Getting To Know You
Today was a long day. A long and lovely day.
Everything went. We got two lovely new baby goats. No matter how bad I feel, baby goats can always make me smile. They are wonderful.
I am going to write it all out tonight, and there will be more photos and video. Just one photo for now.
And a question, for the English speaking folks. About names. I was allowed to name one of them, and while thinking about it I got stuck on the name Lille My. Little My. She is a character from the Moomins, in case you don’t know. Now, the problem is of course that My is a word in English and I do all my writing here and on Mia’s page in English. I am not sure if it would be a problem. What do you think? Do you think Little My would be okay? While thinking it over, for whatever reason I suddenly thought of calling her Myg. That is the Danish word for mosquito, so I mean it’s weird and dumb. But I kinda of like that better than just a human name. It’s also three letters with a Y, which goes well with Sky. But then.. Myg I don’t think sounds great in English either really. I think Jeanette said that they would go with Lille My for the playground, but I could always call her Myg on Facebook. What do you all think? Would you go with Myg on here or keep her with one name. Little My. Kind of makes me wish we could call the other one Me, so we’d have Me and My. But the kids at the playground will name the other one. I already heard Ronaldo being suggestions, so at least someone else is worse at coming up with names than me! Haha. Let me know if you have an opinion on Little My or Myg. And otherwise enjoy the photo and I’ll tell you more later.
19/6 2023
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Currently writing about today’s adventures, but I thought I’d just post a little picture of our new herd. Sky saying hello to the babies. it’s a grab from a video, so the quality isn’t great. But thought it was cute.
19/6 2023
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Well, it was a big day today. I spent a couple of hours with Sky in the morning. Just relaxing and waiting for the later happenings. There was a moether with a sweet baby who came and said hi and they came into the goat pen and got to pet Sky. And feed her carrots.
And then it was time to head out. We were supposed to be 4, but one guy had called in sick. So it was me and Jeanette and Mohammed (not sure how to spell his name properly). Felt like the trip was quicker than the last time we went, maybe becausea now we knew exactly where we were going. And the whole thing was very quick. Got there. Picked the two kids. Went back. There was no fuss at all. I was a little worried, and felt bad, about taking the kids from the mothers. I hate having to do that. But I try to take comfort in the fact that they were accidental pregnancies and there was no way they could have stayed, at least they get a good home where they will be loved and treated well. With treats. We got them wrapped in a towels to keep them still. Jeanette and I sat in the backseat, each with a goat in our lap. No fuss at all. A couple of times one would bleat and the other would start bleating, but they barely made a sound. For the first and hopefully last car ride of their life.
I was curious to see how Sky would react to the newcomers of course. Her reaction was pretty much “What the fork is this”. Well, she was pretty chill. But she was following them around. It was pretty cute, it was like she was stalking them. And she did chase them a bit and headbutt a bit. Trying to assert her dominance and defend her territory.
And the minis? They seemed like they were just home. They immediately started grazing. Their old home was lovely, but it was a small pen with no greens. I imagine people may have brought leaves for them maybe, but I think this was their first time ever on grass. And they were like kids in a candy store. Literally. The first hour or so they just walked around and ate grass and weeds. Sky following them around.
I’m telling you, it’s going to be a nightmare for me to tell them apart! Hah. When they are standing next to each other I can tell that Little My(g) is smaller. And her fur is a little darker. And I think her ears are whiter. But as soon as they are immediately next to eachother I am totally lost. Haha. If they grow to the same size I’ll be doomed. Oh and their eartags are the small round kind. Which is better for them and may make some people less angry. But it does mean it’s really hard for me to see their numbers. The little one is number 13 and the big one is number 14.
I sat with Lil in the car by the way. She is so sweet. I guess she must be a little younger than the bigger one? I don’t know their exact birth dates. They are half-sisters. Same father, different mothers. So i guess it makes sense they weren’t necessarily born at the same time and one is a little older. I don’t know. The little one does look more babyish. They don’t have the chubby cheeks that Milo and Sky had.
Anyway. Where was I. Yes, so that’s how the first time went. The minis just walking around eating green, now and then running from a Sky train incoming. Once Sky settled down a little she started eating greens too. Eventually sitting down up on the mountain while the minis grazed. They went up on the mountain too.
So the introduction went pretty well. I had to explain to some of the staffers that you know, it’s normal goat behaviour to butt heads. Milo and Sky did that too. And I was expecting this kind of meeting, Sky who has been through a lot lately a little unsure about the newbies, wanting to make sure she’s the boss. She made these guttural sounds sometimes that I have never heard her make before. But I have heard many goats make them. They are the kind of instinctual sounds that the bossy goats make when the lesser goats are a little too near, especially if there is food involved. Mio would practically growl. Milo was making them a bit during his last days here too, when he had been upgraded to being boss, if I tried giving Sky treats he’d make them sometimes.
But normal goat behaviour. It will take time for them to get used to eachother. I do hope they will gel into a unity, bond and be family. But time will tell. There may always be some kind of divide between them, but as long as they can live together and get along to the goat degree, that will be good. I wish that Sky will adopt them and be their lil mama, but time will tell.
We did get some circus time eventually. It started with Sky chasing the two of them around and then it evolved to some silly running and jumping, Sky was racing up the mountain, up the hill, back to me and jumped up on the overturned tub with such speed that she slid right back off it. Then got a treat and then ran some more, with the kids running around too. It was good to see Sky with that kind of energy again. Playing like a kid.
I was happy to see how the minis just settled right in. All that green is a great distraction from the potential confusion and worry and fear. It was like if you dropped me in a giant bowl of soup, I would not drown I’d just start eating.
The only time they got a little unhappy was when it eventually started raining. That was the first time they stared bleating for more than a single blerp or two. Little unhappy kid bleats. Aw. I guess they didn’t really know where to go to get dry. And Sky was in the goat house entrance, like a guard goat keeping them out. Eventually i went and got the lil one and carried her in, the other one following. Into dryness. But Sky chased them out again. Yeah, they got along ok mostly but in close quarters there’s no doubt that Sky will need time before she accepts that. They went under the tree instead and it wasn’t raining that hard so it was okay. They came inside for a bit later on too.
That is the basics of our day. There’s some more stuff to tell, but I’ll save that for later I guess. Mostly I just followed them around. Gave them space to get used to the new place. Sat down and watched them. Made sure to give Sky lots of treats and cuddles and reassurance too. She’s used to being the baby of the pen, now suddenly there are new and cuter kid around. I didn’t mean that! You know, it’s great to have distractions and happy things happenind and goat babies are pure magic. But they are not going to magically mend all that is broken in me. It’s like… painkillers. I guess. They can take the pain away for some time, but they can’t fix it. Maybe time can. Maybe not. But Sky is my boo, we have been through a lot. And I want to do my best for her.
I am still thinking about the name thing.
19/6 2023
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More stories from today.
The minis are already attuned to the treats. I thought it might take some time, but they learned quick. I was feeding a pear to Sky, and she dropped a piece on the ground. So it was no longer good enough, of course. I thought I’d see if the minis wanted it, since they were just peeking in to the goat house then. And they did want, maybe a little hard for them to get to grips with, but the were smunching on the stuff. So I tried raisins, and they took them too. The lil one especially got eager for more, was jumping up my leg to beg for some. So that was sweet.
There was also another sweet one in the pen today. A very nice boy. I think his name was something like Mihail, or similar. He was actually there when Milo left too. And he seems very kind and caring, several times asking me how I was doing and coping and talking about how hard it was to say goodbye to the goats etc. Honestly he seemed more empathic than I’d expect from most boys aroudn that age, maybe 13-14 ish. He was very good to the goats too, he came into the pen today and was patient and good to the babies. Sometimes you see boys who seem to get a joy out of being dominant and mean to animals. And you feel sad about it and wonder what happened to them and how they will grow up to be. But then you meet kids like this too, who are good and sweet and enjoy being nice to the animals. And I always try to be nice and help give them good experiences with the goats, and listen to them and answer their questions.
Anyway, on the day Milo left that boy told me how much he was missing Mia too, which immediately endeared him to me. And I was showing him and one of the staffers how Milo could shake hoof. Which they were quite amazed by. And today he asked if Sky could do it too. So I showed him that she could. And he asked if she’d only do it with me. I told him i didn’t actually know. He was going to try to do it, but just then Sky was walking away. But a little later the boy was sitting on the bench. And he called for Sky. And Sky walked over to him, and he reached his hand out. And Sky gave him her paw. And he was so thrilled. SHE DID IT! SHE’S SO SMART! That was really lovely. And he was asking questions about the goat behaviour and Milo and about me too. It’s always nice when you meet good kids like that.
I think that’s all for now. I need to get to bed soon. So tired. This was another day where I stayed at the playground longer than I usually do. We went to get the babies around noon and of course I had to stay with them as long as I could, to enjoy them and to help make them feel at home and help the transition with Sky and everything. It’s hard work being a goat man. Yeah yeah, I know. I’m just a lazy bum hanging out with goats. I didn’t choose the goat life, the goat life chose me.
Another photo to give some aws. I will try to get some video up at some point, but more important to spend time with Sky and the babies than to edit footage right now.
Thank you all for being with me in the good and the bad and for being company to a lonely heart.
19/6 2023
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Good times with the little and the minis today. Everything is going well. The babies were a lot more vocal today. Lots of bleating when they wanted attention. But they seem to have settled in nicely. And things are progressing with Sky. Today there was less chasing, and more sniffing face to face. Still some chasing of course. There was several bouts of almost-headbutting too. Both the minis and Sky reared up to do it. I don’t think they ever connected heads, but they went up on two legs to challenge. Good that they aren’t just running away from Sky. That’s goat communication. They were pushing eachother around a bit too, the bigger girl trying to push the smaller one away for cuddles and treats. They loove treats. I tried cucumber and tomato today and they snarfed it down happily, along with the pears and rasisins and deshelled peanuts and all teh green in the vicinity. They have quickly learned the upside of being in Lasse’s goat family. Yum yum get some. And they are cuddly too, climbing up on my lap and legs and enjoying the attention. Super sweet. It is nice to have some happiness.
I think Sky is feeling better too. She barely bleated today. The first day or two after Milo left she was screaming a lot. She calmed down then but still occasionaly go into bleating sessions, calling for him I guess or just general complaining. Today almost no bleatins, no prolonged sessions at least. Well, until I left. But even then she was screaming as desperately or as long as when she was on her own. Even though she’s still defending her status and territory and giving them the ‘you little punks are not welcome’ routine, I think having them here has already perked her up a lot.
And as a I said, less chasing today. They went out grazing together all three of them. The minis side by side and Sky with a little space to them of course, but all of them grazing in the same space without problems. Later the minis sat down on top of the mountain in the sunshine, and Sky sat at the foot of the mountain with me and it was all very idyllic. They had spent the night together inside too, I am sure there was some commotion, but I think it’s going well. It will take some time, probably months, before we’ll see if she really adopts them as her own, or if they will always be a little apart. But it’s looking good in general.
Oh and today I met a salamander! I was sitting with the goats and heard Jeanette talking to some visiting kids about it. And then she came to the fance and asked if I wanted to see it. The cutest tiny little lizard monster in the palm of her hand. Really sweet.
20/6 2023
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Look at that cutie! And the goat isn’t bad either! Tee hee.
I think this is the smaller one. Right? Maybe. Honestly I’m not sure. Maybe you guys with better eyes can tell.
But I hope so, because this is a post about the littlest one’s name. A decision has been made. And, we took a bit of a left turn.
Someone on Mia’s page said that if there is a Sky then there must be a Sun and a Moon. And then someone replied that for moon it could be Luna. And I loved that. When I was a kid there was a long running children’s show, one that everyone in my generation watched, and it had a character called Luna who was the sweetest loveliest woman who sang lovely songs. And the name is just lovely and simple and works well in English and Danish and I just like it. So. our littlest girl is now Luna. I did like Myg a lot, I thought it was funny and weird and unique. And I love the Moomins so much so Lille My would have been nice too. But eh both of those just didn’t work so well. So. I hope you like it, thank you for everyone who gave suggestions and inputs. At the end of the day a name is just a name. In my experience, once a goat has lived with a name for a while it just becomes … it. There have been names over the years that I weren’t crazy about at first. But after a while the name becomes the goat and the goat become the name and then one day you couldn’t imagine it any other way. A goat by any other name would still lay berries as sweet.
It would be nice if we could have the bigger girl named something related to the sun, but given that the kids at the playground will name her I think we will just be hoping she won’t end up being called Ronaldo. We’ll see about that. But little Luna 13 is a doll.
Whether it’s her in the picture or not…
20/6 2023
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Hey, look at little Luna. She’s going places! Jeanette saw her up there and asked “did you put her there?!”. Nope. I guess the platforms aren’t too steep for baby goats, she got up there just fine. I did pick her up and put her back down just to be careful. But that.. that must be the first time anyone has been up on that one. I know Sky could climb the other one. But not this one.
20/6 2023
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Video from yesterday, the arrival. And stalking.
20/6 2023
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Baby goaten morning.
21/6 2023
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It’s been a while since we had a Goat Butt Parade.
21/6 2023
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We have had several groups of visitors in the goat pen already. And it’s a whole new experience. When Milo was here we had to take the kids in two at a time and pay careful attention and I’d preoccupy Milo and if Jeanette wasn’t there they couldn’t come into the pen at all. Now don’t get me wrong, if it was up to me I’d much rather have Milo there and find ways to make it all work. But I understand that this is the way the playgrounds are supposed to work, now we can just take all the kids in and let them walk around with the goats. Everyone having a lovely time. “Look they have eyes! And a butt!”. Feeding them carrots. And I was happy that Sky got attention and carrots too, even though the babies obviously get the most adoration. It is sweet and lovely and a good experience for everyone. And that is the concept of these animal playgrounds.
Bittersweet for me of course. Last I heard was that Milo’s new home is a ‘huge’ farm. And Jeanette talked about trying to get that video of him to me, but I don’t know if it will be possible and I don’t want to be pushy about it. She also talked about finding out exactly where it is so we might go visit Milo, but again I don’t want to get my hopes up too much, and right now even though there’s finally some happy things going on, I am still very tired and worn down. But we can hope.
21/6 2023
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Oh, here’s Luna on her way up the platform. She’s a lightweight.
21/6 2023
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Hey hey! Thank you so much Beverly Fish for the lovely card and the lovely words inside! It has sure been a difficult time. Thank you for thinking of me. Hopefully things are looking up, hope they will for you too. Love your art and thank you for being a friend!
21/6 2023
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w video of the kids up on the page. At the start I’m talking some Danish and you can hear me saying Lille My, in case you want to hear how it’s said. Not sure how clear it is though.
21/6 2023
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Good times with the little and the minis today. A lot quieter today. The babies weren’t hollering so much. I think on Tuesday they probably bleated so much because they realised they hadn’t seen their mamas in a while… and they were milk-thirsty. But today they were quite chill. When I got there all three of them were in the goat house together, with no fuss. So that was nice. But of course there was fuss as soon as I brought out the treats. When there are treats on the table then nobody is friends! But the littles are fast. And uncle has treats for everyone.
But it was quiet today. No visitors at all while I was there. And Jeanette not working today. The only human I saw was Jesper, the handyman. He’s very nice, we had a couple of good little chitchats. You know I’m not good at talking to humans, but it went pretty well. He’s got an 8 month old kitten, so that’s fun. And he told me he’s just coming back after being on sick leave because of a blood clot. Messed with his eye sight too, so we bonded a bit on that. But he said that even though he’s been on sick leave he was still earning vacation days, so now they’ll be making him take 5-6 weeks of vacation. Well good for him! But it might get in teh way of the platforms getting fixed right away. He’s walking around fixing stuff now, but I think the platforms are a slightly bigger job. We’ll see.
Other than that, just hanging out with the goat crew. They are getting along pretty well most of the time, when not competing for treats. They are walking around together a lot, still obviously split in two groups. But you know. Together apart. Especially the bigger girl, name To Be Determined, sometimes is close to Sky ,they’ll be side by side grazing sometimes. And they all sit down in the blazing sun. Again, of course some distance between Sky and the minis, but usually in the same region. And Sky just seems to be in better spirits. She’s not bleating the distressed or sad bleats. She’s not sitting down constantly. I think it is going really well.
Heck, when it was time for me to leave she didn’t even notice at first! Don’t know if I should be offended! When Milo was there and when she was on her own, as soon as I started stretching and packing my backpack, they or she knew what was up and started complaining. Today she didn’t notice. To be fair it was super hot and she was sitting on the mountains with those quick breaths they do when it’s hot and she was just chilling with the minis. They were too zonked in the sunshine to get up and follow me, as they usually would. She didn’t notice until I hopened the gate and went out. And even then she didn’t get up at first. She did start bleating but she didn’t get up until I was starting to walk away from the pen. And even though she bleated after me it wasn’t too much of hte panicked screams. So, I do think she’s doing better. And the littles are just grazing and chilling, chillin’ and grazin’, they seem like they are right at home. Enjoying all the treats too.
It’s nice to have some good feelings again. Even though the sadness is still there of course. I was sitting with Luna in my lap and she was sort of nibbling at my cap and I couldn’t help dearly missing how Mia would chew my face off with her smooches. I didn’t get my face chewed off today. But I did get a knockout punch the teeth. Sort of. Well I had Luna in my lap and she started squirming to get up and I was trying to hold on to her to put her down gently and the THWACK!. She didn’t headbutt me haha but she was swinging her head around and hit me right in the kisser. At least I ddn’t lose any teeth. Maybe I should bring a bag of aspiring along with the raisins and peanuts.
Anyway. I love little Luna and bigger TBD and biggest Sky. They are a lovely group.
22/6 2023
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Speaking of the platforms, we got ourselves a new platformer. I actually thought it was Luna who got up there again. And I thought so for a while, until I wanted to lift her back down to the ground. Wait you’re too heavy to be Luna… yup. It was TBD who got up there. Luna actually tried to get up there too, but didn’t make it this time. But TBD went up a couple of times. And sat there in the sun. This is kind of how the original intent was for the platforms, a good place to sit and sun yourself. But hopefully we can get them lowered still, at some point.
22/6 2023
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My view as I was packing my backpack to get ready to leave. Three goaties zonked out on the mountain.
22/6 2023
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New video is up on the page. Lots of cute running around. It started with Sky chasing the minis, and then it just got silly.
Oh and my notifications are borked again again, sorry if I’m missing comments.
22/6 2023
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And for the premium subscribers, a preview of a future video. Don’t worry, the minis are alright.
22/6 2023
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A very tired Sky to end the night, as I am tired too.
22/6 2023
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This place is weird, the goats have feathers and lay eggs here!
23/6 2023
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Feeling a little unwell. Very tired. As in, sleepy. I have noticed the last couple of days I was getting tired faster. Today very sleepy, in an unnatural feeling way. Maybe it’s the heat getting to me. Maybe it’s all the stuff going on that is wearing me down. Maybe I’m coming down with something. I think i’ll try to go to bed early and actually sleep in my bed instead of in the chair tonight. We’ll see if that helps. It’s been a rollercoaster lately.
23/6 2023
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But more fun, a goatlog from Monday. The full day of the new arrivals. Starting with Sky alone, then a quick trip to the Other Place and then the babies meeting Sky.
23/6 2023
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Here is Sky performing a visual representation of how I feel.
23/6 2023
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I am feeling a bit better still tired but more normal. I’ll be heading off to (my actual) bed in a bit and hopefully get some okay sleep. Here’s a sweet picture of Jeanette and a kid and some kids.
23/6 2023
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Baby goaten morning everyone. I had a nice night in bed. I still have trouble sleeping completely through. I wake up a lot. But it felt really nice to actually sleep in my bed. I think it may have been a couple of months since I did that last time Might have been before Mia’s passing the last time. Just gotten used to sleeping in my chair, even if I havwn’t been sleeping well. But hey, feelling decent right now. We’ll see if I get tired soon again. Hope you’re all doing well. I know I am terribly self involved at the moment (as opposed to.. every other time in my life..) but yeah I’ve had lot going on, thankfully now some of it is good too. Thanks for listening and sharing in my life + times.
24/6 2023
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Talked to my dad on the phone, and he wasn’t feeling too well. He was tired and had a headache and some other stuff. I wonder if maybe we’ve gotten each other down with something. I’m starting to feel pretty tired again, despite the night in bed. I’m not feeling too bad though, just sleepy. Well we’ll see, hopefully it’s nothing serious for either of us. i’m just taking it easy for the weekend, need energy to keep up with the baby goats.
24/6 2023
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On a brighter note, here is a fun little video from teh past week. I think there’s a Lasse somewhere under all the goats.
24/6 2023
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Meanwhile, in World News today.
24/6 2023
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I was trying to get some good shots of the eartags and I thought this picture turned out kinda cute. And I was able to confirm, their ID numbers are the ones starting with 000. Luna here is 00013 and TBD is 00014. There’s a longer number on the tag too, but I guess that’s maybe an ID of birthplace or something like that. But it’s pretty clear here, Luna is 00013. Not that i have any hope in heck of seeing the numbers when I’m running around with them, and even in a lot of photos the numbers are obscured by the ears. But oh well. I may end up tying a ribbon around her horns so I know who’s who.
24/6 2023
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Baby goaten morning.
25/6 2023
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Oh Sky is just working on her Keiko impression.
25/6 2023
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When you come home and you find the babysitter passed out drunk on the couch and the kids are just taking care of themselves.
25/6 2023
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That’s all for now.