The Simple Pleasures

On July 25th of this year I hit a big milestone...I am no longer in my 20's, I officially turned 30 years old. I got up at the same time I have just about every morning I am scheduled to work on the farm, the only difference was I was feeling a little older. I dont know, there's something startling about leaving your 20's behind.

I had no intentions of telling anyone that it was my birthday, however I gave in to two people I was working with in livestock. They wished me a "Happy Birthday" however they sensed that I was not necessarily celebrating. However it was a pleasant surprise to hear the chorus "Happy birthday to you..." over our radio later in the day. The remark I found to be the most humorous was when I told a 19-year old co-worker that I was 30 she said "That's great! There's a certain level of maturity or like being ripe you attain when people are in their 30's." At first I wanted to gasp but then I had to laugh...I'm ripe.

Through my on again, off again mourning I found an awesome amount of joy in my work. When I was cleaning out the watering bucket for the llama's and alpacas one of the alpacas had done something I hadnt seen since working at Overlook Farm...he climbed half way into the water bucket and was playing in the water less than one foot away from me! It was absolutely hilarious! He loved it even more when I started spraying him down with the hose. And when his alpaca buddy seen all of the fun he was having, he came over and joined the party too. I felt like I was hosting a alpaca slip n' slide party. Was this my only awesome moment? Absolutely not!

After leaving the llama/alpaca enclosure I made my way to the water buffalo's, sisters Hope and Joy. One was laying down under some shade and the other was looking content in your wallowing hole. As I was cleaning the watering container one of the sisters came over to me practically begging me to spray her down (and if you've never seen a water buffalo beg its quite a site, lol). So I would spray her down attempting to avoiding her ears and eyes and in between scratch her on her head. Well, she kept lowering her head I thought for me to keep scratching (my water buffalo was a little rusty), actually she wanted me to spray her head. As I sprayed her down from the tip of her nose to the tip of her tale I swear I saw a smile pop up on her adorable face.

The 30th birthday I was dreading ended up being one for the record books. I had some amazing critter moments and some words of wisdom from those around me.