Today was actually our second winter goat walk. The first one took place last Saturday, in the middle of a snowstorm that was supposed to amount to a few inches of accumulation, and ended up coming down a few inches an hour at times. On that beautiful day, and it really was beautiful despite how much I generally hate snow, Rich and I met Petal the goat face-to-face for the first time. It happened to be feeding time for the goat and horses when we wandered by, and her owner, Leona, appeared with some buckets of water. Our enthusiasm for the goat was obvious, and she was happy to let us into the goat’s pen to pet the funny little creature. We soon learned that Petal is fourteen years old, is supposed to be a pygmy goat but has grown bigger than expected, and loves Ritz crackers and cookies (perhaps the reason for her large size?! ) That day Petal popped her head out of her hut to nuzzle and lick us, but she refused to emerge entirely. We learned from Leona that Petal hates rain and snow and insists on staying “indoors” during bad weather.

Leona was extremely friendly and invited us into her beautiful log cabin house set back into the woods. She showed us her eight foot tall Christmas tree adorned with birds, and we met her husband and their lazy dog, and chatted for a few minutes. We enjoyed the chance to warm up! As we talked, the snow came heavier and heavier, and we departed. We had a slippery walk back down the “gulch” and up the other side.

Today’s weather was brilliantly sunny, and warm enough. The dirt roads were still ice-covered in spots, but the mud was beginning to form in isolated tracks. The three donkeys stared silently at us, as always, watching carefully as we passed through the gulch. A flock of eastern bluebirds hopped and flitted along just ahead of us as we neared Petal’s pen. We brought along a bag of baby carrots just slightly past their prime, and with a few well-placed tosses Rich coaxed Petal out of her hut.

She was cautious at first, but once she got a sniff of the carrot closest to her she bolted from the hut and came begging to us at the fence. One taste of a carrot and she couldn’t get enough! She was sucking up three at a time and mashing them with her little teeth. Occasionally one would pop back out.

It was getting to be our lunch time too, and we had run out of carrots. We had to leave, but Petal desperately wanted us to stay! She bleated once, twice … then louder as we walked away, then she climbed up on her boulder to see the last of us as we headed down the hill, bleating even louder.