The miracle of birth

Yesterday after cleaning out the milking parlor I got this weird feeling that I should go check on the goats who are kidded. I hiked down to the north end of the farm down this really steep hill and started counting all the goats. It was important that all 21 were together because usually if a goat is going to give birth they will go hide, at first count I got 20, second count I got 22. That is when I saw two just born kidds underneath their mother. They are the cutest little things ever! Giving Buddy some competition for cutest goat on Cape Clear Island for sure! After I found them I made sure no ravens were circling, they like to eat little goats, and ran up the really steep hill to the house where Ed was. Buddy ran with me the whole way, he is really cute, baa-ing away as if trying to tell Ed about his two new brothers. When I finally got to Ed I loudly proclaimed that he had two babies then I stumbled over myself..thankfully silently...about how awkward that sounded! I got a blanket and ran back down the hill where the herd was crowded around the new kidds, then came the second hardest part of the ordeal, taking the kidds away from their Mom called Horny...she is the only female with horns...they were crying for her the whole way up the hill to the goat house it was so sad. After they were safely in the goat house the hardest part came. I had to hike down the steep hill and get Horny to climb up the hill with me after she had just given birth..think exhausted 60lb goat..which basically involved me carrying this huge lug up the hill. Unfortunately because of the language barrier she couldn't understand my rational for getting her up the hill which was quite simply..they are your f'ing kids you should have thought about that a while ago! About a half hour later after my hands were beat red from her horns and we were both exhausted from the struggle to get up the hill I got her into the kidding pen with her two young goats. Once Ed got to the goat house from his house he sprayed the goats with anti-bacterial spray just in case and we got them all settled in the pen. He figures I found them minutes after they were born because the umbilical cord and afterbirth were still attached...they were covered in placenta when I carried them up the hill. So after about 4 trips up the huge hill with and without the goats I got to spend some quality time with the two babies trying to help them nurse off their mother and watching them learn how to walk. One of the new kidds is alto stronger than the other, so I had to hold the weaker one while he got milk and moved around. Ed was worried that the weaker kidd might not last through the night but luckily this morning he was a lot better.
When I found them in the pen he was trying to walk around, very adorable. I got him on all fours and it looked like he was trying to dance because he was swaying around so much on his legs. He was wagging his tail and trying really hard and after a half hour or so he could walk around slowly. As soon as I can I will post some pictures..they are so tiny right now!
The only other event of note was the WWII siren that went off at around 11am today...Ed and I were herding the goats in and out of the milking parlor and this siren went off from across the Atlantic from Schull, another Island nearby. I instantly remembered the noise from all the movies they make you watch in school about air raids and looked up but the skies were clear. Ed had never heard the siren before which is a bit alarming because he has lived here for 30+ years but he said it might be the 3,000 ft mountain on Schull. I guess they alarmed it after the IRA bombed the radar station on it in the '70s...weird stuff.
Well, in a few hours I am leaving the farm and taking the ferry and a couple of buses back to Cork where there is warm water! I am going to shower and sleep for two days...no really I am..although I might duck out for a few hours to go see the Blarney Castle :)