Wednesday, February 03, 2010

The Loneliest Number

We had the warmest January ever after one of the coldest Decembers ever. It was my first one so I don't really have anything to compare it to. But everyone was complaining it was too cold. And now it is too warm.

It is soppy and mild and last night the frogs started singing, all at once like they always do. Usually they don't start singing until March or April. But last night they started in, all together like a marching band.

The farmer went down and got Peaches and took Peaches up to the barn. Peaches has to go on solitary because she never gets enough to eat when she is in with other goats, even if one of them is in love with her, like Cowboy is. So while Cowboy wasn't looking the farmer came and got Peaches.

Cowboy heard the gate close behind them and he came running.

He started crying and threw himself against the gate.

"It's ok, Cowboy," the farmer said. Cowboy picked himself up and threw himself against the gate again.

The farmer put Peaches in a stall by herself with a large supply of hay. Peaches started right in eating. The farmer brought Peaches some extra grain. Peaches took a short break from eating hay to gobble the grain. Then she went back to eating hay.

The farmer turned out the lights in the barn and went into the house for the night.

We all sat there in the dark. We could hear Peaches eating her hay. In the background we could hear the chain rattling each time Cowboy threw himself against the gate. In the background behind the background, we could hear the frogs singing.

It's February. But it feels like April.