There Was One Pig There Too

We headed South to Mississippi Sunday afternoon to visit our farmyard friends. And we fed the chickens, and Elaine ran in terror from the dogs, and the boys were fascinated by the rabbit but not enough to actually touch it. And the goats were there too; they are expecting a kid--so cute.

Ben asked to hold the rabbit when he saw their 3-year-old doing it, but then he wasn't so brave when he was actually invited.

All of the animal touching came after lunch Dukes. You can mop off your cold sweat now.

For lunch we had hot dogs and Cheetos--perfect food for a table with six children. I didn't mind either. I stuffed down my hot dog and started to eyeball the girls' since they weren't eating them. I made a couple of lame attempts to encourage them to eat their hot dogs, but really I didn't do much to discourage the fact that they were only eating Cheetos. So when Elaine wanted to sit in my lap, still being scared from the dog and all, this comforting mother opened her arms and held her close dragging her plate near. I eyeballed her hot dog for a few moments. Then I kind of pulled it in half thinking maybe I could have the second half if, you know, she didn't want it. It wasn't long before she asked to get down. I nearly tossed her out the door as I grabbed for her left-over half. Not feeling too piggish yet, I set my eyes on Alida's dog. In the name of helping her manage her hot dog a bit better I tore it in half. But she stubbornly stayed at the table slowly eating her chips. She was the last child standing, and she just kept smiling at me. When she asked for more chips, I snapped to and ordered more chips for both of us from our host. When she wasn't looking, I grabbed for her hot dog. She didn't flinch. I started to stuff it in my mouth. That's when I heard this:
"The goats are sure going to love all of these leftover hot dogs."
Apparently adult conversation had been happening as I schemed on my daughters' food, and I had managed to take part in it. I smiled and dropped the hot dog. Had I just stolen food from a pregnant goat? It didn't matter, they were serving cobbler and ice-cream now.