Jacuzzi tubs, baby goats, and a riding mower
The girls are out visiting and they spent some time over at my place yesterday. It turns out the jacuzzi tub is a big hit, even for young ladies that like to get dirty and don’t care for a bath or shower. E actually took two bathes yesterday and was trying to negotiate her way in to a third.
On our way to the house we stopped two doors down to admire some rental goats that were clearing brush only to discover that one of the little ones had slipped under the fence and was happily muching on the blackberries nearby. The girls were thrilled to get to pet the adorable little la mancha baby and after an attempt to slip it back under the fence which simply resulted in it coming right back out again, E wandered around following the baby goat to keep an eye on it while C and I went off to figure out who they belonged to. Fortunately it was the neighbor right there and she was home, although I’m sure the girls would have had no issues babysitting a goat for the afternoon if they hadn’t been. So after plenty of goat snuggles we said good bye to the baby goats. E went out to check later with her Dad to see if they had escaped again. I think she was hoping they had. She tried to convince me that it could sit in her lap in the car. We talked about getting Obie pregnant this fall and the girls decided they wanted her to have three babies. I think the theory was the more the merrier.
The girls took bathes and played scrabble for awhile and eventually my (ex)husband came over also. C and I convinced him to put the riding mower back together (he had started changing the blades for me but got frustrated with some rusted bolts). After a quick 5 minute intro lesson C was off and mowing. E was so excited to try she was very concerned C would mow the whole yard (about 3/4 an acre). Eventually C tired a bit and my (ex)husband took E out on the mower. She can’t reach the peddles yet but she certainly could steer. After E tired C took out the mower again tackling some of the really tall grasses. I was really impressed at how well C picked up the mechanics of the whole thing including when to mow, when not to mow and how to get the mower unstuck when the tires would spin. I’ve doubted how necessary the seat cut off switch was on the mower but it worked great for C insuring that she could make the mower die by just standing up.
And apparently it’s girls that like hay lofts. Both E and C loved sitting up in the hay loft where they could watch the animals and survey everything else going on. E was getting a kick out of sprinkling scratch on the chickens from up high. They also got some quality time on the swing in the apple tree after my (ex)husabnd raised the seat up. I’m glad the front pasture is recovering so well because it really does make a great expanse of yard for the girls to run around in. E tried to convince us that we should sleep in a tent in the yard at one point.