On March 9, a sheep belonging to an acquaintance gave birth to two lambs, one of which had a defective back left leg and was unable to stand and feed from her mother. Not wanting to euthanise her, and not having time to bottle feed her, my acquaintance sought my help in finding a foster. I put out a call on my Venus Doggess Of Love NGO (animal rescue/welfare) Facebook page and a friend responded, agreeing to foster.
She named her Petal, kept her indoors and bottle-fed her on goat milk until she had to leave the country for a few weeks. At this point, I took over fostering, keeping Petal indoors, as she was still quite tiny and required regular feeding. Her "bedroom" was a spacious metal dog cage in the living room. When not in it, she pottered around, every now and again dropping a puddle that was easily mopped up or blotted up with newspaper.
Quite quickly, she seemed to grasp the concept of placing (most of) her puddles on newspaper that I left on the floor – quite like a puppy becoming house trained. During the day, I took her outside to the back garden so that she could get familiar with grass. Although the dogs accepted her, I remained outdoors, supervising in the event that they inadvertently hurt or injured her through play. In order to spend as much time as possible outdoors with Petal, I strung up a hammock between the fence and a neem tree, under which I also set up a long Rubbermaid table. This became my outdoor office, at which I spent many hours with a laptop, coffee, water, and edibles.
Petal would be nearby, nibbling, but not yet able to eat vegetation. Two farmers used the same words to describe this activity – “She is practising.”
Cool breeze, fresh air and continuous bird song are excellent for work and creative inspiration. The peaceful aura that emanates from Petal as she nibbles nearby also adds to the therapeutic nature of my new outdoor office space. I recommend such natural, stress-free workspaces for increased national productivity.
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Various people, having seen Petal on the Facebook page, expressed a desire to meet her. When a woman from Trinidad wrote to say that she was holidaying in Tobago and wanted to meet her, I decided to make an event of it and invite those who had indicated interest.
“Bring what you’re drinking and a beach chair to sit on,” I suggested. Petal Picnic #1 was born. Eleven of us gathered in the back yard, with chairs and coolers; a table cloth and feast of dips, chips and cookies turned my outdoor office table into a dining station.
With Petal nibbling nearby and mingling with guests, some of whom were excited to bottle feed her, it turned out to be a great social event.
To date, there have been three Petal picnics (PP).
PP#2 – three of us, playing cards, with refreshments, while Petal nibbled, gambolled and frolicked. PP#3 – ten of us, eating, drinking, chatting, laughing, while Petal and a recently-rescued pup (Zinnia), entertained themselves and enjoyed attention. Two yo
