Goat Herding

Yes, spring is here, which means lots of green things. Green things are why spring is my favorite season. I am a nymph or tree spirit or Artemis at heart. Remember all that miner's lettuce I photographed earlier? We had some in a salad!

But as anyone who followed this blog last summer knows, green stuff turns into brown stuff which can turn into orange stuff -- fire. People around here seem to be being extra cautious this year after all of the fires last summer, and are cutting and trimming the wild grasses on their property while they're still green. Before we set an weed whackers to ours, however, we made use of our natural lawnmowers -- the goats and Sheepy!

Patch with her momma, Cora.

Tumnus or "Tum Tum"

Some pretty little white wildflowers

The only problem with the goats is the fact that they often don't eat what we want them to, and often do eat what we don't want them to. So Alex "hired" me to guard several native bushes that we didn't want them to eat. We filmed the "opening ceremonies" that was supposed to be the goats nancing about in frisky fun, but instead turned into drama. Patch tried to shove her way out then got her hips stuck, while Tumnus tried to climb underneath her and nearly choked himself. All were no worse for wear, the poor fools, but Alex was obviously worried. And she has every right to be -- they're her goats and she bottle fed Tumnus after his momma, Banana, died after giving birth three years ago.

The Incident

I'm not sure what took over me, but I took a very fun approach towards herding the goats and Sheepy away from the bushes! Teyla was on a leash so that she wouldn't interfere, and by the sounds in the background you can probably tell that she was not happy about being left out.

The Goat Herder

This should be an Olympic sport!

The Bush Defender

I enjoyed my job a little too much, I think.

"Bye!"

Despite all the drama, the goats were no worse for wear and happily scampered back into their pen.

Patch Goes Home

But Chee Chee and I were still vigilant, guarding the path. Just in case.

Sentinels

Teyla then bounded down and helped herd Sheepy back into her pen, as well. She's gotten pretty good at it, too, for a pup with no herding training, relying on instinct! Then again, she is an Australian Shepherd!

And this post is dedicated to Mackenzie's Momma. :)

Mackenzie's Momma -- Isn't it odd how neglected that news story was? Or rather, event was? I think you've probably got it pinned - they don't want to encourage any others to attempt something similar. The short story is something that just popped into my head but I wrote for class. I'll hand it in to workshop in a week or two, get feedback from classmates, then rewrite it. It's the best way to learn how to self-edit and strengthen your craft.

Tracie -- Yeah, wouldn't you think that would be useful news for the whole country? Very strange. The Lost Boys! Gosh -- I have yet to see that but given it was filmed here, I really ought to. We could be known for worse things. ;) Hmm, turn the short story into a novel? I admittedly could (it's already 30 pages and has lots of room for expansion). Unfortunately, there's no market for short stories anymore, but I always keep all of mine for potential future novels or scripts. :) So maybe this one will come back! And if it does, I'll be more than happy to autograph it and send it along with a picture of Teyla. ;)