And let’s not forget dear, sweet Nubbin. I dried her off a few weeks ago, and she should be about half-way through her pregnancy now. She’s due May 2nd.
Someone asked me last week how her tail got broken. Well, it never did (or else it came broken) because it’s had that kink in it ever since she was born. Her mother, Nibbles, had a kinked tail too, except that Nibbles’ tail was also crooked to the side. At least Nubbin’s tail is on straight!

Pac-Man sure turned into a handsome young man! I can’t wait to start putting him to the cart this spring once our driveway dries up!

There was a fight over a mostly empty bucket the other day…

Pac-Man won the battle, but I’m not sure he won the war. He became quite distressed when he could not get the bucket off his face, not to mention it embarrassed him in front of the other goats.

And we finish off with a nice photo of Lilly from earlier this month (since I didn’t get any of her yesterday).

Finn is trying to catch up to Pac-Man in size. He just had a major growth spurt, but I’m pretty sure Pac-Man is going to grow a lot this spring too. In fact, I would not be surprised if Pac-Man ended up being substantially bigger than Cuzco. But big as he is, he’s the gentlest, sweetest goat you could ever meet.

Petunia patiently chews her cud while she waits for just the right gust of wind to catch those ears and sail her off on an adventure.
I’ve been very happy with this little gal. She bounced back from the mastitis last summer and has stayed in milk ever since. She dipped down to only one quart/day during December and January, but since the weather has warmed up she’s started producing over 1 1/2 quarts and looks like she may go up to two. I feel like if I started milking twice/day she would rise to the occasion. The milk has stayed consistently sweet and creamy all this time, but it’s gotten better this last week as our grass has started coming in. Amazing what fresh greens will do!

“Smile, Delilah!”

These two are attached at the hip.

Phil and I went for a walk thinking that all the goats would come with us, but Cuzco ruined the plan when he growled at Phil and started body checking him. So I dusted off the old shock collar, which made Cuzco throw a giant pity party for himself. He went into a sulk and refused to come walking. The rest of the herd decided to stay with their pouting leader–all except Snickers and Sputnik. These two bravely struck out for adventure with Phil and I, but it was not without a great deal of weeping and gnashing of teeth. We never forced them to come, and I even told them to go back if they were going to complain the whole time, but they wouldn’t give up. I’m not sure if they were trying to get Phil and I to turn around and go back home, or if they were calling to the other goats in an attempt to get them to follow. Either way, the first half of that walk was extremely noisy. Thankfully they settled down after a while and it turned out quite pleasant (especially once we headed back toward home). Still, it was really good to get some one-on-one time with these two. They could use the practice.

“What up, dude?”
 He might look like a stoned beach bum in this picture, but Sputnik continues to amaze me with his intelligence. He’s learning to “heel” on our walks now. Most of my goats don’t have the attention span to heel for more than a few seconds without constant treat reinforcement. Sputnik will go for a minute or two between cookies and I’ve barely started working with him on this command!

Next we played on the water trailer…

…And the bridge. Finn uses it as a stage to practice the fine art of looking noble. He watches Cuzco carefully for tips and tricks.

Oh no!! We had a tragedy on the bridge! Sputnik appears to have conked out mid-crossing!

Oh wait, he’s just acting like an idiot. Pac-Man says, “This is NOT my son!”

Our first “goat activity” of the day: We played on spools.

Movie magic: With a spool and the right camera angle, we can make everyone think Snickers is standing on Pac-Man and Sputnik!

Synchronized spool-top dancing.

Valentine’s Day was perfect this year. It was a warm, sunny, 65 degrees and Phil and I spent almost the whole day doing “goat” things. Cuzco looked very lordly in the late afternoon light.

Cuzco, king of the Goat-O-Rama herd, surveys his domain from the hilltop.

Finn is having a growth spurt. He and Snickers often compete for “tallest 2014 kid,” but Finn just shot into the lead. He’s looking quite manly in this photo, but that is all going to change next week. He might be sad, but Phil and I will not miss the bad habits and rich aroma!

Phil and I took Pac-Man, Snickers, and Sputnik for a walk today. Snickers and Sputnik got to wear halters for the first time! Snickers was especially unhappy about having it put on. “Like father, like son,” I suppose. Pac-Man gave Phil a heck of a time getting his halter on as well. Sputnik was ok even though he’s usually my worry-wart who goes into panic attacks whenever I restrain him for any reason. Go figure!

Phil has cookies!

Cuzco savages a lot of innocent trees. I’m not sure if he’s sharpening his horn or if this is sort of like a punching bag exercise to relieve stress and bottled-up angst. Either way, he looks pretty impressive when he does it.

Now if we could just teach him to only destroy trees and please leave our reflective driveway markers alone!

I was looking through some old photos and found something quite random… WHY is Cuzco in our kitchen???!!!!????

I have no idea. This was our old house in Colorado City and I can’t think of one reason why the goat was in the kitchen!

Apparently someone left an apple out on the countertop for him.

A bit blurry, but I couldn’t resist posting it anyway just for the expression on this goat’s face.

Man… we had weather like I’ve never seen in Colorado before! The temperatures have been swinging from crazy low to crazy high these last few days, sometimes in the space of just a few hours. Yesterday it was almost 60 degrees out, so everything got slushy. Then last night a heavy fog came down and froze all over everything. I don’t have cleats or crampons and nearly bit it a few times doing chores. I had to mince around with a ski pole in one hand and a sled loaded with hay in the other. Phil brilliantly told me to try putting some of his socks over my boots to make it less slippery and that helped a lot, but it was still very dangerous out there. The girls went skating all over my back patio when I brought them down for milking and poor Nubbin had to be rescued when she walked across the sloped cement pad in front of the garage. She got out there and started to slide, scrambled onto the narrow sliver of level ground directly in front of the garage door and then wouldn’t budge. I had to grab her collar and slide down the slope with her.

Nubbin also got the royal treatment today. It was so miserable and dangerous outside that there was no going for walks or cutting firewood, and certainly no driving anywhere. Phil is also fighting a cold, so he and I curled up on the couch in the basement in front of the wood stove and watched a movie on the basement TV. Nubbin the pampered princess joined us for that little activity. She curled up and went to sleep there on the couch next to us and kept us cozy. She also filled the air with toxic, sulfuric belch fumes. I guess she was making sure Phil and I couldn’t fall asleep during the movie.

No, we don’t spoil our goats. We don’t spoil them at all. Whatever gave you that impression??

Nubbin wore mascara to match the weather. I think she’s harboring secret hopes of getting into Frozen 2