It’s Cuzco’s doormat. But sometimes he lets me sit next to it. Unless it’s the boys from the youth group, I always make sure Cuzco isn’t guarding our porch when someone comes to the door. The high schoolers come over once a week , and since Phil and I are firm believers that teenage boys deserve to be harassed regularly and often, we leave Cuzco loose to give them character enrichment lessons. Cuzco smells the fear behind their false machismo and takes advantage at every opportunity, teaching them important life lessons about humility and proper respect for animals.

The UPS man often encounters Cuzco, but he doesn’t have a problem because he’s neither intimidated nor confrontational. He just has to remember to close his door while delivering the package because he’s ended up with a goat in his truck on one or two occasions. Thankfully he’s got a good sense of humor.

Since Phil is in San Francisco this week at the Game Developer’s Conference, I’ll post a picture of Phil’s favorite activity: making burgers on the BBQ grill. Cuzco likes to help.

It’s funny how intuitive animals are. Phil works in the house, so it’s not like he spends a lot of time outside with Cuzco. Sure, Phil gives treats and we take Cuzco for a walk together every day, but I usually do all the feeding and chores and outside work, so Cuzco sees a lot more of me than of Phil. But when Phil leaves town Cuzco always notices immediately and gets depressed the first few days. He wanders around baa-aa-ing at nothing, is more lethargic, and generally acts like he’s a bit lost. I try to make up for it with some extra TLC, but nothing can make up for the fact that Phil is missing. So here’s a picture of Phil feeding Cuzco peanuts from his hammock chair last summer. Ah, bliss!

Cuzco may be an “only goat”, but he still has friends. I got these from two totally different people who don’t even know each other. Cuzco sometimes talks to them.