Cuzco's Glamour Shot o' the Day

[Nanno]

Aw, what the heck... might as well start this up again. Phil says I should start a blog and maybe I will, but in the meantime I'll just put Cuzco's Glamour Shots here for now.
   

[Nanno]

And since it's Christmas time, I think it's appropriate to remember Cuzco's first Christmas in Colorado and the first time we put him to work. I think he actually really enjoyed hauling our tree off the mountain. He pulled it about a mile to our house. For the first time in his life, he did not get reprimanded for forging ahead and straining against resistance.
   

[Taffy]

And since it's Christmas time, I think it's appropriate to remember Cuzco's first Christmas in Colorado and the first time we put him to work. I think he actually really enjoyed hauling our tree off the mountain. He pulled it about a mile to our house. For the first time in his life, he did not get reprimanded for forging ahead and straining against resistance.

I'm SO glad you are starting up Cuzco's Glamour Shot O' the Day at Packgoat Central! I look forward to more photos and reports on adventures!

[Nanno]

No photo from today's festivities, but boy was it fun! Phil and I took a jaunt down the road to the neighboring town of Beulah this afternoon for their annual Yule Log festival. Apparently it's the second oldest in the country, having been celebrated continuously since 1952. The special log is hidden in the woods and when the bugle is sounded, everyone charges off to find it. The first person to find the yule log hollers "HALUEB!" (Beulah spelt backwards) and the victor rides the log as it is dragged to the pavilion where the log is sawn in two. One half is burned in this year's Yule fire and the other half is saved to help start next year's fire. The finder is toasted with wassail and everyone sings carols, eats cookies, and drinks wassail around the Yule fire. I'd heard about this event for several years but always after the fact. This year I was determined not to miss out and marked the date ahead of time. I'm so glad I did! This will doubtless become an annual tradition for us.

Of course, no tradition is worth celebrating without goats! Phil and I took Nubbin and Petunia since they are still small and easy to manage and because it's high time they started getting out by themselves and getting used to crowds and dogs and cars. Turns out they have no problem with any of those things, although one of the dogs was about to wet himself in his excitement over seeing a goat for the first time. His owner never could get him to calm down in the two hours we were there even though Petunia came right up and introduced herself to him. The kids loved the goats and gave them as many cookies as they would eat. It's a wonder they didn't both go into a sugar coma.

By far the best part of the day, though, was the hunt for the Yule Log. The moment the bugle sounded, the goats leaped into action and charged ahead, straining at their leashes like bloodhounds on a scent. Phil and I were dragged over hill and dale as they plunged through the snow, heads down, ears pricked, tails wagging. It's like they knew everyone was looking for something and they were going to be the first to find it! Unfortunately, however, goats do not make very good Yule Log trackers. They took us on a wild goose chase where we found many nice logs, but none of them the right one. However, I don't think the goats realized that they weren't the victors. They excitedly joined the happy, cheering throng that accompanied the log as it was dragged in jubilant celebration back to camp. Once there, they were treated to more cookies and attempted to treat themselves to wassail. They were petted, fussed over, and photographed by everyone. We were told we would have to bring them back again next year. You can't have a proper nordic Yule Log celebration with out goats! The goat is one of the most important traditional symbols of the Scandinavian Christmas. I can't believe they've left Yule Goats out of their celebrations for this long. We shall have to remedy that in future!

[Dave-Trinity-Farms]

Absolutely a great great story Love it!

[Casdog1]

I think I may be well on my way toward becoming a Cuzco groupie.

[Nanno]

Lilly was bitten by the love bug on Saturday, so we called a friend of mine in the dating service and arranged a hookup.

Lilly thought she'd make a great impression if she rode like this, but she thought better of it once the truck started moving.
   

Awww... First kiss.
   

This was the guy we tried to hook Lilly up with last year, but his overwhelming size and presence was way too much for our shy little maiden and we ended up going with a six-month old buck owned by the same breeder. This fellow, Nuada, is two years old and took some pretty nice championships this past year, even over much older, more mature bucks.
   

Don't leave me, Lilly!!
   

This is Argos, Lilly's date from last year and Petunia's daddy. I like Petunia so much I had planned on breeding Lilly again to him this year and using Nuada for Nibbles. But those plans changed when we lost Nibbles, and I figured I'd see how Lilly warmed up to Nuada this year. It's good to expand the gene pool.
   

[Dave-Trinity-Farms]

hehe ah you gots to enjoy a love story OH and you might wanna tell your friend that his key hole feeder is upside down. Though I guess it doesnt really matter as it doesnt look like they can get their heads in it anyways.

[Nanno]

I think that feeder is being used as a goat toy right now. It's got a couple of moldy straw bales in it. I'm guessing it just got too big for the boys to use as a feeder any more so they filled it with trash bales for weight and tumped it upside-down, to be resurrected as a feeder perhaps again some other day when there are smaller goats to use it.

[Taffy]

Nuada and Lilly should produce some highly colored kids.

Wonder of the kids will have long ears or airplane ears. I love airplane ears.

Lilly was bitten by the love bug on Saturday, so we called a friend of mine in the dating service and arranged a hookup.

Lilly thought she'd make a great impression if she rode like this, but she thought better of it once the truck started moving.


Awww... First kiss.


This was the guy we tried to hook Lilly up with last year, but his overwhelming size and presence was way too much for our shy little maiden and we ended up going with a six-month old buck owned by the same breeder. This fellow, Nuada, is two years old and took some pretty nice championships this past year, even over much older, more mature bucks.


Don't leave me, Lilly!!


This is Argos, Lilly's date from last year and Petunia's daddy. I like Petunia so much I had planned on breeding Lilly again to him this year and using Nuada for Nibbles. But those plans changed when we lost Nibbles, and I figured I'd see how Lilly warmed up to Nuada this year. It's good to expand the gene pool.