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they said goodbye to her,  by name….goodbye, Talkie.  She had layed her egg just earlier.  It was still moist.  Rode home in the front seat of the Honda Car.

Raining.  We couldn't pull around the back where they had disembarked.  They were concerned about mud.  So,  along the front,  some distance away.  Quite some distance.  And every Goat was carried, one by one except for Ona who walked all the way and Caroline,  who walked part of the way.  They carried the bucks,  the BIG stinky bucks.  Volunteers.  In the Rain.  So there are 600 animals,  minus now 16 and they still,  after a week,  carried them.  Gently.  Lovingly.  CARE fULL y.

and so we drove.  Again,  without any working taillights on either trailer,  so needing to stay close and just behind.  The Rain and the Wind.  We drove.   Turning onto Olive Hwy,  and along and then again on Old Olive Hwy and down and to of all things, CareFree Way.  Not one of us knows how to back up a trailer.  That's the other thing they did,  get in and back up the trailers for us,  with smiles and kindness,  such kindness,  not a glimmer of  "oh the dumb people"

and too much to tell,  but we managed to pull UP the Hill,  get buck Goats unloaded and in their Places,  UP again and free the does.  Bringing Talkie.    Jenny went off to get bedding straw for all and came back and it was distributed and Talkie's Egg House filled with straw and her let loose,  going up and down her ladder,  in and out,  the buck Goats sheltering in their tarp tents,  the doe Goats running back and forth.  

tomorrow or the next day,  Alyssia will bring back Tazmeena and Puppy.

We are Here,  now.   In the next days,  we will ReView.   How it went.  How it might go "next time".  We will LEARN from this.

 

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42 responses to “going home”

  1. Linda Avatar
    Linda

    Grace I am so thankful you are home. It is scary to think of next time. We do that too after last summer.
    Just to live in this moment with the snow on the mountain outside is enough for now.
    Love to you

    Like

  2. Tina Avatar
    Tina

    Finished reading and found myself taking in a deep cleansing breath. I could not be happier nor any more grateful to all the amazing volunteers. So much love ..

    Like

  3. Mo Crow Avatar

    (((Grace))) such good news!

    Like

  4. Dana Webb Avatar

    Yay! Welcome home Talkie and goat herd. Thoughts for next time are important, but how wonderful that this time has ended well for your family.

    Like

  5. Deb G Avatar

    Special group of people, those volunteers. Good to think of you home, settling in.

    Like

  6. Angela G. Shipley Avatar

    I breathe a sigh of relief that you and almost all of the furries are home safe. Sending blessings.

    Like

  7. Patty Avatar

    A web of caring from beginning to home. Thank you for your gift
    of sharing it even when you were exhausted. Safe and home.

    Like

  8. jaime Avatar
    jaime

    Yes to all of the above. HOME!!!! All of you. How did the human members of your family survive? How are you today?

    Like

  9. Michelle Slater Avatar

    …I’m in tears dear Grace.

    Like

  10. Deb Avatar

    I’m so grateful that of all the many things that could have gone wrong, nothing did. Like clockwork, all things and beings restored. And the long overdue blessing of the rain cleaning the slate. So glad you are all home.

    Like

  11. Joanne Avatar
    Joanne

    What a word, huh? Home. so much more. good to be back ….home. love to you

    Like

  12. Vicky Davis Avatar

    I am so glad you are home. But am also glad you were all cared for! Talkie looks so proud standing there. She probably has many tales to tell of her adventures.
    We always learn from one experience to the next. Write it all down, Grace, because memory gets fickle when we are faced with monsters.

    Like

  13. Laura R Avatar
    Laura R

    Yes, from the breath to the gratefulness!

    Like

  14. yvette Avatar

    It is thanksgiving yes?
    Thanks for all the giving….everybody!

    Like

  15. jude Avatar

    So good to hear, Grace….

    Like

  16. dee Avatar

    So glad. I must’ve misread last post cause I thought you were already back. It has been an inspiration to feel your openness throughout this adversity and also to hear about all the kindness in people around you.

    Like

  17. Liz A Avatar

    so happy … and relieved in equal measure

    Like

  18. Beth Avatar

    (Grace) Doing what needs to be done. And maybe the greatest gift is now knowing it can be done.

    Like

  19. Nanette Avatar
    Nanette

    We still review, tweak the plan, check it regularly. It’s the only way to Be easy with beautiful challenges, and yes, breathe and be grateful. Talkie looks like Queen of the Car, sitting proudly up there. Welcome home with love.

    Like

  20. Peggy McG Avatar
    Peggy McG

    Such great news and oh my!! I didnt know the goats could be carried!! I suppose it kept the trailer mud free and less slippery for them as they rode. I do keep hoping all the animals get to go home from there. My heart sings for you but flutters for all the rest. Love.

    Like

  21. grace Forrest Avatar

    there will always be Next Time for Someone. I am so so
    grateful for this experience, i understand SO MUCH MORE.
    and yes, for now, to live the moment, but with so much more understanding. For that i am grateful.

    Like

  22. grace Forrest Avatar

    and it’s just beginning in a way, the Work, the volunteering. I have such a greater understanding of that

    Like

  23. grace Forrest Avatar

    both and then More

    Like

  24. grace Forrest Avatar

    for us yes. For us.

    Like

  25. grace Forrest Avatar

    they are something i have never seen

    Like

  26. grace Forrest Avatar

    received with deep love

    Like

  27. grace Forrest Avatar

    what i Can DO is tell it. and i will. Tell it It’s just beginning, in a way

    Like

  28. grace Forrest Avatar

    i don’t know, really, we are in the just Doing mode. How things Feel hasn’t sifted through.
    Daughter Jenny….the most Just Goingness of us all, she GOES and i spent Saturday with that. Moving, Doing, Planning.

    Like

  29. grace Forrest Avatar

    Prince said….don’t cry, dry your eye

    Like

  30. grace Forrest Avatar

    yes. there were many things that could have gone wrong.
    Some of them because of our own sloppiness. We know so
    much more now. So much more is REAL for us. We Learn.

    Like

  31. grace Forrest Avatar

    that word becomes larger and larger by the day. For all
    who have none.

    Like

  32. grace Forrest Avatar

    Nanette will be interested in this too, but Talkie, when there, displayed Ears. Different flaps. Don’t know how else to say it. She had extra flaps at the side of her little chicken head. And now, Home, they are folded in i guess. We don’t see them. ?????

    Like

  33. grace Forrest Avatar

    thanks for the giving. yes. thanks for the giving.

    Like

  34. grace Forrest Avatar
  35. grace Forrest Avatar

    yes. This is BIG. although we were very clumsey and really unprepared, we have found out what it is. To
    evacuate
    we know now. We know our shortcomings. We know the GRAND HELP that there is at the other end.
    We know so much more. and we know that we CAN

    Like

  36. grace Forrest Avatar

    the beautiful challenges.
    the beautiful challenges.
    Talkie is just SO FINE.

    Like

  37. grace Forrest Avatar

    they carried them because time was of the essence. Carrying a Goat is not easy. Alyssia is the carryier here and it takes its toll.
    but walking them, takes forever. One step forward, one back. If you have the muscle, carrying is the most expedient. Efficient. So many young ones volunteers…
    carriers. All with smiles on their faces.
    there are around 6oo animals left there. Many people who cannot claim them. Some dead.

    Like

  38. KAMFreeman Avatar

    So thankful for the wonderful help and “lodging” you and yours received during the evacuation time. Now to home, now to really take stalk of the land and do everything well for suppression and safety of your dwellings as they are built. Happiness abounds as I read your stories of the ten day experience. Happiness to know you are in your home.
    Kristin

    Like

  39. grace Forrest Avatar

    i would not give the Experience for anything

    Like

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