It was a very nice day today. A beautiful winter’s day. With snow on the ground and a fair bit of sun in the sky. A perfect day to spend with goats.

So I went to the playground and did just that. Had a lovely time. When I recently uploaded all those old videos to youtube it made me want to make some new ones again. So for the first time in many, many months I brought my camera. And I walked around the place for a bit, checked in on all hte animals.

The past many months I have not had the eyesight, the mobility, the surplus energy to do anything other than go straight to the goats and spend my time there. It was nice to diversify a little today. Meet old and new friends.

There were piglets. Gertrude has had another batch. They weren’t tiny either, they must be at least a couple of weeks old, probably more. Full of piglet energy, as you’d expect.

Polka the sheep was there. Remember her? She has been at the playground 3-4 times in the past, having lambs. And she’s having more now, I’d say. She was huge. Panting and moaning, obviously very pregnant. Mikkel told me that she had started showing signs of labour on Friday already, I think. But nothing yet. Mikkel is an intern at the playground. I was watching the sheep when he came up and introduced himself. “Are you Lasse?” he asked. And I am, of course. It’s nice to know that I still have a “name” at the playground, that they still remember and talk about me. I hadn’t met Mikkel before, but they had obviously told him about me.

I looked at Polka for quite a while before I realised that the black sheep and her lamb were in there as well. Couldn’t see them in the shadows. But they came out and I said hello to them. Mama was very calm and unimpressed, while the little lamb was still a little shy when approached.

I said hello the horses as well. Old lady Sille. And the new one, who I believe is named Felix. At least I think I heard Bodil call him that.

Yes, Bodil came by as well. I was so glad to see her again. It’s been so very long. Maybe a year’s time. Or maybe my mind is playing tricks on me. But a very long time at least. She was really glad to see me as well. “LASSE!” she cried out when she saw me. She had her little dog Sif with her. A little bigger little dog than I remembered. But still pretty small. “This is as big as she’s going to get” Bodil said. She’s a lovely little one. I met them again when I was leaving the place and she, Sif, came running to me with wagging tail. It was great to see them both and get to talk to Bodil again. I told her how things were going, that my eyes were not well at all. “Yes, they’ve told me about it” she said. Again, it’s nice to know I’m not forgotten and that they all still care about me. Bodil noticed that I had lost weight. I thought that was impressive since I was wearing a bunch of winter clothes.

I got to say a quick hello to Sigrid too. And Kurt was there. He opened the gates for me so I could get in to the goat fold. And he brought some hay and put it on the bench so I didn’t have to sit directly on the frozen snow. Maybe that was why the cold didn’t bother me quite so much this time, because my butt wasn’t completely soaked and frozen. And of course the goats thought it was a great seating arrangement… every time I got up from the bench they dove into the hay, so my dry seat became smaller and smaller. Other than that they were pretty well behaved. Enjoyed the old bread I brought them, and the scratchies I generously supplied. It’s hard for me to tell of course, but if things are going according to plan then they should both be pregnant and expecting kids around April, as far as I can calculate.

I think that’s all. Apart from the geese honking in the background, and chickens and rabbits running around the premises.

It was a really great trip. A perfect little oasis in time. Really good to see that the playground can still give me so much and make me so happy. Even though things are very different, there is still that. And when the snow melts and the weather gets warmer it will be even nicer and easier.

And yes, as I said, I brought the camera. So there is finally a new video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aWMwcqeWiA. It’s not terribly exciting. Not much action in it. But it is a bunch of sweet animals in the snow, and if you are anything like me then that will count for a lot. Magnethe and Vanilje. Sille and Felix. Bodil and Sif. Pregnant Polka and the black sheep and her lamb. Gertrude and her piglets. Maybe you can even spot a Plume or two.

The piglets are spotted, not the Plume.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 at 20:17 and is filed under Blogging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.