Jump For Joy
I am a little backlogged, picturewise. So let’s look back a little.
As shown videowise, Tuesday saw the goat kids roaming free on the playground premises.
A whole new world to explore.
A poor picture, but don’t you just love her there in mid-jump in mid-air. With the shadow and all.
That’s Per squatting. And the woman is Margit, I believe. I’ve been meaning to do a staff-update on the playground. If all the pictures don’t tire me out then maybe I’ll do it today.
Another mid-air freeze. If they spent any more time in the air I’d start thinking they were balloons.
And there they have found their way into the rabbit house. They liked it in the back there, with lots of places to crawl under and hide.
It was a fun day, following them around as they explored. And meeting lots of (human) kids and adults too.
Forward a little to Wednesday, yesterday. It was a beautiful day. It snowed during the night. And then the sun came out and it was the perfect sunny, snowday. The goat’s pen was covered in snow. When the hatch was opened to let the goats out, Magnethe poked her head out. She looked around for a bit… and then went back inside. I guess she didn’t feel like jumping into the snow! Then the kids’ heads poked out. They also looked around. And they weren’t disheartened, they jumped right out. It was so fun seeing them in their first major snow experience. There was a little snow when they were running around on Tuesday. But this was the first time they really had to dive into it. Little liquorice-head stuck her face down in the snow and rummaged around. Then pulled her head back up and started sneezing. And then back down in the snow. And more sneezes. It made us all laugh. I have some nice video of it, I shall upload that soon. For now some pictures:
“It’s white like us, momma!”
If you look carefully you’ll see Mads inside. It took a while before he decided to join the rest of us. I don’t blame him, it was quite cold until the sun really came out.
The fresh hay and the fresh Plume probably helped lure him out too.
That’s a picture from before we went out in the snow. The black one went up against the wall there to investigate me. Then the brown one went underneath her and jumped up like that. They aren’t always very coordinated. But all the more charming for it.
Checking out the christmas tree. All the pine needles and the bark has been stripped off, but the goats still like to use it as a scratching post. The branches are perfectly positioned for hitting the sweet spots between a goat’s horns.
Under the bench.
And on top.
A beautiful, beautiful day in the snow with the beautiful kids. Of course the sunshine takes its toll.
Today most of the snow was gone. But the company is still great, luckily.
Vanilje in the background. She has started pushing the kids around a little. Not charging them with the horns or anything hard, but just pushing them out of the way and such. Several times Magnethe saw it and rushed to the scene, charging at Vanilje and butting her away. Momma to the rescue! She’s not letting anyone mess with the kids. It’s still one big, happy family mostly though. Even Mads sometimes just sniffs at them curiously without butting them away.
That’s all for the pictures. Now for the staff stuff. The one thing I have missed since the goat kids have arrived is Kurt being around. I haven’t seen him yet. I don’t know if he’s been by to say hello to the kids at all, but I know he’d love them. I overheard Alice saying that he’d probably be back in April. He still has health problems. I hope he’ll be able to come around soon. He’s such a good guy, kind and nice to be around. I know the kids would love to jump all over him.
It used to be that the playground staff was Kurt and Per and Alice and Pernille. Now Kurt is rarely around. And Pernille has unfortunately had to stop too. She has also had health problems and I guess she just couldn’t overcome the work anymore. It’s too bad, she was a very sweet person as well. I hope the best for her. So now as far as I am aware (my human communication skills aren’t the best, remember) the playground leader is Alice. Taking care of the administrative things. And Per is taking care of the more physical things, fixing stuff and taking care of the animals and such. And they have hired a guy called Reda. I don’t think he’s working there fulltime, but he is a permanent staff member now. He’s a 2nd generation Dane, I think Turkish roots or something like that. But very friendly. When he sees me he always says “Hi Plume”. It’s nice to have a place where people know your name. He seems like a good guy. Then there’s Margit, as mentioned. I’m not sure if she’s permanent staff yet. They have various interns at different times. Right now there’s a girl called Stinna, and one I think is called Marie. But it goes for all of them that they are sweet and nice people. I think you have to be if you’re going for a job taking care of kids and animals in a place with low pay. I don’t think many jerks would do that. At least I hope not. It’s good to see these nice people, and feeling part of the place and appreciated. All the attention that the goat kids get sort of spills over to me because I spend so much time with them. It’s a very positive thing indeed. And the bond I have with the goats gets noticed, by the interns and the visitors. The other day Bodil said “we wouldn’t have such tame goats if Plume hadn’t moved in”. Hehe. It’s nice to feel that there is something a little special about you. Not that bonding with goats will get be a nobel prize or a front page story or money and fast cars. Most people will just think it’s weird. But I like it. And helping visitors, especially kids, get close and feel safe with the goats, that’s a great feeling. I might not be anything special, but I’m not completely worthless either. Despite what my stupid brain says sometimes.
Anyway, I’ll be quiet now. Go and rest my back. Bye bye, or as the goats would say: baah baah.
March 30th, 2008 at 17:26
Plume, isn’t it funny how the very thing you have the most trouble with (socializing with others), is the thing you are doing with the baby goats?
You being with them is helping the babies get used to new people and things. You are helping them become social with the outside world and are helping to make them happy and healthy goatzies! Good job!
March 30th, 2008 at 22:15
Debster – Hehe, I bet the goats think I’m a master of socializing. They’re probably sick of me. “We can never get rid of that guy!”. They’ll just have to learn to live with it.