Being Spoiled

My victorious little egg pirate

We really need our goats to give birth so we have some milk to work with, and my husband has something to do. With everyone being dried off and preparing for kidding season, The Bibbed Wonder is at a loss for productive things to do. Not to mention, he is driving me a little crazy. To date, he has swept out the barn, knocking down more than a decade's worth of cobwebs. He has planted my arbivitea trees, which were planted in large pots but got knocked over and broken in the last big storm. He has painted fence posts black. The soap studio is spotless and organized. He has pressure-washed the livestock trailer, truck, and lawn mower. He has given every piece of equipment we own a tune-up, and he is being rather agreeable to all my hair-brained ideas. It's a bit unnerving.

With his lack of "balls to the wall" self-imposed pressure, he has taken to "dating his mate" at least once a week. He invites me to lunch or breakfast once or twice a week and always giggles, saying he "read in Ladies Home Journal it is important to date your mate to keep the romance alive." He then follows this statement with his "sexy kitty" purr and scratchy paws hand gestures. For the record, I'm not even sure Ladies Home Journal is still in publication, let alone that he has a copy. He's a lot, but he's a lot of fun and never fails to make me laugh.

I shared that my new incubator arrived last week. My darling husband is 100% on board with me incubating eggs, which in itself is odd. He does a lot of complaining about my ungrateful geese and says the only thing that makes the chickens tolerable are their "butt nuggets." Sigh. Why he is so supportive of my egg-hatching obsession is beyond me, but I am going with it and am not looking a gift horse in the mouth. His dedication is so complete that he agreed to one of the most hair-brained ideas I have had in my history of hair-brained ideas. (Trust me, that list is long and spans decades.)

We have a paddle boat that was gifted to us by our lovely neighbors. The thought was that The Bean would enjoy it, but after approximately $100 spent on life vests and one maiden voyage, she refused to ride in it again. To her credit, a rather large water snake followed her around the pond and scared the bejeebies out of her. So, the boat has sat anchored in place for a few years. I was not even confident the thing was seaworthy. However, I randomly suggested we clean it up and paddle it out to the little island in the middle of the pond to steal the goose eggs from the nest on the island. Imagine my surprise when I returned from my walk with my canine bestie, and The Bibbed Wonder was bailing out the back of the boat.

I walked down to the pond and asked if he needed help, trying to hide my shock at his agreeability. He said," No, you're spoiled," and continued to dump water. He then informed me I was riding the paddle boat out to the island because the boat cannot hold him. I don't know if I have ever told you I am deathly afraid of water, so my immediate response was "Oh, hell no! What if it sinks? What if it capsizes? I will get hypothermia and drown! I don't want to die a watery death. No, no, no!" He tormented me a bit more, then sighed, told me I was spoiled, and crawled into the boat.

He originally started out on the right side of the boat, but it looked like it would tip. I asked if he could try sitting in the middle to balance it. He did and then peddled on both sides, not making much progress. I had to wade into the pond and give him a good push, biting my nails while waiting for the boat to take on water. It was a slow and precarious ride to the middle of the pond. However, he did make it out there safely.

He gathered four eggs, one of which was badly cracked and could not be incubated. He held up the eggs like a victorious pirate and began the slow paddle back to shore. I was relieved he was back on land and grateful for his efforts to get me goose eggs for my latest obsession. He's a good one; I will keep him for today. Tomorrow, I may sell him to the highest bidder, but today, he is golden.

The goose eggs

Currently, I am incubating seven goose eggs. Tonight, I can candle them to see if they are viable. I hope all seven eggs hatch, and I will have seven little goslings to raise by hand. Eric hopes I agree to selling all the babies. We shall see. I may need to keep my first hatchlings because they are special. I will keep you posted on the progress of the eggs.

On this rainy Monday, stay safe, be smart, date your mate, stay busy, find someone to make all your hair-brained ideas a reality, and keep washing your hands.