It’s been quite a week, goatwise. I guess we’ll start at the beginning.

When I got to the playground on Monday it was closed. After waiting a little while I decided to use my key to go in to the goats. When I was inside my phone rang. It was Nina. She wanted to tell me that Medium and Large would be picked up later that day. So she just called to make sure I could come and say my goodbyes and all. That was rather funny, she didn’t realise I was already there. But Monday was my last day with the twins. I made sure to have a good time with them. Gave them treats and scratchies and let them jump on my back and just generally had fun. Until it was time for them to be picked up. That was hard. It’s not a fun situation. The goats don’t understand what’s going on and it just feels brutal to take them away like that. The people who took them seemed like really good people, though. So that’s nice. And they have a nice farm with lots of space. One of them said that if I wanted to I could come see Medium and Large there. That was really nice of him. With my phobia and blindness I don’t know if I’ll really be able to, though. It’s not exactly close to here. But maybe some time. I would like to see them again.

It seems Medium and Large have settled in nicely at their new home. One of the guys left a comment on Mia’s Facebook saying that they had eaten a rosebush that wasn’t for eating. Already getting into trouble at the new place! And Nina told me that it was going well too. The guys who took them are Nina’s friends and she helped get it all set up. I guess they picked up another goat too, a lady friend for Medium. But she wasn’t a hand-raised goat like ours. So they appreciate that the families and kids at the farm can sit down with Medium and Large and have fun with them. All the time I have spent with them has paid off like that. Bodil is always saying that it’s my fault that our goats are so tame and easy to be around. I do my part at least. And am happy to.

Mio was upset when they were taken, of course. But she did calm down when it was time to go in and get fed. And the next day she was back to normal, as if nothing had happened. So it goes with goats. As protective and caring as the mothers are, they always seem to handle the separation without problems. And I guess that’s a good thing. Now at least she won’t have to worry about them running away all the time while she’s tied down. She can concentrate on what’s most important. Eating all the greens.

So on Tuesday we were down to four goats. Much more quiet without the little troublemakers. I think Mia realised that Palle had lost his playmates, though. So she decided to play with him. She’s still just a big kid at heart. They were running and jumping on the slope. It was quite wonderful to watch. She did one jump that was just amazing. Twisting in the air. I could hardly believe that a goat her size did that haha. Check out the videos below.

Wednesday was a special day. It was Mia’s birthday! One year old. I can’t believe she has a three month old kid already! And what a year it’s been. But the day didn’t go as I had planned. I had brought lots of leftover green stuff from my kitchen. I found a bag of old peapods that I had stashed away in my fridge and forgotten about. So I was planning to throw Mia quite the party. But unfortunately Mia and Palle were both sick. When we opened the goat house I could smell vomit inside. That was the first sign. As we took the goats out I picked up Palle to carry him with us. And I felt poop on my arm. He had had diarrhea, and so had Mia. And they were just sluggish and unresponsive. I’ve seen it before when goats have overeaten. Per said some kids had left some food out or the door open to the place the food is stored or something like that and he had seen Palle getting at it. So it makes sense that they had both overeaten, while Mio and Kamel were tied down so they couldn’t have gotten at the food. I figured that was all it was, overeating. But it’s still scary when your goat friends feel bad and aren’t themselves. Especially with everything that’s happened. Can’t help being scared to lose more goats. And if I lost Mia and Palle I don’t know what I’d do.

On Thursday Palle was starting to feel better. But Mia semeed worse. Almost no appetite, tail down, just obviously not herself. I spent the day just walking around with her. Trying to get her to eat a little. Comforting her. It reminded me of Magnethe’s last days. Which was bad. Of course. I helped Per and Sigrid take her temperature. It was normal, thankfully. That kind of ruled out some of the worse possibilities. And with Palle getting better it seemed likely that it was just overeating. I was talking to Sigrid about various things that could be done. Old wives tales and advice and such. We thought that one reason why Palle was doing better might be because he was drinking milk from Mia and the milk contained beneficial things. So it was decided to milk Mia and have her drink the milk. That was quite something. I don’t think we’ve ever milked out goats at the playground before. At least I haven’t been part of it. Again I helped hold her and keep her calm. She didn’t like it much more than having her temperature taken. And then we had to force her to drink the milk which she wasn’t pleased about either. But along with the stomach medication we gave her it did seem to help a little. She ate a little hay, which is good for the diggestion too I think.

So on Friday I was relieved to see her getting better. Her appetite seemed to be back. She was eating a good deal of hay. We took the goats out ot the greens and she ate grass and leaves. Her tail was up mostly. She wasn’t completely back to normal yet but getting there. She even tried getting into my pocket to get raisins. So her stomach seemed to be better and hopefully when I see her tomorrow she’ll be back to normal. Or close. Bodil called me later on Friday to tell me that Mia was feeling better. She didn’t know if I knew already. But it was nice to talk to her, it always is. I know she cares a lot about the goats and me too.

So that was quite an eventful week. Most of it bad of course. Saying goodbye to the twins and Mia and Palle being sick. The birthday should have been good but obviously wasn’t under the circumstances. It’s sad that Medium and Large aren’t here anymore too. I had a lot of good times with them. They were cool little goat pals. Large with her horns that curve oddly outwards in a way unlike any others I can remember. Medium with all the trouble he got into. I can’t recall any other kid picking fights with all the adult goats from such a young age. Or just when they were jumping around on the rooftops. I’ll miss them. I’m glad they got a good home, though. That’s what matters most. It’s a much better feeling than the way I had to say goodbye to Bob and Tiny.

Hopefully next week will be better on the goat front.

On the home front I managed to score a new record low on the weight after today’s exercise. And I ordered a cross trainer. Or elliptical trainer or whatever it’s called in English. I bought one that was more expensive than I had wanted. But that’s okay. That just means I’ll have to use it! And it’ll add some variety to the exercising. Hopefully it’ll be good. We’ll see how it goes.

And that was a lot of writing. Let’s get to some pictures.

Sweet lady Large.

Large and Larger.

Large and Mio.

Handsome Medium.

Medium and Large.

Mia’s piercing eyes.

Sweet picture of Mio and Mia.

Mia and Palle.

The family still together.

close.

Mio still the tallest.

Mio the day after her babies left.

Mia with a milk beard.

Mia and Palle sweetly.

Palle with the mighty ears.

Goofball!

I spent a lot of time like that, just taking care of the two of them.

And videos.
First from Monday. The last day with Medium and Large. The good times we had. And then the brutal ending when they’re taken away. Quite sad.

Then the next day with Mia and Palle playing on the slope. Wonderful running and jumping. I put in some slomos at the end of that one particularly amazing jump.

And then a goatlog from Mia’s birthday, Wednesday, and the next couple of days. Not a lot of fun, since Mia and Palle were sick. So just tracking their progress really.

And that’s all. Phew. Let’s see what next week brings.

It’s been a pretty quiet week. Some rain and some sun. Less and less sun, though. The really hot summer seems to be over for this year. Only 11 days into August, it seems too soon. But hopefully there’s still a little summer left. 20 degrees is still decent.

I got good news about Medium. And Large. It turns out the people who are taking Large have also agreed to take Medium. So they’re going to go to the same place. That is really, really great news. I’m very happy about it. They’re friends of Nina, who works at the playground. And she asked them if they couldn’t take Medium too. I actually offered to sponsor a castration of him if it would mean that someone would take him. And then Bodil offered to pay half, and her friend Åse offered to contribute a little too. But it turns out that they don’t want him castrated after all. That means he won’t be able to be in the same pen as his sister, but I’m still really glad that they’ll be at the same place. And apparently there’s going to be a little lady friend for him there too so hopefully he’ll get to carry on the family genes. It’s really a relief. I was getting worried he wouldn’t get a happy end. Our little troublemaker Medium. But now it looks good. They should be picked up in the beginning of next week, that’s the last I heard. It’ll be strange without them. But this is for the best and it’s really good that we found them a home.

And with that, now for the pictures.

there’s our boy Medium.

And the pretty Mia.

Mio, the white lady of the greens.

And a bit closer to Mio.

Palle with the ears.

Blue skies for Kamel.

A little look at Large’s horns. They are quite different from most of the other kinds I have seen. Mostly the horns go down over the head. But Large’s seem to be heading outwards in a funny direction. It would be interesting to see how they’ll look when she’s an adult goat.

Mia digging into the chicken’s feed. Naughty girl!

Palle still getting up on my back when he sees a chance for it.

But he doesn’t always make it all the way up!

Then he can just settle down in my lap instead. Comfy!

And finally the whole goat menagerie. Kamel off to the left while mamma Mio and her children and granchild attack the hayholder.

And then a goatlog from Monday through Thursday. You can see Medium trying to get used to being tied down for the first time. He’s been getting into too much trouble. He wasn’t happy about it at first, of course. But I think he settled into it okay. Apart from when Large ran off and left him behind. Then he wasn’t happy. Also musical interludes from Avril Lavigne and Nirvana as the construction workers’ radio is heard in the background. Goats on the hill with music, it’s like the Sound of Music! Lots of fun jumping and running and butting of heads. Good times indeed.

And there you go.