The arrival of Mocha Latte and the two Short Whites

On the 29th of May, our goats Edwina and Jamesina (also known as Snow) gave birth. Gradma and mama were in Chizatau with them. I was surprised it happened in the exact same time. Mama suggested the car shuffling might be to blame. Edwina has a perfectly beautiful chocolate and cream coloured baby. Gradma says it's a boy. We called him Mocha Latte. Snow had white triplets, but one was born dead. The other two seem fine. The next day when David and I went to see them, we bought a baby bottle in case they could not nurse enough. Mama did not let me go until I did my math homework. I growled a bit (I don't know why, but I hate all homework). In the end I did it with help from mama. It was not hard. After we got to Chizatau, David milked Edwina in a cup. She already has lots of milk, and we tried feeding the surviving triplets. James lifted them up and down. They poop yellow like James did when he was a baby. Mocha Latte does not poop yellow because Edwina already has milk. Andy named them after different kinds of coffee. We'll see if the names stick.

Today I went to judo without David. He had a small accident in school. One of the other children pushed him off a chair, and then threw the bench at his head. The kid (his name is Lukas) had his behaviour grade lowered by two points and teachers say he could repeat the year if he continues being aggressive (and not studying because he spends all his time on his phone). A few days ago, David and Lukas had been paired up for their Romanian class to teach "Sobieski si Romanii". David prepared questions for the children with lots of help from grandma and taught very well. He got a 10. He said he tried sharing with Lukas, but the teacher did not accept because everything was in David's handwriting. So, Lukas got a 4 on a 1 to 10 scale and has been very angry with David since. Now David has a blueish bump between his eyes (above his nose) that will slowly go away. Nobody has thrown any benches at my head as of yet. It might be because I don't talk as much as David and somehow I have more friends.

When we returned from Chizatau, I finished the rest of my homework. In addition to math, I had Romanian and Lesen. Then I wrote in my diary and only after that Andy and I made cookies. They were very yummy. David's head bump does not stop him from eating. He ate more than 6 cookies. James ate a lot of the dough and part of a cookie. I ate some cookies, too.

David found Piki in the garden. She had escaped again even after I redid the enclosure. I added a top to the enclosure, but both James and the cats go in it. Piki stayed in my new enclosure for two days and then escaped -- either by climbing out on her own or obtaining James' help. He is being watched very closely now, but I do believe he is blameless this time. David says she grew a whole new ring in the few days she's been missing. I think she just seems bigger because she poops more. She was in the Silkies' enclosure this time. When David got her out, she pooped in his hand. When mama picked her up, she filled mama's hand with white liquid. She is accused of spending time with the chicken because she is eating chicken poop. I mostly worry about the chicken eating her eyes, but she is really good at hiding underground. David put her in her winter box for now. She is very unhappy there. We need Andy to help us build and enclosure for her today. I hate making enclosures because we've made so many already and mama keeps reminding me and I hate being reminded. Grandma suggested just letting her live in the garden, but then there is no way to find her. She could also get in the Terrapin pond and drown. Although, she is probably smarter than that since it has not happened so far.

The goat snack

Today I woke up at 6:45 a.m., I did my homework, and went to school by 8.00 a.m. When I came home at 13:00 grandma and mama were home. After about half an hour they left, and David and I stayed with grandpa. We first went in the garden to look for Piki, our pet tortoise. She had disappeared the day before. We soon gave up and started eating mulberries. There is a very tall mulberry tree right by Piki's enclosure. I climbed up the mulberry tree and sat there chatting with David. Then it started raining, and I saw the ground crack in the coup where Steluta, the rooster is.  Some head, and then a claw came out. I shouted "Hell on Earth! Tortoises coming out of hibernation so late!  Especially in our garden!" Then I said "that's Pikster hiding from Steluta". We chased the rooster and took Piki out. We tried putting her in her enclosure, but she climbed out.

It started raining heavily. So, we went inside and took Piki with us to her winter enclosure. I did my homework on my own without being asked a million times. I dislike homework and I dislike being asked to do it, but today I compromised because I wanted to be good for once. We heard a crack and followed by many loud "cot-cot-codacs" from the chicken, but did not go out to check what happened.

When mama and grandma came back, they noticed a big branch from the apple tree had fallen on the chicken-enclosure fence.  It weight about a ton! I kept saying things like "If we cut this thing down, I'll be a red apple". There were only green apples on the branch - lots of them. But mama, David and I persevered. David and I had big scissors and managed to cut most of the branches off the big branch, and mama threw them over the fence to the goats. The goats were very happy. It was their prayers coming true - a big tree branch with lots of leaves and apples had fallen from the sky. Once we were done cutting, David was able to lift the branch off the fence.

In the evening, I ate boiled wheat, and mashed strawberries with egg. Mama and I put the silkies inside because they were soaking wet and the black ones looked like small, wet crows. We don't want them to be sick. At the end of the day I was very dirty. So, I took a long bath. James joined me. Now he is asleep as I am writing on my blog.

Welcome Edward Goose and David Goose!

On Sunday and Monday there were lots of birds in the market. On regular days they are not allowed to sell birds -- outside the vegetable market there are just trucks with grains, potatoes and cabbages. Grandma came back from the market and said they had birds instead. So, I had to go see them!

Grandma did not want to buy any more animals because she already has too many souls to care for and we don't help. David and I insisted. He wanted a parrot. They were only 15 lei. Mama did not want to see a bird in a small cage all day and reminded us we have four cats and four kittens who consider wild birds to be very tasty. The truth is I've only seen our cats eat mice and rats, but we have this intruder - an ugly male cat who lives in our yard. I even suspect him of eating a whole hen. It only happened once. Grandma found her bones and feathers on the veranda. The only lingering question is how he brought an animal as heavy as himself over the fence. David asked if the parrots were talking. They were not, and the seller said it would be very difficult to teach them to speak. Since we could not get mama or grandma to buy one, we had to give up on the parrot idea. 

Next to the parrots there were these really cute baby geese. The owner said they were American. I tricked mama by promising to be good from this day forward and do my homework when she asked me to. I said I could do it because there are only three weeks of school left. Grandma did not believe me, but somehow mama did or at least wanted to think I was truthful. So, we bought two geese: one for me and one for David. 

We then went to the Timis river. After we got out of the car, the geese followed me around like I was their mother. I walked around on my knees and they came after me. It had rained and there were lots of puddles. James jumped in a puddle and wet his clothes. The rain water was warm from the sun. The geese played in the muddy water and ate grass. James did the same. Grandma picked lots of grass mixed with clover for the goats. I helped a little, but was mostly too busy with the geese. David did even less than me. He sat in the sun and picked flowers to eat their nectar. A gentleman saw him and told him to leave the flowers alone. He had planted some of the trees there.

Then we got home. David and I climbed on the roof of the shed and spent the rest of the day there. We ate cherries from the neighbor's tree. They are almost ripe. We shot cherry stones through blow pipes. I then climbed our mulberry tree to eat some mulberries. David cannot climb it.

Lots of fruits ripe in the same time this year because it's so hot. It's like in Hector Servadac -- a book I am reading by Jules Verne -- only most of humanity has not disappeared as of yet. I refused to do my homework until late in the evening. Then two ducks hatched. I put the chickens to bed and went to bed myself. Mama was sad I did not keep my promise. She could not sleep because of the geese who made lots of noise because they were lonely. She put them under Petunia (our mother hen) and Petunia adopted them.  They are learning to be chickens now, but still follow me around when I take them out of Petunia's box. In the morning, I woke up at 6 a.m. to do my homework. Mama and grandma helped. School is almost over this year. 

When we returned from school, David and I ate and got to go to our judo lessons. They are taught by Corina Caprioriu and her husband. She is a world-wide champion in the 57-kg category. The room is named after her. It has been built so that she can train children like us and they do it for free. They even gave us proper judo kimonos! When we started she was eight months pregnant. This week her baby came out and her husband taught in her place.  They are amazing even though they make us do lots of push-ups. After we got home, I did my homework on time, ate more cherries, and saw two more ducklings hatch. Then I put the chickens to bed, and went to bed myself.

Hello

I am Edward and I am seven years old! I am in the third grade. Today I woke up and let the chickens out. One black chick died. It was too cold outside. So, grandma and mother helped me empty a box full of twigs and small pieces of wood. I put some hay in the box and took it inside.  This became the new home of Petunia (our broody hen) and her 20 baby chicks. Two are black, one is striped like a wild piglet and the rest are red and white. Mama bought some net and asked our next door neighbour, Sorin, to make the box safer for the chickens. He put together a wood frame for the metal net to make it harder for the cats to get into the box and eat the chicken. James likes to move chickens and kittens to the middle of the room. He is 1 and 1/2, which means he is as much of a danger to them as the cats -- only it's easier for him to take the net off.

Then I spent most of my day cleaning my room. I cleaned all surfaces: I wiped the furniture, put most things back together in a resemblance of order, and even washed the floors with an electric mop. Mother and grandma were very happy with me for a little while. I then fed some cottage cheese mixed with bran to the chicken and put it all over the bed that is next to the fridge. It was an honest mistake and I moved on without cleaning the cheese or telling anyone about it. The man who helps care for grandpa used to sleep there and he was very angry. When mama found out, she came and cleaned the bed, but he left anyway. He is only coming back in the morning to take his things -- he says he's seen children, but none as bad as us  -- and in a family where everyone is so educated it's not something he expected. There is more for grandma and mama to do with him gone, but it's nice to have the house to ourselves again.

Afterwards I went outside to play with David, but after few minutes a torrential rain started. I hate global warming. Mama says the fashionable thing to do is to blame all weather changes on global warming, but do nothing to try to stop climate change. A world filled with unstoppable yucky mud puddles that emit methane is not nice. If we cut trees and don't slow down emissions, more and more carbon dioxide and methane will end up in the atmosphere.

In the evening we visited Tanti Luminita's mother (the neighbour who lives two doors away from us). We bought 10 eggs for 3 lei. She gave each of us a piece of cake, and some coliva (very yummy!). We saw her chickens and her garden, and she gave me and David 4 tomato plants, 8 pepper plants, and 12 flowers for my garden. The earth was wet after the rain, and it was easy to dig. I planted the vegetables and flowers, and David wanted to check on the carrots. We moved some carrots away from their patch to make them grow better. We also ate a bunch. They were very yummy!  We hope for improved night vision, and for lack of glasses when we grow up. Nobody has seen rabbits with glasses after all.

Before going to bed I noticed a duck was hatching in my incubator. Also, a kitten started opening his eyes.