Goats eat everything!

January 18

It is Friday afternoon and we are at the ranch. Our regular day was rained out so today I have a bag of carrots in my purse. That is enough to make me smile. Maybe I should always carry carrots in my purse. I did finally get the stale bread in the car for the geese by the way.

While my older daughter rides "her" horse my little one and I entertain the goats. They remember us from last time and make it clear that the carrots should all be for them. After lots of crunching and some petting we head off to play on the line of bricks laid out in a nice low obstacle course demarcating the path from the barn to the ring. I hold her hand and she walks and kicks up her legs showing me how a ballerina can jump. She has been wearing a sky blue tutu over her clothes for three days now. I'm going to have to sneak it into the wash this evening.

I don't know how it is at your house but we read some books over and over and over  . . .  The top hits in heavy rotation is how I think of them.  One of our current favorites is Duck on a Bike. In this delightful book a group of farm animals all get a chance to ride on bikes after watching Duck go first. On one page the goat tries to eat his bike taking a big bite out of the wicker basket attached to the front. So when we head back into the barn we are very very thrilled to see one of the goats attempting to eat a wooden wheelbarrow!!! His teeth slide and scrape the side as he tries to get a good bite. "LOOK! Goats eat everything!" my little one cries. I couldn't have planned this if I'd tried. It is one thing to read a book about a farm, and I'm all for that, but this is the real deal.