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!

Bananas

Just got back from the farmer's market. Bob bought Ava $7 worth of bananas--turned out to be quite a bunch! But we have to wait for them to ripen. And I hope they don't all ripen at once, or we will have to get creative.

This weekend Ava had her first dance lesson--classic Indian dance. The class is preparing a show for Divali this fall. The two teachers are adorable but spent waaaay too long fiddling around with iPods and laptops trying to get some music to play, and then spent the entire class teaching a step that could be described as "one, two" (that's it, just "one, two" "one, two" over and over) OMG I was about ready to throw them in the pool after 30 minutes of it, but Ava hung in there. I could never expect that much patience/perseverance in HOME school. If she gets bored she just runs into her room and starts playing. But except for a little freestyle booty shaking when the music finally came on, she was a model student. We'll see what they add on to the routine next week, and then make a call. I really want this to work!


Ava has learned to body surf! I had nothing to do with it! We went to a windward beach a few days ago--a nice shallow beach but lots of waves. I took Ava out first, carefully holding her hand and hoisting her over the waves so her head stayed dry, coaching her to jump over the waves and keeping her knee-deep. On Bob's turn, I was SHOCKED to seem him pitch Ava in and away she went--and she couldn't get enough of it! She doesn't even wipe her eyes when her head comes out of the water, just jumps up and points her butt into the waves for the next ride. It was exhausting. For me. She found a sand dollar on the beach and that is all she has wanted to write about in her journal this week: body surfing and her "sandy dollar".

The other highlight of our week was a Drama Club meeting at Tara and Mishka's house. They are renting a gorgeous home not too far from us. Mishka is on tour in the US until March so Tara is parenting and homeschooling on her own for a while. It turns out she and I both bought the exact same kid's drama books from Amazon.com (victims of the People Who Bought THIS also bought THAT scheme) so we were able to collaborate on some fun games and activities before the first meeting. But we did feel very unoriginal!

My stars

So, it turns out the star Ava and I were wishing on is a planet! What are the odds of that!! Astronomical. Ha, it's been SPAAAAAACE WEEEEEK in homeschool...where we find out that venus (or "weenus", as our Indian friends call it) is the "morning star" AND the "evening star" and the brightest object in the sky besides the moon. So I guess I won't be seeing that case of Almond Joys any time soon.

Ava had a scare at the beach this week...she was in a foot of water digging in the sand for treasure. She found the edge of something big (she said she thought it was a treasure chest :-)) and pulled..and out popped this disgusting fleshy creature with eyeballs and a blobby head. She screamed BLOODY MURDER and threw it over her head and behind her, and ran up onto the beach screaming BLOODY MURDER. I wasn't there, but Bob tells me he had quite a time getting her to calm down. He waded out there and found it..it turns out it was a fighting conch with the animal extended out of the shell. Scared the bejeezus out of her! She laughs about it now...but she hasn't asked to go to the beach since.

So yesterday we swam in the pool on campus and then Ava rode her scooter around the tennis courts rescuing caterpillars. She'd put them into the basket of her scooter and empty them into the landscaping. We Are Animal Rescuers.

A good week.

Things are settling into a routine, finally. Bob goes to work early, but is kind enough to make coffee and give the goat a bottle before he leaves. Ava and I feed and walk the goat every morning, then start school. And that has gotten a lot better. The first day was fun while we explored some of the cool stuff I brought/shipped down, but then there was a sharp decline in Ava's interest and attitude after that. She just wanted to play with the goat, go swimming and play with her ponies. Bob and I took her to tour a new Montessori-style private school, and that seemed to straighten things right out for both of us. So we have compromised: lots of breaks, lots of games, more fun, fewer worksheets. And wow! Progress. Here Ava paints her interpretation of the Big Bang :-)


We have a big screened in front porch and an amazing, constant breeze. It has rained just a little almost every day or night, and we have caught a rainbow or two. A real magic moment was a few nights ago when Ava discovered the full moon right over the yard. We sat outside and watched the clouds, enjoyed the breeze and just chatted and watched the bats. Wished on the first star. She wouldn't tell me what she wished for.

Goooood Mooorrrning Nevis Nam!

Happy Groundhog Day! Another six weeks of winter for those back home. It's warm and sunny here, not hot yet and very breezy. Just over two weeks ago Ava and I traded in our long johns for flip flops and flew into Nevis. It was an exhausing day of travel, even though we ended up spending over six hours in the St. Maarten airport waiting for the last connection.

Everything on the island is about as we left it except: The Four Seasons has closed, (different rumors floating around as to why), the new building at the school is finished but not yet opened, and it is the biggest building on the entire island. They're installing AV equipment and some final fixtures. And...last but not least, we are in a new rental house that has a nice fenced in yard, two bedrooms, two full baths and AC. And a clothes dryer, for that not-at-all-damp feeling for our sheets! Gotta love that. Come visit! I spent the first week and a half without internet, and the remaining time playing catchup with the internet classes I am taking.

The highlight of the Super Bowl for me was the power outage lasting through the first quarter, during which I cooked dinner with a flashlight clamped under one arm. We got only local commercials (in Spanish) so I didn't get to see the guy get hit in the head twice with a golf club, which made me laugh out loud at the sneak preview. That's bad, isn't it.