Last week I posted an announcement that my parent goose and gander, Ringo and Lucy, after several years with no luck, finally had a gosling named Gringo.  At the time Lucy was near hatching of another egg and she finally did, giving us a Margarita to go with Gringo.  A week later, the two new members of our animal family are growing fast and are quite healthy.

We brought them into the house for a few days to let them grow for safety reasons.  The goose cage has a mesh wire covering and when born they were still small enough to squeeze through the mesh and get themselves in trouble.  With our barn cats on the prowl and a number of wild animals around, especially raccoons, they wouldn't last very long in the wild.

Now big enough to go back to Mom and Dad, they were returned to them this morning with great fanfare.  Mama Goose hissed at my wife when she brought them back as if to say, "Give me my babies back and leave me alone".  So we'll just leave them alone except for one special treat this afternoon.  We'll set up our small plastic pool for them and let them get their first real swim.

Living as we do with so much nature around us is wonderful.  And I'll tell you something else.  It sure is a lot more fun and a lot less stressful writing about the animals than it is our sordid political mess.  With nature, there is always evidence in abundance about the glory and power of Almighty God.  All we need to do is take time to smell the roses and we know that He exists and loves us. May he always be praised.

God bless you all and be safe out there.

We have a couple of geese on our farm that we have been trying to mate for quite a while.  We wanted to raise a few to replenish a limited number of the flock we lost, but Ringo, our gander, and Lucy, his lady friend, just wouldn't cooperate.   Lucy would lay plenty of eggs and sit on them for a short time, then give up.  We just figured that one or both just couldn't do the job.

A number of weeks ago Lucy stopped coming out of their pen during the day.  She was sitting on her eggs in earnest and we thought maybe something was different this time.  Boy, did she prove us right.

When my wife went to check on Lucy and let Ringo out this morning, she lifted her up gently to check on the eggs. There was this little fellow in the picture, popping his head up and looking alert.  Since Lucy still has two more eggs to go, we removed little Gringo and brought him inside.  He'll be kept in a large plastic container under a heat lamp with shavings, water and grower feed.

Now you're probably asking yourself, what about those names, Ringo and Gringo?  Well, Ringo got his name from the prominent ring around the base of his beak and the Gringo add on came from his behavior.   You see, Ringo adores my wife but he doesn't like me too much; we think it must be a male thing.  On numerous occasions he has charged me, once knocking me down with a surprise  attack from the rear, so I figure he thinks I'm the cavalry and he is Poncho Villa, earning the added moniker.   This makes Junior, if he turns out to be a gander, the obvious recipient of the name.

 And as for Lucy?  She just quickly assumed the nickname  Juicy Lucy Goosie  because of, shall we say, Ringo's attentiveness.  Out of respect, she's just Lucy to all outside of the household.

I guess we'll have to keep an eye on the other three eggs and see what happens.  In any event, at least one new addition is here and appears to be very healthy from the sound of things.  He's already eating feed mixed with water and is beginning to walk about.

The Lord works in mysterious ways and if you don't believe He exists, try living on a farm.  You'll know that He lives.  If you still don't understand, I truly feel sorry for you.  Only someone with power much greater than man can even imagine could create something like this.  It is planned, it is amazing, it is real, and it is His Creation.

UPDATE:  And now we have two, waiting on one more.