So the big exciting news around here is that we bought Cuzco a buddy yesterday! She’s a 3-month-old registered Alpine doe.

After watching her taste every conceivable type of plant, rock, clothing item, or other object within reach, we decided to call her “Nibbles”. She never stopped tasting things for the entire afternoon. She had to try every kind of weed, shrub, tree, or sprout on the premises, and we have a wide variety to choose from! She loved undoing the velcro on my sandals, and she spent some time carrying them around our porch. She licked all of our windows, chewed screens, bannisters, the hammock swings, the wire fence, the stucco, the shed, the gas can (and the sticker she peeled off of it), the door mats, the firewood, the firewood box… you name it, she tasted it.

Cuzco and Nibbles are coexisting pretty well. They’re not friends yet by any means, but they seem to be enjoying each other’s company to some extent.

Cuzco likes to make sure Nibbles knows who’s in charge around here, but she is a lot quicker than he is, so she pretty much runs circles around him while he lumbers after her, waving his horn in a somewhat menacing but mostly bemused fashion. At first Nibbles was terrified of him and Cuzco wouldn’t put his hackles down. But today, she only darts away if he actually touches her. I think that’s because deep down she knows Cuzco is an old softie. Every time he’s gotten close enough to give her a good whacking, he slams his horn down then pulls his punch at the last second, giving her a little love tap on the bottom (if he even makes contact at all). Usually he’s at least a foot short. His hackles have stayed down and he’s kept a goaty grin on his face all day today, so we know Cuzco has no intention of hurting Nibbles. Still, we’re keeping them separated at night, just in case. I think Cuzco loves having someone he can push around for once.