Monday, September 17, 2007

Goats. Not for the weak.

It was a long weekend in Israel because of Rosh Hashana. It was kind of boring (or relaxing, depending on how you look at it) on the kibbutz and I wanted to do something that would occupy some of my time. I heard there were baby goats (aka "kids") and that the workers could use some help feeding them. Off I went to be helpful and celebrate the new year with baby goats:
Cute, right? Wrong.
As I was sitting there feeding the smelly, dirty beast there were other smelly, dirty beasts entering the world mere feet away from me! Naturally, I ran over to where the mama goats were and looked in absolute horror as I saw this:

And then:

My first reaction was, as you would expect, EEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWW, SICK!!!!!!
Followed by: OOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!
It wasn't until a few hours had passed that I realized this was the first time I witnessed a live birth (perhaps my last?) Childbirth looks not fun AT ALL.
Clearly I am having an educational experience on the kibbutz in more than one arena. When all was said and done, 14 kids were born that day and I saw 5 of them. It was bizarre...
Let's hope things are eventually less exciting around here.
-Katie

7 comments:

PorterDad said...

WOW, Welcome to motherhood!!

thesalubriousone said...

WOWZA!!!! that is amazing! and goats have the most amazing eyes ... are they just as neat when they are "kids"?
happy you are having new happenings! it is wonderous and exciting!
thanks for sharing!

pheonix said...

those are great pictures. the baby goats look so weird...i am totally fascinated by them. but you, on the other hand, are adorable feeding them out of huge bottles.

katiesmom said...

For goodness sakes! You are having some exciting times. This reminds me to tell you that Rachele and Chaim had a baby boy yesterday but I don't think I'll send her these photos.
Just makes you appreciate me even more, huh?
Please check your email - I do need to hear from you asap.

Lexi and Jenny said...

THAT is awesome! Yeeeee HAW!

ampaulk said...

WOW. I thought they at laid down. I'm suddenly overcome with two feelings: 1) the feeling of all my maternal instincts melting away and 2) the urge to send my mom flowers, chocolate and a few bars of gold bullion (I can get a tax break on that if I do it from Washington, right?)

marisa said...

ummm... don't you want to have kids some day? i mean human children, not baby goats. anyway, you'll probably have to be there for that live birth. sorry. but i'll help clean up their puke.