Okay then. I’m feeling better and fresher. Time to make that entry I owe you.

Rewind to Monday. I get to the playground and find the goats walking around on the little field where the horses usually are.

Someone left their door open.

I think it was on purpose, though. That would explain…

That the horses were out front. Where there is more grass. I know they enjoy it there.

It was nice with a change of scenery with the goats. I walked across the field with them all following me in one long conga line. I felt like the pied piper. Only without pies.

And the kids really liked the new space to explore. Here they are climbing the little hill at the back. They ran back and forth. You should have seen them. Across the field, back again, up the hill, down, across the hill. They were running so much that they were panting. It was the cutest thing I ever did see. You think they looked like puppies before? You should see them with their tongues out of their mouth and panting. If I didn’t know better I would have sworn they were puppy dogs.

They were almost too busy to pay attention to old Uncle Plume.

But once they had run across every little part of the place then they came back to me, and I wasn’t complaining.

Just wonderful to watch them have fun.

And look for food. They are becoming very goatzy in their hunt for feeds. I wonder if they would like pie?

They all liked cabbage. A woman came by with a plastic bag full of cabbage. It didn’t take long before she had a crowd of goats at her hands.

Handing some to Magnethe.

And hoovering the ground.

Mmm. That’s good cabbage. Incidentally that picture is number 5000 in my Coppermine gallery. Who said I was nuts? Nuts me, that’s for sherbert.

Later on some kids and adults came around to see the animals. There was one boy in particular who was interested in the goats. But he was also somewhat scared. I was sitting up against the fence and Mads had sat down next to me. The boy was on the other side of the fence. And then one of the adults came over. She asked what my name was. And then said to the boy she said “See, Plume is sitting there all calm and relaxed. He’s obviously a good animal friend, and if you just do like him then the goats aren’t dangerous at all”. And then Mads picked the perfect time to put his head down into my lap and close his eyes and make happy grunty noises while I scratched his chin. “See, Mads obviously trusts Plume and knows he’s not going to hurt him, otherwise he wouldn’t lie down with him like that”. She was saying a lot of stuff to build up the confidence of the boy, but it didn’t hurt me either! It’s nice to get praise for the way I am with the animals, of course.

The boy eventually jumped over the fence and got a bit closer to the goats. He got scared when Mads got up and started walking around, but it was a step in the right direction. And it was nice to talk to him and help him.

Mads sitting down and watching the other goats. Now to the not so nice part. I am a bit worried about him. His hooves, to be precise. He has trouble with them. It obviously hurts sometimes when he walks. Alice says that it’s arthritis. He’s getting to be an old boy. I’m just a little worried that it might be hoof rot. I read Laura’s experience with Sparkle and Taco. They had hoof rot. And they were helped by treatment. So I just think it would be very sad if there was something that could be done to help Mads and it wasn’t done. I talked to Alice about it. She said they were considering getting someone to take a look at him. I hope they will. Just for my peace of my mind.

It really makes me sad when I see him limping around. And sometimes walking on his knees. It looks really funny at first, but then you realize that he must be doing it because it hurts too much to walk normally. And that’s not funny at all. It’s also not funny how he sits down so much now. He used to always come running when he saw me. Now he mostly stays sitting. He’ll still baah like he’s excited to see me. But he doesn’t get up. And normally when I sat down on the bench it wouldn’t be 30 seconds before he jumped up and stood next to me. But now he very rarely jumps up on the bench.

There are things that suggest it might not be hoof rot though. He still does get up and walk around. He’s still lively and happy. He still charges the others and keeps his dominance. And he doesn’t mind that I touch his feet. I have been giving him foot rubsies, mostly as an excuse to get a closer look at them. Laura talked about it being boggy and sore and gross. I don’t see anything like that. And Mads seems to really enjoy when I rub and scratch him between the toes. I would imagine that if it was hoof rot then he wouldn’t like that at all. But I don’t know, I might not be going “deep” enough.

In any case, having a vet look at him would make me feel better. Whether it’s arthritis or hoof rot. Hoof rot can be treated. And I have read that aspirins can help against the pain of arthritis. So I hope they’ll have him checked out. I know it’s problematic because they have virtually no money. So calling the vet out when it’s probably nothing isn’t an easy decision. Like I said, he still seems happy and full of spirit.

Let’s hope I managed to convince Alice. And let’s hope Mads gets better. I can’t imagine life without him. He’s been such a good friend to me for so long. I don’t know if you can understand it if you don’t have social phobia and isolation and all that stuff. But then I know people get very attached to their pets in general, so yeah I guess you can understand. The thought of Mads in pain makes me very sad.

But we’ll end on a happier note.

Yesterday it rained. After a period of warmth and sun. The goats staid inside and I got to sit on a stool and have the kids jump up and down on me.

And chokolade standing on a bucket. At one point she was balancing on the bucket like that and Magnethe was standing right next to her with her two front legs down her own bucket. I’m sure you’ll remember how Magnethe likes to stand like that. I bet when the kids get bigger they’ll be standing inside the buckets as well.

All for now.

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