I got to be a granny,… a real granny that feels a connection with the children that are obliged to love a distant figure that for them clearly has no real relevance other than that there is a genetic link. I got to hug beautiful young ladies that were little more than toddlers when last I visited. I got to wander round fashion stores wondering when it was I got old. I had to fight for use of the I Pad with a young man that used to fight for his Tonka truck. I learnt that young Georgia, ( please see “ Hope for Georgia “page ) despite the apparent hopelessness of her terrible syndrome has within her, almost overwhelming sense of unconditional love for her family. Without words her eyes could melt the hardest heart and when she chose to snuggle up to me for a back scratch I felt the most special granny in the world ! It was good to be back with my family and friends ……but it is wonderful to be home.
Greg’s brother Tony and his wife Debbie surprised me at the airport and are staying for a week of unadulterated slave labour here on the ranch. Quatre and Carla our resident WOOFER/ family were also happy to see me home ( the cookie tin has remained empty and the brownies never made the stove). Greg could hardly contain his happiness when I arrived home and Bran the Border Collie wagged his tail so hard he was in danger of dislocating his pelvis. Down at the barn I was reunited with our big boy Quest, back home here on the ranch, in the stall where he was born. Quest is looking better, the light is back in his eyes and clearly he no longer has a problem with his appetite.... the boy nearly eats his bucket too!! We are convinced that the big bay Shire just gave up the will to live when he left the ranch and now back with everything he knows and loves he is recovering....it remains to be seen if Gertie the goose will remember her former passion when she returns from her migration in the Spring.
Quatre got a little close and personal with the residue( liquid poo) of the muck pile yesterday. Quest, still well under his former condition but still possibly over 15 hundred pounds stomped his oversize hooves in a nasty black puddle and Quatre suffered the nasty smelly consequences.
Tony is firmly convinced that he is the victim of sabotage. The hosepipe had a suspicious bulge.. a threatening burst and Tony set to work fixing before it broke. Sadly, a fountain vaguely resembling the monument at Trafalgar Square, London erupted when he turned his back. It wasn’t me, I didn’t do it but it was my job to go and find the hapless “fixer”…..um…did you fix it….um..Tony, it’s still broke and it’s broke some more now !!! All’s good, the hosepipe now works and Tony was vindicated. Wife Debbie set to work trying to harvest the late crop of raspberries before Doris the destroyer added them to her entrees for the morning smorgasbord ! The entire garden and orchard…leaves fruit and branches appear to be the place to meet and greet for the local deer population…..Doris is no longer a welcome guest !!!
Macho the buck is clearly feeling better, the “eau de buck” aroma almost reaches the house...(in fact, truth be told it possibly reaches the next state) and, reunited with his does, Alissia and Acorn, he is a VERY happy goat. If goats could smile, Macho would be grinning from one very smelly ear to another. Hopefully, in five months time our ardent lover will be a daddy and we will once again have several kids creating chaos and mayhem around the farm.
So, it’s back to normal again. The Stars and Stripes and the Union Jack fly over the barn in the sunshine and the “Boss” is back home. Take care, keep safe, M