HAPPY NEW YEAR (year of the snake)!
February has been quite a month, what with Chinese New year, and Valentine’s day! Girls were giving flowers to their favorite boys, and getting really angry at the staff for kidding them about it later. Obviously, there are things we should not talk about, much less know!
We picked up two little abandoned girls; sisters, in early February. The mother took off, abandoning the children with the father who sits around holding the children tightly, not working and obviously is not the sharpest tack in the box. This is the third time we took in the older girl; now we have two. And he is now beginning to come back and disturb the girls. We had the police and village headman plus this guy sign an official document. The guy is nuts, and no one trusts him with the girls. The little one is frightened of everybody, but is getting somewhat better.
Our little herd of cows finally can boast of having two heifer calves. My dad raised Aberdeen Angus cattle, and they are mean, hostile creatures, but do not have horns. They can kill you, but not gut you. I figured Brahmin cattle would be benign mamas, and entered the corral to check out the little lady just born. I had the herdsman’s dog with me, and usually Pudding Head distracts the cows, so I went up to introduce myself to the newly born calf. I heard pawing and snorting behind me, and found Mama Cow and a couple young bulls coming up. Pudding Head had abandoned the field, and there was no one between me and the posse. I whipped off my belt, and that backed them off. I reached the safety of the fence and realized my cell phone was lying on a very soft cowpie. So, howling like a banshee and swinging my belt, I retrieved my phone, as a couple cows watched placidly. I felt like the village idiot. Thank God there were no witnesses.
We have finally installed the machines to make natural fertilizer pellets for our arid fields and orchards. The two buildings built, thanks to friends in Holland, will also hold the rice mill from the orchard. We will use rice husks, leaves, rice straw and cattle poop to make the pellets.
Again, thank you so much for your continued interest and compassion for the Great Unwashed. We pray for our benefactors every evening.
Gratefully!
Fr. Mike Shea
