Give Me That Country Life Chapter 3

Before we moved from the city we added a new member to our family.  We had always wanted a dog but my husband would not agree to adopting a canine child.  Not because he didn't like dogs but because he has always felt that the place for animals is out doors roaming freely.  He doesn't believe in humanizing animals. He had always told us that if we ever lived in the country we could have a dog. Now that we were going to have almost 60 acres as our back yard he couldn't put up a good argument any longer.  My daughter found the cutest puppy on a website and emailed it to us.  As soon as I opened the link I knew this was to be my new canine child.  I could not wait to retrieve it.  It was a fluffy little Australian Shepperd/Pyrenees mix with beautiful blue eyes.  My husband kept his promise and we drove 250 miles to get that little ball of fluff.  He would have to live in our city home for a few days but he didn't mind a bit cause he had his own swimming pool.

Back to the ranch.  We began looking for house plans as we continued modernizing the inside of the cabin.  At last we had air conditioning.  I faux painted the walls and we installed a tile back splash in the kitchen.

Please ignore the dates on some of the pictures.  I never could get the date to display right, so much for that camera.  It was one of the first digitals,,,,it has been retired for a few years now.

Ok, we are living in the country and "roughing it".  A person will never be able to appreciate an indoor shower until they have showered in the oaks and cedars.  It is a must do experience though in order to know the difference.  I'm not knocking the outdoor shower however, it was invigorating feeling the sun and breeze on my back. Of course I was forever on the lookout for rattlers and scorpions and don't forget the fire ants.  The first time I used our new indoor shower I was in "Heaven".  I didn't want to get out.  I felt as if I was at a spa, it was luxurious!

Now that the cabin was a modern little condo it was time to think about goats and garden.  I had big plans for a goat farm and a lavender farm and veggies to feed us.  My cousin had a large herd of goats not too many miles from us so we loaded up our new child and headed to my cousin's ranch.  We were city people just learning about dogs and goats, especially herding dogs.  Even though he was only a pup, as soon as the car door opened, he was free and herding!  He was doing what he was bred to do.  Goats were running for their lives and they were running far,,,over lots of acres and we were chasing that little pup in the hot dry hill country air through cactus and mesquite.  I was so embarrassed because I knew my cousin who I hadn't seen in years was thinking awful thoughts about this damned city girl and her dog.  He even voiced a few of those thoughts...something like "city people and fluffy coming to the country and not knowing what the hell they are doing....fluffy is going to get himself shot".  My cousin was gracious enough to let us pick two goats from the herd once we got them all corralled.  We chose a nanny and a billy and thus became their names, Nanny and Billy.  They were young and "cute".  Did we know they would not stay that way?  No.  Did we have proper fencing for them on our ranch?  No.  Were we ignorant about goats?  Yes!

This is Billy, see those horns, cute aren't they?  Not so cute later.  They are going to get much bigger and treacherous.

And here we have Ms Nanny, she was a sweety.  We were her family and she would do anything to be near us.  She was to be our sons FFA project except like I said, she would do anything to be near us.  We learned very quickly that goats need fencing.  There was no worry about them running away.  They browsed near the house and in the cedars never venturing far without us.  They would always appear out of the brush when we called them....talking to us as they came trotting home.  Goats eat anything!  Goats eat everything!  We went to Tractor Supply and purchased fencing for a pen.  Nanny would not let us out of her site.  One day as we ventured off  for a walk she decided she was coming along.  Over the fence she went.  I could hear her calling us so I went back to see what she had gotten herself into.  As she went over the fence her foot slipped and hung up in the upper part of the fence, her leg was broken, just hanging by the skin.  Now  true country folks  would have shot her and roasted her for dinner.  But she was our son's FFA project...she had to be fixed.  My husband held her while I set the leg and splinted it.  That was the beginning of a long and expensive relationship with our local veterinarian.  He checked out our splint and said we did a great job, reinforcing the leg with pvc pipe and more tape.  $200 medical bill for a goat that we got free.  At the time of course we did not know that our son could not "show" a goat with a limp!  She was already disqualified before she was ever on the block!  Lesson learned!  She was now our pet.

The goats grew and became stronger each day.  Nanny's leg healed and she ran sideways but she didn't know it.  We gave up on the "pen" and just let them roam but sometimes stupidly staking them out to graze.  I don't know why we did that, we were just so ignorant about goats....but I guess it was necessary when we would leave home because to them we were part of the herd.  They went where we went, even if we were driving.  A neighbor suggested to us putting up an electric fence.  She was a country girl, she had to know what she was talking about.  Will an electric fence stop goats?  No it won't, but that was another incidence where my husband got to be "right" and I was "wrong".  There were a lot of those incidences.  I'm one of those people that everything must be proven  in order for me to believe it.  After the time and expense it took to erect the fence and install the electric solar panel I finally admitted defeat.  Nothing phased that Billy, he could go right through that fence yelling as he went, taking the fence with him.  Any way it was just too hard carrying water to those goats.  They could eat and drink more than an elephant.

At last the construction of our house was under way.  We had finally decided on plans, consulted an architect and found the "perfect" builder.  The goats became more and more of a nuisance and the FFA thing was over and done with.  Our son decided he wasn't showing any goats because he didn't like the idea of someone buying and eating his goat and that's what it's all about.  City people again.

These goats roamed the property and did what they wanted.  They slept on the porch of the cabin at night and Nanny even took over the dogs portable kennel.  She liked it in there!  One day the guys went to town for something and I was trying to take Billy off his leash and stake him under the trees where he could get more grass.  He decided he wanted to challenge me and then he took off running.  The cable leash was wrapped around my hand and I flew through the air like Peter Pan but I didn't land like Peter or Tink.   I came down hard as I stubbed my toe on a limestone rock which are abundant out here.  Actually the entire ranch is limestone, that's the topography of much of these hills.  Down I went face first, glasses flying, arms and legs splayed out in every direction.  I could see stars as I lay there moaning and groaning wondering what the hell I was doing there all laid out in the dirt and cactus instead of in my crystal clear swimming pool in the city.  I thought about crying but then I thought who the hell was gonna hear me?  I laid there stunned for a while then told myself I was tougher than that.  I had always bragged about being a "tomboy".  So I gathered myself together and rose from the dead with a bruised face but other than that all intact.   Of course when the guys got home and I related my story to them they could only laugh.  My husband told me to leave the goat care to him but of course I could do anything I set my mind to.