Phil and I were enjoying a rest on the back porch swings when Finn heard us talking and asked to join the party. I opened the back gate and he trotted up the porch steps, reminding me so much of Cuzco, who loved to hang out with us on the porch at every opportunity.

My Aunt Jana gave us a bag of jellybeans and I unwisely offered one to Finn. He was insatiable after that! I gave a handful to Phil, but Finn wheedled most of them away for himself. He begged most of mine off me as well and even persuaded Phil to go in the house and bring him another handful. Greedy goat!  

“All gone, Finn!”

“Yum!!”

Finn’s back makes a good footrest.

But as usual, Finn would prefer to be loved than to be useful.

He also mugs for the camera. Unlike Cuzco, who would stand at an appropriately noble distance to be photographed at his best angles, Finn gets right in there and shoves his face into the lens.

“Alright Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up!”

Finn and Sputnik’s cart pulling services were recently requested for a local family reunion followed immediately by the Beulah Arts & Crafts Fair. So the boys got a bath and Sputnik, as usual, was thrilled. Baths are one of his favorite things.  

“A little more to the left. Ahhh… that’s the spot!” 
Often he flaps his lips and slurps at the spray when I aim the water at his nose. 

Finn does not like baths, and he was a bit sulky about having to do work that day. He was tired and laid down in the trailer on the way home while Sputnik enjoyed the hay bag and scattered his snack all over Finn’s back.

Phil and I took Thor and Yeti out for their first hike the other day, and it was a big hit! The boys had a great time exploring, jumping on rocks, and nibbling new things they don’t get to eat at home.

Thor is very photogenic. He has beautiful markings on his face and that pink nose is adorable. He’s a sweet, mellow, affectionate goat. 

Yeti is our bold adventurer. He’s affectionate to a fault and we’re having to set boundaries because he can get very pushy for attention. Yeti is gung-ho and throws himself fully into whatever activity he happens to be doing at the time.  

Despite his size, Yeti still sees an open lap as an open invitation and will climb right up without asking. He hasn’t climbed on my lap for a while, and this day I gave him permission.  

The boys weren’t too sure about their first water crossing. Phil and I walked off, hoping they would get brave and follow. 

But no, we had to break out the leash. 

Once we pulled Thor across, Yeti bravely splashed over on his own.  

A couple of weeks ago Phil and I took Brownie out for his first hiking adventure. It was a longish hike so Finn carried our lunch and showed Brownie what it means to be a big, important packgoat that gets to carry the important stuff.  

Brownie wasn’t too sure about his first water crossing. But the big goats did it, so he had to go too! 

I hate it when they look over cliffs like this! “Don’t fall, Brownie!”
P.S. Look at the blue pinecones on that tree behind Brownie. 

I think he was eating ants. 

If it weren’t for the horns curling up, you’d never spot Sputnik curled up among these dappled gray rocks. His coat blends right in! 

4th of July was different this year. Normally Phil and I are gung-ho to show off our team and wagon in a parade, but we weren’t quite prepared this time, having been out of town so much in June, so we stuck close to home. Phil went for a little hike while I stayed home and caught up on some office work.

Yeti ended up helping me in the office. I kept hearing plaintive baby goat cries circling the house so I went out to see what was going on. The herd was nowhere to be found and Yeti was wandering very despondently by himself. I took pity on the poor abandoned waif and invited him up to the office. “Wheeee!!!”

Our office is crammed full of interesting things for a baby goat to sniff, chew, hide behind, and play on.

Yeti politely introduced himself to our “cowch.”

“Oooh… squishy!”

“I wonder if I can get milk from here?”

The swivel chair was especially fun to play on!

“Can I watch YouTube videos?

I made him get down from my desk, so he decided to try out Phil’s. 

The excitement level escalated very quickly after this and I had to abandon the camera and go into full chaos control mode as Yeti began zipping up and down stairs, launching on and off chairs and couches, ricocheting around the walls, and chewing everything within reach. He was also shedding hair all over the place.  As soon as his mother came back to claim him, he was outside!

“I love you, Yeti, but you’re not easy house guest any more, wild man!”

At the end of June, Phil and I took a quick trip to Creede and Lake City to visit family and friends. The Creede visit included a reunion of my dad’s side of the family where we gathered to celebrate my aunt Jenny’s 45th anniversary of being in business there with her shop, Rare Things. It was a great time with aunts, uncles, and cousins. We went hiking, we went on a mine tour, we visited the Creede museum, we went to a Rare Things celebratory dance at the Elks Lodge, and we ate a lot of good food.

Here I am overlooking the town of Creede.  

Phil tried to roll this boulder off the hillside. He was not successful. 

The best part of the Creede Museum was this homemade bowling ball cannon out front! It was an extremely “redneck” design but apparently it worked extremely well. The man who made it would shoot bowling balls across the valley, right over the town of Creede! Those bowling balls would fly half a mile! Unfortunately the sheriff made him stop one day after he almost nailed some people hiking down the trail above Creede. Please note: This is all modern history–not some decades-old story that happened in the wild west days. 

Phil just had to grab a bit at The Mac Mine food truck, which specialized in selling macaroni ‘n’ cheese to which you could add various toppings. 

After Creede, we took a brief trip to Lake City to visit some friends there. Lake City had a very heavy winter with as much as 400% of average snowfall. Numerous avalanches came down the mountainsides, blocking roads and even taking out one house belonging to the local sheriff. He and his daughters miraculously survived, but the house was obliterated.

Phil and I took ourselves on an “avalanche tour” of the valleys around Lake City and saw dozens of slides of various sizes.

A lot of timber came down, making it very difficult to open the 4WD roads out of Lake City. Several of the avalanches were so big they wiped out trees way up the opposite side of the mountain from which they came down. I was told there is a slide up near Animas Forks (between Lake City and Silverton) that has snow and logs piled 120 feet deep. They don’t know if they will be able to open the pass this summer, which if course is hurting tourism.

It was cool to watch the water disappear under the huge masses of snow, dirt, and logs, only to reappear further down. 

The high water is also hurting tourism since fishing is usually one of Lake City’s biggest draws. Maybe the fall fishing will make up for it this year. During our trip, Henson Creek was overflowing its banks just above Snowden Meadow where we held the 2017 NAPgA Rendy.  

The sturdy log bridges we built at the Rendy two years ago got washed away in this year’s floods. 

But the rock dam we built stayed in place and kept the water from flowing down the trail as it once did! 

Also, the rock we placed on this 30 feet of trail is still going strong and staying above water. Finn helped move these rocks! 

And we saw a moose in the willows near the riverbank. This was Phil’s first time seeing a moose in the wild. The photo is so lousy we could probably claim we actually saw Bigfoot, but no, she’s a moose. There is a calf in the willows just ahead of her, but it didn’t show up in the photo except as a tiny tawny patch. It was actually a very big moose calf, but I guess it was shy because it hid in the bushes as soon as we slowed down to take a picture. 

On June 19th, Phil and I packed up our things and headed out to the Bighorn Mountains near Buffalo, WY for the 2019 North American Packgoat Rendezvous. The location was beyond lovely, but it was COLD!!!

Even from far away, Marc Warnke’s big, beautiful Alpine goat, Merciless, dominates every scene he’s in. 

Finn and Sputnik looked good too, even if they’re not quite as impressive as Merciless. 

Nancy Clough gave a talk on goat first aid while Nan helped a little from the sidelines. 

This year’s Rendy was much smaller than the last few years, but it was an excellent, dedicated group. 

Nan helped one couple hitch their goat to a cart for the first time. “Sprite” gave the first ride to his delighted owner, Connie.

Although he’s not quite as good looking as Sprite, Connie decided that her husband Robert was better trained. 

Sputnik modeled the Sopris Lumbar pack saddle system while Charlie Hackbarth of Sopris Unltd. modeled an amazing pants/shorts combination that not many people can pull off.

The rocks and trees around the camping area were amazing. Nan set up an obstacle course using a variety of natural landscape features. 

Finn shows everyone how brave packgoats are around umbrellas. 

Sputnik demonstrates dominates the teeter-totter obstacle. 

A lot of folks had fun playing teeter-totter with their goats. 

A fun time was had by all and we’re already looking forward to next year!

I’m finally catching up to June! One Sunday afternoon, Phil and I sat on rocks so the baby goats could climb on us and fight over our laps. What a riot!

I think Pluto is egging Buster Brown on. “Get Phil! Get Phil!” 

“Not the hat!”

Yeti wants in on the action.

It was sometime in early June that Yeti discovered his love of laps. To Yeti, an open lap was an open invitation!

Is that Cupcake peeking over Phil’s shoulder?

Thor is such a beautiful goat. I love his facial markings. Thor is friendly, but he is not an outgoing extrovert like his brother Yeti, being quieter and more content to sit in the background… or in a pile of hoses.

It’s the triplets! They are trying to figure out if all three of them can fit in Phil’s lap at once.

Mocha says, “Are you sure there isn’t room in your lap, Phil?”
Yeti says, “I was here first!” 

Brownie found an open lap just across the way. 

But soon Brownie was usurped by Snowball. 

And of course Yeti has to come check out the lap action too. This lap may be currently occupied, but you never know when it might be vacated! 

When baby goats whisper sweet nothings in your ear…

…it TICKLES!!!

I just love Snowball’s smile. 

As soon as Snowball hops down, here come Brownie and Yeti! 

“I got goated!” 

Brownie and Yeti already had enough lap time. It’s Thor’s turn! 

Oh, look who found another lap to climb on! This little Snowball could melt anyone’s heart! 

Early June was right about the time when Yeti’s facial markings began to darken and take shape. They’re very pretty! 

“Got an itch! Got an itch!”

Uh-oh, where did all the other goats go? The other babies tend to notice when their moms take off to graze, and they’ll hop down from our laps and go after them. But Yeti gets so caught up in human interaction that he doesn’t notice when everyone else leaves. 

I forgot I took these photos on May 29th–the actual day of me and Phil’s 20th anniversary. So much has happened in the last six weeks that I don’t actually remember this day, but it looks like it was quiet and relaxing. 

It’s July and I’m still posting photos from May. I need to get with the program!

The weather in May was cold, wet, and magnificent.  

Since little Mocha is the smallest of TinCup’s triplets, we like to make sure she gets her share of the milk two times a day. 

I’m looking at these photos taken six weeks ago and am amazed at how much Thor and Yeti have grown! They aren’t little babies any more! 

Sibling rivalry: “You can’t come up here, Mocha!”

“You get down too, Yeti!” MY rock!!

Yep, it’s Thor’s rock, alright! 

He sure is a cute King of the Rock!

Meanwhile, Cupcake and Brownie prefer climbing on Phil over climbing on rocks.

Pluto has become quite the faithful guardian. When baby goats were born this year, he stopped roaming the county and started sticking close to home and to his duties as protector. He also declared himself the protector of our magpie population. The mom and dad magpies do not approve.  

All six kids on the fallen log! 

Snowball is such a little angel goat. 

“Run, babies run!” Look at all those ears flapping!