This Wasn't Planned...

Those unexpected surprises always turn out to be the best ones (in most cases!).  This happened to be the weekend of babies.  Baby goats and baby kittens...baby cows and baby pigs!

Friday night Allan walked into the house with a screaming box.  I immediately was unsatisfied with his decision to bring a kitten home, as we have too many critters already and another one for me to take care of was a responsibility I didn’t want to add to my already growing list. Of course, out popped a black and white little fella, hungry and lonely.  I named him Gilbert and that was that.  He was supposed to go back to work the next day but here he is sitting on my lap.     

Next, Allan brought home three piglets.  They are quite beautiful and we have had a small demand for our other pigs, so buying more was the smart thing to do.  They are a Hereford breed, so they look similar to the Hereford cow, with brown, black and white spots in various places.  I asked him not to spend extra money on appearances when they may be sitting on someone’s table in the near future, but I don’t think he heard me. 

Our third baby of the weekend is a beautiful calf that we picked up in Coboconk on Saturday.  Of course I said NO to this also, but our farm has a better set-up to take care of this calf and Allan’s dad wanted us to take him.  Allan’s dad has been bottle feeding him for a month because the cow decided she didn’t like feeding him, which has resulted in her drying up.  Allan tried to take ownership of him, as we drove away with the bottle and formula, but Bill say “No, way!” as market prices are exceptional.  Looks like he won’t be ours to keep, but just ours to take care of. 

We thought that would be all for the weekend, until we woke up early Monday morning to do our regular barn routine before work, only to find a lively kid in the goat pen.  We know our goats are bred, but it was a surprise, as this one has come quite early.  It is always a relief to see a full bellied, wide eyed baby hurdling around, with a healthy nanny that is alive and well at its side.    

These days I am trying to get rid of responsibilities, so we are able to spend more time at home enjoying all these simple pleasures of life.  Thinking these critters would add to my responsibilities made me frustrated, but I immediately reminded myself that animals are my favourite entity in the whole world, so even though these extras were not planned, they were delightful hiccups on the first weekend of summer.  I like responsibilities like this.  They are much more fun than meetings and bookkeeping.      

I found myself second guessing who the woman is in this relationship...  Allan brings a kitten home and cuddles it all night, he buys “pretty” piglets and took a calf that is not even his, to bottle feed the rest of the summer.  Maybe he is ready to have kids (and I don’t mean of the goat species!).