This picture was taken a few weeks ago and I’m very glad I took a few shots like this because all four of these goslings are now HUGE! I have never known anything to grow as fast as a goose (well, except maybe a miniature pig – see previous posts.)
The first time I heard the sound I was outside the front of the house, getting firewood. I thought it was a roll of thunder but when I looked up, the sky was clear, so I realised it must be Son on his drums.
That is until they came around the corner – six geese at full speed, their huge webbed feet slapping the ground into a primeval beat. When they spotted me, their stampede became more frenzied until they reached me and I told them I’d run out of lettuce.
Disappointed, they waddled quietly away.
Note: ‘the patter of little feet’ quote comes from the following poem:
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Children’s Hour“
Between the dark and the daylight, When the night is beginning to lower, Comes a pause in the day’s occupations, That is known as the Children’s Hour.
I hear in the chamber above me The patter of little feet, The sound of a door that is opened, And voices soft and sweet.
http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/longfellow/thechildren.shtml
jmgoyder 
Goslings are special – luck you Julie. FYI try them with watermelon
Ok!
One of the joys of walking our dogs in a favourite park is watching the goslings become geese. How lovely to have them so close to home.
Here’s a senryu I wrote a few years ago:
Friendship
Geese guard a stricken
comrade until it dies or
flies again – how neece.
I told you I love geese!
I love the poem!
Were you able to pick them up when they were young?
I would love to feel their soft down.
Paula
Oh yes and I can pick them up now too, although they are a bit heavy!
How lovely.
Enjoy!
I’m so lucky!
They are so cute 🙂
Yes, now they’re just big cute instead of little cute.
There is nothing so wonderful as the “patter” of those flappy feet. It amazes me how four geese can make so much noise when they are on the run! Isn’t it wonderful? ~ Lynda
Yes, it is absolutely wonderful and funny!
Geese make good guards. They are used to guard distilleries in Scotland. Who would be daft enough to try and gain access to a distillery when a flock of geese are between you and the ‘water of life’?
This is good news to me because when the geese were little our dogs would’ve killed them; now I think combat would be out of the question as the geese are much bigger – ha!
This is good news to me because when the geese were little our dogs would’ve killed them; now I think combat would be out of the question as the geese are much bigger – ha!