Well.....I live in paradise.  Something that becomes more and more apparent to me the longer I stay and more I get out.  Yesterday Alicia and I had an amazing day off.  One that makes you realize how lucky you are to be here and makes the hard work worth it.  I've spent a lot of time in Whaler's Village and Lahaina at the beach right there the last two days.  Now I understand why people save up money to vacation here or honeymoon.  The hotels (at least the outside) are amazing.  Perfect grass and flowers everywhere and beautiful pools with bars and restaurants with live music and tiki torches.  After deliveries Thursday Eva convinced me to stay out and spend some time on the beach and snorkel.  I've never snorkeled before (not counting snorkeling in grandma's pool haha)  and it was so cool.  I have to admit though it was a little freaky at first because the minute Erin and I got in the ocean there was a GIANT sea turtle swimming around near the shore...also a first for me.  And the whole shark thing freaks me out.  We saw coral, all sorts of fish, and even the classic Humuhumunukunukuapuaa. Yah try saying that three times fast!  Or even once!  After snorkeling we just layed on the beach and watched the sunset.  Like Fleetwood's they do a torch ceremony where they run across black rock cliff (where we were with good snorkeling) and light torches.  Yesterday's day off started early as Alicia and I headed off to Makawao for our first yoga class here in  Maui.  Now I've never done yoga before really...I'm not very good at relaxing haha.  Breathing slow and deep and relaxing your muscles while closing your eyes is probably one of the hardest things for me to do!  I told my new yoga teacher I'm pretty uptight and it's hard for me to just relax and he didn't believe me.  But I think he'll realize it soon enough as I take more classes.  At first I hated it.  We started off doing some "ohms" and chanting something I didn't even know and was like O BOY but continuing the class and forcing myself to try and keep up with the poses and stretching I started to really enjoy it.  Granted he said my name a million times during the class and was pulling on my head (yeah I was the ONLY one in the tiny class that hadn't done yoga before). At the end of class we even meditated a bit...or atleast tried...and it was so great to be in this little studio doing something new and good for my body hearing the birds and rooster outside the open window with the Hawaiian sun shining in.  It can't get much better.  Afterwards we went to Komoda bakery and got some donuts.  Yeah yeah I know we're canceling the yoga we just did haha.  Then we went back to Lahaina because Alicia wanted to go to the beach there at Whaler's and layed out and drank some wine then walked around the shops and went to dinner.  We went to melting pot for dinner and holy crap that place is expensive!  But it was fun to try it out, not to mention I love cheese : ) 

Wednesday I did my first volunteering as a new animal therapy/education program volunteer for Haku Baldwin Center.  Wow am I thankful I found volunteering with animals and people to do while I'm here.  My fellow volunteers and director are so open and friendly and excited to have me join the team.  I fed all the bunnies and chickens when I got there while Allison, an animal touch healer (very interesting woman), cleaned up under the cages.  Being around all those rabbits makes me miss Luna even more!!  At least she's in great hands and I just sent her some treats last week.  After that we loaded up the truck and headed off to Wailuku's Hale Makua nursing home.  To spend time with all the old folks with bunnies, guinea pigs, and one rooster named Black Jack (one of the residents is crazy about) and see the good and effect animals have on them was so amazing.  I was put with a woman who was having a hard time staying awake and spoke so quietly it was hard to understand her...she wasn't really all there and I was starting to feel like I wasn't making any impact until she had a moment where she reached out her hand and put it on mine and pet the bunny Violet.  For her to use that kind of motor skill and do that on her own after it seemed like I wasn't able to communicate to her was very rewarding.  Another woman was having a great time grooming all the bunnies and guinea pigs with a little pink brush we brought and spent a lot of time telling me about her past pets.  I'm definitely looking forward to next Wednesday.  

Even though I live in paradise I still have lots of work to do here on the farm.  And work I did today....haha it was one of those crazy days where things keep going wrong but you can't help but laugh about it and have fun.  It started with my morning milking the goats and missing one.  I figured it was Cassandra, one that often crosses the fences to be with the kids, but no such luck.  While Eva and I were looking for whoever it was all the kids started to lean on the arena fence and there it went tumbling down!  So we put them in trees, a pasture next door.  Finally Eva figured out the missing goat was Duhntu who had somehow escaped and went all the way to Soho across the farm!  Apparently she's a "free spirit" as Eva says or in other words a pain in the ass and tends to pop up all over the place.  Sure enough later in the day Gina came and got me because she found a random goat bleating all by her lonesome in Nowhereland...guess who.  Later I had my grand dairy tour of ten people.  All was going well and it went as usual having them milk Norberta and telling them about milking, etc.  When we went to herd, right as I grabbed Teddy to join the ladies in their day pasture, all the babies decided they wanted to come along too!  They hopped out of trees and joined the adults.  So I have Ghiradelli trying to herd them on the brink of too much excitement and losing control, a billy goat taking his sweet time, and all the goats and people making their way to Golf.  As if that wasn't chaos enough once I got to the gate for Golf the irrigation starts and let me tell you, goats HATE water.  They absolutely did not want to go in.  I'm pretty sure I looked inexperienced and out of control with all this going on but at least it was another memorable tour for the visitors under my belt haha.  So they all actually got to be hands on and help herd as people started grabbing goats and kids and separating them and putting them in the pasture.  We finally got all the adults and kids situated after a few runaways and a kid literally jumping from a feeder into my arms where I caught her.  People thought it was so funny and somehow I came off like I knew all about goats in the process after a woman asked me if I had worked with goats for a long time...I just laughed and said a whole two months!  After herding they got to come to barn stalls and see poor little Amelia who broke her leg on my day off.  I was SO bummed I missed it and wasn't there to help and watch the vet set it but Eva said she took lots of pictures.  Amelia tried to jump out of kennel and caught her front leg and the bone stuck right out of the skin.  Now she has this big cast and we're giving her penicillin.  Hopefully the leg heals and doesn't die or we'll have to amputate it.  The vet said to check it in a week.  I guess the silver lining of it for her?  LOTS of attention : )   I have to say it's pretty freaking adorable yet sad at the same time watching her walk around with that cast.  She's a little trooper so I hope it all heals well.  

After the "disastrous" yet entertaining tour I had to go hunt down two more kids that were left behind by Golf.  I come up to them and one is soaking wet and one has her head stuck in a fence with keawe beans in her mouth haha.  Crazy kids.  Today I also got to deworm for the first time!  We measure around them behind their arms to see how much they weigh around and figure 1 cc for 16 pounds.  We use cydectin which is this super purple dewormer that normally is soaked through the skin (on cows for example) but for goats they have to ingest it.  Eva said she used to have purple goats before she found this out.  Now she just has purple mouthed goats haha.  So you use a dosing pistol and just shoot it in their mouths.  It was pretty fun and I was excited to learn another aspect of the farm.  I did all the kids and then Teddy which was interesting.  Teddy weighs 210 and he's taller than my legs!  So I'm trying to mount him to give him his dewormer and my legs are too short so I'm literally riding him haha.  Teo had to mount him with her taller legs while I did his dewormer from the side.  We also had to get Bluebell and Popo, very fast goats that are hard to catch.  That was interesting.  Finally my day was over and it was time to relax.  It was really windy today which felt amazing after a shower and the sun was setting.  Gotta love the farm life no matter what kind of crazy day you have.  

Dinner Saturday night was sooo good.  Thomas is quite the cook, he also has a million cookbooks...def his hobby haha.  He and Eva also let Alicia and I use their jacuzzi after dinner while we waited for the apple streusel to bake.  What a view.  You can see all the lights of Kahului from their hot tub and the stars were out.  Eva said it's really great when it's a clear night and you can see the milky way and the stars are extra bright.  We got to talking about church and religion at dinner and Eva suggested some churches in the area.  She let me go into work later on Sunday so Teo and I could go.  We went to St. Joseph's in Makawao and it was BEAUTIFUL.  It's also a really small church, compared to what I'm used to.  I can't tell you how good it felt to be in church again.  Between that and volunteering at Haku Baldwin Center I'll have more balance in my life.  Sunday I found a huge cockroach...ironic after Thomas just told me they get way bigger haha. 

Today was my half outside/half inside day.  Strochy and Ghira hunted a deer so I had to have them come along with me for everything so they wouldn't go eat it...just add dog babysitter to my resume.  I milked in the morning and fed all the goats/dogs and then it was off to the dairy to work with Eva.  And I learned sooo much about pasteurization.  Throughout the day we pasteurized cheese and added culture (to sour the milk), CaCl (to form bonds and cross-links of protein) and rennet, an enzyme found in the animal stomach or vegetable rennet which we use so vegetarians can eat our cheese, for coagulation.  Then we cut the cheese and poured it into molds to make biscuits.  I also packed udderly delicious (chevre) and made and packed fruit quark.  Below is Eva packing cheese for deliveries tomorrow.  I'm also sending some lucky loved ones some cheese and soap tomorrow...can't wait to see how they like it!  

Well I have been quite the clutz lately...or accident prone, I can't decide.  The other morning I completely tripped on a chain trying to let the babies out to graze on slope and cut/scraped my knee up.  It seems like everything on the farm gets infected easily, even something small like that.  Then last night when we went to get Teo from Kahului I shut the car door on Alicia's calf!  Thank god it wasn't her hand or ankle.  Don't worry, she's just fine haha.  And to top it off I was on the phone with dad this evening and was sitting on our rocky surfboard bench and it completely collapsed on me.  Someone pray I don't really hurt myself while I'm here!  

The last few days have been pretty busy yet uneventful.  Tuesday I did deliveries and it took me sooooo long because I had to stop at Sears to get a tire sensor put on the car.  It took 3 hours!  I also delivered biscuits to the culinary school at maui community college so they can practice smoking them. For some reason I thought it'd be a good idea to carry the 50+ pounds of biscuits in two containers all the way in and up and down stairs.  I was sweating and huffing and puffing and the guy Ed we drop them off with was laughing and me.  I'm just glad I didn't drop the hundreds of biscuits all over the place.  I somehow managed to carry them without dropping them but not without bruising my arms in the process.  I found a really nice bookstore while I was waiting for the car at Sears thats the "friends of the library" bookstore so the books are really cheap...kind of like the basement of the library sale back at home mom would pile books into paper bags at.  That night we went to a mexican restaurant in Makawao (we've been spending a lot of time there) called Polli's and got margaritas and good food.  Everything was so delicious.

Unfortunately my day off Wed I was stranded at the farm since the car was taken in for repairs.  At least I had a day to relax and unwind.  I've been so tired and stressed I didn't even feel like going out that night so Teo and Erin went to Casanovas again while Alicia and I stayed back.  Thursday was a fairly good delivery day.  Erin came along so I could drop her off at the beach on the way to Lahaina and everything went smooth.  The chef at pineapple grill in kapalua is back and it was so good to see him.  It's the slow season so he was able to take a week vacation...way too fast! he said.  The best part of deliveries is getting to meet the chefs and chat with them...he's definitely my favorite.  Thursday night all us girls had a typical "girls night" and drank wine, ate fruit tart and popcorn, and watched crazy stupid love.  Below you can see the after effect in the intern room haha. O yah and I'm now becoming the crazy cat lady...just love these barn cats!  Me and Princess Highway and Ramses below...

Friday I finally got to start volunteering at the Haku Balwin Center.  I'm so excited to get to do some volunteering while I'm here in Hawaii.  Shannon, the manager and doctor at the farm, is super friendly and welcoming (as most Hawaiians are greeting you with a hug and kiss on the cheek) and the other employees and volunteers seem to be nice as well.  I didn't get to spend too much time there because it wasn't a typical volunteer day but I did get a tour and helped set up tents for their harvest festival tomorrow.  When I arrived they already had lots of halloween decorations up.  It just so happens one of their long time volunteers who does the animal therapy/education program Wed is stepping out because she'll be giving birth soon so I'll be taking her place.  She showed me the bunnies, chickens, and goat as well as explained cleaning and such for the morning before you leave to do the program.  Next Wed will be my first program as a volunteer.  The therapy horses there are beautiful...I just wish my days off were the days they do the horse therapy program : (  Maybe at some point before I leave.  Alicia and I also got to spend some time at the beach in Kahului afterwards.  Apparently that same beach, always filled with kite surfers, had a shark attack a few days ago!!  Good thing I never made it into the water haha.  I guess Kevin's method of going no deeper in the ocean than his knees may be useful ; ) When we got home we all decided to go out to Makawao and meet Gina at her house before going to a concert.  She has the cutest little puppy there!  I tried to take a good pic of him but he was wiggling around a lot as most puppies do.  The concert was a local group you hear on the radio a lot here in Maui called Ekolu.  They were really good and had great voices...I'd like to see them again for sure. We stayed out later than I was hoping since I worked at 6:30 this morning but it was worth it.

Today I was on my own outside so the usual chores took more of the day than I'm used to.  I got to sleep in an extra half hour though since we had no grand dairy tour today which I was excited about.  What I wasn't so excited about?  Having to fish out a dead mouse from the orchard's water bucket today...yuck!  I really hate rodents.  The orchard girls were being such a pain in my ass too because they didn't want to graze and eat in the orchard since Poi was in house right next to them and not a lot of them are pregnant.  My big project of the day was spreading the bale of hay George dropped off last night.  It wasn't the easiest to work with since it was really wet but I finally got it all spread.  Well it's off to dinner at Thomas and Eva's!  We're trying to kill all the roaches in the dairy and kitchen so we're bombing it with roach killer.  The roaches seem to love my shed lately...I thought I found a couple big ones but Thomas said those are small compared to what he's seen haha.  Yikes!

To all my fellow spartans tough loss today!!  I wasn't able to watch but it sounds like I didn't miss a good game against the wolverines haha.  At least we had a good 4 year run...better luck next year.  Go Green!!!

I woke up at 6:15 this morning for my 6:30 shift and it was SO hard to drag myself out of bed!  Once I'm up I'm always thankful for the early morning shift though because it's relaxing and peaceful.  Especially when your the only one there in the morning.  This morning didn't quite go off without a hitch seeing how the dogs were extra hyper and excited.  Eva said just go ahead and ignore them and do my job but since I didn't gain that control before herding Poi jumped into house and the three ladies with him were chased all the way to the goat walk by Ghira haha.  I know he means well, he just wants to work so bad!  Other than that milking went as usual...a lot of ladies moved on to black tape (meaning their dry and no more milking).  I had to pull Buttons, one of the goats I did hoof care on yesterday, off the milk stand after because Eva said her back left hoof was still curving...she showed me how to fix it. That's the great thing about Eva, she's always willing to educate you and gosh darn it if you came here for the apprenticeship/intern program you will learn as much as you can while your here.  Always take the opportunity to learn something she says.  The good news is she said the rest of buttons feet looked good so I finally conquered hoof care!  

After morning chores I went in for my half day in the dairy.  I got to work with Cody and Monique together which was fun since usually it's just one or the other.  They are both locals that met here at the farm and just got engaged (CONGRATS LOVE BIRDS!).  I learned more about pasteurizing the cheese and adding the culture and rennet to make napa as well as packing garden fantasia for deliveries and boiling biscuits.  No plans for the rest of the evening since Rachel needed the car for meetings in Lahaina but its never a bad thing to just sit in the bario and read a book : ) 

Hoof care, hoof care, hoof care!  That seems to be the big thing these days as we've moved on to the milking herd and are giving all the goats their mani/pedis before birthing season.  The mamas are getting bigger and bigger reminding us all during the slow time the babies are on their way.  The last few days have been pretty good.  I haven't been feeling so good so friday I dropped Alicia off at the beach and then went to a movie.  I saw Looper and it was great!  I never realized how relaxing it is to see a movie by yourself...especially when you work on a farm.  It's like a quiet mindless escape.  Though I did feel guilty when I walked out of the matinee and it was absolutely gorgeous outside.  Then again it pretty much always is haha.  After that Alicia and I did some shopping at savers (a second hand store) so I could get some loose jeans I can get all crappy.  It's so hard wearing pants in this hot weather.  I've never sweat so much as when I do hoof care...literally sweat running down my face.  I'm happy to say I'm getting much better at it.  Cutting bigger strips of hoof off with one slice.  That's the funny thing about challenges you come across in your life.  You may convince yourself you can't do it but when you have no choice and you have to it becomes easier and easier.  Sounds simple right?  

Friday night Alica, Teo, Erin, and I went to Makawao to Stop Watch (the cowboy bar) for dinner where we met up with Gina as well.  Then we went to another BBQ at Skylar's.  Not only was it fun to get out but I really enjoy meeting and hanging out with people outside of work.  We didn't get to stay out too late though since I had to work at 6 the next morning.  My work week actually starts with the weekend ironically enough.  I had a large grand tour saturday morning...20 people!  It was all adults so it was fun because I got to make more adult jokes and talk about breeding and Poi.  And boy did Poi (one of our bucks) put on a show.  When we were herding he was being slow and got far behind so I told Ghira to "bring him here" and Poi tried to rear up and resist being herded.  He ended up running finally and since my big tour were along the way he almost ran into a few of them.  I was a little nervous people would be upset but they LOVED it.  I told Eva what happened later and she just smiled and said good!  then it was memorable for them.  Here at the farm the tours are more about making memories and performing than all the facts.  As Eva says "Kate, its your show!" After the tour it was chores and hoof care.  I also had to sell Marley, my favorite kid we have here that's up for sale : (  I also saw an awesome rainbow right outside the barn after work.  So pretty..sometimes the pictures here look fake the scenery and weather are so perfect.  I also got a couple great pics of all the kite surfers at kahana beach park in kahului where I picked teo up after my shift since she had a beach day and doesn't have her license yet. That night we had dinner at Thomas and Eva's.  Eva made this delicious carrot, leeks, beef and mashed potato dish. Today was a shorter day for hours we're opened since it's sunday and I'm the late shift so it's always a more peaceful evening.  It was a typical day except it was Christy's birthday so we did a little mid-day celebration of cake.  Thomas and Eva bought guava cheesecake and chocolate mousse cake...soo yummy.  Christy also got to open some "jah-jah" presents which she was pretty excited about.  The pics below of the truffles are some of the tangerine truffles we make here at the farm.  I love love love the truffles!  It's always fun when Christy gives us samples of them or has us taste test new flavors.  Today I tried a tangerine truffle and a rum raisen truffle. 

Peanut was so sweet during hoof care...waiting for her treat of fresh papaya afterwards

Guess which ones are the mommys!

Time to clean up and rest from the day...super sore from hoof care.  Half way through my 4 day work day streak!  Time is starting to go by really fast as I get more and more settled and into the routine each day.  Just wait until the babes arrive.  Heard it's snowing in AK and getting chillier back home in the mitten.  Missing the fall weather!  

It's been a busy last four days but today I had a nice relaxing day off.  Teo from Romania is here and learning the ropes and it's been fun having an all girls staff for interns/apprentices.  She will be here for a year like Erin and I.  Having someone new around as well as Eva reminds you just how much you have to learn even after you "know the ropes".  I'm glad I came at the end of summer/early fall since this is the slow period before babies start arriving and things really get busy.  Haha Eva said we think we're busy now....just wait.  

As you may have noticed I've been having a few down days and the funny part is it's all because of the dogs!  I've never really trained a dog, let alone worked with working/herding dogs and so I've been feeling so out of control.  There are a couple things I've realized about myself being here...I love to be in control, I rely on having a social life, and I don't prefer mixing my work and personal life.  Don't get me wrong it's nice having my shed to escape to but o how I envy those that have an apartment or house to go home to at the end of the day haha.  Being completely emerged in a situation can be overload but that's what beach days on your day off are for ; )   Anyways, the point I was getting to was I finally broke through to the dogs.  When I arrived I wasn't taught to really work with them...they would just come along.  Once Eva arrived, I realized I was supposed to actually work with them and be in complete control.  You can imagine how that worked out the first day when the dogs have had their freedom with me and the other interns.  Yah...we'd scold them when they did something wrong but we didn't really WORK with them.  After having a rough morning of continually giving commands and yelling after Ghira (the most hyper/youngest one) and getting nowhere I finally broke down.  Probably the most embarrassing moment or thing I could've done in front of Eva.  She was very motherly about it and calmed me down and helped me with the dogs and showed me the technique and commands to herding in the morning.  And let me tell you Ghira was an absolute angel the rest of the day staying by my side and riding in the golf cart with me to go herd.  After doing better with him the rest of the day Eva said "yes! see, it's supposed to be fun not stressful"  So that has been my latest defeat --> overcoming obstacle.  It's funny how something small like the dogs can really affect you and your work.  Who would've thought that'd be the toughest part minus hoof care in the whole farming job for me!

So what have I been up to the last four work days besides the usual milking (which is so easy now that I've done it so much and it's routine...Howie you told me so!!) and chores?  Gina (our landscaper) and I worked together on fencing...something I've been wanting to learn here.  The babies have managed to be great escape artists and jump out of their pasture in Hansi and so we had to make it higher and add on fencing.  It was really fun to work on a different sort of project.  And I really got to know Gina.  She's a true country girl.  Made me think of all my sisters at home.  She's huge into rodeos and bull rides and apparently knows all the cow boys.  Erin and I are planning on going to the cowboy bar in Makawao tomorrow night for karaoke haha.  I knew we'd be friends when I asked her if she liked the movie 8 seconds (LISA BARTZ!!) and she said thats her favorite show.  By the way I've noticed people around here call movies shows a lot....and say yea at the end of a sentence which I'm unfortunately starting to catch on to.  I've also been spending a lot of time in the orchard herding the goats there with Ghira and making sure they stay and graze.  It's so funny to watch them get up on their legs going for leaves and such.  The orchard with the hammock is super nice...especially in the evening. I put a video of the goats being funny below but I'm not sure why I'm breathing so hard in it haha maybe exhaustion from yelling commands to Ghira.  I've also learned to get all the packages ready for FedEx with Christy and send out goat cheese, etc.  Come Christmas Christy says she has FedEx nightmares because there are SO many orders.  They end up having packing stations where one persons wrapping, packing, putting on stickers....I'm curious to see how crazy it gets.  With the holidays and the new babies I think this place is gonna get pretty crazy. The other night us girls went to Lahaina for happy hour at Fleetwoods (one of the restaurants that we deliver our cheese to) which is on the water and stayed for part of their ceremony they have.  There was a native Hawaiian who did a prayer and sang and also explained the meaning of aloha and lit the torches and then they had a guy playing the bag pipes for the scottish side of the owner.  It was so beautiful being on the water.  I really love Lahaina.  It's very touristy but a fun place to go and you can't beat the views and water.  After happy hour (they have amazing drinks too, I got a black pepper grapefruit drink and margarita with wine on top) we did some window shopping, checked out Lush (a homemade cosmetics store) and a Vladimir Kush art gallery.  There's also a HUGE banyan tree which was amazing.  I've never seen anything like it.  It has these super long thick branches that seem to go on forever.  Yesterday was my inside/delivery day.  I spent a majority of the day delivering in Wailea and Kihei and then worked in the dairy with Cody.  Below he's making a Tzaziki platter...yum.  

Do you see Emma the barn cat in the picture?? : ) 

My day off today was pretty uneventful.  It's just me off (which is kind of nice to have that time) and I just relaxed and filled out some paperwork.  I'm trying to volunteer at the Haku Baldwin Center in their animal therapy/education program so I gave them a call today to set up an interview.  I cant' wait to get started on that...hopefully it all works out.  I also filled out some paperwork to get my first passport for Thailand next Nov : ) I can't wait!  So much to look forward to.  Well I'm off, time to get ready for ladies night in Makawao with the girls haha.  

Eva has arrived!!  Hence being MIA.  Work has been a million times better...I'm finally learning how to do things the way I know it's supposed to be done.  That being said it has been like training all over again and I quickly came to realize how much I wasn't told or details forgotten.  Having Eva here has been great.  She's so inspiring.  Woman knows her stuff!  You can tell she absolutely loves her goats and she has so much experience and knowledge to offer.  I'm very excited for the year and everything I'll learn.  Though it's much more stressful and nerve racking having her around and watching (I swear she knows all even if she's not there haha)  my experience has just become more real.  The farm also feels more like it should...even the dogs were getting a little naughty in her absence. So besides learning the ropes I have done a few fun things the last week or so.  All us interns went to the Maui fair with Monique in the dairy which was so much fun.  I always love fairs.  I didn't get a chance to see the animals though which I was bummed about.  I even went on some of the rides which I normally never do because mom always taught us not to because she didn't trust them haha.  And boy I don't blame her...the ring of fire ride had me scared for my life.  And of course it started steaming after I got off.  We also had a poker night where we all dressed up fancy and wore sunglasses so we could have our poker faces.  It was a really good time and Monique and Cody were able to make it too.  Dan left (we had a nice dinner with everyone after work for him) and a new apprentice from Romania came in his place named Teodora or Teo for short.  Alicia and I went to the airport to pick her up last night but couldn't find her anywhere!! Turns out one of her planes got delayed so she had to go on a diff one.  Today we went to senior water aerobics with Eva (which was SO fun) and to Paia for the beach.  The beach was def one of the first things I wanted to do when I first got here too.  Other than that nothing too new has happened.  We put Poi with the milking herd (we took all the black tapes and put them in a separate herd) so he's been breeding the ladies that haven't been bred yet.  Billy goats are so weird in the way they pee all over and stick their tongues out when they want to breed.  Well off to bed...tomorrow I start at 6 am and am doing the grand tour all by myself.  Wish me luck!