Page 110 of Family Bonds- Jarrett & Andi

She giggled. “Do you name them all?”

“We do,” Bob said. “It’s like having kids.”

There were six goats in the barn but only these two babies. There were pigs and llamas and a few cows. A chicken coop they passed when they came in too.

“Are they just your pets?” she asked.

“We milk the goats,” Bob said. “We make goat’s milk soap here and use the milk. It’s a long process but worth it. We like to live off the land and our animals and find that vacationers enjoy helping out.”

She laughed. “I’m going to fall right into this. Can you show me how to milk a goat?”

“Sherise is the mom of these two. We can milk her as she’s about ready for it,” Bob said.

Andi moved over and watched him start and then she did the rest, laughing the whole time. “Do you milk them all?”

“I’ve got three mamas producing milk. Butch, he’s the dad.”

She giggled over the name.

When they were done milking the goats, she even asked Jarrett to try andget a picture. Then they went out to see thechickens. No way she was collecting eggs when she saw they weren’t that friendly with strangers.

“How long have you had this land?” she asked. “It’s beautiful up here.”

“It’s been in my family for generations,” Bob said. “We’ve always had animals and my wife and kids enjoyed caring for them while I was in town working.”

“What did you do?” Jarrett asked.

“I’m an engineer. We didn’t always live up herefull time. Not until the kids were out of school and in college. My parents were still on the land then and we came up and helped on the weekends. Now, it’s just nice to escape the hustle and bustle of things. I find nature to be better neighbors than people.”

“Yet you rent out the house next door to people?”

“We built that house to stay in when the kids were little. Once we moved here, we decided to rent it out and give city folk the experience.”

Andi giggled over that statement. “I’m not sure we are city folk.”

“You’re from Boston though, right?” Bob asked.

She looked at Jarrett. “In the area,” he said.

She knew better than to say where they lived. She never volunteered any information like that. Even when her father was alive.

“Having the renters and the house gives us something to do in our retirement. Brings in some income on top of it. Someday, my kids will have these homes too.”

“Do they live around here?” she asked.

“My son works in Boston but lives outside of it. He’s married with two young kids and they come up to visit and stay in the house too, but not much in the winter. My daughter lives in New York right now. Just outside the city with her family and threekids. They don’t visit as often as their kids are in all sorts of activities.”

“It’s the way of the world now,” she said.

“It is,” Bob said.

They spent another thirty minutes with the animals and Bob and then walked back to their rented cabin.

“I would love something like this,” she said. “To just escape away. I might even be able to live like this full time, but the drive into town to work would be too much.”

“It would,” he said. “But a nice weekend place. I understand why so many have weekend homes on the island. Maybe they don’t think the ferry trip over is much more than what we drove to get here.”

“I could afford a weekend home,” she said, “but why do I need one when I’m on the island? And there is no way I would empty my account to get a waterfront home. But maybe one in the mountains like this off the island would be so nice.”

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