Saturday, December 18, 2021

You've Goat To Be Kidding Me

 Hey Friends,

I promised you a hilarious tale about an event that goat out of hand. Now that I've had a solid week to process my experience, and appropriately embellish the details, this unbelievable, yet true story, is now fit for human consumption. 

I feel like almost everyday in Cayman, I hear or see something absolutely outrageously bizarre, think, "You can't make this shit up," and immediately search the the room for hidden cameras. Well friends, I've goat one for you and you literally cannot make this shit up. 

I was driving back to our home in West Bay mid-day, traveling down Mt. Pleasant Road, the "highway" of our district. In the distance, I could see something standing in the middle of the road, so I slowed to investigate. There, unmoving, stood a goat. The goat stubbornly refused to move after I honked, so I pulled over. There are many goat farmers here in Cayman, but a goat is not an animal that you would typically see on the side, or in the middle of the road in Cayman. If it was a blended family of chickens and iguanas, I wouldn't have even bat an eyelash.

I opened up my door and beckoned to the goat, "Hey! What are you doing out here? Are you lost?"

Like a friendly little puppy, the goat bounded over and nuzzled his little horns in my hand. Instantly, I felt responsible for this goat's well-being. I unloaded my crutch from the backseat and got out of the vehicle. My new friend, who I aptly named, "Billy," refused to leave my side. 

Meet Billy. He enjoys frolicking in the middle of traffic and harassing women on crutches

I noticed a clearing across the highway where I reasoned a small farm could exist, so I attempted to lure Billy across the highway. We were making some progress, when suddenly Billy began dancing on his hind legs back and forth across the highway (I swear on Allicia's Barbie collection). As Billy danced, I could hear vehicles approaching in the distance. And given that local buses barrel down this road at high speeds, I couldn't bear the thought of Billy becoming road kill (I mean, he's probably Christmas curry, but NOT road kill!).

So I did what any animal lover would do and I stood in the middle of the road, waving my crutch in the air while Billy danced like no one was watching back and forth across the highway. Thankfully, vehicles began stopping. One car attempted to help, offering to put Billy in their hatch, but Billy was busy living his best life on the highway to hell (Literally...the district of "Hell" was about 3 miles away). Oddly, other vehicles rolled down their window and yelled at me...AT ME! 

"Hey! Get your goat off the road!"

Dude. I'm on crutches, in my formal work clothes - do I look like a goat wrangler?

I was making little progress when suddenly a familiar voice beckoned from a vehicle, "Ms Kirstie, what are you doing?"

It was one my student's moms - a lovely woman, and a fellow West Bay-er. She immediately got out of her car to help me herd Billy.

"I think I know the farmer who owns this goat," she said, "I will make a few phone calls."

Together, we managed to lure the goat into the ditch, where he was safe from oncoming traffic. As she attempted to contact the suspected owner, I fed Billy leaves, but noticed that he was becoming more aggressive, pushing his horns into my legs.

"My students, now fully entertained by the situation, yelled from the vehicle, "Is that Ms Kirstie? Ms. Kirstie! Why do you have a goat?"

Suddenly, Billy ran out into the road again, and sat himself down in the middle of the highway. I looked on in horror to see that Billy was um....aroused...and sporting a...ahem...goat boner. Oblivious to the high speeding oncoming traffic, Billy tended to his male goat parts, while I, yet again, waved my crutch, desperately trying to save this damn horny goat. 

This time, drivers became quite angry, as Billy was now completely blocking both lanes of traffic. Cars began honking their horns, aggravating my friend, Billy, who was trying to have a private moment. 

Billy stood up, purposely walked toward the line of vehicles, and began bucking the cars with his horns!

Oh what a silly Billy. 

"Hey! Get your goat!" yelled the angry drivers. 

Luckily the mom came to my rescue, shaming the drivers for being so rude, ("This is NOT Caymankind!") and helping me lure Billy back to the side of the road. 

"What are we going to do?" I asked her. 

"It's okay, I have a friend coming with rope," she responded.

Ahhh...rope. Good thinking. 

Soon an iguana hunter approached us on his bike, and offered his goat expertise. 

"You got to make the goat noises," he suggested. 

At this point, I had been on the road, on my crutches, with my dear friend Billy for over an hour. I was not above making goat noises.

So the three of us nayed and brayed in various frequencies and intensities, and sure enough, Billy left his boner alone, and followed us into the clearing.

When we finally got Billy into the clearing, and we could see that there was, indeed, a goat pen in the distance, housing at least a dozen goats, our iguana hunter friend took Billy by the horns and corralled him into the pen. I have no idea if that is where Billy actually resides, but he was now locked away, safe from traffic, with a bevy of beautiful lady goats who he could impress with his um...Billy willy (CRINGE).

When I got home that day, sweaty and exasperated by the experience, I didn't even know where to begin the story. 

"You see, there was a goat with a boner and I didn't want him to get hit by a car..."

Looking at me incredulously, Ev replied, "Okay, I gotta hop on a call with a client, but maybe we could talk about this later?"

"Yup. No problem."

In the end, I feel like I goat owned. I obviously got goated into doing something that I was not qualified to do You herd it here first, it was a baaaaad situation. 

Ok. I'm done. 






Saturday, December 11, 2021

Tourists, new experiences, and a pussy party!

 Hi Friends!

We are trudging along here in Cayman. Covid is alive and well, and typically around 50-100 people are testing positive on a daily basis; however, the government went ahead with the planned border opening, and our borders are now "open" to travelers. I use "open" loosely, as there are still challenging hoops to jump through in order to actually receive approval to land here. As a tourist, you can't just hop on a plane, show your passport, and head to the beach. There is pre-approval paperwork, proof of vaccine, a negative PCR prior to arrival, and then multiple covid tests during your time in Cayman. So...tourists are trickling in...kinda like a sloooow drip. In fact, we've created a fun new game during happy hour called, "Spot the tourist," and it was quite exciting to see an older gentleman donning calf-height white socks with a tropical-themed shirt last Friday! Welcome back!

Despite many of our friends and/or their children testing positive for Covid, Ev and I have managed to dodge the virus (I feel like I shouldn't declare this, as surely now the 'vid will find us!) We found ourselves alone at happy hour on a few occasions, awaiting the release of our buds (sounds like a prison sentence!) We were both able to get our boosters, so I'm hopeful that my vaccine is doing it's job, and I can continue to remain healthy...ish. 

Yes, there's an "ish." I haven't been feeling well now for the past 2 months, as one of knees is back in asshole-mode, yet again. I will spare you all the details because I can hear you all saying, "Again?" You are probably just as tired of hearing about my knees as I am being responsible for these damn appendages. I do require another knee surgery in Philly at the end of December (lucky #13!), and I'm feeling pretty...I don't know..defeated? I'm over it. I am in quite a bit of pain these days, so I am relieved that the surgery is happening quite quickly. I need to feel better. I'm really struggling to work full days and maintain any facade of joy and excitement over an accurate production of a /k/ sound. Being in constant pain is terrible for your mental health, and as vain as this may sound, the deterioration of my appearance is really bothering me. I feel like I've aged 5 years in the last 2 months.  When I look at my reflection in the mirror, I see a sick, tired, sallow-skinned, vacant-eyed, aging woman. It makes me feel sad. This is NOT who I am! Like I said, I'm OVER IT!

On a positive note, I did something super cool over the past few months. I taught a course to second year Education students at the University College of the Cayman Islands (UCCI). When I was approached to run the class: Methods of Inclusion and Collaboration, I was initially reluctant and kinda scared shitless. I was approached on a Friday and the class began the following Tuesday. I think that the lack of time to fret and consider all disastrous outcomes was in my favor, and I'm so happy that I decided to it. It was an incredible experience! 

I ended up re-writing the course material - I think teaching someone else's material can be difficult, and I wanted to include our updated Code of Practice in the session. My class was comprised of  9 second year Education students, mostly in their late teens and early 20's. They were eager, attentive, interactive, and just an incredible group of humans to work with. The course ran during the early evenings on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It was time-consuming, as I spent many hours preparing for lectures in addition to fulfilling my full-time hours as a Speech Pathologist with the schools, but it was an incredibly rewarding experience! Unfortunately we had to move to remote learning during the last 3 weeks of the course due to Covid, and that learning curve was STEEEEP. I had 24 hours to figure out how to run Microsoft Teams (hate it!) and deploy exams online on a program called "Blackboard." I totally understand how my grandparents felt the first time someone showed them internet. It was all blowing my mind (not in a good way), and I was paranoid that tech issues would prevent me from delivering lectures and administering exams. In the end, it all worked out with a few minor glitches (can you picture a laid up Kirstie, ice on knee whilst laying in bed, realizing that not only is the final exam not visible to the students 2 minutes into exam-writing time, but that the entire course has disappeared from the platform!! OMG). Overall, teaching this course really elevated my spirits and made me feel like "me" again during a challenging time.  

In other news, Biloxi, the Most Interesting Cat in the World, celebrated his 20th birthday last week! It's not everyday that a cat turns 20, so in typical Kirstie fashion, I had to throw a pun-filled pawty for him. I wanted to plan something fun for my island "nieces," and also provide an opportunity for the parents of the nieces (ha!) to drink champagne, so obviously we threw a birthday brunch! While Ev prepared his famous panakouken (dutch crepes filled with anything and everything), I had the kiddos decorate Biloxi's new "Catty Shack," and shower Biloxi with pawesome gifts that would make any cat jealous. One of my buds jokingly referred to the birthday as a "pussy party," and we had to gently suggest that 5-year old niece stop telling people she was attending a pussy party at Aunty Kirstie's house! 



Although Biloxi is quite frail (he blows over if the breeze from the fan directly hits him), he's in pretty good health for a 20 year old cat! He's become super cuddly since we lost Dundee, our little white dog, and he insists on sleeping with his paw on my arm, or his head nuzzled in my neck whenever I'm home. I truly feel like he can sense when I'm not feeling well (or maybe he just really enjoys laying in bed with me!)  He can be incredibly annoying, meowing bloody murder at 4am when his pate is no longer formed in a perfect volcano shape, but despite the aggravation he causes, I love this cat so much. When I look at him, all the memories of our youth come rushing back. Biloxi was with us when Evan and I moved in together for the first time (that was a ROUGH start, by the way). He travelled to every state/country/continent that Ev played hockey in. He's been with us through really hard times, and with us during the best times (he tried to climb on Ev's knee as he was proposing!) We love this guy, and I know that he won't live forever (or maybe he will?),  but I'm so grateful for every extra day that we have with him. 

I have a really funny true tale of rescuing a goat from the middle of the road - but this story deserves it's own post. So stay tuned because things definitely goat out of hand! 

Cheers!