Sunday was beautiful, so Phil and I took Snowball’s new babies out into the big, wide world to do a little exploring. Pluto made sure they stayed safe. Dixie kept her distance. She tried to sniff the new babies the morning after they were born. Snowball had a very strong opinion about that, however. She backed up for a good running start and charged Dixie at top speed. She hit the dog broadside with all her force and sent Dixie rolling end over end across the goat yard. The dog let out a terrified screech, scrambled to her feet, and raced out of the pen like her tail was on fire. She hasn’t touched another baby goat since. If one tries to walk up to her, she gives them a sidelong look and quietly slinks away. I’m glad she’s learned not to mess with babies. I’d been worried about her because she can be very rambunctious and she plays rough. Baby goats won’t survive a dog playing rough with them, so I was wondering how I might keep Dixie away from them. But it turns out that Snowball had the matter well in hand!
The rocks offer lots of fun play opportunities for baby goats!

Pongo and Maya were excited to meet the new kids. Maya was excited to have someone smaller than her to bully. Pongo is a gentle soul and just wanted to introduce himself. He’s been so gentle with the new kids, just as he was with Balto last year. I’ve never seen another goat quite like him. Most youngsters are rough and enjoy bullying anyone smaller than themselves, but Pongo has never shown that tendency. Maya, on the other hand, got a few disciplinary whacks from Snowball before she learned to mind her manners around the little ones!

Snowball wasn’t sure she liked having her kids play on the big rocks. She very purposefully rounded them up and marched them over to the tires on the other side of the yard as if to say, “Babies your age should stay in the designated play area!”

Snowball was tired and hungry the day after kidding, so Phil and I thought we’d give her a break and do a little babysitting. Gandalf and Esmeralda were happy to come into the house and hang out for a while!

They even helped us play a board game!

Until the board game made them bored! Ba-dum-TISH!

There’s nothing more relaxing than sitting on the couch with a couple of fuzzy, warm, and brand new baby goats snuggled in your arms!

Introducing the first two models off the 2024 Goat-O-Rama assembly line! They’re so new they haven’t got names yet, but I’m sure we’ll be thinking of some shortly! Snowball showed us first thing this morning that she was ready to have kids any time and she didn’t want me to leave the pen. This is a first for her, as she usually likes to kid sometime around 2:00 in the morning, but I was pleased we could be there to assist. It turns out maybe she knew we needed to be there as she seemed to have a bit of trouble pushing these kids out even though they were presented correctly. I’m sure she’d have got them out eventually without help, but it was nice to be able to move things along a bit when progress stalled.

First to hit the ground at around 11:00 a.m. was a beautiful 8 lb. two-tone chamoisee baby girl. She looks a lot like her older sister, Molly! The next was a lovely 9 lb. white buckling with gray/blue roan spots. He’s practically Pongo’s double! We helped Snowball dry them off and get them into the shed and out of the wind, which was beginning to howl. The kids were up and nursing in almost no time at all.

Phil thinks this little guy looks like a “Gandalf.” I’m inclined to agree. Let’s see how we feel about it over the next couple days!

We have no idea what this little girl’s name will be, but I’m sure she’ll discover her name before long.

Listen to their little cute baby squeaks!

Yesterday I went for a walk around Lake Beckwith in Colorado City with a friend of mine. I took Finn and Pongo with me and we had a great time. But then on the way home the water pump in my truck seized and broke the serpentine belt! I lost my power steering and the engine quickly began to heat up so I pulled onto the shoulder and raised the hood. Here I am sitting by the side of the road with two goats in the back of my truck and no way to get home. Phil was inaccessible. It was just after 5:00 on a Sunday and he was busy with his livestream. He wouldn’t have heard the phone even if it rang 50 times.

But as luck would have it, a lady who lives just a short distance past my house happened to be driving by and she stopped to see what was going on. It’s impossible not to recognize the crazy lady who drives around the valley with goats in her truck! I asked my neighbor if she could stop by my house on her way home and bang on the window of the room where Phil does his livestream. She said she could do that, but in the meantime it was getting dark and quickly getting cold! I knew it would be a little while before Phil could get his boots on and come to our rescue, so I unloaded Finn and Pongo and began marching up the highway. I’m happy that the road has a nice wide shoulder because the traffic was relatively heavy as commuters came home from work, and nearly everyone drives too fast. But the boys were good and Finn was downright stately. He marched up the highway with his head held high and a dignified air about him. Pongo bounced along beside us, trying hard to imitate Finn but jumping behind my leg in fright every time a vehicle flew past us. We walked about a mile and it was almost dark when Phil pulled up.

Just as Phil arrived another neighbor drove up with his truck and said he’d seen me and the goats hiking up the highway and had turned around and come back to see if we needed a lift. It feels great to know there are so many helpful and caring people in this valley who will stop and offer their assistance when I break down, even when I have goats in tow!