T Plus One

The tsunami didn't do anything and neither did Moldy. It wasn't a beautiful day, either, it was a soggy mess.

Now it has stopped raining though.

So what, it will probably start again soon.

We are sick of the rain and mud. Even Willen the fat Haflinger is sick of it, he wouldn't come up to the fence for a raisin bagel yesterday because he didn't want to walk through the mud. Instead he let Tommy take his bagel. The farmer's jaw dropped almost to the ground.

Tommy is a bagel hog, he would swim across Vaughn Bay for a bagel.

It is spring now, it doesn't matter what the calendar says. All the blossoms are blooming and the frogs are delirious with the their nighttime singing.

I don't know if anyone has bought the naming rights, I doubt it, but anyway I have suggested two names for Moldy's babies and they are "under consideration," whatever that means.

My suggestions are Fungus and Mildew, because these are mold names, and Moldy's name is Moldy.

Then they could be called Gus and Dewey, like the decimal. Nice.

That is if they ever show up.

T Minus Zero

Today is T Minus Zero, Moldy's due day, and she is not doing anything.

Outside it is very still with the last bits of the overnight rain drizzled out. The clouds are breaking up and it plans to be a beautiful day.

We are under a tsunami advisory because of the massive earthquake in Chile.

Don't worry if the water starts to rise I will rush up into the hayloft. I don't think I will be able to save Moldy so I hope she can swim. Good luck, Moldy.

There is hay up there so don't worry I will be okay.

This Weather

Around here people never get tired of talking about the weather when it is nice. When it is not nice nobody says anything. They just trudge around with their mud flaps out. But on days like the last few days everyone says, This Weather!

Can you believe This Weather?

How do you like This Weather?

This Weather!

Then the other person says, I KNOW!

or Isn't It Something?

They never get tired of it. They say it over and over.

I think it is because of this weather but yesterday I went into heat again. I felt it coming over me and I struggled against it but I was powerless to resist. I gave in and started screaming at the top of my lungs to signify that I was interested in gentleman callers - this is a good system, I don't know why people don't do it this way - and the farmer came running out of the house and picked me up and scurried to the car and stuffed me in a green dog crate and peeled out the driveway off to Minter Bay Dairy Goats.

We got there in record time - I think the screaming helped move things along - and we drove right to the drive-up buck window and the farmer got me out of the crate and carried me to the buck pen and inside there was the most darling little buck.

He looked just like a china doll! A little teacup buck like you might get in a cereal box! I mean adorable!

CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS WEATHER? I screamed at him.

I KNOW!!! He blubbered. ISN'T IT SOMETHING??!!

By this time I was ready to go and the farmer grabbed me and stuffed me back in the crate and we peeled out back to the farm, doing a donut in the field around the Minter Bay guard llama, who made no effort to check our IDs or anything else.

NICE TO MEET YOU! I screamed to the tiny buck. SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!

T Minus 9

Walker the Talker has been hanging around with the three little wethers. They rush around in a wether pack investigating food sightings. He took Bennett's advice and got his blue back.

It was a beautiful day, probably one of the ten most beautiful days of the year, and that helped.

Willen's long vacation is finally over. A good rider has been coming to ride him. He pretended he only knew how to stumble around like a 3-legged donkey for several days but it didn't take long to outsmart him. Today he was cantering all over and actually sweating. Tomorrow, who knows, maybe he will leave for Churchill Downs.

If anyone ever tries to put a saddle on you, take my advice and collapse on the ground in a dead faint. Moan and slobber a little bit too if you can. If that doesn't work, do a big Frankenstein limp.

The kidding countdown starts today.

Moldy is supposed to have her kids on February 27. She is already talking about it. Today is February 18, so it is T minus 9. Hurry up, Moldy.

Walkie Talkie

Walker the Talker is the handsomest minimancha wether in the world and he has a very high opinion of himself.

He thinks he is the handsomest minimancha wether in the world.

He likes to give his input on anything you are doing. "What are you doing?" he is always asking, even if you are asleep or possibly having a personal moment to yourself to think about pea hay.

Who invented pea hay? How did they think of it? Was it the same person who invented ginger snaps? Where does that person live? Near here?

Walker doesn't care how busy you are thinking about pea hay. He butts right in. He talks so much is why he got his nickname, Walker the Talker. For short we just call him Walkie Talkie.

If Walker sees a camera he runs over and stares at it until it takes his picture. Then he turns slightly so that his picture can be taken from another angle.

"Look at my eyes," he is always saying. "They are sky blue. That means they are as blue as the sky."

Anyway Walker has always lacked humility, unlike me.

Until yesterday.

Walker had gone to his new home where he was going to eat brush and be a friend to another goat. Then the phone rang. It was the people who got Walker and they said their dogs were trying to kill him. Maybe the dogs got tired of hearing his opinions, I thought.

Well the farmer has a policy of no refunds or exchanges. And also a strict policy of no wethers. So I was surprised when the farmer went and got in the truck and drove off and came back with Walker.

Walker got out and he was fine, there was nothing wrong with him. The dogs did not do a very good job of trying to kill him.

But he was humbled.

Zane Grey went over to give Walker a friendly t-boning and the farmer caught Zane Grey and picked him up.

"Just leave him alone," said the farmer. "Just leave him alone for today."

For the rest of the day Walker did not say anything or give any of his opinions. He walked along quietly behind the farmer, not letting even an inch of daylight get between him and the farmer.

His eyes did not even look that blue any more.

The Loneliest Number

We had the warmest January ever after one of the coldest Decembers ever. It was my first one so I don't really have anything to compare it to. But everyone was complaining it was too cold. And now it is too warm.

It is soppy and mild and last night the frogs started singing, all at once like they always do. Usually they don't start singing until March or April. But last night they started in, all together like a marching band.

The farmer went down and got Peaches and took Peaches up to the barn. Peaches has to go on solitary because she never gets enough to eat when she is in with other goats, even if one of them is in love with her, like Cowboy is. So while Cowboy wasn't looking the farmer came and got Peaches.

Cowboy heard the gate close behind them and he came running.

He started crying and threw himself against the gate.

"It's ok, Cowboy," the farmer said. Cowboy picked himself up and threw himself against the gate again.

The farmer put Peaches in a stall by herself with a large supply of hay. Peaches started right in eating. The farmer brought Peaches some extra grain. Peaches took a short break from eating hay to gobble the grain. Then she went back to eating hay.

The farmer turned out the lights in the barn and went into the house for the night.

We all sat there in the dark. We could hear Peaches eating her hay. In the background we could hear the chain rattling each time Cowboy threw himself against the gate. In the background behind the background, we could hear the frogs singing.

It's February. But it feels like April.