just call your m-a-a-a-a

well, leave it to the critters to provide content for the blog...

baby animals are endearing. the goats are especially endearing when i come into the barn and they call me m-a-a-a-a-a!

they are usually pretty quiet, unless it's feeding time. so today, we are enjoying the 94 degree heat with the 101 degree heat index (and no a/c). we are all lounging around in front of the fans, trying to move as little as possible. if you get up for any reason, you break a sweat and have to sit back down to cool off.

(okay, i'm exaggering a bit, at least, but cut me some slack, it paints a good picture...)

so we are lounging around, and suddenly we hear M-A-A-A-A!! from the barn. we are surprised, it sounds very loud and urgent. of course, when someone calls for ma, she always goes.

i head out there to find ernie in distress. he has somehow (??) caught a bucket on his body. it is hanging from his back, down from his stomach. he has put his front legs and head through the handle.

i have no idea how to get it off, and he is screaming M-A-A-A-A and running frantically around his pen (in 101 degree heat index weather). i console him and talk sweetly to him, which seems to work but doesn't really get the bucket off. i calmly tell L to go get B and bring some tools, as we'll have to cut the thing off. i have no idea how he got it on, and he is not going to stand still to get it off.

b comes, and he speaks the word "sawzall" and i instantly figure a way to get ernie's legs out of the fix. voila, he is freed, no traumatic sawzall necessary. can you just imagine how he would have reacted to a sawzall 2 inches from his side??

the trials of being a m-a-a-a-a.

back to the couch and the fans.