Yearly Archives: 2021

Happy Halloween!

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We seized Halloween this year. We broke out the old hearse decor for our wagon which hasn’t seen action since 2016. Finn had been acting feisty toward the other goats earlier in the afternoon so we chose him to pull the hearse so he could work off some excess energy and angst. He was a huge success. He got lots of pets and plenty of candy to make it worth his while. He’s such a good boy! Nothing spooked him except for one small child in a Hulk costume who went beyond pets and decided to give Finn a big ol’ hug. Finn wasn’t particularly comfortable with that level of familiarity coming from a green, pillowy-feeling mini-monster! Finn backed away in an expedient but not-so-sudden-as-to-be-unsafe manner while the father scolded his son to be more respectful of animals’ personal space.

Our lighted green skeleton took the wrong kind of batteries so we left it at home and instead filled the hearse with jack-o-lanterns that we’d carved that afternoon. You can just see me in the photo. Halloween is nearly always freezing in Colorado so I prefer warm costumes over the more trendy “sexy” ones marketed toward grown-ups these days. I was a Viking. I was not a “sexy” Viking. I was a wolly, burly, WARM Viking!

Finn and I made a cool silhouette on the street.

The jack-o-lanterns came out pretty good this year…

This was Phil’s masterpiece. He made the mouth with a heartbeat line to evoke a kind of spooky “Covid is still in the air” effect. I’m not sure if anyone got it, but I thought it was pretty great.
My pumpkin came out a lot better than I thought it would, and because I generally lack talent in the pumpkin carving department, it’s definitely one of the best I’ve done. I chose this pumpkin because it had a big scar down the face. This can make carving a little tricky, but fun if I can incorporate it into the design. Somehow it worked out!

It’s a South Dakota Goat Vacation: On the Way!

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Ever since we took a vacation with Phil’s family to South Dakota in July 2020, I have been longing to go back–this time with goats! It seemed like a fantastic destination for goatpacking, so on a warm, sunny day in September we headed north with our FOUR packgoat boys. Yes, you read that right! Finn and Sputnik are now joined by our two handsome yearlings, Sonic and Scout. We hope these youngsters will learn a thing or two from the old pros!

We made it as far as Scottsbluff, NE and before tucking in for the night we unloaded the goats at a local park for some exercise and fresh greens.

Everyone knows the tastiest leaves are just out of reach. “You can get it, Scout!”

Sputnik always looks so old and wise.

I love walking these beautiful boys in places like this. They look out of place because they are goats, but they also look like they belong because they are gorgeous and regal and who would dare say “Keep off the grass!” to such noble creatures?

That night Phil and I stayed at the Arcadia Hotel which was a lovely little place located right next door to a bowling alley! Phil and I decided to play a couple of games. It was a pretty rundown place, but the ball return machines were awesome! Although old and battered, they had a sleek mid-century modern design with chrome and rocket-inspired fins that looked like they came off a car from 1959. When we were turning in our shoes at the end of the evening we asked the proprietor when the place was built. “1959” he replied. Nailed it!

Next day we headed on across the plains toward South Dakota. We stopped for a brief walk in the Oglala grasslands near the northern border of Nebraska. The view was not particularly inspiring this time of year, but it was nice to get out and stretch our legs. Phil and I planned to make a couple of tourist stops in South Dakota before checking into our B&B so we figured we better let the goats out for a stroll even if the scenery wasn’t amazing.

Once we entered South Dakota, we stopped for a couple of hours at the Mammoth Site where we viewed the skeletons of over 60 fossilized mammoths that had died in a hot spring in days long past. The hot spring silted in, burying their bones and preserving them.

After the Mammoth Site we tootled on over to the Cosmos Mystery Area, which is sort of like a fun house on steroids. Up is down, down is up, level isn’t level, and water runs uphill. It was enough to make Phil dizzy for two hours afterwards. We weren’t allowed to unload the goats there, but I wonder what they would have thought if they’d been allowed? Probably nothing… goats don’t have 3-D vision and I think their equilibrium is different from people’s. But you never know. I’d have taken them for a tour if I’d been allowed!