Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Goats

Today I noticed a herd of goats contained in an area alongside the creek which is part of the wildlife refuge area of our local community college. Of course I had to stop to snap a few pictures. They were completely charming and, for the most part, very calm. There was a time when a couple of the smaller ones got frisky, which enticed a few more to follow suit. They ran around, jumping onto and over logs, seemingly for the pure joy of it. Then a couple of the larger ones had a head-butting incident that was over quickly, with no apparent injury or hard feelings. As I was preparing to leave, we were approached by a woman who had arrived to make a daily check on the goats and she asked me if they had been cooperating. She confirmed what I'd heard about goats, that they are very social creatures. As we talked I learned that were 34 goats in all and their job was to graze down the blackberry bushes that choke out the native vegetation and prevent wildlife and people from accessing the creek. Most of the goats belong to the college and are named after important people on campus. They had names like Doug, Ken, Rich and Gary.

This one is Gary...



This one ic KC, a grandma who has no teeth...



And here's the best (only) shot I was able to manage of the head-butting...
And just in case anyone has been wondering, I haven't abandoned my daly photo project, I just managed to get behind in posting to the blog (now THAT'S a surprise!). I'm eternally optimistic, however, and I have high hopes that I will be able to caught up. Until that time, for anyone so inclined, you can just view them here.