That pang in your heart

I'm not a parent. I'm also not a person who calls my animals my kids (goats excluded, it's a technical term), albeit I get those who do. However, for the first time in my life I think I got a glimpse of that panic parents feel when they are uneasy about the whereabouts or safety of their children, or see them in a terrifying and potentially harmful situation. It is a crippling rush of adrenaline. The body wants to freeze but the mind moves into action without second thought.

As we were driving up to the property, arriving home from work, Moose commented that he didn't see Walter. I brushed it off, remarking he was probably sleeping on the deck, he's always where the other girls are. Maybe he was asleep in the grass, I thought. Walking towards the girls, Estelle was angrily bleating and was not to be comforted. There was no Walter.

She walked right up to me, still bleating as loud as she could; she avoids me now because I catch her all the time to milk her. Her bag was full and tight, she hadn't been nursed from much at all today. People love to tell me animals don't know what you're saying, but when she wouldn't leave my side I said, "Where is he, ma?" and she took off from my side instantly, still calling out for him.

As hard as I listened I couldn't hear him, but I followed and paused when she paused, paying attention in the brief silences between her screams. Finally, I started to hear his muffled replies. As I got closer to the sound, I still couldn't see him, but she was adamantly pawing at the ground. A closer look under where the broken windmill was revealed a large diameter hole I had never seen before, on ground I had walked over several hundred times before.

Within this 3.5-4ft deep hole, leaning against the dirt sides, was Walter. I instantly called for Moose, and I know I had that shrill panic at the end of my call. I asked him if we had a rope. As he was approaching I heard him say, "A rope? Why? We don't have a rope." He fell in a hole. "What hole?" Exactly! He held onto my feet as I laid on the ground and reached in and pulled him up. I didn't want to let him go. He didn't struggle, he didn't throw his head and kick like he loves to do when you pick him up, he was calm and patient, unlike his mother and rescuer.

He drank instantly, and Mom hasn't let him out of her sight since. Though I can't say I understand entirely, I have a little more of a grasp on what parents feel in moments like that. Kudos to you, parents. Kudos.

Well, they don't call them kids for nothing! Good on you for being such a good detective and having a happy ending. There are many ways this could have gone so terribly wrong.

Now what are you going to do with that hole?

We've covered the hole for now. I need to figure out why the sink hole opened up in the first place and how big it actually is, not what you can just see, if you know what I mean. I suspect there may have been an old well there that got back filled and the melt off just caused it to collapse in, but I cannot be sure.

I wouldn't mind using it as a stash hole, just need to cover it solidly and make it safe. Time to tear down that old building -- maybe when we get the chainsaw running this weekend.

Great story!

I am always hugely moved when my animals come to me for help! Whether it is a calf on the wrong side of the fence or a lamb locked in the barn - usually the mother or one of the older females comes to look me in the eye and tell me "Jimmy's down the well!' (reference to "Lassie" episode). I feel so good when I am able to save the youngster. I always think how lucky I am to have thumbs - well, fingers too. It is the closest thing to conversing with my animals.

And, as Sue knows, the Bible has a story about looking for the 100th lamb. I may have 99 sheep (not quite) but I will spend days searching for that 100th lamb if it is missing. I'm sure that lamb's mother told the shepherd her lamb was missing if the shepherd (he or she) hadn't noticed yet.

Glad it all worked out happily. Glad that sink hole wasn't deeper (and didn't open up under your bedroom!! Still having nightmares about that...)

Glad all ended well =)

For Heda,

“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Luke 15:4-7

I am not particularly religious, but the bible has a quote for every occasion!

Exactly. As you noted previously, particularly strong on sheep husbandry.

Sweetened, what a relief! MY heart goes out to you AND to mama goat, who feels all the same panic and distress and can do nothing to help her own baby.

Why is it you can walk past a hole 100 times and not see it, but the small farm animal will find it and fall in? Never leave Mr. Murphy in charge of the farm!

Be careful ! it might be a old well and it could go deeper real quick !Seen it before and from a small hole to a deep gaping hole with a little rain etc

prairie dog wrote:Be careful ! it might be a old well and it could go deeper real quick !Seen it before and from a small hole to a deep gaping hole with a little rain etc

Good advice. You never know what is down there. It could open up deeper and wider now it has started.

But this has my imagination churning. Maybe it is a money pit and in a few days a wealth of treasure is revealed! Legally, would it all be yours now?

I'm also concerned about this becoming some massively deep hole.

However.. money pit? Perhaps I've discovered Saskatchewan's Oak Island of holes.... [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Yikes! Scary, but glad it turned out okay.

Having children is TERRIFYING. Want to have your guts ripped apart? Put your kid on the bus to school for the first time. And then trust that she will come home in the same way after school. It's scary every single day.

But I feel a similar terror when the pug doesn't come instantly when I call her, or when I count outdoor dogs and one is missing - then I go looking! Usually they're asleep in the sun somewhere and don't feel motivated enough to come when I holler. Stinkers.

I'm so glad you had a good ending to the story.

I always think that you have to be doing something right to have that ability to communicate with your animals. Great job girl

Did you look for the pot of gold at the bottom of the hole?

No lucky charms or horseshoes here, sadly Probably just a 100ft fall to my broken boned demise.

Helps to be "in tune" with your animals. Glad everything turned out OK.