Cuzco always looks so lordly when he lounges around the yard for his naps, which have become longer and more frequent in his old age.

As soon as I took this photo I decided that Cuzco needed some personal attention. The other goats were nowhere in sight and I thought I could sneak out and give him some cookies without anyone else noticing. WRONG! The minute I rattled the chain on the back patio gate, I heard a rushing, crashing, trampling noise from the hill on my right. The rest of the herd came pouring frantically out of the scrub oak and reached me about the same time I reached Cuzco. I was hoping I could pamper the old goat without him having to get up, but as soon as the rest of the herd swarmed round us, Cuzco leapt to his feet to fend them off. I made sure he still got all the cookies to himself, but it was in spastic, frenzied snatches between swatting everyone else away. I wasn’t about to reward those other rapscallions for mobbing me while I was trying to share a quiet moment with our dear old Patriarch.