Toby the Kid's Curious Chaos

The sun shown through the hay loft window and Ronnie 
rooster cock-a-doodled his little heart out, calling everyone to awaken to a beautiful new day.

Farmer Willie entered the barn to take Maisy, Daisy, Louise, and Martha cow out to be milked. Each of the cows left the warmth of the barn in single file. Martha let out a slow, low, long moooooo; almost like a moan. "I know, old girl, morning is not your favorite time of day."  Farmer Willie hugged her neck showing her sympathy, urging her forward. She answered with another moany moo.

 Oliver, the barn owl, snored quietly on the highest beam in the barn. Daylight was his time to sleep after standing watch all night long. Cheerfully looking toward the ever increasing sound of Oliver's snoring, Sunny, good naturedly whispered, "Good rest dear friend."  Sunny, who was so named because he, unlike Martha, met each morning with great anticipation of what the new day would hold. Farmer Willie called him the happiest pig on earth which seemed to be the truth. It seemed that in every situation, Sunny's disposition was always, well, sunny! 

By now, the ducks were splashing in the pond and the chickens were wandering about, scratching for their food. Farmer Willie had finished with the cows and they were now enjoying their breakfast; as were all the horses and, of course George, the cuddliest burro you could ever meet. 

About this time Toby raised his head from the cozy nook between his sleeping parents, just in time to see "his Emma" enter their living quarters. This morning, like every morning, she had come to milk her girls, as she called them. "Good morning girls, how was your night?" All of the ladies in Toby's family started their day by giving Emma the freshest of goat's milk.  

"Nanny, are you ready?" Emma helped Nanny up on to the milking stand and then grabbed her stool that hung on the wall. Being careful to warm her hands, Emma deftly began milking while Nanny enjoyed her breakfast. Nanny was Toby's grandmother; all of her daughters Annie, Sarah, Ellie, and Gladys, Toby's mother, took turns. When the task was finished, Emma had the milk she needed and her ladies had their breakfast. During the morning ritual, Toby insisted on being his usual helpful self. More times than not, he had tipped the buckets; sometimes they were empty, other times they were full and the barn cats enjoyed an unexpected treat. On this very fine day, the whole process went off without incident.

Toby left the barn, nearly skipping, to visit the goldfish pond. An exceptional favorite of Toby's was investigating the tremendously fascinating goldfish pond, located just outside the gate of the large vegetable garden. As he was nearing the pond, he noticed Emma leading George out to the peach orchard. Over his back, several bushel baskets were bobbing up and down with each step he took. In a split second Toby changed his course; the goldfish would just have to wait. Trotting as fast as his little hooves could carry him, he was calling out with urgent bleatings all the way. Emma stopped and turned at the sound and waited patiently for Toby to catch up. On his arrival, Emma bent down and hugged him. "Little one, are you in the mood to pick some peaches?" Toby answered, "Maaaa." "All right then, let's be on our way."

It was Saturday, the day they held a farmer's market in town on main street. Emma would pick enough peaches for Willie to sell and keep enough for a pie to go with tonight's dinner. George wandered a bit, finding a small patch of grass to nibble while Emma went to work picking peaches. It might surprise you to know that Toby was being helpful, truly! 

Toby was a curious and joyful boy and he was an extremely determined little goat. Over time and lots of effort, Toby had figured out how to knock the lower hanging peaches off directly into the basket. Emma pulled the peaches off with her hands and Toby ran at the tree repeatedly; the branches would shake and the peaches would drop, plop into the basket. He thought this was great fun. These peaches definitely had a pie in their future. It had turned out to be a lovely day. 

The blue sky was decorated with puffy white clouds, the green grasses of the meadows swayed in the morning breeze, as a perfect compliment the sun warmed the earth. A butterfly landed on Toby's nose, causing it to feel ticklish. He stopped to shake his head and make the butterfly flutter away. He then noticed there were plenty of peaches in the basket and decided it was a perfect time to help himself to a taste. He had proudly filled half of a basket. Only minutes later, Emma considered her job complete when she turned around to see Toby sitting sprawled out on the ground; his mouth so full of peach that the juice dribbled down his chin. 

The butterfly had returned  to his nose and his eyes were crossed in an effort to look at it. Emma laughed uproariously at this sight. George looked over about this time because Emma's laughter had stirred his interest. He too, "hee hawed" until he could hardly catch his breath.

After all three had eaten a fresh, fuzzy peach, they headed for the truck waiting to take the peaches to town. Toby trotted along after Emma and suddenly remembered the pond....the goldfish! He quickly let Emma know about it, "Maaaaa."  " What is it, little one?"  "Maaa"   (Toby stood slightly turned)  "Oh, you want to go visit the goldfish."  "Maaa." "You don't want to help load the peaches?"  "Nyeh."  "O.K., little one, see you later." Toby nuzzled Emma's knees and skipped off in the general direction of the garden. 

The inquisitive wee goat sat at the edge of the pond admiring his reflection when four of the larger fish swam to the surface causing the water to ripple. He touched at the water with his hoof. As many times before, he sat at the water's edge watching the fish swim about, disappearing and then reappearing. 

 He so wondered what they saw when they swam in those places he could not see from where he sat. Toby's floppy brown ears perked up slightly as he continued to watch the smallest goldfish dart in and out from the rocks and the plants; now you see me, now you don't. 

About that time, Mrs. Robin started cleaning her house. Feathers floated down from above in what seemed like slow motion. Toby sat with his face pointed toward the sky, watching the feathers ride on the breeze. As the feathers touched down, they were followed by birdseed; it flew this way and that and most of it landed on the surface of the water. The grand-daddy of all the fish jumped out of the water to catch the falling seed. This abrupt happening startled Toby so greatly that he lost his balance; he was now in the water looking at those places impossible to view from the water's edge. Most of the fish instantly found a hiding place, but two of them were staring back at Toby, just as surprised to see him there as he was to be there. After all, a swimming goat isn't a sight you see every day! 

Scrambling frantically out onto dry land, Toby took off running. He headed for the farm house and his Emma.

The kitchen was filled with the aroma of bubbling hot peach pie. She was just lifting it out of the oven to cool when Toby, who had entered through the dog door, came sliding across the kitchen floor; still stunned and dripping wet. The always prepared Emma quickly grabbed some large towels, scooping the little goat into a ball. He was shaking, partly because the water was cold and partly because he had been frightened. With Emma's usual sense of humor, she said, "I see you found the pond." She grinned down at her shaking wet friend and saw two soft brown eyes peeking out from underneath a yellow towel.

 They were on the back porch now, headed for a large sink where she ran him a warm bath. He relaxed down, bit by bit, as Emma caressed his ears and made him into a bubbly lump. Next, Emma pulled out a large hair dryer; the air was warm and it made Toby's ears dance all around. Fluffy clean and ready for a nap, Emma returned him into his mother's care. Toby's curiosity was completely satisfied.....for today anyway. 

Do you have someone in your life that has a way of getting into every little thing? Do you find yourself cleaning up a mess you did not make? Do you ever wish that person would go away? I can understand your feeling, but might I suggest you take a lesson from Emma? She has developed a great deal of patience by having Toby in her life. He gives her reasons every day, more than once, to lose her temper and feel frustrated. She meets every one of these opportunities with love and humor. So, give it a try the next time you want to cry or scream, just laugh right out loud instead and just maybe you will feel better and suddenly you won't think it's all so bad after all.