Approximately 10 weeks ago, I woke up thinking about the fact that I have a really big yard, and I really hate yard work. There are tons of nooks and crannies, a bizarre corner over behind Clark's, peach trees and lots of weeds. So I woke up and thought, "I need a goat", so I checked Craig's List and consulted my goat expert Allison the Younger. The conversation went like this:
Me: Hey, what do you know about La Mancha goats?
Allison: They're ugly, they don't have ears.
So, on the way home from work that day,
Introducing...Shadrach
No...he's not a camel. He's our sweet addition. But that just opened a whole other can of worms. First of all, staking out a goat in my neighborhood is like offering the local dogs/bears/mountain lions a treat on the end of a string, and apparently goats like friends. So, the task of fencing in the portion of our lot behind the Clark's began. Scott decided that the fence should be good enough to hold what ever his wife might bring home (what does that imply?). We had just started the fencing process, (spending a lot of time at my favorite store Murdoch's) and we had found all the necessary parts, except for a 16 foot wire filled livestock gate for the far corner. Unfortunately, Murdock's only had 14 foot gates, so Scott and I were looking for a misplaced 16 footer...when I tripped over the gate rack and broke the 5th metatarsal in my left foot. So the task of building nearly the entire fence went to...
Scott, and his "trusty" helpers
Okay, maybe not so trusty, but they did help.
Nearly 500 feet of fencing, two livestock gates, 18 eight foot post, and 45 T-posts later, we had a new goat pen.
In the midst of building the goat pen, we had an RE Whiting Family Reunion at the ranch. We had a pretty good turn out.
And of course Shadrach was invited. But he wasn't the main course.
Despite the broken foot we did take a quick family vaca/back to school shopping trip to Salt Lake. We went to Lagoon, where my family had the opportunity to push me around in a transfer chair for the day. In a moment of weakness or maybe it was the percocet...I agreed to let my children do the following:
Get strapped into harnesses by twenty something year olds with little or no training
Hoisted a couple hundred feet in the air
and released.
Fortunately they survived, because I can't bake anymore.
We started back to school in August, the day before Emily turned sweet 16. She decided to post phone her party until Labor Day weekend, and the pictures from that are on another camera, so you will just have to breathlessly anticipate them.
Then last week we finally moved Shadrach out of the Chicken Coop (his temporary home while the fence was being finished) and got two new friends for him. I let the kids name them which is why we on't havea aMeeshach and Abednego. We now have...
Diva (who isn't really)
and Little Tim (Emily named him), she said, "He looks like a little Tim" So I asked, "Do you mean Tiny Tim?". "Who's Tiny Tim?" she asked. Never mind.
So now we have three goats, small, medium, and large. Although Shadrach has a few issues, he likes to play with Frank.
Right now the goats only have a upside down Loomix tank for a home, but knowing my husband they will soon have a goat palace. But looking at them they don't seem to mind.
Anyway, I know I haven't blogged in a really long time, but between the broken foot, the goats, family reunions, school starting, a sweet 16 party, and maybe even a cub scout regatta race, I've been a little out of it. So I'm working on it.
