“I should have been in the movie… strike that. I AM the movie!”

Petunia sure loves her alfalfa! She literally says “Nom, nom, nom, nom!”

Yesterday was Phil’s birthday, and he wanted baby goats. My friend Jordan (who we bought Nibbles from) had several brand new babies to choose from and she was kind enough to bring three of them over so we could watch a movie while holding fuzzy, warm goaties in our laps! 

Yesterday was glorious. The sunlight glittered like diamonds on the new-fallen snow. Every needle on every tree was coated with shimmering white frost from the heavy fog the day before. It was a perfect day to take the goats walking. Daisy even came with us this time! This was the first time we took everyone. Usually we take two or three goats and leave the others home with the dog. But Daisy knows where her home is now and is attached to “her” goats enough that I’m no longer worried that she’ll start roaming if we let her walk with us.

Phil Hassey: Goat Baron

“I’m flying!!!”

As a side-note, Pac-Man has been growing like a weed for the past month despite a stubborn, lingering cough that he got from Cuzco and can’t seem to shake. The girls were half again his size when we got him, and now he’s almost caught up to them. Another month and I think he’ll be bigger than they are! He and Nubbin are still good friends and can usually be found in the same shed together. I should know this week if the girls have all settled, but I’m pretty sure they have. Between the girls’ rejections and Cuzco’s chaperoning, he’s almost completely stopped acting bucky and doesn’t even smell much any more, which makes him much nicer to handle and train. His more gentlemanly behavior has also enabled him to actually make friends with the girls instead of having that love/hate thing going on. I can’t wait to see how this little guy grows out!

Pac-Man may have been the one who shopped for the truck, but Nubbin is the one who owns it now!

This naughty goat was tap-dancing all over it this morning! I don’t want her to do this but I’m not sure how to make her stop now that she knows she can leap this high. The goats have never bothered the trucks before, so I’m not sure where this sudden interest came from. I tried to make her come down, but she only mocked me. Since I can’t prevent it, I suppose I might as well be amused.

“If only I could get through this window, I’d be in the driver’s seat!”

“Perhaps if I try from this angle…”

“Well, the bed looks good anyway.”

“Hey guys, come play with me!”

Goat party on the truck!

“Nubbin hit me with her truck! Give her a ticket! Take away her license! I’m dying!!!”

“She was asleep at the wheel! I swear! I have proof! Gasp!”

Petunia was right! Nubbin has some explaining to do when she shows up in traffic court!

Today, the stars aligned at the Hassey Household, and love bloomed full and fair between two lost souls who found each other and are now inseparable. Nubbin and Pac-Man were the outsiders, friendless and alone, but not any more.

I have never seen two creatures fall in love so quickly and so completely. There is more than hormones at work here. Nubbin and Pac-Man have been interested in each other ever since he arrived, but they’ve never been allowed to spend time alone. Now they don’t want to be with anyone else. There has got to be a law against this level of cuteness!

I kept the two of them together this morning so they could have their romantic time undisturbed, but even after I let them out to be with everyone else, these two stayed apart, kissing, playing, snuggling, and yeah, switching roles. 

Phil and I took just the two of them for a walk with us today. I had to keep at least one of them on a leash at all times or they would stop in the road and stand staring at each other with misty eyes. When we were walking, they pressed so close together it looked as though they were stuck with velcro from nose to tail.

I had been planning to put boys and girls up in their separate pens tonight as usual, but I knew there was no possible way I could pull Nubbin and Pac-Man apart without breaking their hearts (and keeping us awake all night with their despairing cries!). So these two stayed in the “boys’ pen” and Cuzco got moved up to the “girls’ pen” tonight, and everyone (Cuzco included) seems quite pleased with the arrangement.

Phil and I got home late from game night this evening, and I laughed when I saw Pac-Man’s head sticking out of the little Dogloo. I figured Nubbin must have kicked him out of the PolyDome. But as we got closer, Pac-Man emerged from the dog house followed closely by Nubbin. How they managed to squeeze both their bodies into that tiny space is beyond me. It can only be love!

Petunia was loud this morning. Extremely loud. The only thing that could shut her up was a hot date with Pac-Man. 

Catch me if you can!

Pac-Man is still getting over that cold Cuzco gave to him, but it didn’t seem to discourage him any. Now it will no doubt be passed on to Petunia and will probably cycle through the rest of the girls in due course. 

Petunia is quite the flirt. She’d wave her little tail at Pac-Man with a come-hither look, but as soon as he looked, she’d smack him then run off giggling and shaking her booty.

I love you now, stay away from me you little creep!

Good thing Nanno has a woman’s intuition about these things!

By introducing Nubbin into the mix, jealousy won the day. Nubbin wasn’t remotely interested in Pac-Man, and when he tried to sniff her she clamped her tail down and hit him so hard he saw stars, but Petunia wasn’t about to stand for any roving eyes in her man! Within two minutes of Nubbin coming into the pen, Petunia jumped in Pac-Man’s face and stood to be bred.

Even Cuzco felt romance tingling in the air. He actually butted heads with Lilly, and I don’t mean smearing her across the yard. He was actually playing with her! Lilly was happy to play too, but when he stuck his tongue out, blubbed, and swatted her with his front feet, she turned tail and RAN, kicking her hind legs together as if to say “EW, EW, GROSS! OLD MAN STINK! I CAN’T WIPE THE COOTIES OFF!!!”

Lilly declined to play with Cuzco again, but I think Cuzco thought he’d just done something manly and strutted around after that.

“Huh-huh! Yeah, I’m the mac daddy here!”

Cuzco was about done with his cold, so in a rare moment of generosity he gave it to Pac-Man. What a sweetheart!

Pac-Man is still cute, even when he has a snotty nose. But I wiped it for the pictures anyway.

It got pretty cold last night and poor Pac-Man was shivering by himself in the little Dogloo because Cuzco won’t let him share the big shed no matter how much he begs. I piled straw underneath and inside, covered it with some pieces from an old horse blanket, and banked snow around the outside for extra insulation.

It reminded me of a cold night long ago–almost exactly 11 years ago to the day–when Cuzco was the exact same age as Pac-Man (did I mention that those two share the same April Fool’s birthday??) when Phil and I took him on a road trip with us to visit Phil’s relatives in Stowe, VT. It was -17 degrees when evening fell and they had no shed where we could put Cuzco. So Phil and I built him an igloo!

I was quite proud of the result, and Phil’s uncle Steve gave us some flags left over from a car rally to decorate it.

Cuzco wasn’t too sure about this strange shelter at first and would only put his head inside to snatch hay, but as the night deepened and the cold grew worse, he crawled right inside and curled up on his cozy bed.