Jonathan's Pond

 There is a lovely pond in Jonathan's sheep pasture.  The 4 big girls (Marian, Callie, Isabelle and Miriam) wanted to go swimming.  Isabelle assurred me that the heavy rainfall would have washed away the goose poop and flushed the pond so we wouldn't have to worry about some parasitic itch problem.  Isabelle and Miriam had encountered this itch issue the last time they had gone swimming in the pond.  But they were quite certain there would be no problem now. And they brushed it off as no big deal.  So I agreed that they could go raft and swim in the pond.

The girls went out.  The day was beautiful.  The pond looked picturesque, with waving cattails around it and the sun shining down.  The girls had a great time rafting and swimming.  Rylee ran down to join the fun, and while she refused to swim, Rylee did enjoy the rafting.  The girls spent the afternoon out on the pond and returned tired and truimphant.

It was after they were finished that Isabelle informed me that they were really lucky, because the goose poop combined with some slug secreetions created or grows (or somethings) a parasite and if they had gotten it it would have itched horribly and lasted for 3 weeks.  What?!  I thought the concern had just been a minor rash.  Nope.  She delightedly said it was like having a dreadful case of chicken pox and it lasted forever.  Oh.  Well.  Then I am really glad I did not know that before I said yes to the excursion!

Then she casually told me they were lucky and only got a few leaches on them.