So, the good news is that J took second in his division of the martial arts tourny we were just at. Not the easiest thing to do at an international MA tourny but I’m also not surprised. I am really proud of him – he did awesome. He’s freaky good at Kung Fu and he loves it.
I am considering entering on some level – maybe even fighting next year- but we’ll see.
Bad news – well – nothing too major, just some personal bad news made much better when I awoke this morning to a honking goose. It was a bit of the alarm honk so I dragged myself from bed a little earlier than I would have liked. I saw her standing in the yard by herself. That alone was enough to be frightening – flock geese don’t really do anything on their own. She takes her job as flock guardian very seriously and I realized as I cleared sleep from my brain and my eyes that she was tattling on the rest of the flock for something.
I assumed the creek. The snows are melting (yes, I said melting, not melted!) and the ducks are known for taking advantage of any water they can find – especially after a long winter of not being able to fully bathe. So the creek made sense but it’s also problematic as raccoons literally lie (lay?) in wait for unsuspecting and unbrilliant ducks to see the water and quacking and waddling towards it (“Joy!” “Joy!”) with no thought at all except that.
So, thinking creek I threw my dad’s old wool barn coat on over my jamies and went out by myself because we got back too late to get my farm puppy from the kennel last night. A quick segue: once you’ve had a good farm dog, everything sucks when you have to do it yourself! I breathed deep outside – cold air with a hint that rain would be coming. Snow boots on (we still have about a foot) and I regarded Roxanne – the guard goose. Yep, definitely tattling about something but I realized it couldn’t be the creek because usually I could hear the ducks. But maybe they were further up it than usual in which case I was really worried. I’m really attached to our current flock – none are earmarked for supper nor will they be and I was having visions that we’d had a mass slaughter. After the phone call I’d had the night before, I wasn’t up for dealing with that. But I’m also a crofter and have to deal with what comes so I squared my shoulders (I really did – I’m not writing that as just an affectation) and readied myself to walk along the treacherous creek. All of the dead fall along our forest creek is hidden by snow and the trail is a mess so there’s no easy non ankle breaking path. But, as usual, procrastination paid off.
I looked to my right which is in the direction of the pond. When we left – just a few days ago – the pond held little water and what thre was was still largely iced over. Didn’t seem like much of an option. Then, as I was watching, Star (so named for Star Wars) poked her head up and gave their location away. Roxanne took a step to follow me but sunk in the snow and honked like mad. So clearly that was the problem. I coaxed her along – which worked oddly well – and finally reunited her with her flock in the pond that is probably six feet deep now and has no ice cover at all.
Naturally I’d brought lettuce so I watched them swimming and quacking having their committee meetings as I tossed lettuce and generally felt myself let go of my stress.
There is no urban anything that can make up for this life. I have absolutely no inducements to relocate. It’s an interesting morning to have after all of the luxuries of the urban setting.
