Hilarity in the Country

We started out with three young male goats, Finnegan, Frosty and Danny. Since then we have acquired two milking goats and another young male, but this post is about the first three goats and our son, Aidan.

Finnegan, Frosty and Danny grew up being bottle-fed, so we’ve been able to watch them grow and learn their unique traits. We found that Frosty and Danny have melodic voices complete with your typical goat vibrato. Then there’s Finnegan…no vibrato, no pleasant tone, no sense of volume. Just a wide eyed, “BAAAAAHH!” like a bleating idiot.



Now that you’ve been formally introduced, here’s what happened last night.

It was about 2:00 AM when Aidan woke up wanting his bottle. He fussed for a little bit with sleepy frustration while I made the formula, but when he was in Mommy’s arms he became fully alert and cried with all his might. Well our windows were open and the goats heard his cry and became concerned.
Aidan: Waaaaaaah!
Danny: Bah-ah-ah-ah.
Frosty: Bah-ah-ah-ah.
Finnegan: BAAAAAHHHHH!!
Babies and goats can sound awful similar, so they thought one of their own was in trouble and Finnegan wasn’t about to miss a chance to bawl into the darkness.

Hunter

Hunter, first in command of the animal hierarchy on our property. Adored by his master and respected by all, Hunter is a dog among dogs. While his name is a bit cliché, there is an interesting story behind it. When my wife went to pick out a puppy for me in 2006, she went against my wishes. I felt that another mouth to feed was a terrible idea. She did anyway and I fell in love with a ball of black and tan fur. It took several days to decide his name. We tossed around a few ideas but couldn’t settle on one, all the while keeping one name a secret from the other. Finally, after exhausting all of our ideas, we returned to the name we both thought of first but never mentioned. Well that sealed it, Hunter was it!

Erin said it was tough picking out a puppy. After all, it was going to be the dog we have for the next ten plus years. She spent a long time examining the pups but there was one instance that sealed the decision. Clouds had rolled in and static began to accumulate. Then, CRASH! Lightening and thunder boomed overhead and the puppies ran yelping to their box. Guess who got to the box first and waited for all the other pups to get inside before he did? That’s why Erin chose Hunter, because he showed true bravery.



Hunter is a great ranch dog and exceedingly intelligent. He knows sit, down, come, stay, stand, hop, roll over, spin, drop it, get it, and "Psssss!" which means to get after the cat. Knowing tricks is always great, but learning on the fly and thinking fast are things you just can't teach. The best example would be when I was a nimrod and left the gate open to the horse pasture. One of the horses, Astro, decided to meander through it. Neither Erin nor I were close enough to stop him from getting loose. We ran anyway yelling, "Whoa!" to no avail. Hunter knew what we wanted, he stood at the gate and barked at the 1500 pound animal. Astro stopped.

Thanks Hunter!