The Peripatetic Goat

Yesterday I was driving down the road and saw a guy on a four-wheeler with two baby goats in his lap.

I thought to myself, "Awww, how cute... a guy on a four-wheeler with two baby goats in his lap!"

Then I realized my first thought was not that there was anything at all strange about this sight.

* * *

Once I had a client who needed to sell her 2nd home.  I went there to show it to a buyer and when I walked through the privacy fence gate I was greeted by several goats.  I called her from my cell phone.

"You know there are goats at the house?"

"Yes," she said, nonchalantly.  "We've run out of weeds and trees for them to eat over here, so we moved them. The buyers don't have to take them.  They are negotiable."

* * *

A colleague of mine has had some surgery and his health is not the best. He is short on stamina and his wife worries about him taking care of the many acres of land they have.  He walked into my office recently and said, "We bought two goats. Baby goats."

"Why?"

"Well, I was thinking maybe they would eat all the weeds and stuff and that would be less mowing for me."

"Okay..."

"And when the season is over I think I can sell them to some Mexicans.  They eat a lot of goats."

* * *

There is an article on the Internet about why you should eat goats.  At this time in my life I am verging slowly toward going meatless.  It has nothing to do with anything you've read so far.

* * *

One of my favorite places to drive used to be way down Highway 16 West in the hard left-hand curve that is intersected by Eagle Road.  On the left side of the highway is a big open field that eventually rolls gently down to a no-undergrowth mini-forest that provides shade for hundreds and hundreds of tiny white goats.  In the field is a large herding dog sitting upright, surveying his charges.

The goats have a distinct personal space.  When one goat moves, the others around it move an equal distance in order to maintain a uniform open perimeter around themselves.  When I noticed this I pulled over to the side of the road to watch.  The behavior persisted, so it must be a goat thing.  Goats have a bubble.  Like me.

I asked someone why the man who owns this field has so many goats.  I was told it was because of Cinco de Mayo.  I drove over there last week and, coincidentally, there were no goats to be found.