The Eagle Has Landed

Hello everyone. The Eagle has landed. The Eagle landed last night at 8:40 PST.

The farmer was waiting all day yesterday for little orphan Betsy, the favorite kid from last year and blue ribbon winner at the state fair, to download her babies, which would be the last babies of the season.

Betsy was ready for the download, her ligaments were long gone, but she was not doing anything. She ate. She strolled. She appeared to be considering several ideas for sonnets about spring. She mused. She wandered. She ambled. She chewed. She browsed. She even grazed. She demanded and got several cookies.

She did not: lie down, make a nest, start pawing, start pushing. She just Betsyed around, as usual. Finally at the end of the day the farmer put her in a stall in the barn - kicking ME out, of course! - to wait for tomorrow.

Then the farmer went inside. "I am going inside to watch American Idol," the farmer told everyone in the barn. "Do not make any trouble until 9 o'clock."

At 8:30 during a commercial Lori came out and checked on Betsy. The farmer did not come out because Sanjaya had not come on yet. "Betsy's not doing anything," Lori reported to the farmer.

At 8:40 there was another commercial break, and Ryan Seacrest said, "when we come back, Jordin and Blake." So for some reason, since Sanjaya wasn't coming on, the farmer went out to check on Betsy, even though Lori had just checked.

When the farmer got to Betsy's stall, Betsy was looking in astonishment at two wet babies, one of them big and red, the other small and black and tan. For a moment the farmer thought some of the hoodlum babies (i.e. my triplets) had snuck under the wall and into Betsy's stall, which the hoodlum babies like to do just to see what is going on.

Then the farmer realized that these were Betsy's new babies. Betsy did a doubletake as the little robot babies advanced upon her, hungry and implacable, intent on finding a milk source. Betsy looked up at the farmer, clearly seeking information.

She took a step backward, surrounded by the milk-seeking missiles. She jumped away when one of the babies found a nipple.

Lori and the farmer put Betsy in a headlock and let the babies nurse. After a little bit of oxytocin got into her system, Betsy looked down at the babies again. She looked at the farmer and nodded.

Ok, she said, I get it. These are my babies.

The last of the season.

Twin doelings.

Whew.