It’s been a lovely day today. Let me tell you it, deer reader. Rest your antlers, and keep your pants on you anteaters.

Beautiful, sunny day. I’d wager the temperatures passed 25C quite possibly. Thereabouts. Beautiful blue skies and sunshine. And a slight breeze to afford the occasional relief from the warmth. Perfect.

I was getting ready to go to the playground when my phone rang. It was Bodil. I thought she was calling to invite me to come visit at the summer house, but she’s taking Sif, the little doggie, to the vet tomorrow. So I’m not sure if the visit is called off completely or not. But hopefully Sif will be getting better and there’ll still be time to visit them before the house is sold. We talked a little. I wished her a happy birthday since that is today. We talked about Kurt too. We had talked about him the other day and I’d asked how he was since I haven’t seen him for so long. And Bodil had told me that he he was still coming to the playground once a week with bread. I didn’t know that. I haven’t seen him much since he stopped as manager of the playground. But Bodil had promised to find out on what days he was doing the bread deliveries. So that’s what she called to tell me. Mondays, as it turns out. She also said that she had invited Kurt to her birthday party and if that mde me change my mind about going (she’s not holding it today). I told her it didn’t and she wasn’t expecting it to, she told me. She understands. But I still hope I can go see her house and yard soon.

It was good to talk to her a little. And then I went on my way to the playground. Feeling good in the wonderful weather. It’s always so nice to spend time with the goats when it’s warm and sunny. It’s like a little slice of heaven on pie. My transformation from winter person to summer person seems almost complete.

Bob and Preben had gone up in the residential block again. So I went to get them and bring them back down so I could sit with all the goats on my wooden throne on the hill. When we were going down the hill Preben got all excited and started jumping. You know when they jump in the air and twist their head one way and their body the other way? I’ve only seen kids do that before I think, but Preben bounced down the hill. And when Bob saw it he started running down after him. Adorable. With my limited vision I thought I probably shouldn’t run down the hill myself. And definitely not bounce around. When I got down the hill the buck came over to me and he was all panting like he’d run a marathon. They always pant in the heat. I just love sitting around with lazy goats when it’s this warm. Especially once they’ve gotten their bellies full and they just want to chill.

I mentioned that there’s been some platforms built and things built in the back hills of the playground? Mio found a sweet spot under one of the platforms. Nice in the shade. Bob went in and sat next to her. Even Preben followed in. There wasn’t that much room to move down there, but it was a nice break from the blazing sun. A couple of times Bob was rolling his head around and he rolled it back so much that he literally rolled his entire body around. Like a little puppy. It made me laugh out loud both times.

Those sweet, tired snoring sounds. Lazy, hazy, maybe baby.

And then Kurt came by! That was a nice surprise. I guess he’d talked to Bodil and that’s why he came looking for me. I was sitting on my wooden throne when he came over. It was really good to see him again. And we talked for a while. About how things are going. My vision. Magnethe’s passing. Preben. Preben came from Kurt’s place. And it actually looks like we might be keeping him. Kurt has another buck, so he can’t really take Preben back. He might be loaned out to other playgrounds still, but I think the plan is for him to stay with us mostly. An intact buck, we’ve never had one stay permanently at the playground before. I’m still a little conficted over that, because it makes it harder for me to get alone time with Bob. But on the other hand Preben is SO sweet. He’s such a good boy. And he seems to like me. He likes spending time with me. Sometimes I have to push him away a little and try to direct his attention at something else so I can go sit with Bob. But he’s a big sweetheart, Preben, and I’m sure we’ll have many good times.

Kurt also brought news of Soft-Ice, the kid that Vanilje had when she died. I was really glad to hear that she’s still doing well at Kurt’s place. And she had kids! How wonderful. It makes me really happy that the family line of Vanilje and Magnethe and Mathilde still goes on. Kurt said that Soft-Ice didn’t want to feed her little boy at first. So kurt had to bottle feed him. And so the boy always got very excited when he heard Kurt coming because he knew it was feeding time. And then gradually Kurt started noticing that the boy was less excited to see him and he seemed less hungry. And it turned out that Soft-Ice had started accepting him and letting him drink her milk. What a sweet story. And Kurt was all smiles telling it. I think Kurt likes that I remember Soft-Ice and ask about her. I’m not sure there are anyone else thinking about Vanilje and her kid anymore, but I do. I’d still like to go see her some day. Kurt says she looks just like her mother. Sweet Vanilje, I still miss her too.

But it was great talking to Kurt again. And now that I know he’ll be around on Mondays maybe I’ll get to see him more often.

Lovely, lovely day.

Oh and I’ve noticed that Mio does something a little similar to what Magnethe used to do when she wanted me to scratch her. Magnethe loved having her neck scratched so she’d present her neck and start nudging against me when she wanted scratchies. Mio’s sweet spot is at the base of her horns, underneath them where it’s hard even for me to get at. So I’ll scratch her there. And then when I stop I bring my hands down. And then if she wants more she’ll lower her head and start nudging her horns against my fingers to get me to keep doing it. It’s nice to feel that your attention is appreciated like that.

I think Preben’s sweet spot might be his feet. He put his foot on my leg the other day and I scratched him around the hoof. And now a couple of times today he’d put his feet up on me again like he’s expecting a foot massage. Massage therapist for goats, I wonder if I should pursue that career?

I should have photos and video from this lovely day soon, but in the meantime here is a video from Monday of the goats eating grass. And eating more grass. And then I interrupt them with a sneeze. And then they eat more grass. And more grass. And then the REAL lawn mower arrives and they run away

I do love the sound of goats grassing.

It has been a pretty good week. I have been feeling okay for the most part. There is still the sadness that surfaces at times, but not completely unbearable anymore. I have gone to the playground three times. Making the effort to be there more, as I had intended. Had good times with the goats. And good human contact too, which was of course one of the goals. So that’s good. Since not much else is going on, let me tell you of the playground trips.

On Monday I was sitting out on the little football lawn at the front of the playground. With the goats. I was feeling pretty sad and missing Magnethe. It seemed so empty without her. But then some kids came along and helping them with the goats cheered me up a lot. Mio and Kamel were tied down, and the boys wanted to take them for a walk on their leashes. So I helped get the leashes out of the ground and we walked around on the lawn. That is to say the goats dragged the boys around, for the most part. But it was good, sweet fun. It’s always great when I get to help with the goats and tell the kids about them.

Here is a video: youtube.com/watch?v=yL0v65fvswo.

On Wednesday I was planning to just drop by for a quick visit. The weather forecast said there would be rain. But the rain never came. And I ended up having such a good time that I stayed for quite a while.

When I got there I found Kamel tied down on her own. She was looking up the hill and baahing. So I figured the rest of the gang were up there. And when I went to investigate I found the three others pillaging the trees up in the residential block. Mio had pulled her leash up from the ground and gone up there with Bob and Preben. I took her back down and put her close to Kamel, and the two boys followed. And that stopped Kamel’s baahing. Company and food, two things that are important to goats. It’s not the first time I have found Kamel on her own, loudly complaining and looking for her compadres. She has a habit of getting left behind I think. She’s still the New Girl on the Block, but she’s getting along better with Mio now.

All of a sudden a guy started an electric lawn mower up the top of the hill. And immediately all four goats jumped up and ran away as fast as they could. Even the girls, they just pulled their leasheds out of the ground and ran off. Like little cartoon puffs of smoke in the distance. I followed them back to the main grounds of the playground. Where Nina came out and said “what happened?!”. It’s hard not to notice a flock of scaredygoats coming charging.

We put them back on grass, safely away from the lawn mower man. One of the boys from Monday came by again. He gave apples to the goats. He’d climb up a tree and get four apples and then he’d go to each goat and give them an apple. They were small, bitesized apples. Then he’d come back to me and tell me that he was going to get some more apples for them. So that happened a couple of times. He’s a nice boy.

And then Bodil came by. It was really nice to see her again. We talked for more than an hour I think. She did most of the talking of course. But she’s one of the few people I feel fairly comfortable talking to. She’s just really sweet and nice and open and easy to talk to. We talked about Magnethe, and she hugged me. She understands what it’s like to lose an animal you love. I’m sure she still misses Lulu a lot. But she loves her new dog Sif a lot too, you can tell. And all the kids love Sif too. They kept coming over to say hello to her. And every time Bodil would say “where’s Lasse?” Sif would go to me and get scratchies. Such a sweet little thing. Sigrid came out too and was going to sit down and talk with us, but then she got called back in by some kids who were doing some theatre stuff inside. Too bad. Sigrid and Bodil are two of my favourite peoples.

Here’s a video from the day: youtube.com/watch?v=1E1mVyYDJEk. The boy feeding apples to the goats and Sif the dog. Oh and here’s a little bit of Bob: youtube.com/watch?v=VuUDSrxU9w0. At the very end you can see the bit when the lawn mower turned on and Bob runs away and I think you can just spot Mio starting to run too.

So that takes us up to Friday. I found that there’s some stuff being built on the hills out the back of the playground. I’m not really sure what it’s all about, there are some platforms and signs. But one nice thing I found was a big wooden chair sort of thing. Almost like a throne on top of the hill. I was sitting on it and had the goats all around me when I heard laughter. It was Bodil coming down the other hill. “What a scene” she said. And then she offered to take some pictures for me. So I gave her my camera and she went back up the other hill.

There I am on my wooden throne on top of the hill. I am the king of all I see. The king of goats. I wish there had been a picture that was more zoomed out so you could really see the whole scene on the hill. But it’s still sweet.

And a couple of closeups of me and Preben. He is a sweet buck. Sigrid told me that she’s trying to get it arranged that Preben can stay at the playground. He’s one of the best behaved bucks we have ever seen. I have to admit I feel conflicted about that, though. Because as long as he is around it’s harder for me to get quality one-on-one time with Bob. And I really want to bond with Bob. But Sigrid talked about loaning him, Preben, out to other playgrounds too. So we’ll see what happens. He really is a big, friendly guy though.

I had a nice talk with Bodil again. She invited me to her birthday party. It’s just a little thing, but I still had to decline the invitation. New people and everything. It’s just not me. But she understood. She knows I’m not much for social situations. She laughed and hugged me. And she got my phone number, we’re going to try to arrange a little visit in her garden summer home. She’s had it for years, but she’s selling it now. We used to talk about me going out to see it, so now’s the last chance. If I gather up my courage to do it.

After Bodil had left, a cat turned up. I didn’t see it at first. But then Mio started sneeze/snorting. Warning signals for the herd. And all the goats were suddenly very attentative. And then I spotted the little fluffy thing. Scaredygoats. I made some video of it but the wind was so strong that the audio was all ruined. So instead I put the Jaws shark theme on it. I thought that was amusing.

So those were good times. And I’m happy and relieved that I can still have good times at the playground. I miss Magnethe a lot. But my goat friends give me comfort. And the human interaction does me good. So I’ll pat myself on the back for still doing okay. With exercise and salad as well.

And today I went and had dinner with the family. It’s my mother’s birthday. We had a nice little time and I did some computer fixing for them too. Said hello to a cat on my way there. I have met it a couple of times in that same spot on my way to my parents’ house. It always walks slowly towards me, like it’s judging whether I’m friend or foe. And then when I slow down and bend forward a little it comes up to me and gets head scratchies. Sweet little thing.

The weather is supposed to be good next week. So I hope I’ll be having another nice week with exercise and goats. Fingers crossed.