Worries
Good goat times today. The calendar says that summer is over in Denmark. But what a lovely day. Sunshine and temps above 20C/70F. That’s summerly for Denmark.
Lots of relaxing with the goats, as we always do when it’s hot. I almost fell asleep in the goat house. Sitting one the stairway up to the platform where Bella and Luna sat, listening to Sky munching hay in the bedroom next door. I may have dozed off for a second.
Lots of visitors from the neighbour school too, kids in the goat pen. Lots of sweetness.
Not all was great today though. I was worried something had happened to Red Sonja. Normally she’s the first to come running when I get to the goat house in the morning. Today only Henrietta Solo came up to us. After a while I got so concernced that I went to ask Jeanette “We haven’t lost one of the hens, have we?”. But no, Sonja was in the chicken coop. Jeanette told me that she hadn’t seemed herself in the morning, seemed afraid and shook. Later on she did come out and join us, but she was clearly not herself. Walking around slowly and carefully. I hope she’s okay. I wonder if she got in a tight with one of hte new hens. They are still staying inside, getting used to their new life. Or maybe some predator tried to get at them again. Hopefully no one has been mean to her. Noticing her absence in the morning really made me aware that I enjoy having her around. Her and Henrietta are a good part of our group. Today it even seemed like Luna was nicer to them. There was a couple of times where she was close to Sonja and I thought there’d be headbutting, but she didn’t do anything. Maybe she could sense Sonja was not feeling well.
Bella’s leg continues to improve. Putting a lot more weight on it now. Still raising it a bit sometimes when standing still. But closer to normal. Hopefully the vet will be by very soon, but I think she’ll be infe. They do need hoof trimming at least though.
4/9 2023
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Yikes. When I got home from the goat trip today i briefly saw on the tv that a man had been arrested for two murders. I didn’t pay too much attention to it, I figured I’d look at it on the internet when I had all my shopping packed away and was at the computer.
Well. The murders happened in my neighbourhood. As far as I can tell, my street. Not sure how close to me, I haven’t seen any police. But seems like it was very close. Scary.
Not all facts are known, but from what I can tell a 23 year old woman died about a month and a half ago. It was not foiund to be a crime at the time, seems like it was suspected to be an overdose. But yesterday an 18 year old woman died under the same circumstances in the same apartment. The man who lived there has been arrested. Scary. I don’t live in the best neighbourhood, but this isn’t exactly normal. It’s weird seeing your address mentioned in a case like that. Chilling. The details are still a bit fuzzy, but it doesn’t seem like the victims were random people.
Looking on Facebook, seeing pictures of the police literally 10 metres from where I live. I didn’t notice anything yeseterday, but then I’m cooped up in my apartment.
Sad news.
4/9 2023
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Breakfast time. Missing one. But the goats are generally getting along better at breakfast time. A lot less feuding. Of course very now and then Sky has to make sure the others aren’t getting tastier food than hers. But it’s farily orderly now. Sometimes the kids sharing a bowl, but mostly they have a bowl each and just get it done.
4/9 2023
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Here’s Red Sonja. I’m glad she did come out to be with us. Hopefully she will be back to her old self very soon. I honestly can’t tell by the pictures if she looks normal, I normally don’t look at the feathers that closely. But she’s a sweet girl.
4/9 2023
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Good goat times today. Another gorgeous day, even warmer than yesterday. Upwards of 25C/77F. For Denmark that is high, for Denmark in Septermber that’s unlikely. But I’m enjoying the fall warmth, after the drought of June, the moistest July in history and the middling August. Getting some summer in fall is welcome.
New friends arrived at the playground today. Jeanette went out to pick up some new residents. Three, I believe, little bunnies. When she arrived back with them she went over to me so I could see them, and give them a litlte cuddle. Sweet little super soft things. Hopefully they will have a good life here.
Sonja seems to be on the mend, she was in the goat house when I got there and moving around a bit more, going after some pear that I dropped while feeding the goats. Not back to normal, but hopefully close.
Sweet human visitors in the goat pen too and lots of relaxing in the sun, and playing around with Luna. She’s obsessed with my blind badge, whenever I pick her up she attacks it like it’s me with a pot of soup. Nomnomonom. I wish she’d realise it’s not tasty. But hey, they don’t realise the tripod isn’t tasty either no matter how much they try. Try try try, keep trying.
5/9 2023
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Aww, look at this. Sky and Bella sitting together on the platform. Sweet. At one point Sky got up, but quickly sat down again right against Bella instead of moving away from her. They seem to be getting along quite well. There’s still the occasional reminder from Sky about who is the boss, but other than that Sky seems to be accepting their presence well. There’s more headbutting with Luna actually, I guess because she’s the growing one now.
5/9 2023
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goatlog
6/9 2023
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Actual picture of me and a pot of soup.
6/9 2023
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I think Luna just farted and Bella is regretting not bringing her gas mask.
6/9 2023
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Good goat times today. Warm again, but quite overcast. Very comfortable. Continuing the summer in fall. Happy visitors in the goat pen. One kid proudly proclaining ” IT HAS BUTT” about one of the goats. It sure does, kid. It sure does.
And the hens are doingbetter. I don’t think I mentioned it on Tuesday, but Henrietta was actually also seeming off. Both her and Sonja were walking around making gurgling noises instead of their usual bokboks. Both just seeming slow and distant. Well when I got home I googled it and turns out the gurgling could be symptoms of several diseases. I was going to talk to Jeanette about it today, and I did, but they were both a lot better. No gurgling, maybe no completely back to normal, but moving around a lot more. Sonja came running when I gave apples to the goats and she picked at bits that dropped on the ground. So that’s good. My theory is that the new hens may have brought some contagion with them. Who knows. As long as they are okay. Bella’s leg is doing better too, almost back to normal I think. So that’s a relief. I have some stuff I need to talk about concerning our vet, but that’ll have to wait til later, maybe tomorrow.
Luna got herself worked up in the heat, she was wrestling with me, humping on Bella, butting heads with Sky. Panting for exhaustion. She’s such a funny little bug.
7/9 2023
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Dem goofy kids.
7/9 2023
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Alright, I want to write about the vet situation, and some other serious stuff. Although maybe I should wait until I have more definite things to say. But you know me, I like to ramble incoherently. I’ll put a tldr summation in the first comment.
Well, the vet situation is not good. In fact it is very bad. Jeanette told me that the vet they use will no longer be available to us. If I understood correctly, she is going to be working in a clinic going forward, not going out on calls. This is really sad, as she’s been the vet at all the old playgrounds, she was there with me when both Mia and Mio passed. I like her. But the really bad part is, there is no real alternative it seems. We are in a tiny country, we are in an urban place. There are not really any other vets going out on calls who are able to handle ‘farm’ animals, like goats. So, I am not sure what is going to happen. I think the vet told Jeanette that she could still call her at the clinic, but she will not be coming out to us. Right now it seems like we are in a situation where if we have an emergency or sickness, we will not be able to get help for the animals. This is horrible of course. I am really glad that Henrietta and Sonja and Bella seems to be doing okay from what was wrong with them, but at least Bella should definitely have been seen by a vet. And in the future, I don’t know if that will even be possible.
I am not sure if taking the animals to a clinic is something that would be possible. I know this is what you and I would do, but that is most likely not the level of care that is part of the plan for an institution like the playground.
I just don’t know.
And it’s not the only thing going on. Jeanette also told me that the playground will be getting a new leader in October. The guy who is the current leader is in charge of two playgrounds, and going forward he will only be at the other place. So we’re getting someone new. A woman. We can only hope she will prioritize the animals more. You may remember Malene was in charge of the place when we arrived. I really miss her, not only because she was nice and friendly to me, but because she cared about the animals. The current guy… not so much. I mean, I don’t really know him, I have only exchanged hellos with him a couple of times. But it sounds like Jeanette is not sad to see him go. But it means the future is uncertain. The new lady could decide to no longer have goats at the playground at all. As you may recall, other playgrounds have had to get rid of their animals, or been closed down completely. I don’t think closing down ours is a risk, but I don’t know about the animals. We can only hope the new lady will be someone who cares about the animals and will prioritize them higher than the current administration. For all our sakes. Jeanette told me that she’s having a hard time with it all right now, she cares so much about the animals that the current situation is affecting her health. and it sounds like if it doesn’t get better she might not want to stick around. Which would be disastrous for me and the goats. She means a lot to me, and while there are others who I believe do care about the animals, she is the main one who sees to it that they get somewhat proper care. I don’t know how it would be without her, it could be really bad. She has basically told me that she couldn’t do it without me too. I appreciate that I can help with the animals and be part of that. But I am basically just a visitor. There should be better care for the animals. You know Jesper the handyman was supposed to fix the platforms so they’re safe for the goats, and there’s other work in the goat house he was supposed to be doing after the vacation. But now they have put him to work in the main building, fixing windows and other stuff. And you know I get it, the environment for the human kids is a top priority. But the safey of the animals should be ranked higher I feel.
And then there’s the whole thing where I have to defend the place and be careful what I say about things, because I can’t just tell them to go to hell, I can’t just abandon the place. I need to still be able to do my part to do the best for the goats. Not burn bridges.
After this year of shit happening, I was really hoping for a nice and uncomplicated time. Happy with my old girl Sky and the new kids, predictably I have fallen in love with them, and Sky means the world to me. Sigh. And now I have to spend time worrying if there even is a future for the place, what if it ends up closing and we have to go through another round of desperately searching for homes to avoid putting goats down. I can’t even bear to think about that, after everything we’ve been through.
Anyway, just venting. I do expect that the playground will still have goats. And I dearly hope the new leader will be someone like Malene and that Jeanette will stay. We will just have to see. The new leader starts in October, there won’t be any radical changes right away in any case. And I don’t know about the vet situation, I really don’t. I hope some kind of solution will be found. Other than just.. crossing our fingers and hoping we won’t need one. It is irresponsible and the goats deserve better and sometimes I think it would be better if the playgrounds didn’t have large animals. It kills me to say, because I think it’s so good for kids to be able to get these experiences, especially in troubled neighbourhoods. We need more, not less. But if they can’t get the proper care then it’s not fair. And then there’s the selfish thoughts, what would I do without this place. I honestly don’t know if I could go on goating if it closed. If our trio moved to somewhere I couldn’t easily go. I could not start over in a new place with new goats. I would not do that I’m pretty sure. And I don’t think I could handle visiting places much farther away than they are now. Mentally and physically I am just .. close to the edge. I know that sounds kind of pathetic, but you know. Don’t nobody knows what it’s like to be you, other than you. I have had times, many times, where I have wanted to give up. There’s not a lot of fight left in me. I am blessed to have these three goats so close to me. But I still feel like it’s a struggle to get through the days. As easy as I have it, I still find it hard.
Anyway, enough self pity. I just wanted to vent, and clue you in on some of the stuff going on. Hooves crossed things will go okay. One day a day, while there are still days.
7/9 2023
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A happy post before I go to bed. Sunshowered. Goat your cares away, worries for another day.
7/9 2023
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goatlog
8/9 2023
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Here’s Red Sonja. I much prefer her clucking to the gurgling.
8/9 2023
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Sky and Bella relaxing on the platform. I think they may be bonding over how annoying little Luna is being! haha. I just imagine Bella pretending to be a worn old grownup “can you beliee that childish kid” while she’s like what a month older at most probably. Luna is a handful, in the best goatkid way.
8/9 2023
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It’s that time of year where I spend a few hours watching performances of En Nat Bliver Det Sommer on youtube. Happens about once a year or so.
I deeply love the lyrics, which won’t help any of you out there because you’re all dirty foreigners who don’t speak our prosaic and heavenly language, build the wall!!!
Ahm. I mean. The milk train doesn’t stop here anymore.
9/9 2023
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Uh oh, Bella has spotted the tripod.
9/9 2023
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I don’t get the appeal of boxing. Not in this day and age. It’s just violence. It really weirds me out how some people fawned over how brutal Tyson. Like the idea that he might kill a guy in the ring was something to admire. I’m not saying there isn’t some physically impressive stuff going on but.. it’s just hitting people. I know there’s more to it than that, but the essence of it. It’s just meat and muscle and bone. I don’t find it impressive that you can hurt people with your strength. Now art, on the other hand. If ind it impressive that people can me feel pain with music and writing. That’s an art. That’s worth fawning over. If you can make me cry with a song or a book or a painting or a picture, now that’s impressive. I like to feel that pain. I don’t like people to punch me in the face.
I don’t know why this ramble came into my head all of a sudden. The Tyson thing has bothered me for a long time. Maybe it’s because he’s almost cute in interviews, almost child-like.
Physical feats are just not that interesting. I miss when soccer was slow and boring. Now it’s athleticism and betting.
Fun fact, if you remember our goat Bob, who was a real tubby sweetheart, I wanted to name him Tyson when he was born. But i was overruled by the children of the first playground. Not unhappy about that after all. There are too many goats that I did not have enough time with. Well, that goes for all of them I guess. There is never enough time.
Alright, I’ll shut up. Stop hitting me!
9/9 2023
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Luna didn’t seem to graps the big spider monster is actually the hand that feeds her. At least she was just headbutting it not biting it!
9/9 2023
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Btw, speaking of sports. Here’s a result from Danish soccer today:
Middelfart – Brabrand 1-0
STOP GIGGLING. Farts and bras, teehee.
Sorry.
9/9 2023
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Luna is just hanging around.
10/9 2023
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Well I know at least one person who will probably enjoy this. *waves to Keiko*
So, I got pooped on. Bella the troublemaker decided to drop a load of berries right as I picked her up. D’oh! I don’t know how well you can see it in the video, but yes. Good thing those berries come out solid.
10/9 2023
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That’s all for now.