Well, I have to say, my timing is certainly terrible. I managed to keep my posts going all through the run up to the goat homecoming, and then I let them drop right as the goats get here. So I wasn’t able to share in all of the fun with you guys out there. Now the situation has changed, and I have lots of pictures.
For some reason on Thursday morning something inside my soul let loose with an almost audible snap. I don’t think I have ever had a panic attack before in my life, but I sure as hell did that morning. I could barely function for close to an hour. If you have ever had someone say the walls are closing in, and you have never had a panic attack, you have no idea what they are talking about. That is the single most humbling, embarrassing, powerful burst of emotion you can feel in your life. I have no idea if I was just pushing myself too hard or what, but I was not in a happy place. So I decided to slack off and take it easy for a couple of days and allow myself a chance to recover. I am hoping to be able to dive into my blog again, as I do enjoy writing it, but I never want to be in that emotional state again, so we will see.
Pepperoncini and Verbena:
These were our two cute little Nigerian Dwarf Goats and Jenn (Hi Jenn). The all black one standing up was the girl, Verbena, and the white frosted one laying down is Pepperoncini. Having never had goats before, I would describe goats as cats, but with enough brains to get into real trouble. They know how to listen, they just choose not to. These damn goats would actually climb up into your lap to sit there and get petted. They were absolutely adorable.
Here is little Peppers engaged in his absolute favorite activity, getting curry combed by Jenn.
This is Peppers all tired out from his second favorite activity, eating twigs off of my wood pile. Damn goats. Also, watching goats lay down is absolutely adorable. They just hunker down on their front knees and its really cute.
I would say my goat feeder worked out just fine. They both enjoyed the crud out of their alfalfa.
Here is little Peppers with my dog Sasha. Not exactly best friends yet, but at least they accepted each other. I don’t have one of Beans with the dogs, and thats crucial to the story.
Note all through this post I have referred to goats in the past tense. Unfortunately, we had to take little Pepperoncini and Verbena back to the farm where we got them. They were absolutely adorable to have around, and I loved their cuteness and their antics. Unfortunately, sometimes you have to do whats best for all of the animals, and not you. Our dogs have to come first, and Verbena just could not accept them. She was unable to bond with them, and was terrible afraid. She actually head-butted Sasha on the shoulder one night, so of course my coward was now terrified as well. We was constantly tense and on watch with them. Since we refused to restrict our dogs, and having a terrified goat is cruel, we took them home.
Verbena was just way too bonded to her herd, Peppers would have loved to stay with us. Taking them back home was very sad. Beans ran off with the other goats and didn’t look back, she was happier there. Peppers just stayed by the fence waiting for us to come in and play with him. He was happier with us. So its sad, but it was best for everyone.
We are not giving up on the Nigerian Dwarf Goats though. The farm has two little baby goats for us, also a boy and a girl. We are going to pick them up soon, after I finish goat proofing the yard. Since they are smaller, we think they will have an easier time with the dogs. Also, since they are young, the haven’t been part of the big herd yet, so they shouldn’t miss them when they come here. We are pretty sure they will think my dog Maggie is their new goat mommy, which will thrill Maggie to no end. I will post pics as soon as I have some.
Having two full size Nigerian Dwarf Goats was helpful though. I know what I have to do to proof the yard for them. Ask my poor little Trovita Orange Tree how good I am at building goat fences. Lets just say version 2.o will be better. I will outline my improvements tomorrow.
Paleo Portion:
I made the mistake of falling off my paleo wagon for a few days, and boy am I paying for it. I think the gluten was giving me a pain in my stomach, but its hard to separate the food from my stress level. Jenn made tasty rosemary chicken and yellow rice last night. It was really good. We got more awesome food from the market yesterday too. So hopefully I will stay on track, and feel better with a reduced stress load for a few days.