After he stormed the tractor and was taken captive, Finn defected to our side.  

As a trustworthy ally, Phil showed Finn all the controls and gauges so he could operate the machine. 

Finn  learns how the steering wheel works. 

Unfortunately, he doesn’t seem to have figured out which direction he should be looking. 

After his failed attempt at driving the tractor, Finn decided to downgrade to a simpler vehicle. This one doesn’t need to be steered. It just goes forward and back. Very easy. Please don’t run over Pac-Man! 

When the tractor wasn’t occupied by Phil or Nubbin, Lois took her turn in the driver’s seat. It was a good vantage point from which to snap candid shots of the goat castle going up. 

It was also a good vantage point from which to snap candid shots of this photographer. 

Lois seems slightly perturbed by the full frontal assault being waged on her machine. 

“Where do you want me to dump you, Nubbin?” 

As more goats arrive on the scene, Lois attempts to deal with the one who has  breeched the top defenses and is now making his way boldly toward her lap. 

“What do I do if he refuses to leave?”

“I guess I take him prisoner!” 

I mentioned  that Nubbin is the Tower Queen. I did not mention that she is also the Tractor Queen. As those who follow the Goat-O-Rama adventures may recall, Nubbin has a great affinity for trucks. Well, it turns out this gal just likes machines!

While all the other goats sun themselves in the grass, where is Nubbin?

Why, on her tractor of course!

“Check out these hydraulics!”

“Power steering!”

“This seat is not made for a goat. Perhaps I can modify it!”

Turns out Nubbin was modifying that seat in more ways than Phil cared to discover.

Who needs right shoulder support anyway?

How she managed to squeeze not only her body but her extra-large udder through this door will forever remain a mystery. 

A riot of color. We love our patchwork goaties! 

Yesterday we took the goats for a walk around our property. Up to now, we’ve been calling our goats a “herdlet”. But I think they’ve grown beyond herdlet status at this point. With eight goats, it’s now a bona fide herd.

We’re all ears! 

Snickers and Sputnik learned to play “King of the Hill”. 

Lilly’s progeny. Aren’t they a colorful crew? They aren’t posing very nicely but they’re all here: Lilly the matriarch, her daughter Petunia, her son Huckleberry Finn, and her grandsons Snickers and Sputnik.  

My mom, my sister-in-law Jill, and her kids (my niece and nephews) came to visit on Jill’s birthday. They wanted to see the  baby goats while they were still little.

Snickers was the calmest so he got held and cuddled the most. My mom helped Robert hold Snickers on his lap.  

Robert tries to engage Finn in conversation, but Finn has the attention span of a typical kid. Lilly seems casually interested though. 

Jill poses for a portrait. 

Finn enjoyed showing off his wall-walking prowess for my relatives.  

It’s been a long weekend. I went out Friday morning to discover that Petunia’s kids were frantically nursing without result. They were hungry and frustrated and crying. I ran a mastitis test and the left side came back positive. She probably developed it before she kidded. Her udder was full to bursting for two days before she delivered, and  her enthusiasm caught up to her.

So I spent all weekend doing massages and hot compresses and stripping the udder almost round-the-clock. I had to make an emergency trip to Pueblo Saturday morning so I could pick up antibiotics from the vet. Then more massaging, stripping, hot compresses, Bag Balm throughout the day, late at night, and  early in the morning.

This is what I looked like Sunday night.

Phil and I like to watch movies with baby goats on our lap. We’ve always had to fight over one baby before, but since we have twins now we don’t have to play tug-o-war!

We named the twins Snickers and Sputnik. Snickers because of his beautiful caramel coloring and Sputnik because it just fit. 

Huckleberry Finn was scared of the new babies at first, and both Petunia and Lilly kept him away from them, but a youngster’s curiosity is insatiable. It wasn’t long before he was sneaking over to investigate these new little creatures. 

Unfortunately, they were kind of boring. When they weren’t laying down they were toddling slowly around on shaky legs. No running or jumping or doing “goat” things.  

“Hi little guy. Will you play with me?” 

Later that evening, the babies were curled up together in the corner of the retaining wall behind the house. Finn wanted to interact with them but he was still afraid to touch. Petunia and Lilly had chased him away from them several times earlier. But mama and grandma were off grazing. The babies were tucked away out of parental view. I watched the drama unfold as I quietly milked Nubbin on the back patio.

Finn glanced at the babies, then glanced at the mamas, then casually began bouncing off the far end of the retaining wall like it was a backboard. He bounced a few times, casting sideways glances at the sleeping kids. He paused, looked nonchalantly over his shoulder at mama, then resumed his bouncing. Closer and closer he bounced with deliberate indifference, keeping one eye on the object of his curiosity and pausing from time to time to check for moms. Before long, Finn’s playing “unintentionally” brought him right next to the twins. Mamas still weren’t looking, but the babies stubbornly refused to acknowledge Finn’s presence. So with a final overtly casual jump, Finn “accidentally” landed squarely on top of the babies heads!

The kids let out a squawk and immediately began crying for mama. Finn leaped away from them and bolted about ten feet before skidding to a halt and strolling casually away from the scene of the crime. I don’t think a goat can put his hands in his pockets and walk away whistling, but Finn came about as close as he could get!