What did you do today?

[Tater74]

That's great that some people stopped to help. It happens less and less these days.

Good luck getting it repaired.

[Nanno]

The truck is repaired and I'm grateful for all the good folks in this valley. I'm also grateful for a good goat like Finn who takes everything in stride and shows little guys like Pongo that they don't have to be nervous around traffic and headlights. They just have to walk steadily on the leash and stay over to the side. Finn has firmly taken the place of old Cuzco, who showed all my young whipper-snappers (including Finn) what it meant to be a regal, self-assured packgoat. Every packgoat string should have an old campaigner to show the little guys how things ought to be done. :-)

[Nanno]

Whew! We've been snowed in for 3 days and it hasn't stopped yet! The blizzard started late Tuesday night and has continued almost nonstop since then, taking only a few brief pauses to spit on its hands. We had a little warm-up on Monday when it snowed all day and dumped several inches, which melted pretty quickly on Tuesday, giving me enough time to get to the polls to vote and swing by the grocery store to stock up on food before the real storm hit. It started trickling down late Tuesday, and sometime in the wee hours of Wednesday morning the wind began to howl and hurl ice pellets at the house. We woke up to snow scudding over bare ground in some spots and cresting tall drifts in others. The wind settled down on Wednesday but the snow continued in earnest. Yesterday was lighter, but it still never quit. Today was warmer and heavy, fat flakes fell fast all day long. There's mud under the snow and it's hard to shovel because it's so wet and heavy. I got soaked doing chores this evening. The goats are sick of being cramped in their sheds, but they also don't want to be out in the snow. It's supposed to stop around midnight tonight. I'm sure we'll have over 3 feet before morning, if it doesn't slump too much. It's supposed to be around 50° and sunny all week so I expect this lot will melt in a hurry. I'm so excited to have a bona fide Colorado storm so early in the season! We haven't had weather like this in over a decade and I couldn't be more pleased! I hope we get lots of snow this winter to fill up our rainwater cistern and water the parched ground and replenish the groundwater aquifers.

[Nanno]

Aside from a couple of paltry baby photos from early in our kidding season, it's been a long time since I've posted a Goat-O-Rama update. But yesterday was exciting so I'm going to share. I took Scout and Pest to a horse obstacle practice and competition yesterday. They came as one of the obstacles. I penned them in a corner of the arena with their pack saddles on, and they really alarmed some of the horses at first. This was Pest's first time out in public. After I stood him at stud for four seasons, I decided to wether him last November, so he's a late bloomer on the packgoat scene. He's always been such a fabulous buck and I thought it was a shame we couldn't really do anything else with him. It's not good for a buck's personality if he's too familiar with humans since intact males tend to view their friends as competition when rut rolls around, so I've always maintained a cordial yet very professional relationship with Pest. It took a few months for the testosterone to drop enough to where I felt it would be safe to work with him, but I must say I've never seen a more eager fellow. He is at least as smart as Sputnik was, and perhaps even smarter. He's certainly more enthusiastic for attention!

Anyway, yesterday was the first time Pest has been to an event, and it was the first time he ever faced obstacles. He did AMAZING! This goat was born to work. He loved his new job of carrying a pack and being led around over obstacles! He didn't balk about leaving Scout and he was very unflappable about all the glittering, blowing, spinning things out there. He baa-aa-ed a bit at first, and he definitely cried when he got left in the pen by himself while Scout did the course, but he was a good boy and he didn't scream obnoxiously or try to climb the fence. I was very proud of him. Phil took a video of our run and included it in his latest fiddle livestream. Pest's run is about 45 minutes in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErrCSbUrQ3w

I can't wait to start taking pest on hikes and training him to the cart. I put him to the cart once about 6 weeks ago or so and it went both really well and really badly. I'll have to share about that sometime because there was a very funny incident near the beginning of our session, but it all came right in the end.

So yeah, Pest is why our babies have been so incredibly nice these last few years. I'm sad that he can't keep producing more, but it's getting to the point where I have too many of his daughters and we already had one "oops" this year between Pest and Dolly. I've got to get fresh blood so we don't have any more incestuous incidents, and I also think it would be a shame for Pest to have to spend his whole life in the semi-purgatory of being a breeding buck when he yearns so badly for human interaction. You can't explain to a buck why he's the only one not getting scratches, pets, and loves. But we could see that any time we got even a little bit affectionate with him, within a few days he would start to come toward us with his hackles raised and a little menace in his posture. The sweet, big-eyed begging for attention became pushy demands. It was impossible to give him physical affection and still maintain boundaries and respect. Now it's different and I'm able to put my hands on him without summoning an inner monster. I still have to be careful because he has a more buckish mindset than a goat wethered young, but he's night and day different than he was before and I think he's really loving the change.

Scout was a good boy yesterday too. He has a very nervous personality and he was physically shaking from head to toe for about half an hour after I got him off the trailer, but he eventually settled and he did really well on the course. Pest and Scout are best buddies and I think this could be very good for Scout's personality. Pest is bold and curious much like Finn, but unlike Finn, Pest is kind to his subordinates. I hope some of Pest's steady, confident personality rubs off on Scout. Phil led Scout around the course during the competition phase and Scout did every single thing Phil asked of him. Phil didn't ask him to go in the water box, but I did earlier in the day during practice and he walked through it. I was very proud of him. He's come a long way.