Lewise (Louise) and Clark
My attempt to hatch goose eggs this year has been bad, the attempt and the eggs. Gertie has done her best, over 40 eggs, but not one hatched in the incubator. Actually, goose eggs are very delicious and make wonderful cookies and cakes. With the end of egg laying season approaching, yes geese have a season that they only lay eggs in, I decided to take the easy way out and buy a pair of goslings. Yesterday was the big day to bring home my male and female gosling. Goslings at this age look a lil like a raptor out of the dinosaur era. I really thought it would be easier getting a pair that were several weeks old. At one time, I also really thought Santa and the Tooth Fairy existed too. Originally they were going to be called Taylor and Swifty for my granddaughters favorite country singer. That was until last night. After a walk to the pond I brought them back up to the house and had the two running around in the yard getting used to the place. Yes I am officially Mother Goose again since they are imprinted on me. Like all good mothers I made the mistake of turning my back on the lil urchins. Within five minutes time they had disappeared. Panicking I called Trevor to come help. From deep within the woods by the side of the house I heard one of them chirping. Now I was in shorts because it was hot that day. Not thinking I stuck on my rubber boots which go up to my knees (pretty picture huh?) and headed into the woods that had weeds and vines that came up to my shoulder. Trevor stormed in after me yelling that I was going to get hurt. I never listen to people when they tell me I am going to get hurt. Within 15 minutes we have found the male hunkered down in some bramble bushes. I pulled him out and took him back to the carrier. We figured it was going to be easy to find the female since they usually stick side by side. WRONG!!! After an hour, we both were cut up from the brambles, sweaty, dirty and just plain miserable. Trevor tried to stand on a tree that had fallen but it didn’t work, the tree fell some more. I heard a crash, a yell and then silence. I screamed out to see if he was ok and thankfully he yelled back “no problems Ma, nothing seems broken”. I love my kid. It is now getting dark and we are getting desperate. We bring the carrier with the male closer to the edge of the woods so he can scream for her. That didn’t work. I gave up, put a long leash on Matilda and sent her in the woods. I figured she knows how to herd the grown geese and ducks maybe she could find the gosling. She had a ball playing Rin Tin Tin jumping over logs, digging under bushes, tunneling through vines but she didn’t find the gosling. We were going to admit defeat when a faint chirp was heard from deep within the woods. Trevor scrambled towards the sound and yelled out that he had found her. He scooped her up and she promptly bit him on the arm. I think she was very thankless but what the heck he must have looked like a giant coming towards her. We dug our way out of the woods. Thank you Lord that there were no copperheads or rattlesnakes. I took a look at Trevor and he looked at me. We both were covered in red welts and a rash. I guess some of the vines were poison ivy. I got out the lye soap, the benadryl and the tea tree oil and sent him for his shower. I took the female into the laundry room, pulled some thorns from her neck and treated it with peroxide. I then settled both of the geese into their cage, looked back at the woods and honestly shuddered. I do not go into the woods in the summer because of snakes. We all came out almost unscathed. Scratching I headed for the shower when it occurred to me that the name of the goslings would be Lewis and Clark because of their adventure. We had to do a small modification of the name for the female so she is really Lewise as in Louise. It was either that or Tarzan and Jane. I think my granddaughter will understand the name change. As for me, next time I buy adult geese. (Yeah like that will happen!)
