 |
| Goats like to have fun too! |
Last night was another difficult adieu. While I gave the girls a quick bath, someone came and bought the goats before I could dry everyone off and run outside to scratch Alice and Tawny’s fuzzy heads one last time.
I knew it was happening but selling our animals doesn’t seem to be coming any easier. I still feel like I’m betraying their trust as I hand them over to complete strangers for a wad of cash. But, that’s the life of livestock.
Earlier that afternoon, while washing the dishes after lunch, I spotted Tawny and Alice out in the cornfield, gorging themselves on stalks.
 |
| See them way out there? You’d think I never fed them the way they were snarfing down corn stover. |
I sort of grumbled and chuckled simultaneously and thought of how this was a bit like selling Murphy–the stinging hematoma he left on my hand while loading him up surely was confirmation that I’d done the right thing in selling him. Now, those naughty goats, who haven’t escaped in weeks, broke free as a reminder that I shouldn’t try taking them with me.
 |
| Alice’s expression here is a direct reflection of her personality. |
It was a younger couple that loaded the does in their hatchback car. Alice and Tawny will be going to live in their backyard in a suburb of Des Moines where residence are allowed to keep two goats. Even better, they’ll live as lawn mowers and companion animals behind a six foot privacy fence. There’ll be no springing over a fence that high. Plus, it’s always a relief to hear the animal I’m selling isn’t going to be eaten. I’m not naive about where meat comes from but it would be especially hard to say that kind of goodbye.
I did my share of crying, ate a few cookies and have taken comfort in Jack’s promise that we’ll be getting more sheep and goats when we settle down after our move. I know he’s telling the truth, but I’m making him get us a dog too.
