Another Perspective

The magic is other than we expected. Answered “prayers” are like that though. Only idiots think their prayers are answered only when they get what they want.

The three baby nanny goats are dead this morning. We may well have been at fault since when it set in a coldish, steady rain we moved them to a dry spot under the chicken coop instead of leaving them out in the forest where they’d been born. Or it might have been genetics since they were somewhat inbred – and stopping that problem is why we sold those two billies and wethered last year’s billies. They were small but all newborn goats are small, it always amazes me how small, small as a human baby. But usually up within the hour and nursing.

But these three small guys were never totally up, and we never saw them nurse. Unusual but we had a funeral to go to and milking to attend to and it was raining cold. I thought about milking Choc out a bit and giving the babies a bottle to get some milk down them. It might have helped, it might have strengthened them. And it might have not. It might have let them live but been weak drains on the homestead energy for the rest of their lives. We tend to let things live or die on their own, honoring them as they are, no extraordinary measures.

So they are dead and we have looked to see what we might change about how we handled that situation in the future and the next thing is to decide what we do next. We were going to buy a baby billy and raise him up, and if I can find one very soon we still might do that. But if I can’t, we may try to find a more mature milking breed billy. Also, I’ll start milking her today. I don’t really want to without the help of her babies but without the babies it is me or no milk from her. Plus we’d have to watch her for mastitis and all. So for awhile I will be milking the goat AND the cow and figure out what to do after that.

Such too is the very world and universe we choose to live in.