Goat NIGHTMARE this weekend! I was just getting ready to kick back and relax after making some modifications to Ivory's rabbit hutch, when I heard frantic and obviously distressed goat bleating. Somehow, some way, probably by half-climbing trees to browse, stoopit Gouda got herself out of our yard and into one of the neighbors backyards. Though we have some land, we are in a decidely urban area, with the street just east of us (that these neighbors face) being 4 lane and quite busy. I climbed over the fence to shut Gouda up and reassure her and try to figure out what to do. I made one attempt to put her feet up on the fence and hoist her over, but after nearly getting impaled by a horn in the throat, I nixed that idea. Soooo, I thought I'd go out the front gate, much as I hated the idea, and walk Gouda back around to our place. Unfortunately, the neighbor was not home, and her front gate had a padlock on it! The fence on the north side of her yard was quite a bit shorter than the fence between us, so I was able to shove Gouda's near 200 pound butt over THAT fence, in the process breaking my stupid flip-flops. Luckily, that house had no locked gate, but now I have THREE quarter-acre properties I have to walk past, on a very busy street, pulling a squalling and rearing goat, that I am removing from sight of her herd-mates, who are also yammering and freaking out and making me afraid they are going to try and follow. Then, as might be expected in a universe where something this f'ed-up could happen, I step on the first of about two hundred stickers. So, now I have THREE quarter-acre properties I have to walk past, on a very busy street, pulling a squalling and rearing goat, with bare feet and stickers. We managed to get home, whereupon I spent the next two hours picking broken off sticker spines out of my feet, with incomplete success. Goats milk is not quite so tasty today as it was yesterday.
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