Phil and I had really a special day with our goats after we left Charles and Dominique’s house. My aunt Jana asked if we would be able to visit her mother at an assisted living home only half an hour from Granbury. Our schedule was open, so Jana and her sister organized our visit with the home’s activities coordinator, and despite the chilly weather, every resident came out to meet Finn and Sputnik and take a ride in the goat cart! Unfortunately, all of our names got lost in translation and the advertisement printed up by the activities coordinator came out rather hilarious. 

This is my aunt Jana with her mother, Peggy. Peggy had goats her whole life growing up and adored them, which was what inspired Jana to ask if we could bring Finn and Sputnik to visit her.

This wonderful gentleman (I think his name was Jerry) may have had the most fun of anybody. He was the first to volunteer for a ride, and he honked the horn all the way around the circle. He had a hard time talking, but he had absolutely no difficulty smiling! 

Mary was a little bit sneaky. She was one of the first to ride after Jerry, but after a few more people went, she got back in line and pretended she hadn’t already ridden. Someone made the excuse that her memory was starting to fail, but I saw the crafty gleam in her eye. She knew exactly what she was doing and no one was going to tell her she’d already taken a turn! We weren’t going to argue with her.

Peggy finally got her ride. She’d raised Spanish and Cashmere goats, so she had never seen any as big as Finn and Sputnik. She was thrilled to have her first ride in a goat cart!
Aileen (in the blue bath robe sitting down) spent a good bit of time holding onto Finn while Phil played his fiddle. Finn was a very good boy and let everyone pet and admire him. What a wonderful day! I would do this again any time. It brought so much joy to these wonderful folks who are now mostly housebound and no longer get to be around animals. 

I love how Finn towers over all these people, yet he’s got such a calm, gentle presence.

Jana had never really stared into a goat’s eyes before, let alone had one who stared back. And Finn just loves gazing into people’s eyes.

The “Christian Hymns” advertised on the flyer turned out to be “Be Thou My Vision” (which is the one hymn Phil had music for) and a lot of traditional Scottish and Irish fiddle tunes. Everyone loved the music as much as they loved visiting the goats.

Sputnik and Finn were both such good boys through all of this! Finn was patient, calm, and kind around all those frail old people with their scary walkers, canes, and wheelchairs. It was the first time our boys had experienced something like this and they were very well-behaved. Sputnik enjoyed pulling his cart. Every resident took a ride. One woman name Sue could not speak or walk at all, but she nodded when they asked if she wanted a ride. Three nurses had to lift her from her wheelchair and into the cart. Sputnik was nervous at having so many people crowding around his cart all at once, and he wasn’t sure if he should stand still when the cart bumped and rolled as Sue got situated. He jumped when the nurses hastily flung a blanket over Sue, but I calmed him with cookies, and once we got underway he was fine again. Sputnik got a big kiss afterwards for all his hard work!

After our visit to the nursing home, Jana took Phil and I out with her mother Peggy to a local BBQ joint called “The Purple Goat”. The food was amazing!

And they had a life-sized purple goat out front.

The purple goat had very authentic goat eyes and the perfect little goat smile! 

After lunch we said our farewells and struck out for Crockett, TX to embark on our “Lone Star Hoofenanny” adventures. We stayed that night at the Warfield Bed & Breakfast which was located right next-door to a funeral home. Since no one was having a funeral that night, there was plenty of room to park our trailer.

We took the goats for a walk around the back streets of Crockett and came across this army tank sitting near a park!
Phil really likes to pose with army tanks. 

Finn does too apparently.