Cuzco's Glamour Shot o' the Day

[Dave-Trinity-Farms]

How can snow being coming when that looks like such a perfect day?

[Saph]

You have been such a wonderful "Mom" to Cuzco & all the rest of your herd--how could they not help but love you?!...Happy Mother's Day, Nanno!

[Taffy]

You and Phil bring out the joys of life and having goats. I love your photos and stories. You should really think about writing a book about your life and adventures with goats.

Phil built a new campfire ring this afternoon and Lilly tested it out. It fits perfectly.


Once the fire was going Cuzco was the only goat who was interested. He loves campfires and he always hangs around by my chair, no doubt hoping for a handout, but he also gets very friendly at campfires. He's loved campfires since he was a baby and the only time he would climb in my lap was when we were next to one. I have no idea why. I had to put a stop to that after he got to be about a year old, of course, but I've always wondered why he gets so snuggly around a campfire. It must be the old "Kum-ba-ya" spirit.


Cuzco also loves listening to Phil play the fiddle. None of the other goats seem all that interested, but Cuzco never gets tired of it. Neither do I, for that matter!



Looks like Cuzco is singing along!

[Nanno]

You and Phil bring out the joys of life and having goats. I love your photos and stories. You should really think about writing a book about your life and adventures with goats.

Perhaps someday I will write a book. As for bringing out the joys of life and having goats... well, there's just so much to be joyful about!

[Nanno]

This morning we woke up to a beautiful sight.
   
   

Good morning Nubbin!
   

Petunia says, "It's snowing on my fur!"
   

Daisy enjoys a welcome relief from the heat. She's been swimming in the cow pond to cool off. Snow is so much nicer!
   

Pac-Man has been taking camera posing lessons from Cuzco. Perhaps he's taking them a bit far.
   

Nubbin says, "Cuzco kicked me out again! Tell him to let me back in!"
   

[Dave-Trinity-Farms]

Ok that is disgusting... snow in May. YUCK

[Nanno]

No way! It's awesome! Half our state burned down last year. We're desperate for this moisture. I'll never forget the spring of 1990 in Lake City, CO when we got FIVE FEET of heavy cement-grade snow on May 5. It's been a long time since ski slopes have been able to stay open till June 1, but I think some of them will do it this year!

[Nanno]

We had a bit of brief excitement this morning. Lilly is due any day now, so I always peek out the window first thing in the morning to see if everything seems normal. All the goats were in their sheds so I didn't bother them and went upstairs. An hour or so later I heard a horrible screaming cry. It sounded like a human toddler! I rushed downstairs to see what was happening. My only thought was, "Oh my gosh! Lilly kidded last night and a baby is tangled in the electric fence!"

But when I came outside, all seemed quiet. The goats were bunched in one corner of the pen staring wide-eyed at Daisy. Lilly had her hackles up, but no babies. When I went out to check on everyone, Daisy was beside herself and Lilly was on the warpath. Apparently Lilly has kicked into aggressive mode and I think she pushed Daisy into the electric fence. Lilly attacked Daisy a couple more times as I was letting everyone out. I wonder if I'll have to put Daisy outside the pen for a while until Lilly settles down, or if Daisy will figure out how to stay out of Lilly's way.

Those two have always had a very rough-and-tumble relationship with a lot of play-fighting and dirty tricks, but both of them always looked as though they were enjoying it. I regularly see Lilly sneak up behind Daisy and snatch a chunk of hair out of her tail. When Daisy yelps and jumps, Lilly struts off with head high and tail arched over her back, waiving the ball of fluff triumphantly. Sometimes Lilly bowls Daisy over. At other times Daisy ambushes Lilly out of nowhere and nips her ear or cheek then streaks away with a gleeful grin on her face. Neither of them has ever taken these hijinks seriously, and one will usually chase the other after a prank. But this morning's encounter looked serious, and no one was laughing. I'll have to keep a close watch and make sure Lilly doesn't get too aggressive. Daisy is a great guard dog and I don't want her losing her enthusiasm for her job.

[nebs]

I bet that gave you a quick shot of adrenaline! I hope Lilly has a smoothe kidding. I just saw those recent pics of Pacman, you are right he is getting tall!

[Nanno]

Yesterday, Pac-Man accompanied Phil and I on his first-ever hike! He's been on walks with us and the girls nearly every day since we got him, but not any bona-fide hikes on real live hiking trails! Cuzco came too, of course, to show the little squirt how a proper packgoat does things.
   

Pac-Man started off the first half-mile by continually trying to sneak past me. I couldn't let my guard down for a moment. His persistence ended when Phil handed me his flannel shirt to carry and I whapped Pac-Man across the face with it as he tried to dart around my legs. That startled him and he kept a safe distance afterwards.

Unfortunately, keeping a safe distance made Pac-Man nervous (or perhaps he was crying because his feelings were hurt), so he started up a racket of mournful baa-aa-s. He kept stopping in the trail and looking back as well. Cuzco, who was in the rear, did not tolerate this behavior for long. He began shoving Pac-Man in the bottom every time he stopped, which kept the procession going, but it did nothing to shut the little goat up.

So Cuzco took charge and rearranged the hiking order.
   

Once he was relegated to the back, Pac-Man settled down, stopped crying, quit turning around, and things went on very nicely until we got to our first water crossing. Cuzco hesitated only enough to decide the best path before showing Pac-Man how to properly negotiate a creek.
   

Unfortunately, Cuzco's example did not leave much of an impression on Pac-Man. This is as far as he would go:
   

Phil and I thought that if we hiked off he would eventually muster up the courage to follow. We disappeared into the woods, closing our ears to Pac-Man's frantic despairing cries, but unfortunately our plan didn't work out. I peered back through the trees only to see Pac-Man running desperately up the trail in the wrong direction!

I quickly went back and called to him, and relief washed over his panicked face when he saw me, but it wasn't enough to make him cross the water. Oh well... we encountered the same problem with Nibbles' first water crossing when we took her with us to Utah two years ago, so I guess we can't blame Pac-Man's Nubian heritage. Not everyone is born a natural. It was time to break out the leash and force the issue.

I walked over the log bridge and I hauled on the leash until Pac-Man was forced to come after me. He did not make a very graceful first attempt, I'm afraid. Because he was pulling against me but trying to run across quickly at the same time, he lost his balance halfway and fell into the brush on the downstream side. He leaped out, a little wet and somewhat terrified, but otherwise fine.

The first crossing wasn't up to spec, so I figured now was a good opportunity to practice a couple more times. This time I waded in to show Pac-Man that water is safe. Contrary to his suspicions, it does not burn skin off like acid. Pac-Man stood resolutely on the bank, all four feet planted firmly, while I waded into the water. When I reached the end of the lead, I turned around and hauled away, thinking I could drag him in. Instead, Pac-Man responded with an almighty LEAP. I got a panicked glimpse of a goat hurtling airborne right toward my body before I turned and scrambled desperately out of the way. He cleared the eight-foot gap between us at chest-level and landed with a splash almost on top of me before bolting up the bank. I avoided getting flattened or dunked, but I do have a nice bruise on my calf where one of his hooves got me in passing.

Thankfully that was the end of the water drama. Pac-Man figured out how to walk (well, run) across the log after that.

Honestly, Pac-Man much prefers water crossings like this one: