Brain Drain

Cricket and Shadow have worked out their own system at mealtime.  Equal amounts of food are placed in two bowls, one for each.  Sure that the other was getting more, they both go to one bowl and eat that up, then go to the other bowl and finish that off together.  Hey, if it works for them....  Shadow not only has long, square-cut bangs, he's also grown big mutton-chop sideburns.  Maybe he thinks they balance out his rotund belly.  I'm used to stiff goat hair, so it was surprising to find that the donkeys have soft plush coats like stuffed toy animals.  I'm sure the alpacas are also soft, but they're don't-touch-me critters so I never got a chance to see for myself.

Finished with chores at Camille's, I was driving home and going through the checklist to make sure I hadn't forgotten anybody or anything.  Ready to pull into my drive, oh crum!  Brain drain.  I'd filled the tubs for the alpacas and chickens and hadn't turned off the water.  There are a lot of things a person could just let go, but leaving water running up here is not one of them.  Camille would come home to a well run dry and wouldn't that be just great.  The boys were disappointed when they found I hadn't come back to give them second helpings.

Pearl has become quite demanding at night and we've become quite a comedy act.  It makes me think of my mother, who taught her kids and grandkids how to rub our head and pat our tummy at the same time, a trick of coordination.  I feel like that as I scrub my teeth with one hand and stroke Pearl with the other, and then try not to spit toothpaste on the cat as she walks the high wire on the narrow sink ledge.  And to all, a good night!