Our New Life

I think that our family has experienced more than its fair share of "major life changes" in the last 6 years (given that we've lived in five different homes during that time), and at this point we really can take most major changes in stride. Within a couple weeks of each life shift, we fall into the new rhythm, and it starts to feel like things are the way they've always been. Today was an assortment of semi-awkward firsts: first time re-filling the goats' water buckets, first time going to the Farmer's Exchange for grain, first time figuring out how to get 100 pounds of grain from the car to the barn, first time walking the goats around on leads in the pasture, first time trying to drill a screw through hardwood (to hang the hay rack; I didn't know you're supposed to drill a hole first). But I'm sure that by the end of the month, it will feel like we've been doing these kinds of things forever.

Yesterday morning, the first day of our current New Life, started out a bit dicey. Lena had been up in the night with the dreaded stomach bug (I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but I am incredibly paranoid about contracting any sickness that involves vomit, and I go way out of my way to avoid this possibility. My paranoia stems from our traumatic introduction to this genre of illnesses, which occurred when we all got Rotavirus in 2004), and I'd been up in the night worrying about how I would manage going to get the goats all by myself. Luckily, Lena woke up feeling much improved, and was still able to go along with me to the goat farm (located about an hour from our house). Unluckily, I woke up feeling rather queasy myself.

We dropped the kids off at school and then swung by a small grocery store for some extra ginger Ginger Beer (my "get out of pukey bug free!" card), which I then proceeded to chain-drink on our way to the farm. I was still feeling pretty yucky at the time of our arrival, but as soon as we walked into the goat barn, and met the 50 (!) Nubian goats living there, I mostly forgot about my nausea. We spoke with the farmer at length and he introduced us to the goats he had previously picked out for us. "Chive" is about 17 months old, and "Petah" is about 11 months old. Both does are pregnant and Chive is due sometime in the next few weeks (around May 1st). The farmer was a little less sure about Petah's due date, it could be anytime from the end of May through to the beginning of July.

Jaz and Chive

We drove the goats home in the back of the minivan, and they did very well indeed. They laid down and were calm and quiet. We made one stop, to pick up Zeben at Nursery School. He was thrilled to find "lambs!" waiting for him in the car. Once the goats started sniffing him (about 5 seconds after I put him in his car seat), Zeb was feeling slightly less enthused. He decided he'd rather, "go in Mama's car!" (we'd left it there at drop-off time in anticipation of this scenario). But then, as soon as I started driving away without him, Zeben changed his mind again (the definition of life with Zeben these days) and decided that he did want to drive with his "lambs" afterall.

"But I don't want them to lick me," he said, as I buckled him into his seat.
"Don't worry, they won't lick you," I assured him, "goats don't really lick."
"Oh. Only dogs lick?"
"Well dogs are certainly the lickiest."
Zeben sighed and pondered this for a minute or so as I started driving. Then he smiled and announced, excitedly, "goats don't have tongues!"
And for the purpose of our drive home, that was a perfectly fine conclusion.

All in all, the drive was quite uneventful, especially considering the alternate scenarios that had been running through my mind (just think about what could happen with two 100+ pound hooved animals unrestrained in your vehicle). One goat did pee in the car, in the one 12" square that was protected by neither tarp nor towel, but a little bac-out took care of that later. Once the goats were happily settled into their new home, I proceeded to start feeling pukey again. I spent the rest of the day alternating between laying around, sipping ginger beer, and getting to know Chive and Petah.

The goat barn, just before sunset on Day 1

This morning, we all woke up feeling perfectly healthy once again (phew!), and Luke and Jaz bounded out of bed at 7:00 a.m. to go check on the goats, leaving the rest of us to lay around, blissfully in the covers and enjoy one of the more peaceful wake-ups of the past several years.

Hello, New Life! I think I love you!