Jubinal and Norma Visit

Sunday afternoon, I was awakened by a phone call from Jubinal. He and his wife Norma sold Estrella to Lamar and Beulah when they first arrived. Norma loves Estrella and likes to visit her periodically.

Jubinal asked how I was, so I explained how I had been sick and was in bed. “Don’t worry, Juancito! We will come visit you and being you some tea.”

Well, that’s not exactly what I had been hoping for. He says they’d come the next day. I thanked him for his concern and went back to sleep.

Sure enough, just after lunch he called again. He asked if I was still sick. I happened to have just lain down for a nap, so I told him I was in bed.

“Okay, Juancito. We’ll be there before too long. See you soon!”

I crawled out of bed and sat by the window to wait for them, not wanting to fall asleep before they arrived. They arrived around 1:00 or so. I went out and talked to them.

I tried remembering any time in the States where a fellow called and said he wanted to come spend the day with me just for the hoot of it. And to be expected to simply be available, besides. That was a normal occurrence here before the virus. Hopefully, this is a sign that things are normalizing even more.

Usually, Jubinal and Norma have a side agenda, but today it seemed they were just visiting. They told me they were sorry I was sick and that their children have fevers, too, so they understand. Well, okay, then.

Of course, they wanted to see the cows, so out to the field we went. I noticed right away that Percy’s calf was missing, so we began looking for her. I kept trying not to think about the nap I was missing as we searched ditches. I had to stop and rest after a slight cough attack, but mostly it wasn’t too bad, honestly.

Heifer found, Jubinal wanted to tell Percy and me stories of how he and Norma had heroically saved cows and calves from difficult births. “The vets just want to give vitamins. They don’t know how to deliver a cow with dystocia.” He seemed pleased with using the word “dystocia” frequently.

The most thrilling story was how he used white and brown sugar to create a glue that he used to cement a uterus that had fallen out during a difficult calf pulling. He was able to position the uterus in its place and tack it with the sugar glue, allowing the cow to carry on with a long and full life. “A vet would never have thought to do that!” He said, triumphantly. I agreed with him that it seemed an unlikely veterinary practice.

The afternoon wore on, and they did not leave. The children and Steph got up from naps and joined us outside, freeing Percy to slip away to weld in peace.

The children played for hours in the yard. Jubinal and Norma helped direct the games when they became dull. I leaned against the kid barn and rested as best I could.

Eventually, at chore time, they decided to go. They offered to buy the male pig. Percy came out and argued with them so that they would not take the pig at half price. They invited us to come Wednesday to eat the pig with them for someone’s birthday.

Steph remarked later how very different relationships are here than in the States. If they are your friends, they’re going to show up to visit, whether it suits you or not. And they’ll spend the whole day if they can. No need for lots of scheduling ahead of time; they’ll be glad to do whatever you’re doing–even if you’re just lying about to recuperate from a sickness.

Steph said maybe we could learn from that and use it in the States if we ever live there again. But I definitely heard the strong emphasis on maybe. We still have secret dreams of schedules that go according to expectations. 😉