We Meet Beatrice

When we reached home around 6pm, we went immediately to the animal pen to see our little Beatrice.

Now, I know that babies are little, but I really wasn't expecting Beatrice to be smaller than our little bucklings (Bright Star is next to her in the above photo, for scale). I didn't see her at first because I was looking for a slightly smaller version of our cows, not a slightly larger version of the sheep. Incredible.

Light-coated little Beatrice scampered away from us at first, though Phil and I, and Isaiah, all managed to get at least a little touch. Long, silky hair, rather than the short, slick coat of her mother. How good is God, I thought, to give the baby a thicker, fluffier coat than her mother. Beatrice was born with longer hair, able to insulate her from the vagaries of any weather.

We watched her nurse. Her mother's bag was surprisingly small still; perhaps her milk hasn't come in yet, and Beatrice continues to drink the antibody-rich colostrum.

Above: Phil's first touch.

Bethany appears much closer to calving. Her bag is larger, her teats more filled out. And I think she has dropped. Her tail, too, does not appear to be at quite the natural, relaxed angle. Could we have another calf by tomorrow? Very exciting, and how wonderful that we're home..

It is so good to be home. I enjoyed our vacation, filled with family, good food, lots of laughter, gifts and field trips, but even a 6-day time away showed stunning changes.

For example, our pigs. A week ago, I was concerned that they were on the brink of starvation: their sides appeared hollowed out, their bodies emaciated. And they had just been so plump!

Now, a week later, I wonder if they had simply lengthened temporarily, in order to fill out. After all, children get plump, then shoot up and look skinny, then lengthen again. And our pigs now look like little PORKERS. I cannot believe how jowly, how hammy they got in six days. They look succulent.

Our broiler chicks, too. We left them as rapidly growing little yellow balls. Now they are tween birds, awkward and ugly, white feathers mixed with patches of bare pink skin. They have almost outgrown their half of the horse trailer, and I think will be happy to grow into the other half.

In my garden, the okra grew another foot, but lost all its leaves. All production apparently went into its okra pods, dozens of foot-long behemoths.

Isaiah even managed to find a little toad, which entertained him for some time.