i'd thought about some other things, but ….as the evening went, ….this is just it

IMG_6637f

thes two small things occured.   the bottom left is the cloth that represents for me the Spade Foot Toads.  Their Eggs.  that do or do not reach maturity.  This year, here, not.  the puddles dried up.  Nothing for this year.

and the 

line through the Center.  

The Line through the Center is the REAL.  not always easy.  

what else do i want to say about this right now????,  well, not always Easy.  But then, i don't know much, really, about living on this Planet.  i am Learning.  day by day.  and that Line reminds me that it's not about me.  it's about Life.    it's about How It All Goes.

yesterday, Nurse Cindy DID come.  but she had just given her resignation at the old folks home.  she was full, in Herself of what is ahead for her.  her final years of work, now being at a new and very challenging place.  and so…we talked.  and sorted through all that.   

this morning, i called Blain and Karen's.  they live down the way and Blain does Things.  Many Things.  They are Christian people.  you can count, on any given exchange, can count on listening to them Witness for Christ.  Especially Karen.  they home school their kids, have chickens, pigs and a Goat or two.  anyway, i called and told Karen about the little buck goats.  so,  just a while ago,  Blaine showed up and did the Deed.  it took maybe  3 minutes?  two little bucks banded.  just now, in this MOMENT, they have stopped crying.    they cry.  the pinching hurts.  but it's evening and by dark, they will have given in to it.  and by morning, it won't hurt much.  and by tomorrow night, it won't be much at all.  and by the next day, they will have forgotten.  and in 10 days their shriveled testicles will have dropped of into the dirt.

THIS STUFF is hard for me.   unlike Blaine, i was not raised on a ranch….with calves and pigs.  he didn't blink an eye.  my eyes are wide open and blurry.  it's hard for me.  but what i know is that their lives as neutered male goats, Weathers, will be longer and kinder than if it never happened.  Someone very well might Love them Forever.  as an unaltered Buck, there's not much chance.  and saying that, i did NOT band Nogal.  He remains whole.  and in a very short time he will be moved into the buck pen.  life there will be filled with challenges.  but i want to keep him.  he is Buckwheat's son.  carries that line.

so…life.  Life.  is what it is.  and looking at it through Goats,  i have to expand my View.  and I Don't Know.

 

 

 

 

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23 responses to “162”

  1. grace Forrest Avatar

    i just looked at this post, read through it and i have tears in my
    eyes. Life is sometimes hard. Sometimes full of stuff that needs to be done and makes us cry.
    so, i’ll go out now. and sit with them a while. hold the pinched
    little boys for whatever good that does
    and then come in.
    These nights lately, i have layed there. in my bed. feeling my sheets and pillow cases. this has been my meditation. my bed.
    with crisp sheets. crisp pillowcase. clean. dry. good. no
    war outside my window. Just Goats outside my window. and so, why???
    do i go through all this????, when it’s just How It Is?????????????????

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  2. Nance Avatar
    Nance

    I cried today too.. And it is just how it is. Nothing can be done. Just accept. But why does it take a life time to learn that? I’m with you there grace. Xo

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  3. Sandi Avatar

    I cried today too….. trying to find answers for tomorrow( the future), while today slipped away. So clearly can I see this differently now. When we had goats, the banding was tough, altho the burning of the horns tougher for me. They do forget and live lovely lives as weathers. So much gentler. Sending you love and a warm hug and thanking you again for sharing all you share. We may be many miles apart, but together in spirit. xo

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  4. Michelle in NYC Avatar

    No goats, but dogs, cats, and birds come to be cured or to die…that’s my experience of how it can be hard. And, living in a body like you dear Grace, seems just that can be hard too. Matters not that the great teachers all tell us it’s illusion, and don’t attach, but fact is the fact that we are here to feel it. That’s how we learn, and maybe why we practice to transcend. I wept yesterday. Meanwhile, tears water lotus hearts, and the ponds run over their edges to the delight of Spade Footed toads. Under the vast tarp of stars stretching out beyond our vision, it all makes perfect sense, and is forgotten.

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  5. Laura R Avatar
    Laura R

    I’m feeling for you, Grace.
    xo

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  6. Mo Crow Avatar

    Oh, Grace don’t cry too much those little goats will feel fine soon & that’s just how it goes if you are a male in a domestic herd who is not destined for breeding, either have no balls or become goat curry which I’ve heard is quite delicious. Ariel P. Cat is an Abyssinian, he was neutered at 9 months & has a good life as director of our household doing whatever he wants whenever he feels like it except for sex which is a big drive in a cat’s world but keeping an entire male cat as a pet is not an option as they are very smelly and make too many unwanted kittens! His father was a fabulous cat who loved the cat shows and people and got lots of sex but he had to live in a cage… it’s a hard world and yet so beautiful too…

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  7. patricia Avatar

    i don’t know. i just don’t know “why.” except that it happens to be what is right in front of you. and on some level i guess we make contracts with self. with others–two legged and four legged alike. and if in that contract we commit to “above all else do no harm” then those choices get pretty tough because it’s not a matter of doing NO harm–as with the goats–but doing the LEAST amount of harm. and the only filter we have is what we “think” will be the least.
    this doesn’t answer the why, does it?

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  8. Dorien Ruben Avatar

    Wow.. It’s hard to have to make decisions like this.. Know that everything you do is done with good intentions.. That is what counts.. Striving to be good.

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  9. Judith in N. Calif. Avatar
    Judith in N. Calif.

    I appreciate the way Patricia and Dorien have stated it…”the least”..”good intentions”…it seems that that’s what everyone here is sharing…but we all feel for you, Grace.

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  10. beth Avatar

    Love you, Grace.

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  11. grace Forrest Avatar

    well…today i am thinking how if i could just Shift
    an Iota, i would still see the Whole of Things, but i
    would be ok with it. When there is no other way, there is
    no other way. and just to let that exist

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  12. grace Forrest Avatar

    thank you SO MUCH…having Done it, you Know it. and yes,
    the disbudding is the Ultimate, but then, there’s this.
    and it is so HARD to pick them up and HURT them. oh,
    eeeee.
    and yes. together in Spirit…xoxo to you

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  13. grace Forrest Avatar

    it seems to be a time to weep

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  14. grace Forrest Avatar

    it’s civilization.

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  15. grace Forrest Avatar

    again. Civilization.

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  16. grace Forrest Avatar

    well, Dorien, yes…for sure…i can stand by my
    Intentions
    i don’t worry about that. i just would like to learn
    something more about the amount of energy that is spent
    obcessing about what there is no real question about???
    if there WERE a question, then, good.
    but here, there’s NOT. and i behave like there actually
    might be. something is wrong with this Picture.

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  17. grace Forrest Avatar

    well…we all really shouldn’t need to…

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  18. grace Forrest Avatar

    back to you, Beth

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  19. Julie Avatar
    Julie

    Nogal. This new round of babies, how did you name them? (oy another Julie question….)

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  20. grace Avatar
    grace

    only named two. from the beginning….well, that’s not true.
    the little splashy black and white doe, Celia. but named, like
    really named, were two of Lucky Star’s kids. Nogal. the little
    buck who will remain whole and hopefully enter the Buck Pen and
    find his Good Way there. he is the carrier of Buckwheats genes.
    Unlike Buckwheat, he has been touched a LOT since birth and also
    has a natural propensity for Touch. This is critical in a buck.
    if i were to become a REAL Goat Woman, the bucks here would be
    USED. as in, people for some good miles around would want to bring
    their does to breed with them. it’s critical that they can move
    around from here to there without hours of comotion. he is beautiful. Black into a wonderful almost hennaed brown….Nogal.
    Spanish for Walnut. i had thought to call one of last years bucklings Nogal, but it changed quickly to Seal after Heidi Klums
    x husband…he was so much more like Seal.
    but Nogal…Nogal.
    and then, his sister. i probably shouldn’t keep either of them.
    but….
    She, she is so gentle. smart. selfaware. Starling. part because
    her coloring is like a juvenile starling bird, Starlings having played a large part in this family of my kids. my daughter used to call them Starlets when she was little. so, Starling, because i love the sound of it, Starling because it’s her coloring, Starling
    because she is Lucky STAR’s little doe Star ling.
    IF my daughter were still in this picture, and still had her
    Registry with the American Goat Association, they would need to have more complex names for their formal papers. but…since
    we are a Home Herd, just this is good enough.

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  21. Minka Avatar

    Starling sounds darling!
    ;0)

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  22. grace Avatar
    grace

    smile

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