What did you do today?

[Taffy]

I went for a early evening walk along the Columbia River with my friends, Debbi & Eldon Otta, their two 6 month old packgoat prospects and my wether, Bourbon.  It's been in the triple digits for over a week now.  This particular early evening was down to the mid 90's.  The trail is in a natural area of a county park.

It was the first hike for Elliot and Hobbs.  This trail is a good one to start goats on.  Eldon let the boys off their leashes and you'd think they were still on lead!  They never left Debbi or Eldon the entire time.

Bourbon never lets me out of his site or gets very far from me.  In the one photo I wasn't staying up like he thought I should so he stopped, looked back and gave me "the look" as if to say, "Are you coming?  Keep up!"

This trail has lots of wild blackberries and wild roses along with willow and all sorts of tasty grasses.  It's a paradise for humans and goat alike.  While the humans ate ripe blackberries the goats ate all sorts of goodies.  Every once in awhile we'd eat a berry that wasn't quite ripe and boy - talk about puckering up!

After we'd hiked up and back the trail we went to a spot by the trail where it's shallow for a fair distance out with good footing.  It's a great place to water train the goats.  Bourbon hadn't been in the water since fall of 2016 but after a tug on the lead he was in and out of the water with no issues.  Elliot and Hobbs had their first water experience.  Neither was thrilled.  Most of our hiking is desert hiking so the goats are exposed to a lot of water crossings.

I thought the water was great!  In fact, after the hike in the mid 90's the river felt warm and refreshing - even if it IS only 66*!

   
   

[Charlie Horse]

Whats with all the green? Its a drought. You guys are wasting water on the environment. Now you wont be able to wash your car or take a shower.

Interesting trail. Mowed. Havent seen that around here ever.

[Taffy]

The trail is in the natural area of a county park. They mow the trail. The Columbia River runs parallel to the natural area so it's all seepage irrigated. There are times of the year where the trail has standing water.

The Yakima River, Snake River and Walla Walla River all merge into the Columbia River within a few miles of our farm. There is sagebrush right down to the edge of all the rivers. If the land isn't irrigated it's desert shrub steppe. We only get 4-8" of rain here annually.

[Nanno]

Beautiful hike! I'm glad Eldon and Debbie have some new little packgoats to work with. They look similar to Pac-Man.

[Taffy]

Eldon chose both boys with Pac-Man's coloring in mind. I'm not sure he'll ever get over losing Pac-Man but he is moving on.

[Nanno]

It's so hard to lose one of our critters in the prime of life, as I've discovered with the loss of my horse Jet. It was much easier to let go of Cuzco because he'd had a full, long life and he was ready to move on.

[Taffy]

I agree. With Cuzco you knew it was time and he did, too. But with Jet and Pac-Man it happened so suddenly and when they were in their prime there was no time to prepare your heart or mind.

[goatzrule]

Today was a blast! First I got up a little early and went to a friend's and rode her and her sister's horses. 
Me and Candy
   
   
   
Then after that we did kind of a last hoorah for their 27 year old mare Batia who is about to be put down. We rode her and then did a short trail ride with me and Keturah who.is twelve on Candy and Kayla who is 18 on Batia. I didn't get any pictures of the trail ride but I got a few once we were back in the arena. Batia has a older horse disease called Cushing's which is why she is super skinny.
Me and Baita.
   
Keturah and Baita
   
Then after that my grandma took me and my two younger brothers to the zoo.

   
   
Of course the camera decided to stop working after taking those two pictures.
Oh and after we rode the horses we brought out their little mini horse Cheketa an hitched her to their cart she did very well considering she hasn't been worked with in a while and harness and cart fitting problems that are being worked on.
   

[Nanno]

Phil and I just got back from a week at Lake Powell where we poked around on a houseboat with family and enjoyed lots of sunshine and beautiful scenery. It was a great week--very relaxing. We spent a lot of time in the water, which was an absolutely delicious temperature. We also had to weather a nasty thunderstorm in the open water, which was rather alarming as the wind tried to blow the houseboat this way and that while waves crashed over the bow. We saw two small water tornado things and a lot of lightning, including one bolt that struck the lake a bit closer than I felt comfortable with. I had the helm, so that part of the trip was rather stressful, but rest was a lot of fun. It's nice to be back home with the goaties though.

[Taffy]

I'm jealous! I've always wanted to do this! Photos?