Where there is life.............

The goslings have been a source of wonder and laughter in an otherwise exhausting week. Annie is still very weak and dependent, but continuing to eat and drink well and today...... for the first time in the nine days since her collapse, she managed a tiny bray when I went in with her breakfast!

She is such a delicate and fragile creature, that she reminds me of a little porcelain animal, with her huge eyes, long eyelashes and delicate bone structure. Her temperature and breathing rate remain normal and her bowels and bladder are working well. (Believe me!....... I do the mucking out.)

Sometimes, I long to collapse next to her in the sweet-smelling hay, put my arms around her frail body and sleep for days. I spend hours stroking her, doing Ttouches and massaging her thin little legs. Her tiny hooves aren't much bigger than a R5 coin although she's nearly a year old. Keeping the flies off her is a mission and so is keeping her cool in this sweltering heat. Thank heaven the hayshed is open on one side and I have a herbal fly repellant to sponge her down with.

I've started singing to her, during the long regular feeding sessions. Mostly songs from "Fiddler on the Roof", "Oliver" and " My Fair Lady". Her preference is for "Oliver" so far........ possibly the orphan connection? The theory behind the singing is that she'll either be
frightened into standing up or, out of sheer desparation.........find enough energy to kick me!

The baby geese, in contrast, have abundant energy. Their parents are attentive and intelligent and a little on the obsessive side. No-one else can go through my bedroom garden without being savaged by Piers, though thankfully I'm allowed unlimited access. (There had to be some payoff for feeding Pandora on her nest twice a day for weeks.) I've never been accorded goose status before, but these two clearly regard it as a compliment and who am I too argue?