Yesterday was Monday, in case you missed it, so I was supposed to have my visitation guy come by. But he called in sick. Had the flu.

I can’t say I was really disappointed. I know it’s good for me, the social contact. But it’s still hard and feels like a chore. Like getting up to go to school or work. Something that you sort of have to do but you wouldn’t mind getting out of. So when the phone rang I thought to myself I thought “that’ll probably be Mojtaba cancelling” half in jest, half in hope. And it was. Next Monday I have a meeting with my social worker so the next visitation will be in two weeks.

Instead of human socializing I went to the playground and socialized with the goats. It’s remarkable how much easier it is. Being around humans is hard and complicated. Being around goats is a fun joy. Sometimes I can’t help but wish that I could just leave all my “human” obligations behind and not deal with real people at all, just be with the goats and have no worries. But I know, I know. That’s not a productive line of thought. Everybody needs human contact after all, even grumpy old hermits like me.

I did in fact end up getting some human contact despite the cancelled visitation. I met no less than two ex-coworkers when I went shopping in the shopping center around the corner. Both from the time I worked at the Barn, which is a long time ago. Probably from before most of my current readers were born. I mean… before they started reading my blog. But in a sense that IS like a rebirth. Also: I’m so full of it.

Anyway. The first guy was one that I only worked with briefly. I don’t even remember his name. And we just nodded politely as we passed each other.

Then, as I was standing in line, waiting for someone to come fix the bottle deposit machine, I heard someone ask “have they called someone?”. I turned around and it was Anker. Good old Anker (on the left there). The handyman. I used to work with him a lot. He’s a great guy. Towards the end of my work at the Barn he was not doing too well physically. Frail. And falling back into a drinking problem, I believe. To be honest I had kinda been wondering if he was still alive. But he is, very much so. He looked great. Of course I can’t tell exactly how well he’s doing just from a short meeting like that. But he looked well, sounded good. It was nice seeing him again. He told me that he’s retired now. I think he might just be old enough to have “properly” retired. Whereas Cafer had early/disability retirement and I’m heading for that too. We should get together, the three retired musketeers, and talk about old times.

It’s been a while since we had pictures of the animals. My apologies. To make up for it, here are some pictures of the animals.

The buck is still around. He’s supposed to be sexing up the ladies, but instead he keeps busy holding staring contests with me.

It almost looks like I was trying to push Mads off the bench there. I wasn’t, I promise.

Sweet Vanilje. I can’t wait to see her turn into a mother.

I’m sure she’ll do wonderfully, just like Magnethe did.

I handed out hazels before I left, leaving me with the sight of four goats up against the fence, looking disappointedly in my direction.

“Come back Plume! …and bring more nuts!”.

The lambs in the sunshine.

And Gertrude in the mud.

Everyone seemed to be doing well. One bit of bad news though. Olsen is no more. He had to be put down after having a stroke. He couldn’t keep his balance anymore. It’s sad. He was the grand old man. There are lots of chickens that come and then go but he’d been around for as long as I can remember. Probably from before I started going to the playground even. Rest in peace, Olsen.

On a brighter note, look what my parents brought me from Prague:

A kitten in a basket. It’s not a real one, in case you can’t tell. But it’s a sweet little thing nonetheless. My dad said that they thought it was “just me”. I like that. A couple of years ago they wouldn’t have thought of me and kittens. Or animals in general for that matter. They know more about me now I think, my parents. That’s a good thing.

Speaking of kittens, I am close to making a decision about Lana. But I’ll keep the suspense up for a little yet. Keep biting those nails, people!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 16th, 2007 at 20:33 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.