The beginning...

Flowers, candy, nice card--all lovely Mother's Day gifts, however, this year my oldest son and daughter decided to get me what I've always always wanted--a GOAT! And of course, you cannot own just one goat, so I bought another little wethered male. Doris is a registered three month old Oberhasli and Skippy is a little two month old Nubian. I absolutely LOVE them, they are so sweet--and I am learning so much. They each have their own distinct personality. Doris is very graceful and ladylike, Skippy, on the other hand, is a little rascal. The minute I enter their pen, he runs up to me and gently butts me until I sit down and scratch his ears and rub his back. That is Skippy jumping up and over the large rocks. The lower picture shows Doris in the background and Skippy in the foreground browsing on the scrub bushes in their pen. Our land is a good spot for goats--the pen encompasses a portion of old rock wall that was used over a hundred years ago to contain sheep. The browse is spicebush, brambles, raspberry, honeysuckle--Doris and Skippy are happy as two peas in a pod.
In the next chapter I'll ramble on about how we converted a 80 x 80 foot area on the mountain into a goat pen, complete with a little barn--which my husband calls a "shed"--although I think that sounds undignified.