Happy Birthday, Alden!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rachel Hearn <rachelhearn@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Mar 28, 2009 at 10:40 AM
Subject: Happy Birthday, Alden!
To: RachelHearn.volcanolife@blogger.com


Twenty years! What a treasure you are to your family and all who know you.  Enjoy your day. We send our love! 

What I Meant

What I meant when I said, "I do not wish for any more goats." was I do not wish for any more goats OR SHEEP.  Or anything that has to be bottle fed.  It pays to be specific.  Our neighbor was walking his dog Monday when he spied a newborn lamb in the bush.  The dog ran up and grabbed it by the neck so the neighbor intervened and delivered US the little bundle of joy.  So far its mama has not showed up to claim him.  I keep one eye peeled for her but no luck.  Yes, it's adorable.  But it doesn't know how to drink from a bottle and it needs to be fed every two hours minimum.  UGH.  We had named him "Little Debbie" but as you can see there is a gender mismatch going on there.  People who are bottle-feeding every two hours cannot be called upon to come up with adorable lamby names.  And just like the third child, I haven't even bothered taking a picture of him!  I'll try to get to it before he's in college.

Do I sound cranky? 

Goodbye Winter

Thursday, March 19th

It's 83 degrees in the house...can't wait for summer!

Ava is having her Subliminal Spanish Lesson (playing with her toys while her Spanish cds play) ...go ahead and mock, but I hear her singing the songs later, so I know something is sinking in!  And I don't have to butcher it for her.  We are so thankful to Aunt Beth for the wonderful Spanish kit.

It's bug week!  We've been learning about the life cycles of all sorts of creepy stuff.  Did you know that birds like to stuff ants into their armpits?  Oh, they do. 

Our little goats are doing well.  Peanut had his reproductive potential curtailed, and is recovering nicely.  Gypsy (or Sheba or Thumbelina, depending on Ava's mood) is still very tiny--about the size of our small cat-- but she makes up for it by being LOUD and PUSHY.  Goats aren't a lot in the personality department--they will never learn their names, for that matter--but they do have different temperaments.  Peanut has learned to butt the clothes off the line and lie down on them for his goat naps.  He also rushes into the house to be with his people anytime somebody forgets to set the latch on the door.  But the cutest thing he does, and What's-her-name does it too, is JUMP up in the air and kick ALL legs out at once while twisting.  You can't help but laugh when you see it.  Spastic and gleeful.  Ava does a good imitation.  OH, and we saw little black Angus goatie that we rescued; his herd passed through and we watched him get stuck in a fence and struggle five minutes to get out.  I was so proud!!  His mama watched me the whole time, a little suspiciously, I thought.

Ava has her swim lesson soon, so I'd better go find matching swimsuit parts.
Vamos!
Adios, amigos!
Raquel

The Lord Giveth and the Momma Goat Taketh Away

Well.  Today we lost (fill in the blank with whatever name Leah picked out) when his momma came to our yard and called him home.  She paid him a visit yesterday, and they both spoke to each other through the fence, but when she left without him we thought it was a false alarm.  That gave us a chance to get little Fill in the Blank wormed, with spectacularly disgusting results.  But he perked right up after disgorging his parasites, and although still dehydrated, ate a few feed pellets out of our hands.  Later today Ava watched him slip through the fence and rejoin his mom.  Momma Goat thanked us for rescuing him, bottle-feeding, bathing and worming him, and left a little donation by the fence for our trouble. 

Ava took it very well ONLY because Bob brought home an adorable three-day old little girl goat from the rescue center during his lunch break.  She is the prettiest goat I have ever seen, and she and Peanut are starting to play with each other.  So, for several hours, we had a herd of THREE baby goats.  But for now, please say hello to Not Yet Named Baby Goat Girl.  I do not wish for any more goats.  The end.



 

Peanut's New Friend --Leah, can you name him?

Well, we have a 2nd baby goat. Ava has been attempting to add to our herd by stealing baby goats right out from under their mothers' noses, but I have made her return BOTH of those. Two days ago our neighbor found a baby goat down inside the cattle grate. People lay wide grates at the bottom of their driveways to keep cattle out, but if goats or sheep try to cross some make it but others will get their legs stuck, or in this case, the whole baby slips through the grate. Ava has rescued several stuck sheep from these grates in the past.

Anyway, this baby is not in good shape, dehydrated, won't drink from a bottle, skinny and covered with mites. Just covered with them. And his tongue is white, that can't be good. So we thought he might die, but he's hanging in there. We're force feeding him liquids. Peanut at that age was not eating any greenery, but this one does eat leaves.

I'll put a picture up, and Ava would like to know if her cousin Leah can pick out a name for this one. He's all black, and very sweet.

If only the mangoes were in season, this would be THE perfect time to be here. I was actually chilly last night, and that is perfect.

Saturday we took the ferry to St. Kitts to act like tourists. Unfortunately, there was a Carnival Cruise ship making a call on St. Kitts, so there were a couple thousand people with the same idea. Much less charming. Paying a man to let Ava hold his baby monkeys felt kind of sleazy. We had a wonderful lunch and got out of town...made it back to Nevis in time for a sunset swim.

And today was the Humane Society fundraiser--a kid's carnival and barbecue. I helped a little with the games but we got to just go and enjoy. Ava threw beanbags, dug in the sand for the "lucky dip" (her favorite, no surprise) raced in feedbags and had her face painted...and just had fun.

Twice this week Ava has stolen a baby goat--true kidnapping, I guess. She goes into the fields near our house and hunts down a newborn that can't outrun her. And just takes it! I've had to put the hammer down on that. She dragged home this poor baby (in the picture) three days old at the most. It was so exhausted from the ordeal it just collapsed in her arms--flat on his back with his head thrown back--I thought he was D-E-A-D when I snapped this picture, but he rallied in time for his trip back to mom. Ava...seems to have...a taste for the HUNT. Will have to keep an eye on that!