The goats were actually Harvard's doing, believe it or not! My boy from Philly had a lovely husband and wife couple as patients. They were in their 80's and had been raising goats for years. "Well, doc, ya see ,we gotta coupla baby goats that need to be bottle fed cause their Mama died. Wouldya consider takin 'em on?" What is a kind and compassionate Harvard Medical School trained physician supposed to do? He says, "Well, certainly! I am sure that my wife and daughter would love that!" So suddenly this turned into a full time "4-H project" without the 4-H! Before we go and pick up our little bits, we stop off at our now favorite place; Cleveland Feed and Farm! We get everything we need to start our new adventure. We pick up the little tiny kids and bring them home in our car. Goats in a car are interesting, but it is nothing compared to what we are about to encounter on the farm. What we didn't realize, is that you must feed kids just like you do human babies, i.e. ALL THE TIME!!! Well, of course the little sweetie, and her Daddy got to sleep in their nice warm beds while Mama goes out in the middle of the night to feed. Mama's get the brunt of it all! When will I learn? Possibly never! Heart bigger than brain, remember? After about three nights, our only neighbors that we sold land to behind our barn in the woods call..."Ummm, Marianne...do we hear goats or are we going crazy?" Well, at this moment, I knew that they were probably getting all upset thinking about goats and the possible smell and all. I explained to them that, "yes we did, but the little male goat will be neutered when he was old enough so you won't have to worry about the smell. I knew that they were shaking their heads. Now they were beginning to be very happy that they had planted large and fragrant bushes that would keep them from seeing our lovely barn. I often feel bad for them having to put up with our beautiful (to us) creatures. I thought maybe they would like them considering that they had done a lot of mission trips in Haiti where the barnyard creatures roam the streets. By the way, they are the ones tht named our place The Ark. The only good that has come to them in terms of us and our animals is that their grandson loves them. God bless children!
So, the baby goats were named Simba and Nala, after the Lion King characters. They have been a super blessing and are so cute and sweet. They love people because they think that they may feed them! They love to untie shoes and sniff butts too! Very interesting for our Veterinarian...
So, our next goat installment happened in a curious way; When the little sweetie was in elementary school, I used to have to drive her to the bus stop. She had to be at the bus stop by 6:45a.m., so I would often just drive her in my pj's. I used to pray all the way to the bus stop on those days that nothing would happen to the car or I would die if I had to get out in my pj's. One particular spring morning I was on my way back home when I discovered a little goat running loose in a neighborhood near our farm. Well, being the rescuer that I am, I HAD to rescue this poor baby. Trying to catch her was very interesting. Mind you, that particular morning I was properly attired in my hot pink silk pj's. So, throwing caution to the wind, I slam on the breaks, get out of the car, and chase the little rascal all through the neighborhood. Sometimes when you have rescuing on your mind, your heart gets a LOT bigger than your brain!! I finally catch her and put her in the van. She bahhhh's all the way home and left a bunch of little 'goat surprises' in the car for me! As soon as I get her out of the car, she jumps out of my arms, and down I go into the dirt, all the while screaming "come back here, you little hussy!" all the way down my driveway. "Bahhhhh, Bahhhhhh, Bahhhh" she said! I know that what she was really saying was, "Help me! There is a crazy woman in pink silk pajamas after me! She wants to cook me for dinner!" Smhhh, if she only knew that she was about to become the Goat Queen of The Ark! About 3 hours later I get a call from my poor neighbor; "Marianne...I think one of your goats got out. He is ramming up against my garage door! Can you come and get him?" I said, "Oh, no, my goats are in the fence." THEN I remember! Oh dear....another neighbor mishap. Off I go to get the ramming goat! It takes about 2 hours but my dear brother and I finally corner her and I am able to carry her to the farm. Pat is shaking his head saying, "Ellie May ...Ellie May.. what are we gonna do with you, Ellie May?" This little goat, whom the little sweetie named Apple is all grown up now and just as much of a pain in the butt as she was when I captured her in my pink silk pj's! No more goats...well at least for a while.
:)
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