Anticipation....

Remember the old Carly Simon song?

Well, that's what my life seems to be about right now...
I think that anyone that farms or gardens or raises livestock knows the feeling!
I went out to feed the goats this morning...hoping...anticipating that Patches had given birth to her kid overnight.
Nope. Her tail has dropped a bit, so I am hoping the event happens today.
When I start my seeds, I will peer at the little pots every day, sometimes several times a day, looking for that first sprout, anticipating that first wee bit of green to push out of the soil.
Then after my seedlings are in their beds outside, I will hum around the garden like an oversized bee, looking for blossoms and the first signs of fruiting.

Some things we don't anticipate.
I have 8 chickens and 1 psychotic rooster.
I know all of my flock by name...Priscilla--Queen of the coop, that lays huge milk chocolate colored eggs. Gertrude--the fuss-budget that busily pecks around all day and fusses at the other hens incessantly, Chloe and Zoe, the two Rock Island hens that are so lovely, Daisy and Margarite--the wall-flowers that keep to themselves, Matilda and Beatrice--steady layers of pale tan eggs and who always stay on the top of the roost.
Of course, Red...the psychotic rooster who protects his girls fiercely, even from us strange two-legged giants that bring food and water! (I have received emails and messages and even inquiries from neighbors asking me why Red hasn't become the star at a Sunday dinner here.Well, I LIKE Red. He is doing his job as nature intended. He defends and protects his ladies as a good rooster should! Besides, a neighbors dog got n the yard one day and tried to attack the chickens that were ranging around the yard. Red got to the dog before I did...and won! That dog is now terrified of chickens!)
What I did NOT anticipate yesterday afternoon was going out to collect eggs and finding shy little Margarite  laying a BLUE egg!

She has laid eggs before...this new color was a total surprise! We get all shades of brown and tan, white once in a while...but blue?
The kids joked about the recent frigid temperatures in our area and suggested that perhaps THAT was why the egg was blue!
Sometimes you can anticipate what is going to happen, other times...not so much!

Maybe that's why I enjoy gardening and raising livestock so much. Surprises like this crop up all the time!
I had an elderly mare when I was a teen-ager that was well past her prime...after many, many years of riders and pulling carts, her back sagged, she had a pot belly and her mane and tail were not the most attractive. I kept her , because I loved her. Her soft nickers when I brought her treats and rubbed her neck. The way she *rode herd on the herd* of other horses we had at the time. I didn't ride her anymore because of her age and because she just couldn't handle it, really.But Lucy was a good horse and I was determined she would live out her days being loved and cared for.
One morning I went up to feed and there stood Lucy, proudly nuzzling a few hours old foal by her side!
We (my dad and I) didn't even know she was pregnant! A call for a vet visit and Lucy and the new foal were checked out...and the vet was just as puzzled as we were! HE had thought Lucy was beyond her foaling years.Even more puzzling was who the dad was, as all our horses were mares! We made a few hurried calls to neighbors and found that one neighbor had boarded a palomino stallion for about a month during the time frame when Lucy got pregnant. The neighbor told us that the stallion had gotten out of his pasture on 2 or 3 occasions and wandered into our back pasture, but he had retrieved the wandering Lothario as quickly as he could.
Well, that explained why my black mare had a lively palomino filly! Lucy was the only one of our mares that got that *special attention* from the stallion visitor, apparently, as she was the only one that foaled.


Sometimes you can anticipate...other times you just have to enjoy the surprises!