for breakfast !!!

Farmers: special folks, they are. U.P. farmers: exceptional folks.

Hey, our FFA kids are beginning to show their piggies. The young man I help with got Grand Champion for the County showing. I'm very proud.

No where else in the world/ That wonderful word PANK/

I am still told to this day that there is not such word as pank.... Little do THEY know! What ELSE can you do with all that snow besides move it and PANK it???

And for those of you who may not know what pank means, it is simply taking the shovel and ... well... tapping the snow down with it...panking it... or using your boot to pank it.. or if you are building something, like a fort, using your hand to pank it.

The "pank" discussion reminded me of this Yoopaneese Glossary...

http://www.touchoffinland.com/the.store?cart_id=4905198.96673&page=glossary.html

Cute farm girls, and animals, too! They work so hard and yet, they smile! Must be the UP air and good clean living! AND not having to answer to any boss other than the needs of the land and animals they must love.

Yeah! Pank snow, Pank the dirt! It's in the "Official Yooper Dictionary" -that lives inside the heads of former and present Yoopers everywhere!! So There!!

Good morning from west Texas....it is sunny and 55 at 0712. We are in the thick of spring like temps but that will change tomorrow. So far, I haven't seen much snow here this year other than Christmas which we missed. I do get my fill through this site though!!!! Have a great day, all.

My mother sent me an article the other day from the Detroit Free Press about the fading of Yooperese. It mentioned "pank" as a Yooper term. That was news to me. Didn't everyone know what pank meant? Apparently not. I must be a Yooper.

Kudos to the girls! They look so happy!

What I take to be a Southern form of "pank" is "tamp," although it is applied to dirt more than snow. I was always taught to "tamp down" the dirt around a newly placed plant.

Pank is the only thing to do to snow - and I never found it in any dictionary. I worked in a library in FL and checked all the dictionaries and the internet. But it is a word! A former yooper now living in looper land. Not as much snow here to pank, but do have ice.

Fran: "looper land"--I love it!

I 'Googled' Pank! If you're curious, see "What's UP"

I panked snow at pine street ice rink--You had to soak and pank the bottom layer of snow--let it freeze then keep flooding thin layers of water to build the ice up

I've had many conversations about the word "pank". Once my daughter argued with someone about it during a Scrabble game. The Yooper Alumni site has a growing dictionary of yooper words & terms. Pank is on the list!

First you scoop then you pank then you take sauna! (Try explaining that to someone...)

Tina and Susie what is so wonderful is the Big Smiles on your faces! That's how we look when we live in the U.P. I have a big smile in all my pictures taken in the U.P. over the last 39 years. I just put one up to look at to remind myself how happy I really am! It's just not the same living downstate.... 5-6 more yrs. to retirement in Keweenaw!!!!!! Yes!

Nice Pics! Had my share of that on the farm. Its what made me decide that I for one did not want to be a Farmer. Especially with Cows and pigs. Didn't mind the chickens. But cows at 5:30 or 6 in the AM don't get it.
Had up to about 72 here in Missouri today but wind has shifted to the north and it is cooling down fast. No Snow just lots and lots of rain.

This is a little premature, but how do you Yoopers handle the black-fly season? Is it really harsh or, not as bad as one would think. How long does it last?

Hi Joel speaking as a part time weekend yooper I think there is several ways to fight the black flies. The bestways are BUG NETS TO COVER YOUR HEAD, PLENTY OF BUG SPARY, AND PLENTY OF COLD BEER

dose yoopers really talk that way

dey dooooo............and we are so envious....

I wish I could say I worked hard on the farm, but I do not. I visit my cousin Andrea and her husband Loren, who together own these pigs. Their farming is organic. If you visited my page, there's a great picture of Andrea and one the piggies.

Panking the snow...Yes, I did not know until just recently that the word is not a word common to the masses!

Black fly season...It's really "not that bad". Some years are worse than others. Don't be afraid.

Thanks for viewing the pasty cam!
G'day.

What's the difference between 'involved' and 'committed'? The chicken is involved with breakfast. (the eggs) The pig is committed to breakfast. (the ham/bacon) Are we committed to certain ideals UP here? Or are we involved? Just wonderin'.