Urban Farming -- Big E

This alpaca couldn't get enough of my carrots.

 

"Here bunny, bunny, don't be afraid. I won't throw straw on you like lil' e."

 

lil' e's interpretation of feeding the bunnies, looks strangely like covering the bunnies with as much straw as you can before they try to bite you

 

This emu almost took all my fingers grabbing the carrot I held beside my mom's head, at her request, so she could get this picture

 

For Valentine's day my mom wanted to take us someplace special. Me, I wanted to stay home. She wanted us to experience a part of "ruralness." Me, I wanted her to get I was more interested in virtual animals on Webkinz than real ones. In the end, she won. I went.

I admit I was skeptical at first, especially because it took us an hour to get there. But when I saw we actually got to feed the animals and not just look at them, I decided to leave my pout in the car. My mom's bribe for a horse ride wasn't a bad incentive either for me to act delighted.

Our first stop was the bunnies and the guinea pigs. These cute and cuddly animals were neither cuddly or cute once lil' e related with them (by piling straw or lettuce or whatever he could find on their heads). This made petting them a little hairy because I wasn't sure whether they would bite or ignore me. Moving onto the goats didn't help either because lil' e ran and yelled at them, causing them to find less aggressive feeders. The only animals that didn't seem to respond to lil' e were the sheep that looked half-dead. When I asked my mom about them, she authoritatively said the reason they were panting hard with their eyes closed and leaning drunkenly against the fence was because they were hot. When I told her it was in the low 60s, she said maybe they were having a bad day.

Looking at them made me sad. I grew sadder imagining all the animals enduring multiple lil' e's in one day. I told her it really wasn't fair that she got to grow up in the country where animals were allowed to roam and not be in box size pens. Where they could run away from lil' e's and not have to take his overenthusiastic relational style.

Overall, it was a fine time with my mom, especially because we got chocolate chip cookies at the end. This was fter we washed our hands three times...she was a bit overboard, especially with lil' e who liked kissing and licking the fences and when he couldn't do that, he'd lick his hands saying, "I like being sick, Mommy. I like it." Luckily, we were home in time for me to spend time with my pets in Webkinz. They are the only pets my parents will allow me to have, which is really unfair given my mom always had pets growing up, including a baby mouse. I mean, how cute is that, a baby mouse? I think next time I will suggest to my mom that rather than spend money at the petting zoo, we could head down to the pet store and find some cute and cuddly creatures that we can keep. It might take some convincing but once she realizes she won't have to hover around lil' e like she does on our outings, she just may go for it.

Now, that would be a fantastic Valentine's day.