"Why's everyone looking at us?"
"That old gent looks like a keeper..."
"Hmmm, possibly. But the other one looks a little pushy."
The old girls are home. I loaded the two-foot 84 year old girl into the truck, with the Dirt Farmer, and we headed to Milepost 140 on Hwy 5 to meet up with Ellen for the big goat hand off. As we drove into the busy rest stop to seek out Ellen's white car, there were two hobbling old goats [not Ellen, the goats], so we found them immediately.
I am so pleased we took these two in, and also so glad Ellen was able to take them in 6 months ago from the former owners. Obviously, their care had fallen off. A little arthritis is to be expected in a senior goat, especially a Pygmy, but these two are very crippled from lack of foot care. It's tragic. Ellen did her best to help their feet and we will continue, along with the compound to alleviate some of the arthritis.
But when I saw them hobble, I mean hobble, my heart hurt. The 3 hour trip back [which would have been 2 hours longer if Ellen hadn't so generously met us at the rest stop]
"Hey, Frankie, they sort of look like us."
was hard on the old ladies [all three], but we made it. We took the goats out of the truck and they immediately sought out the warm sun. Hobbled over to a perfect spot, and lay down.
I will take a movie of them soon. For now, they are acclimating, and I must say, their personalities are sweet as pie. They have been together their entire lives, are 10 and 14, so when one moves, the other one moves. They came with the names Pepper and Muffin, but we took a barnyard vote and agreed they will go through the Transformation Ceremony this week to accept their new names of Georgie and Aunt Gertie. Much like a woman leaving her husband, an old goat often requires a fresh name change after starting a new journey.
