The Saga of the Goat

Most kids bring home a pocket knife or maybe a cool leather bracelet as a souvenir from the scout-o-rama. My kid? He brings home a baby goat.
Yes, you read that correctly.
A goat. Maybe 4 months old at the most. Yep.

Bartley, they named him. They being the 3 boys who hatched this plan, decided to go in on it together monetarily and be part owners of said goat. Brandon, Branson and Tanner.

You'd think, wouldn't you, that the scout leaders chaperoning the boys on this trip would've put a kibosh on the plan? Well, you'd be wrong. You and I both. Because between what I think boils down to a cross between miscommunication and practical joking, not only did they say yes, but actually lent the boys the money to buy the goat!

So when I could've sworn I heard goat bleating as I went out to bring the garbage cans into the garage and chalked it up to what surely must be Julianne's "baby" inside the house crying...apparently I should've trusted my ears. Because a few minutes later I got a phone call from Brandon. And his first order of business was not to tell me that he was home from his overnighter but rather to giddily inform me of his new souvenir.
Oh my.
"But mom, we already have ducks and chickens in the backyard. Why not a goat?"
Again, oh my.

Blessedly Branson's parents, after listening to the scared and lonely goat bleat from their backyard for a few hours (goats are social animals and don't like to be alone...you always buy goats in pairs), made a call to another neighbor who owned a farm in Farmington and arranged to take it there, at least temporarily.

Sunday church was a flurry of talk. Ward members laughing over the story, and those of us involved trying to figure just what in the world actually went down at that scout-o-rama! Bryan was all for leaving the goat tied to a tree in the scout leader's front yard and letting him deal with it. But by this point in time I had been contacted on facebook by my friend Russ. He and I had done "Power in His Touch" together a few years ago but hadn't seen each other since. He had a farm in Taylorsville, he said. He had 20+ goats already. Our little Bartley was more than welcome to join the herd.

So today Brandi (Branson's mom) and I, along with her son Deven and Lilian drove to Farmington to pick up Bartley...already crated up and ready to go....and continued south to Russ' farm. And I have to say, I really think Bartley will be happy there.

Along with checking out Bartley's new home, Russ gave us the full farm tour. We cuddled with not only goats, but also rabbits, horses and alpacas. We were there for over an hour and had such a great time! We learned all the animal's names, we heard all sorts of fun stories about farm life....and it was great to see Russ again after all these years. He says we can come back and visit Bartley any time we want. We just may take him up on it....

The goats were so playful...running, jumping, chewing.  This goat kept chewing on my shirt. Every time Brandi knelt down they would chew on her long hair.

Finished!

....probably. To the best of my knowledge. I hope.

The man cave is officially done. It was a long process, wasn't it? Or maybe it just seems that way to me because I've been staring out my back windows at it for the past couple of years watching as it slowly but surely inched it's way to completion. Oh, it's been functional for a good year and a half now. We stalled a bit on the exterior, specifically railing for the side porch and stacked rock. The railing came last summer. As of this past week, the stacked rock is finally done. And wow...what a difference that rock makes! It was interesting watching the workmen put it up. It's quite time consuming, kind of like putting together a puzzle.

Here's a before pic....before not only rock but apparently railing also:

Here's some pictures of the rock progress:

These big boxes of rock were in the driveway in front of my side of the garage. I had to park out behind them for a few weeks. It's nice to have my spot back again...

And the finished product....

Doesn't it look nice? As you can maybe see, we have a lot of yard work to do to reclaim our backyard now that things are finally finished up. Things like nurturing our poor lawn that has suffered mightily from construction and trenching and lack of water due to cut sprinkler lines. But also, we need to figure out what to do with the space to the sides and back of the building. I'm kind of thinking some serious hedges to the one side, and maybe some more garden boxes on the other. I'm excited to plant some more trees and fill in that skinny little flower bed that I insisted the workmen make for me when creating that pathway in front of the building to the porch. I'm anxious to get some reclining lawn chairs up there on the porch. I guess what it truly boils down to is excitement for finally LIVING in our backyard. It's got potential to be really, really great. I watched Rebekah and all her hordes of friends back there for her birthday party last weekend (more on that in a few days) and saw what could be, what will be...what really already is to some extent. I'm hoping this is the year.

And in other non-related man cave news but kind of goes along with all the backyard talk....as I was heading back to the house after taking man cave pictures I noticed that my lilac bushes are in bloom. This is my favorite flower bed...even though it's so simple. I wish the lilacs could flower all summer!

 And then I heard a bit of contented squawking, and found these little guys...

...which is kind of funny because last week I found them on the other side of the house here.

 I guess they are enjoying the blooming flowers as well.

If you are interested in the whole man cave saga...
Progress Update
My lawn is crying
Another man cave update
It's done...mostly
One step closer to completion

Spring chickens

I consider it spring when the calendar hits March 20th. And then of course the weather usually starts to get warmer. The daffodils come up followed closely by hyacinths and crocus', and finally tulips. Grass starts getting greener. The birds chirp and the trees blossom. It's all good stuff. But this year we got another sign of spring that we don't usually experience....baby animals! Realistically, we do have a field of cows behind our house. And they do tend to have the cutest little baby calves in early spring. But other than awwww-ing over them from my back windows, I don't have much contact.

This year was another story entirely. Not for baby calves, mind you. Those were still a window viewing experience only. But take a look at this early spring cuteness....

We had a family Easter dinner and egg hunt at Uncle Kevin's and Aunt Kari's burgeoning farm. They have recently decided to try their hand at raising chickens and goats. I tell you what, it's pretty darn cute to watch those baby goats run around the yard with the kids, just like a dog would do....darn cute, yesiree.

Token Easter Egg hunt pictures:

It's kind of nice to be at a point where though my older daughters may not want to hunt for eggs themselves, they do enjoy hiding said eggs. I didn't have to do a thing. Julianne even stuffed them full of candy for me.

But hey, wait! The baby animal cuteness is not over yet. Because do you want to see what we have roaming around in our very own backyard?

Clearly this a big step beyond the window-viewing or farm-visiting, awww-inspiring, cuteness. This comes along with not only the novelty of soft and fluffy and cute right in your own hands....but also the responsibility of feeding and watering and making sure they don't get stuck in the wagon or squeeze under the fence into the neighbors backyard, shopping at C-A-L Ranch for chicken feed and hay, etc.

As of right now, we are chick-sitting for some neighbors who have been out of town on vacation. But seeing as our backyard is backed up to a farm already and we have all sorts of open space for an enclosed coop beside and behind our man cave...the situation may become more permanent. A partnership of sorts, where we share the financials and chores...but also the eggs. Time will tell what ends up happening with these little feathered friends. But in the meantime, it's been awfully fun to watch them grow. I'm rather shocked at how big they've got in only two weeks time. The yellow duck (that Julianne has temporarily named Sabrina...) is huge! And in another funny little moment, Bryan brought one of the chickens into our kitchen yesterday evening and introduced it to our five parakeets. They all looked a little shocked....the parakeets AND the chicken.