Life Is the Stories You Can Tell
  • Life is the Stories You Can Tell
  • Sing His Praises
  • My Creed
  • Books I Love
  • Christmas Letters

The Zoo

4/17/2016

1 Comment

 
Picture
Zoo (definition):
  • a place where many kinds of animals are kept
  • a place, situation, or group that is crowded, loud, and uncontrolled
 
Hislop home (reality)
  • a place where many kinds of animals are kept
  • a place, situation, or group that is crowded, loud, and uncontrolled
 
Notice any similarities?
 
I love in a zoo, literally and figuratively.
 
Fifteen days ago Grace took custody of a day old lamb, one of a set of triplets whose mother’s milk supply was not sufficient for three.   Grace created a lamb space in the basement (wrestling mats doubled as walls and straw covered the cement floor) and put her almost-newborn to bed.   Fourteen days ago I awoke early and was concerned by the amount of noise I did not hear in the basement.   Shouldn’t the lamb be bleating?
 
Going downstairs to investigate I found the lamb’s bed had a double occupancy.   Grace and lamb were curled up together in the straw, sleeping soundly and silently.     They were together than night and have rarely been apart since.    Grace has taken her to school twice and to Las Vegas once.
 
Yes, we took a lamb to Las Vegas for Spring Break.     She traveled there and back in a pink, straw-lined bin and, while there, decorated my sister’s lawn, mystified her dogs, and intrigued her neighbors.    Twice, while Grace was out walking the lamb, complete strangers stopped their cars and wanted to take pictures.     Apparently week-old lambs strolling the streets are not a common site in Las Vegas.
 
The lamb follows Grace everywhere, including into my kitchen.  At some point she is going to have to learn that she is not human but I do not anticipate that happening anytime soon.
 
We also had day-old chicks in the basement where they stayed, under a heat lamp, until they began roosting on the exercise bike.   Now they are safely ensconced in the dog house.
 
Pigs have come to our place too though I am happy to report (VERY HAPPY!) that they were never housed in my basement.   We have two sets of three pigs.  (Six total pigs, for those of you who are mathematically challenged.)   Grace bought a set of three that she will raise to sell to whomever she can find that wants home-raised pork.   The other set of three are the show pigs that Miles, Tanah, and Grace will exhibit at the Weber County Fair.
 
Friday night the temperatures hovered just above freezing and I thought we’d lost a pig.   (Maybe I should have let them into the basement…?).    When I checked Saturday morning I could see only two pigs in the show pig pen.   I looked at them from all angles but could only see two pigs, cuddled together in the straw.     Seeing no pigs in the pasture either, I resigned myself to the fact that I was going to have to go into the pig pen and investigate.  
 
Clad in hiking sandals (of course) I cautiously entered the pen and approached the huddled hogs.   Standing over the top of them, I could still see only two.   It was not until I bent over that I saw the a third set of butt cheeks.   It was a pig pile of three….and I was happy.
 
Grace has a little lamb and Miles hangs out in the pig pen and Tanah loves Babbs (the ornery cockatiel).   Pet fever infected Sara.   She adopted Penelope, a fluffy rabbit.    Three times I have come home from school to see Sara and Penelope, hanging out on the lawn where Sara tries to study and Penelope succeeds at being cute.
 
Zorro gets into the act as well.   He sacrificed his home to the chicks, his place as primary animal in the kitchen to the lamb, and his heart to the rabbit.   When Sara sets Penelope on the grass, Zorro stations himself next to the rabbit and affectionately licks her.    Crazy.
 
Friends who are moving gave us four more chickens and a duck.   They offered to give us a couple of turkeys as well but I turned them down.   I am not completely crazy.
 
Not completely crazy (but almost) is a phrase that could have been used to describe the Prom-attending group in our home last night….crowded, loud, and (almost) uncontrolled are descriptions that would apply as well.  (Refer to definition of zoo.)   Tanah, Sara, and a group of their friends went to Roy High’s Prom last night.    We took photos in Sandy’s yard before Prom---lots of stunning girls in beautiful dresses and fewer guys in shirts and ties—and they ate ice cream in my basement afterwards.   I know the picture taking was crowded, loud and (almost) uncontrolled.   I cannot say what the situation in the basement was because I was (completely) asleep by that time of day (night!).
 
The Hislops….a place where many kinds of animals are kept that is crowded, loud, and (almost) uncontrolled.

Welcome to our home!!

Love,
Teresa


Picture
Grace and her girl
Picture
Miles picks up a chick
Picture
Bacon on the hoof
Picture
The lamb enjoys lunch in Las Vegas
Picture
Some girls have pet lambs....
Picture
...other girls have pet dogs.
Picture
This little piggie went to market......
Picture
Where is the third pig?
Picture
Can you see her now?
Picture
Sharing the house with all those other animals is exhausting.
Picture
Sara gets ready
Picture
Babbs supervises
Picture
Tanah is ready!
Picture
Lucky man!
Picture
Picture
Picture
007???
Picture
The "Domestics"??
Picture
The "Foreigners"
Picture
"Crowded, loud and (almost) uncontrolled"
1 Comment
Jeanna
4/18/2016 08:51:23 am

OK...forget us being neighbors....can we move in??? WHO is that guy ??? Is he lucky or what???

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Teresa Hislop
    [email protected]

    Archives

    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    September 2012
    August 2012

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.