Life has been busy since I last updated.

Monday, one of our goats with CAE, had her disgustingly cute kid on April 24th. Prior to birth, Monday looked like a C-141 ready to take off and we placed bets on how many kids she was going to pop out. Most of us figured at least four, but then she went into labor and had one scrawny little boy, featured in the photo. To prevent transmission of the disease, we took the kid away immediately and hand-raised him and oh hell! I fell in love. Of all the kids we’ve had this year, Colt is definitely my boy. Sure, Funny still remembers my smell from when I slept in the barn stall with her when she was sick, but Colt would come running when he heard my voice. He followed me all over the farm and we could spend whole afternoons just chilling in the shade somewhere–me reading, him chewing on my book and napping with his head on my lap. Now he’s all grown up, gonna be a stud and get all the ladies. I wish I had a zillion photos and videos of him at all different stages of his life and our relationship. He’s my baby and I’m so proud of his gentle disposition. Lately, he’s been living with kids a month younger than he is & he hasn’t been a bully at all. They chew on his ears and climb on him and, sure, sometimes he pushes them away, but mostly he tolerates them.

Eight of our nine yearlings had their kids toward the end of last month. For a while, they were just a pain in the butt because they are still teenagers and knew nothing about being milked. One really cute thing was when Tsunami would drink her own milk–she’s small enough that she could just reach back and suck her own teats and the thrill that went across her face when she discovered this was hilarious and sweet. Used to be that I dreaded milking the yearlings because they balked and kicked and didn’t know where to put their heads, but lately I find myself appreciating how adorable they are. They’re so little, still, and kind of stupid and precious.

We decided to hand-raise the yearlings’ kids because the moms weren’t doing so well. What’s really funny is that a couple of the kids–one in particular, still–look like victims of famine. One girl is so tiny and her eyes just bulge out of her head and are pink all around. Her belly is always full, she just has the appearance of a starving creature. And one of the boys refused to drink out of the bowl for weeks, so we bottle-fed him and it was insanely cute. He was such a good drinker and his tail would just get going, and then our little Rosebud with wattles discovered that she could push him off the bottle and drink it herself and we kinda encouraged that because it was so cute. Now everything’s business as usual. Easy. Everybody’s growing up.

I’ve been trying to go hiking on my days off.  This has been met with limited success.  I went to Twin Falls and Waihe’e Ridge so far, and I’ve been at it for three weeks.  My social schedule kind of interferes.  I want to be the kind of person who goes hiking, the kind of person who goes to the beach and gets some sun.  I do go to the beach from time to time.  This weekend was the Maui Film Festival and I volunteered, went to some shows at the Celestial Cinema.  I was kind of disappointed by the lineup this year, but it was fun anyway.  Life is busy.