Why Goats?

Cats look down on you.
Dogs look up to you.
Goats neither look up or down, they just accept that we're equal.

First Blog Follower!!

Well, I actually have one follower to my blog! According to the avatar, it's an athletic young Asian woman named Laurence...I happen to know, however, that it's actually my son! After reading it, he said he had some stories to share on my blog, and I told him to submit them to the editor for possible publication....so here's my baby boy, Larry, hangin' with Sam the puppy.

The Disclaimer

So here it is, my disclaimer: I am blogging this because I want to capture bits and pieces that make up a whole life. So far, it's not shaping up to be a chronological telling of events, but stories of how I came to be.

I'd like to say, "Readers be damned," I'm going to spill my guts. But to be honest, I'll probably filter some of what I publish -- if I publish this at all.

So the disclaimer: This is my blog and my opinion and my view of my life. I have a very odd sense of wit and humor and one that appeals to me, but some people may not like it. If you don't like my irreverence or my political views or my version of a story, that's okay. Don't read it. I don't want your feedback or your opinion or a debate. Unless it's exceedingly complimentary, I don't want to hear it.

Get it? Got it? Good!

Coming soon...

* Never Look Back (it's a sign of weakness)
* The Disclaimer
* It's How He Rolls
* The Mary of the Lazy Eye
* I laugh at Fart Jokes
* The Last Puerto Rican
and, of course, the story behind:
* "Eww, What's on My Shoe"

The Usual Suspects -- Caprine Variety

Because they are such a huge part of my daily life --

THE DOES

1. Cleo (right) PGCH Canyon Kids Unwritten Law, a black agouti born in 2002 The Grandame, the herd queen, resident Senior Doe, 2nd doe I ever bought; rules the herd with strong indifference.
2. City Lights Texy Garcia (left)daughter of Cleo. goes by Texy. Nearly two years old, expecting her first kids in March. Has illusions of grandeur and believes herself to be a chief muckety-muck simply because she is her mother's daughter.
3. Sunnyslope Pygmys Black Velvet aka Velvet, Velvee, Velveeta. The oldest doe at 10, came to from a breeder in Tucson. Velvet likes to pretend she's a herd queen, but she's like a QB: she want the glory of the ball, but avoids contact. Hangs behind her offensive line, throwing encouragement via vigorous head tosses and bristling of hair. (Velvet pictured below)

4. Dunn Deal Pygmys Cherish another creaky, tottery old goat from my friend in Tucson. Timid, fretful, and one of my favorites.
5. CL All Dark and Soxy a tiny little doe that kids beautifully. Daughter of Lucy (my first kidding!) and a PGCH buck. Brave only with one or two of the other goats; she backs off quickly from most of them.
6. Radiant Pygmies Mariposa an older doe, not particularly friendly, but not unfriendly, just bland. She is built like an incubator and mother of Radiant and Cheater.

More intros to come....

I thought it was a fart.

Allan received a text message from a friend back East. It read, simply, "I thought it was a fart."

So succint. So intriging. So gross.

The Usual Suspects -- The Family

Cast of Characters... and there are some real characters, trust me.
Family:
IN A STARRING ROLE:
Me
SUPPORTING ACTORS:
Allan - husband of 11 yrs, been together much longer, he's a health freak, obsessive-compulsive work-aholic, who has put up with my BS and has worked to have a good relationship with Jessica. Allan is a member of the Genetic Police.
Larry - son, OMG nearly 33. Still trying to figure out his path in life -- I don't think he realizes that some of us can't see the path until we've traveled down it already. He also probably doesn't know that I am incredibly proud of him and what he has accomplished. He's the first Fraser to actually get a college degree and went on to get his Masters. He certainly didn't have the best guidance with all of that when he was growing up -- but, I'd never been to college. What did I know?
Jessica - daughter, 19, freshman at Rutgers -- a rocky senior year of high school and one year at community college. Incredible rider and a take-no-prisoners kind of girl, Jess, too, had a rocky upbringing as the product of a nasty divorce, but of all the people I know, Jess is a survivor.
Diane - my sister -- 3 yrs older. She's got custody of Dad. I had Mom. Diane's still ahead of the game.
Dad - 86, a little wifty -- a lot wifty. Still wants to drive despite his forgetfulness, bad knees, etc.
Tab -- Allan's Mom. She and her husband, Robert, lived next door to my parents in Atlantic City for years. They now live on the next block over in an incredible house facing the Boardwalk and the ocean. I never get tired of going there. Tab is probably the best cook I've ever known and makes one hell of a bed.
Robert See above. Allan's stepfather, an atty, a power player in DC, and now retired.

A tragedy of ducks

I once bought some ducklings at a feed store because I'd heard that ate flies. They were little yellow fluffy things who liked to "bob" in the wading pool. SO, we named them "Bob" -- both of them and waited for them to grow up and banish the flies from my barn.

But as the Bobs grew, we determined three things: both Bobs were girls; they were not the fly-eating breed of duck (one was a Pekin, one was a runner), and the two ducks eggs they laid daily gave Annie horrific, wake-you-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night flatulence. Annie was a wonderful dog who would never dream of doing anything wrong, but she couldn't resist the daily Easter egg hunt.


Although neither Bob showed the slightest interest in catching flies, they turned out to be incredible snail hunters. It's been probably two years since their lives were tragically ended by a coyote in the middle of the night, and our snail population still has not recovered from the impact.

This past summer, I tried again. This time I got the correct breed of duck -- Muscovy. Unfortunately, they aren't showing much interest in eating the flies either. But to be honest, why would they when they have access to goat feeders full of grain. As Duk-Duk and Goose grew, it was obvious it was obvious they were of opposite sexes, but why wouldn't Mother Nature discourage them from sitting on a nest in December?

January 1, 2010, I found Duk-Duk and seven ducklings down in the barnyard. I really hadn't planned on a bunch of baby ducks and decided to let "Nature take its course." That lasted til I read on the Internet that ducklings were very susceptible to cold weather, so down DH and I trudged to catch Duk-Duk and her brood. We put all eight in a pen close to the house used as a goatie maternity ward. Food, water, and a heat lamp.

Day 2 - while at work, I receive a call that all the babies have escaped and a couple have fallen in the swimming pool. That necessitates a rescue operation with pool nets, warm towels, a box, and more lamps. All seven survive the ordeal.

Day 3 - an apparent water dish suicide for one duckling.

Day 4 - Duk-Duk and remaining six escape. I give up, as I am tired of being chased and hissed at by Duk-Duk during my heroic duck-saving efforts, and place food and water near the goat pens.

Day 5 - Two more have fallen. One is found dead -- exposure? and one is nearly dead; we are unable to resucitate.

Day 6 - The Fabulous Four remain.

Day 7 - Another baby is down in the morning. I wrap it in warm towels to revive it and place it in a muck bucket in the bathroom with lamps. By evening, the duckling seemed to perk up a bit. I didn't want her to be alone, so I caught one of the remaining three and placed it in the muck bucket as well. Within an hour or so, the baby was dead, and I had to tramp down in the dark to return the cheeping baby to its mom.

Day 9 - another one bites the dust...

It's now January 15, and two babies survive -- two out of SEVEN! Mother Nature? What gives?

Writer's block. Day 2

Well, it's happened. I have failed at blogging. I can think of thousands of things to write about, but nothing I WANT to write about...this could be the shortest blog known to mankind.

First day of blogging

Well, this is clearly going to be harder than I realized. After watching Julie and Julia and hearing about other people blogging, I have decided that to join the new decade, I need to become a blogger. Rumor has it that it's hard to find something to blog about. Life is rather predictable for most of us and could be monotonous, but I haven't even gotten that far.

I've already hit a hurdle -- naming the blog. Hard to believe that -- when I couldn't come up with a name -- all the ones such as "nameless blog" or "untitled blog" were taken. I mean, if so many people are stumped for names for their blogs, what is everyone writing about??