Who Would Not Say She is Adorable.... But...

Who can deny she is adorable?

She will however, eat your lunch...

She begs to get in the house all the time...  why I cannot understand...

For some strange reason I can't figure out, that silly goat panics when I get in the truck to go to town... and then chases me down the road if she is out of her pen.

She makes a mess if she is out of her pen,but always finds some way to get in trouble when I put her in her pen.

 And then she raced up the stairs and stood on the handrail of the porch...

I Have Created a Monster!

I swear if she had opposable thumbs she would take off joy riding on the lawn mower, and follow me to town.  She has seen the dog go inside and decided animals are allowed in that door.  She tries to squeeze by my legs all the time. Also, she has seen Ginger the Wonder Dog hop in the truck to go to town and get hay... in her mind she is certainly as well behaved as that dog...  Sigh, how do you explain to a goat you don't want to look like a hillbilly without hurting her feelings?

 

What Everyone Needs After a Long Period of Stress.

I have had a stressful past three weeks or so.  My husband was home on leave, and then had to return to Iraq. That is always hard for me, and we had a rent house that was vacated with the tenants leaving owing us $3,600. They had tore the house to pieces, not even being there a year, and the cockroaches were very literally unbelievable. There were thousands out on the walls in the day time. You could not bring food into the house without them swarming toward you. There was so much cleanup work to do.  It was discouraging.  Randy and I had been working on the remodel work all the time he was home on leave, but I have to finish it up. We spent a great deal of money to have a large contracting service install a tub, and do some other plumbing work and electrical. The work was done substandard, and I am still arguing with them. 

Then there were the bombings, accompanied by the sorrow and shock that so many other places in the world deal with on a daily basis. I thought of my friends in Iraq... where daily they lose friends, and must be constantly be vigilant. 

 I attended the SWAN (Service Women's Action Network,) summit on military sexual trauma, and as I heard their stories my heart reeled at the realization of failed leadership after such life altering trauma encountered by these men and women. 

 I needed tranquility today... so late in the evening as I worked in the garden, I let Rocket out of the pen. She is so gentle and loving, her behavior is always an expression of joy. She runs, she jumps, she frolics, and it is all a show of joy put on just for me. She rubs her little head on my leg as I move about the garden... sometimes she forgets and accidentally "tastes" a little bit of the garden... of course just to see if anything ready for harvest yet... She is never less than a foot away from me. She sits down when I sit down, and always wants to put her head in my lap. She always watches my face for clues as to what is up next.   She is really smart, which surprised me. She is happiest when she is following me, dancing with joy as she goes. We all should find some simple and gentle thing which restores our hearts and souls when stress comes in batches to our lives, I find those restoring things at Soldier's Heart Ranch in so many things, especially in this sweet little animal.  This beautiful little place with its pond and deep woods helps to center me, relieves all my stress, and enables me to carry on  as I am reminded, through the things of nature, of God's grace, love, and mercy. I love living at Soldier's Heart Ranch.

     

OK, You Know Sometimes People Work You, Especially Children... Think Goats Too...

I have been letting Rocket out of her pen every day to play. She doesn't really like her pen, she wants to live on the porch. So I caved in and put a nice little basket out with a nice soft blanket, (which she chewed a hole in the first night...) Evidently now that no longer suits her, she has started trying to rush past me every time I go in the house... Not going to happen, not ever going to happen, I am not a hill billy... I think back to the pen and her little plastic dog house... I was just trying to watch a little CSI and fold laundry... and there was that pitiful little face, trying to make me feel guilty.

That sad little face peeking through the door, combined with the fact that she now tries to rush past me and come in the house when I open the door tells me how badly she wants to become a "house goat."  Sorry, Rocket, still not happening...

  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Now Here We Go, an "Army" Easter Basket

 The gold spotlight looks great on this Army/Marine basket.  It is in a camo hat turned up-side-down! 

It has a cute fuzzy rabbit in a bright yellow, a bunch of green beads, a giant plastic egg full of "pop rocks," a Texas chocolate bar, a green water whistle you can wear around your neck, a green water whistle shaped like a bird which you can wear around your neck, a yellow rubber ducky, a yellow hoppy chick, a cool Easter game in a box, little tiny eggs in little tiny cartons which are sour chewing gum,  and of course a bag of toy Soldiers, 

   

                                     

Now you have to know, every little boy is going to want one!