We had a good weekend but I wish you could hear the ruckus outside my window right now. Saturday Ava had a sailing lesson that ended up lasting over four hours with her not coming back to the beach all that time. She went out with one of the instructors, who did an intentional turnover in the sunfish, just to get that over with. After she and Ava got the boat righted, Ava ended up swimming over to another sunfish with one of the other students, and those two sailed all around Oaulie Bay for hours, and overturned their boat three more times, twice intentionally. It was quite the adventure. Also Saturday the island hosted its annual triathlon, so we were excited to see the some of those athletes in action. The bike ride goes all the way around the island. Three times. Craaazeeeeee.
Last weekend the island hosted the 9th annual cross channel swim (2,5 mi), and we went down to the beach to cheer our friend Garry, who was participating for the first time. Almost 100 swimmers, but no Nevisians finished! It was a great day with calm waters and swimmers from many other Caribbean countries.
Congratulations to Garry! He made it across and didn't have to be rescued by the small fleet of zodiac boats keeping an eye on the swimmers. I thought Garry was very wise to paint his standard issue swim cap with big red blobs. He knew several of the rescue boaters and thought he'd hedge his bets in case of a mass drowning situation, I guess. But no swimmers were lost.
SO, back to this weekend, last night we were enjoying take-out pizza and dominoes at home with our friend, Bill, when I looked out the kitchen window and saw two donkeys grazing in the yard. We get sheep and goats all the time, but this was the first time I'd seen donkeys wander in. I called Ava over to take a peek, and she immediately got the idea to trap them in the yard and thereby instantly gain two pet donkeys. We undertook a family discussion, carefully weighing the pros and cons of such an action. It went like this:
Ava: Shut the gate! Shut the gate!
Mom: Now, these are wild animals, you can't just--
Ava Shut the gate! QUICK!
Bob: You want me to shut the gate?
Ava:: Shut the gate! shutthegateSHUTTHEGATE!
Mom: But, hang on--
Bob: Well, OK! I'm shutting the gate!
And now we have two donkeys.Two juvenile boy donkeys, probably pushed out of a herd. We lob them carrots and apples. We call them Mobie and Lewis. They play together and zoom in circles around the house. Oh, they're nocturnal, so the thundering stampede noises and hee-hawing all come at night time. It's 11:30 PM and they are right NOW making the most heinous noises you can imagine. Ava sleeps right through it. During the day they graze and take naps in the shade. And POOOOOOP. Like machines. So it's day 2 and I've already broached the subject of OPENING THE GATE!!! Didn't fly with Ava, but let's see how she feels tomorrow after she has to shovel up all that fertilizer.
