Milkface Moves Beyond Milk
© Copyright 2008 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where Farmgirl Susan shares stories & photos of her crazy country life on 240 remote Missouri acres - and even baby lambs know everybody needs some fiber in their diet.
Dee Dee & Her Baby Boy, Milkface
Sometimes it can take a while to get a name around here. And when you do finally get one, there's no guarantee that it'll be a good one - especially if my mother happens to be around. During her first visit to the farm she renamed one of the cats. Crook, so called by his previous owners because he not only had an odd little crook in his tail but also used to steal food from other cats, became Patchy Cat because he "looks just like my Patchy Cat who got run over by a car." Okay, fine - though Joe still can't believe that our all doing, all seeing, all around manly Farm Boss feline is now named (use your best high pitched girly voice here) Patchy Cat.
Then several years ago she named Auntie Rose, which isn't horrible but isn't so great either. The ironic part is that not only does my mother have no recollection whatsoever of actually coming up with the name Auntie Rose, she also swears she doesn't remember the conversation she and I had during her visit last fall when I informed her that the sheep she was inquiring about was named Auntie Rose because that's what she told me I should name her, and I hadn't wanted to hurt her feelings by later changing it.
Then she decided to come to the farm this year during lambing season. And when she first arrived and was trying to figure out which lamb was which and who they each belonged to, I pointed to one and said that he was the little milk face baby whose photo I'd posted a couple of times. That did it. From that second on, every single time she was down at the barn she would look around and say, "Where's Milkface?" even though she'd never actually seen him with any milk on his face.
Naturally the name quickly stuck. Even I started referring to him as Milkface. At one point while we were watching him playing in the barnyard I turned to her and said, "I can't believe that poor little guy is gonna have to go through his entire life being called Milkface." She laughed.
Fortunately Milkface doesn't seem to mind. Although while my mother was here, and his name was constantly being said aloud, I did notice that he'd stopped sleeping curled up next to Dee Dee and was cuddling up next to the biggest lamb in the barnyard instead. I figure some of the other kids had started teasing him behind my back. They're just lucky my mother left before she'd had a chance to name them, too.
© 2008 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where an Auntie Rose by another name would be as sweet - and cute little Milkface is pretty much just out of luck.
