What I found, leads to talking about goats

What I found, as a result of my last post, is that 1) even becoming a little more aware of those people's feelings around me makes an exponential difference, and 2) it's not as easy as it sounded.

As a triage nurse, I triage calls from people with ear, nose and throat issues all day. Listening to their tone, their words and feeling their energy allows me to determine if there's a problem, or do they just think there's a problem? My goal? Help and assist - within the scope of my practice - and next, try to remain neutral, and let the doctor determine the degree of need, and answer as such, for each individual situation. It's a process, that's for sure. Like putting a puzzle together. So, I go to work each day, setting my intention to listen and guide. Listen and ask questions. Sometimes, I'm so busy listening, the caller will ask, "Are you there?" People just want to be heard.

These callers? They are in a hurry, in the car, in the grocery store, at home with 3 kids, in bed, outside working in the garage, and any other scenario you could imagine. Their cell phone is breaking up, because they are in the back of a Wal Mart. They have their spouse call for them. They are the mom of a 22 year old patient.They are one of every example possible.

Then, I have "The Regular's". You know, the people who call regularly. Some just want to talk, some want to check in, some want more than the office can give. Some can't remember that they had called, others call "with the sky falling" and never answer upon a call back to them.

I'd like to say I'm a Customer Service Rep in many ways. I need to accommodate and make the caller feel welcome and validated. No matter what they say on the other end of the line. Some just want to unload their discontent to someone else, and then they feel better. Others are so kind, you can feel the sugar oozing through the phone lines. There's one of everyone out there.

My conclusions are such:

I have to set my intention to be fair, and listen everyday. If I go to work willy-nilly, I'm not as effective. I'm just not. Even though I knew this before, I'm now more self aware of this. Setting my intentions are my best asset for a good day. That, and listening to my intuition. This is how I have a good day at work.

Now, having a good day at home is easy greasy. Sure, I can set my intention. But it's not necessary. At home is where I want to be, and allows me to be me. And just as I type, it feels better to talk about home. So let's talk......ready? Goats!

First, David and I said we would never have goats. We rationalized this by saying they are too destructive, too volatile and would escape through the fence somewhere, and they are too destructive. I mention it twice, but goats eat and chew on everything, or so we thought.

For several months, I looked for goats (nearby) that have 1) no horns (polled - born without horns, or debudded - horns removed when a kid), 2) female, and 3) smaller breed, so they won't jump the fence. I looked at a local feed store that sells goats, at CraigsList, at GunterNextDoor, and did my fair share of google searches. I talked to people, emailed them, and went to look them. After some time, I decided upon two goats, from two different sources, for two different reasons. First, I picked Twizzler. He's a Nigerian Dwarf goat who was hand raised, and is two years old. Yep, I typed He. Not part of my criteria, but so dang cute. He's a wether (fixed) at a young age, and therefore does not have the traits of an aggressive male. He's like a girl in a boy body. He even has short horns, but with a personality that rocks. He's tiny, cute, sweet and perfect to adopt for the farm. He's not aggressive, but can "take care of himself" if need be. I like to consider him my "Belle" of a goat. Like Belle (our bottle fed sheep/ewe,  all grown now), he's happy to be around people, but yet can survive in the pasture. He's happy to come see you, and make his small cry Maaaa to you. We are happy to welcome him to The Graves Farm. Goats are herd animals, so having at least two is necessary.

I'm going to digress and speak to why we decided to get goats. You know we have these guard pups who are growing up and being trained by Levi and Whisper (whose leg is better, and she's back to guarding in the pasture now). We decided to fence the front pasture in half - because it's a lot for Levi and Whisper, with aging joints, to run back and forth, all the way down to the front of the property. If we place a fence half way down, our plan is to put Levi and Whisper on the side closest to the house, and place Dixie and Davis on the portion up towards the road (by the pond). Therefore, in an effort to give the guards pups an animal to "guard", we thought we would put a couple of goats up there, with them. The fence is going up today, the shelter for the goats and guard pups (now 8 months old) is up and ready for them, and within a couple of days, their lives will change. We've had them penned during the day (to protect the chickens) and once the chickens are up and roosting for the night, the guard pups stay out in the pasture all night with Levi and Whisper, learning to do what they do. Protect and keep the coyotes, bobcats, foxes and predators off our land. They have learned well, and are ready to have their space to guard. It's a win-win. Levi and Whisper will take care of the sheep, and are less likely to hurt themselves with less territory to cover, and Dixie and Davis will watch the goats, and protect the front portion of the property. All this is in an effort to replace Levi and Whisper as they age, whereby Dixie and Davis will be the young and strong ones. Levi is head guardian dog, and is simply amazing. Levi and Whisper have many more years of being guardians, but training new guardians is a lengthy process, so we started early.

Now, let's talk about goat #2. I found her at Preston Trail Farms in Gunter. She's a 1 year old, feminine faced, sweet Maa-ing, gentle and small goat that's part Nigerian dwarf and part Kiko (another small breed goat, that has floppy ears kind of like a dog). Oh, and no horns! She has a different, yet similar look to Twizzler. Perfect! She's white, with a few areas of dusted tan spots on her. The feed store would be delivering her to us (they are only a few miles away), and about 2 hours before she arrived, I received a text that said "Just so you know, the goat we are bringing you may be pregnant". That was certainly a surprise, as that was not in our "plan". To have kid goats? No, pretty sure that was not in this master plan of ours. They delivered her to us, and we have no idea if she's pregnant or not. So, we will watch for the signs: sides growing out, nipples and utters growing. I'll let you know, as soon as I know.

And now, just like that, we have two of the cutest goats ever. If you don't like goats, these goats will have you transformed into a Goat Lover. Kind, sweet and docile. That's what we love about the sheep, and now we'll have two goats with similar qualities. What is Goat #2's name, you ask? Good question! David and I have tasked Lauren (along with boyfriend Ryan) to name this second goat of ours. Twizzler came with a name, but Goat # 2 did not. I'll update you on what they pick. Right now we call her NoName - or Nona.

As the weather changes, and Spring brings warmer weather, changes are happening here. We have welcomed our new goats, and they are adjusting with our sheep flock extremely well. Levi and Whisper welcomed them, and are esp fond of Twizzler, who loves to lay next to Levi. All is well. The separation will occur this week of the sheep and goats, and the placement of the guard dogs. It will be interesting to see if out "plan" works out. We just wing-it around here, thinking what might be best, right or good. Sometimes it is - and sometimes it sounded like a good idea, but wasn't. Never a dull moment! As Lauren always says, "You're always moving things." (esp talking about our temporary fence addiction we have). It's a very fluid farm with lots of moving parts.

Lastly, along this journey we came across a black sheep. One that David wanted, as he has wanted to add a black sheep to our flock of 5 Dorper sheep (black heads, white bodies). And so we did. David named her Licorice, and she's blended well, taking our sheep herd from 5......to 6. She's completely black and beautiful. Eve (head ewe) made sure she knew her place in the flock. Good job, Eve, bringing her in safely and carefully. There's a whole eco system and animal order out in the pasture. We just watch it all unfold.

Now you're in the know, after all it's the Year of Know. Sometimes the Year of No. The Sheriff tries hard to keep things under control. He tries, but he married a March-To-The-Beat-Of-My-Own-Drum girl. I don't know how he does it.

Cyndi