Thursday, July 19, 2007

THE LOVELY I’S BIRTHDAY AT THE POOL (and the Little Farm!)


“When is your birthday exactly?” PP had asked the Lovely I at her 'Early Birthday Party’, which is its own story, and actually does have some pool connections, but…..PP’s gonna save it for another blog and focus on this birthday!
“Monday!” the Lovely I exclaimed. “Wanna go to the pool?”
”Of course!” PP grinned. Where else would any of us want to be for our birthdays but the pool?
“…and the Little Animal Farm?” LI asked hopefully.
“The Little Animal Farm? Where’s that?”
“Up at Tilden. It’s a funny thing but every year it seems that I find myself up at the little animal farm to feed the goats. It’s kinda become a tradition.”
“What a wonderful tradition. I’ve don’t think I’ve been to the Little Animal Farm to feed the goats. Of course; let’s go there before the pool!”
“Perfect,” the Lovely I beamed.
So, it was a plan for her birthday. Naturally, PP was a part of since it involved the Pool. First the Little Animal Farm. Then the Pool. Who could ask for a better birthday?

“Hey, what’s that hanging from the goat’s neck?” LI’s GF exclaimed. “It looks like hanging nipples. Why that would give a whole new meaning to ‘necking’!”
PP and Lovely I cracked up. It was true. The goat did have these hanging thingies on its neck. Though PP thought they looked more like little furry elongated teardrops than tits. But the teat image was good for a chuckle---one of many provided by LI’s GF.
“And look at that One’s penis. Or is that another teat?”
“I think they’re all girls,” the Lovely I admonished as she took off another stalk of celery to feed to the chomping goats.
“No….that definitely looks like a penis.” GF walked around to get a better look, as PP and LI followed her dubiously.
“I still think they’re all girls and that’s not a penis.”
“Maybe he/she’s a tranee…” GF giggled. “The goats are having gender identity issues.”
They all cracked up again. The Lovely I’s GF was just too funny.

PP was delighted by the Little Animal Farm up here in the Oakland Hills. It really was a little farm, complete with a little barn, little hay stacks, a little grassy fenced in meadow for the black rams (more on these guys later) , the goats in their little pen, the cows and their little baby calves, the chickens and geese, and most astonishing of all, a GIANT sow ready to birth her little piglets any moment.
“Hey!” The Lovely I exclaimed, reading the signage on the pig’s pen, “she’s due to have her piglets today, July 17.”
“Your birthday! Today!” Necking GF enthused.
“Wow! Wouldn’t it be super cool if she had her piglets on your birthday?” PP asked.
“Oh yeah,” Lovely I agreed as she gazed over at the monstrous sow heaving asleep in the noonday breeze. “She really looks like she’s ready to have ‘em. It almost makes me wanna come up here everyday to see them!”
“Too bad her shit smells so bad,” NGF wrinkled her nose as they all head up to look at the baby calf.



“I hope the baby gets hungry and has to nurse,” LI ambled over to gaze at the enormous mama cow and her calf, who was hiding shyly in the shade out of her view. They all gathered round for while. Staring at the cows. Neither animal cooperating. Mama Cow just twitched her tail and bit her haunch to get rid of the flies. The baby just lying there, makin no move to go get some lunch.
“I wonder if she can feed herself?” NGF pondered as they watched the Mama Cow reach back to bite her backside.
“Wouldn’t that be redundant?” LI counterd. “I mean, wouldn’t that just be recycling her sustenance?”
“But then she’d be her own food source. Completely independent!” NGF proclaimed, as they continued to watch Mama Cow working her itch.
PP thought how funny it all was. Here at the little animal farm with the LI and her NGF. She needed more of this sort of animal time, esp. with this pair. They’re so funny and sincere. Just like the animals.
“I wanna walk up and see the black sheep,” the Lovely I announced, giving up on the baby calf doing anything interesting.
“Yes. Let’s!” NGF hooked her arm through the Lovely I’s as they meandered up the hill to check out the rams.


“BBBBBAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!” the rams called out, one ambling over to check out PP.
“Wow! All the animals just come right up to you!” NGF exclaimed.
PP scratched the ram on his wooly side. He’s so cute and vocal.
“BBBBAAAAAHHHHH!!!!”
“Yeah, animals like me,” PP murmured, thinking how it’s always been so. Next to the pool, animals are her true love. When she was a kid, she wanted to be a vet, but then reconsidered once she got to college and found out how much math and science such a profession entailed. Plus, she knew she didn’t really have a tough enough heart for the sad moments of putting animals down when they were old or sick. So she’d given up this girlhood dream to be a vet to become a writer instead. Which was less heart wrenching, but only sometimes.
“BBBAAAAGHHHH!!!”
The all giggled. “I’ve never heard them make that noise before!” The Lovely I exclaimed.
“Yeah, they really like you, Swimming Kitty,” NGF agreed.
PP liked the rams too. They were so fuzzy and black and weird with their curly horns and vocal talkings. Wonder what the hell they’re saying?
“Wish we could take them to the pool with us!” PP mused.
“Ha! Wouldn’t that be fun!” NGF agreed.
“Yeah, I bet they’d float really well,” LI added in.
“BBBBBBAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!”
Obviously the Ram agreed, but sadly they had to go to the Pool without him even though PP found it very tempting to try popping him in the Geo and carting him baaaahing down the hill to Mills!


“The Little Animal Farm was so fun!” PP said, as they pulled into the Mills parking lot and collected their swimming gear.
“Isn’t it?”
“Yeah, I can totally see why it’s become a tradition on your birthday. Do you think you’ll go back this week to see if the Sow has her piglets?”
”I’d like to. We’ll see.”
PP shuffled her stuffs around, placing the Hello Kitty Kickboard on top of her pool bag. “She’s so cute,” PP smiled as she gazed down at Hello Kitty.
“Hey!” The Lovely I exclaimed, “Is she giving the ‘Thumb’s Up?”
PP held the board up to examine it more closely and yes, Hello Kitty did have a sly little thumbs up.
“You’re right! She is! Wow! How cool. Now whenever I feel like I can’t swim anymore laps, I can just glance down at her and see Hello Kitty cheering me on with her thumbs up.”
“Hee hee heee…” LI giggled as they headed into the pool.

The late afternoon light shimmered like diamonds on the luscious blue water as PP finished up her laps, her warm down with Hello Kitty under her outstretched arms. It’d been such a lovely day. The animals. The pool. The swim.

She glanced down at Hello Kitty, bobbing swiftly under the water’s surface, and spied that sly ‘thumbs up’ and grinned.
Leave it to the Lovely I to spot Hello Kitty’s Thumb’s Up.
And leave it to PP to write about it!

Thumbs up and Happy Birthday, Lovely I from Swimming Kitty, the goats, the cows, the pregnant pig, but most of all THE POOL!

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