All Good Things Come In Threes

Remember Nellie? The pitiful, blue-eyed goat with a piece of 1"x 1" lumber affixed between her horns with yellow electrical tape? She gave birth to triplets on Friday.

The Pony took these photos with his phone. The babies look bigger than they are. Our orange cat, Genius, is bigger than them. Nellie does not like it at all when Genius strolls across the top of her pen. It used to be a chicken pen for hens with young chicks. Farmer H quarantined the triplets in an effort to avoid injury, since Nellie's previous twins were stepped on by the herd, and one died. So far, so good with the triplets.

We have two little boys who are black with white legs, and one white little girl. They are a sight to behold when they frolic about the enclosure, kicking up their heels and twitching their little tails. Nellie is a nervous nanny. She is ill at ease every time the cat comes to call. She goes straight to him and stares him down through the fence.

The triplets are learning patience at feeding time, since Nellie only has two spigots. If you've never seen a goat kid butting for his supper, please note that it's a wonder Nellie isn't black and blue.

I was just backing out of the garage Friday evening for graduation ceremonies when Farmer H called me. That was peculiar, since he had arrived home and spoken to me in the Mansion moments before. As I went out the back door, he went out the front door to reunite with his critters. He called me from the pen. "Nellie came running toward me, and I saw that she was quite a bit thinner. I got to looking around, and found triplets under a tree."

Well. Graduation could wait. I got out of T-Hoe and walked across the front yard to the pen. Farmer H held up each baby for me to see. He looked kind of like Rafiki holding up Simba in The Lion King. Three times. I'm surprised he didn't hand out cigars imprinted with: It's a boy...and a boy...and a girl!