Happy Anniversary, Boys -or- The oral nature of goats

Bringing Pete and Reggie home, 5/02/09

Pete and Reggie, my Nigerian Dwarf goat boys, have been with me for one year today. They celebrated their 1st birthdays in March, but I didn't bring them home to Critter Farm until they were about eight weeks old. This was on May 2nd, 2009.

If I had to state the primary thing I've learned about goats in the last year, I'd say that they are the most oral of all my animals. Anything and everything they find, if they are able to get it there, will go straight into their mouths.

As a 1st birthday/1st anniversary tribute, I'd like to share with you some photos that will illustrate this fundamental aspect of living with goats.

And so, along the line of "a year in the life", I present:

"A year in the mouth of Pete and Reggie" (in chronological order):

Fanny pack strap:

Zipper on my jacket:

Daisies:

My hat:

Plastic food dishes:

My coffee cup:

My sports bra strap:

My watch:

Rope on a tree:

Scissors in my pocket:

My leg:

Again with the hat:

Garlic:

The ladder:

The rake:

My bandanna:

Paper and pens:

My finger:

Hose hanger:

A gate latch:

Silly hats the other is wearing:

Donkey tails:

Gate chains:

Plastic bags:

Anything on the barn workbench:

The chicken coop door:

Twine:

Dried garlic stalks:

and...
Hedge clippers and rubber boots:

Getting these boys was, without a doubt, one of the best decisions I have ever made and I thank my beloved and oh-so-wise goat mentors (Maryann (Goat Philosophy 101) and Wendy (Life Beyond the Sidewalks)) for directing me, kindly and consistently - and over the span of almost a year - in this direction.

Happy 1 year anniversary, Pete & Reggie, my sweets. :-)

Roxy, the farm pup, welcomes Pete and Reggie to Critter Farm, 5/02/09

There were these really big rocks on the highway

I think I've mentioned before that I always have my camera with me. However, that wasn't entirely full disclosure. Sometimes I have two, occasionally even three, cameras with me. Add to that my cell phone camera, and that makes four. My photo documenting has become second nature to me in the almost two and a half years that we've lived here on Critter Farm. Neither family nor critters so much as blink anymore when I pull out one of my electronic devices and start clicking away.

Still, there are times when I probably should not be photographing:

Say, like on the highway:

...while I'm driving:

Nevertheless, one frequently sees fascinating sights on the highway, some of which practically call out to be photographed.

Like this, for example. I've been seeing these trucks for months now:

...lugging enormous boulders along the major thoroughfare, through the city of Portland and then back out, heading toward the coast:

The sight of these huge rocks rolling down the highway never fails to amaze me:

Where are they coming from? Where are they going? Doesn't anybody else want to know?!:

The trucks always travel in pairs:

Can you imagine the cost of moving these beasts?:

These sure must be some important rocks.

And then I drove by them. I turned in one direction and they turned in another. I have no idea where they went.

Do you think three are too many?

Well, I couldn't stand the sight of Reggie lording it over Pete on the one new wooden spool I brought home last week so, on Tuesday, I went back to my new friend, Gary, at the Verizon transfer station and picked up the two remaining spools there.

First, though, they had to remove some leftover cabling off of one. The man on the right is Gary. I don't know the man on the left but he seemed to have heard about me. He asked me whether I had brought cookies again:

Hating to disappoint and rather embarrassed, I told him that this time I had only brought a cashew bar and a cream soda for Gary, but that I'd be sure to remember him "the next time". Fortunately for me, he was still willing to help load the spool into my truck:

Both boys couldn't have been happier that Jim and I had hoisted yet more interesting items into their run and exchanged a look of goat glee:

Reggie, of course, instigated the head butting to clarify spool ownership:

...but now that there are three spools, this conversation became unimportant and focus quickly shifted to asking me why I wasn't giving them any carrot coins:

"Seriously, mom, why aren't you?":

They've become quite good at the silent stare-down, too:

By the way, are you noticing Pete's beard? It has taken on a definite Fu Manchu appearance, wouldn't you say?:

When it became clear that no carrot coins were immediately forthcoming, the activity changed to spool jumping:



Fun for a bit, but Pete soon decided a snack was more interesting and went back into the goat house:

...leaving Reggie, again, alone and happy on top of a new spool:

These boys now have so many climbing options, their little run is looking, well, little. I see a goat run expansion project (GREP) moving to the top of my spring to-do list. Don't tell my husband - he gets nervous when I start talking about new fencing. :-)


Thank you for the many suggestions I received recommending that I cover the holes on the tops of the spools for goat-safety-sake. I will be doing this a.s.a.p., as well as attaching some of our roofing shingles to the tops to give the boys some traction. I did this for their old platform and walkway and it works great. It is so wet here in the winter and spring, all the surfaces tend to quickly become mossy and slick as ice.