A Very Long Awaited Arrival

The rain fell in “stair rods” for 4 hours yesterday. When it finished, finally, I went out to padlock the gate. As I turned to come back in I glanced through the netting and caught sight of the very sodden, honey coloured face of Doris with raindrops caught in her long eyelashes.  My first reaction was to reprimand her for being out in that weather in her condition. (Not that she was in any danger of catching her death of cold, mind you!) I reopened the gate to talk to her and there beside her was the tiniest kid. 

Yes, just the one and……………coal black! Gemma and I showered her with compliments and congratulations and soon afterwards with her third chunk of bread that day, but the question still remained……..is that it? After all those months of being as wide as she is long and this miniature bundle of fluff, albeit beautiful, is all we have to show for it.

They stayed on the platform around the moat all night, as far as I could gather. I imagine it was the driest place to lie down. I kept checking on them just to see whether a second “issue” was forthcoming, but no, “Sooty” is the one and only! Mother and daughter are doing well and are staying close to our house all the time due to the fact that we keep feeding Doris. She is partial to rice and I’m now cooking an extra portion at least daily with her in mind.

There are goats bleating and calling all the time around here, but I have never heard Doris utter a sound. She just stands and looks at me from wherever she is. She really is quite extraordinary and very special……………………and that is not just me saying that, either.

Yes, Sooty did fall off the step as soon as I'd pressed the shutter and, no, Doris didn't get down to help her up! She was too busy smiling for the camera and hoping for more scraps!!