With the weather patterns that are continuously changing my veggies were all very late in bearing fruit, and the tomatoes that were usually getting ready to eat at this time, was really not close to ripening, although some are now showing signs of colouring. But at least I had a lot of spinach and rocket, and with bought-in tomatoes and cucumbers, I could make a nice salad.
This morning I had the joyful task of opening the furrow in front of my house, as with the heavy rains of a while back, it had been blocked by sand and stones. I had to do it, as it could be quite a disaster if it rained heavily just then, as all the water coming down from the mountain would come into my house.
My serenity was shattered quite badly, when on hearing something outside the gate, I saw Sheila's goats having a go at the yellow cling peaches that were just starting to ripen. It is amazing how six or seven goats can ruin a tree in a few minutes, as they just get hold of the branches, and tear it of , or break it, and then they strip the branch of all that was edible! I gave one bloodcurdling bellow, grabbed the spade that was close to me, and stormed the tree with intent to harm, but this things were having a ball, and just rolled their cold eyes at me, before commencing with operation destroying the tree!
I then gathered stones, but nothing was going to interrupt their gorging, and I put my brain in first gear to think of some plan to get rid of the monsters! Brain not quite dotty yet, and it hit on the fabulous plan of opening the irrigation tap, and spray them with that! The water jets out of that thick pipe with tremendous force, and it shook me around a bit before I found my balance, and point it at the goats. They did not know what hit them, as I blew them clean out of the tree, and with great haste the lot of them scattered and milled around, before they got their bearings, and ran down the road to their own gate, where a worried worker let them in.
If one do not have the right environment for keeping goats they could be quite a menace to self and neigbours. I know that when Sheila just moved into her place, she always had bowls of the most delicious plums, and peaches from the trees in her yard, but that beautiful fruit orchard had been completely destroyed since she got the goats.
We had decided that it would be best if baby Emil now slept at his own house, as he might kind of grow up not feeling part of that family, but part of my household. He still slept with me on Tuesdays and Thursdays when Jan and Andreas had karate lessons, as he was asleep by the time they came back.
He was now beginning to stand up a lot against everything, and I had my hands full keeping the little fingers off the table where I kept the laptop!