Saturday, March 5, 2011

Lion? Lamb? Goats?

My grandmother used to quote that old saying, "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb." Or "March comes in like a lamb and goes out like a lion."

So far, I can't tell which it is this year because the weather can't seem to make up its mind! We've had bright sunshine one day and blustery wind and rain the next.

I usually like the month of March because it is changeable. It isn't spring, but it isn't exactly winter either. I always think of the lines from the ee cumminngs poem:
in Just-
spring when the world is mud-
luscious
That sounds like March to me.

But, lion or lamb? Decide already!

Okay, maybe it is neither... Maybe it is GOATS!

My sister lives on a two acre parcel in rural Oklahoma and in addition to her dog and two cats, she also has chickens and goats (the little pygmy kind). Actually, it all started when someone who works with her husband was moving and gave him four chickens and a male goat. Well, since they had to build a chicken coop for just four chickens, they went ahead and bought six more baby chicks at the feed store.

Fast forward a few months, my sister has become well acquainted with the people who run the feed story, so they know she has a pygmy goat, Stinky. One day the clerk tells her someone else in the area is looking to give away a female pygmy goat. Since my sister has never met a stray animal she didn't adopt, Honey moved in. Well, I bet you can guess what happened last spring...
Honey and Stinky had a baby boy whom my sister christened Trouble. And that is how my sister became an accidental goatherd!

So the count was up to one dog, two cats, ten chickens and three goats... UNTIL LAST WEEK! You guessed it, Honey and Stinky became parents again. My sister was hoping for twins, but oh no. Honey had TRIPLETS! Three little baby girl goats! I know goats often have twins, but apparently triplets are fairly common too. So my sister's goat herd doubled over-night!

March definitely came in like a goat in Oklahoma!

At this point, the triplets are still unnamed. My sister didn't like my suggestion of naming them Inky (one is black), Dinky, and Blinky. Do you have any suggestions for names? And how has your March started?

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