After forty something days of staying at home, I feel a lot like my beloved goat, Lily. She eats too much, she moves too little, and she is happiest when she is eating something that is not normally a part of her diet. Lily is just happy being a big, gluttonous goat. I too have enjoyed a steady diet of home-made sweet treats and carb heavy meals. Unlike Lily, I know this cannot continue and it is up to me to hit the reset button.
I began my herd with my five original ladies: Boo, Lily, Big Red, Mama Boo, and Little Black…All nicknames except Lily. Four of the five are mother daughter relatives. I love all of them for their unique personalities and loving dispositions. Just like humans, they each have their character traits and quirks that can be endearing or really annoying. Lily is by far our largest goat. She is big boned with a heavy build and she loves to eat. If given the opportunity, Lily will eat herself sick. Two years ago, she was able to undo a stall latch, let herself in and eat almost an entire bucket of corn. We went out the next morning to find her lying down, bloated, and moaning. It was the first time any of my girls had been seriously ill. We worked to get her on her feet and walk her around but she is so big, we had a hard time keeping her up. We knew we needed help and by the looks of Lily, we needed help fast.
This was my first introduction to one of our veterinarians, Dr. Beth. Dr. Beth had the misfortune to be on call that night. I called the office, a voice message gave me the on-call number, and I dialed Dr. Beth at 5:45 in the morning. At this point, I am in tears and overly excited. Poor Dr. Beth is awakened by a blubbering, bawling woman declaring a goat emergency. Dr. Beth was less than happy to have a hysterical woman be her wake up call. She let it slip later in the conversation that she only had to make it 15 more minutes and she would have been off duty.
However disgruntled, she arrived in a timely manner and began to work on my Lily. A goat has four stomachs, like a cow. When the rumen is upset or off balance it makes a goat very ill. Anything can throw off the rumen, too much grain, corn, grass or antibiotics. It is a delicate system and it is important to provide a nutritious healthy diet. Lily, literally ate herself sick and we almost lost her. It took two days of going out every hour to get her on her feet…not an easy feat…walk her, get her front legs higher than her back legs, and shake her tummy like a bowl full of jelly to get her to burp and pass gas. I have not been so concerned with poo, burping, or flatulence since Jordan was an infant.
My poor dear girl laid with her head on my lap moaning in pain and looking into my eyes. I am certain she was pleading for help. That was the day I also became certain animals have a soul but that is a story for another day. Lily eventually made a full recovery and went back to her gluttonous ways. She has to have a very controlled diet and not left to her own devices where food is concerned.
I feel a lot like Lily since this stay at home order has taken effect. GramBarb, all one word, spoken as quickly as possible, as pronounced by my bean, offers up an endless smorgasbord of home-made cinnamon rolls, chocolate chip cookies, home made bread, and meals cooked with butter and Crisco. She is an amazing cook and baker but she kills my diet. GramBarb finally made the trip home last week and I have made an honest attempt to get back on track. I am trying to eat two meals a day, ending my eating time at 3-4 p.m. and I am trying to cut way back on carbs and sugar. However, I fear one of these days Eric is going to find me bloated, nearly comatose on the kitchen floor with a container of chocolate chip cookies stuck to my face. It is a struggle to avoid temptation and ignore cravings. I find myself wishing an apple tasted as good as a chocolate chip cookie and veggie stir fry was as appealing as a cinnamon roll.
It is time to get back on track, stop gorging myself on comfort food, and make eating healthy a priority. It is one more thing to set the reset button on and take control. Coming out of self-imposed quarantine feels a lot like waking from a dream. Things are slowly beginning to move again; I just hope we don’t lose what we gained from the stay at home order…except the weight…I’d definitely like to lose the weight.
As always, stay safe, stay smart, make healthy choices, and keep washing your hands.