Last week, Bella the goat had her babies taken away. It was a sad day for both Bella and her kids, and Bella spent the entire day bleating away to any of the humans present, in the hope that maybe someone could help her solve the mystery of her kids' disappearance. But no amount of bleating was going to change the situation.
She had only just had the kids, two days prior, and had barely settled in to her mothering role. However, a decision had been made to hand over the kids to another human to raise and that is why Bella found herself in this new situation. Plenty of people raise goats in order to collect the milk to drink and/or to make cheese. And the property I was on was no different. One thing I didn't know until then, and I imagine many people don't know, is that in order for the goat to keep producing milk, she has to have a new batch of kids each year. Of course there is only so much feed to go around and so we are either overrun by goats, or some other measures have to be used to keep the goat population in check. In some respects goats are no different than humans, however we as a species haven't been very good at keeping our own population in check and now the earth is trying to support over seven billion of us, and the natural world just can't keep up.
Last week I had the opportunity to go visit some friends out at their rural property in southwestern New Mexico, an off-grid property where Bella, her "sister" Lily, and a collection of ducks, chickens, a goose, three dogs and five humans live. It's a beautiful setting along the river, and they are fully self-contained. I had met Guy as a result of contacting him via email late last year, and I have mentioned his blog from time to time. I had just finished up my housesit responsibilities in Yuma, and seeing that I was relatively close to New Mexico, it was an ideal time to go for a visit and I'm very glad that I did. Perhaps later this year I will have another opportunity to go visit, however we'll have to see how the year pans out. It was an eye-opening education for me and it was a chance to make new friends. I am glad that I made the effort.
After my journey to New Mexico, I drove back to Yuma for one more night where I had been housesitting, for one final opportunity to visit friends there, including my new dog friend, Watson, who has been my companion since mid December. He was quite the character, my own personal snoring machine, and I miss him now that I have moved on to my new location, however I don't think that I have seen the last of Mr. Watson.
Saturday, February 9th dawned a typically sunny day again in Yuma and before long I was out at the airport awaiting my short flight to Phoenix, and from there on to Seattle. This was the first chance to go through airport security in the USA and I was curious to see whether or not my metal leg would set the alarms ringing, but I breezed through without incident. The flight to Phoenix was only thirty minutes and as we descended into Phoenix airport, I was again struck by this sprawl of suburbia in the desert. The southwestern part of the US is only going to get hotter as time passes, and I imagine that a place such as Phoenix, or even Yuma for that matter will struggle with issues surrounding the delivery of water etc.. I had a short stop there, and then connected to my flight to Seattle. My original ticket had me returning to Vancouver, however as I didn't have a housesit lined up there, and because I had the chance to return to a housesit that I had done last year in Everett, Washington, I made the decision to stay in the USA for a couple weeks longer than previously planned. On our final approach to SeaTac airport, the cloud base below the aircraft was as solid as can be, however we passed by Mt. Rainier and Mt. Baker, with their peaks sticking up above the clouds. Since that flight though, I now had to get accustomed to grey cloud-filled days, after having a weather "holiday" down south where one could expect a sunny day, day in and day out.
So I am back with Tika the dog, a huge Malamute and she seems particularly huge after getting used to little Watson, who is about as big as Tika's head. I keep calling Tika, Watson by mistake and she gives me the look wondering who the hell am I talking about. Perhaps by the time I leave here, I'll be saying her name correctly.
I'll have one more chance to write a blog for this month in Everett before heading back across the border for my next location. It's wonderful to be settled back here in a familiar location, with a happy dog to keep me company and I am looking forward to spending another week or so with Tika, as we will have another chance to bond together. In the meantime, I wonder if Bella has stopped her bleating and accepted her lot?
The adventure continues.
Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer
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