Buster (the Boxer) and the baby goat

Some of my friends at The Writer's Chatroom are waiting to hear the story of how I came to have a bucket of broken blackboard chunks to write all of their names on for the door prize drawing last Sunday. (They've requested the story for tonight's Open Wednesday chat.) Up for grabs was Dr. Gregory Spencer's Guardian of the Veil. I usually don't read fantasy, but this one is very good.

So ... since I've been driving most of the day, I've decided to borrow from a letter sent to my friend from fifth grade who now lives in Anchorage, AK. This is, of course, only part one. I'll still need to explain how the 3 year-old boy was involved.

An excerpt:

Hi Dave,

It's been awhile. I spent most of April in Louisville helping Raylene and Jeff get moved (with 5 kids--2 of them requiring birthday parties), and then taking care of Jeffrey after he had bone spurs removed from his neck/spine. He's had a rough time of it.

Had an X-ray done before the last trip to L'ville. My doc called just as Jeff and I were leaving the mini-animal farm with a baby pygmy goat, to tell me I now have arthritis in my neck and she was setting up an MRI. The goat and mini-horses were so much fun--until my phone rang.

So we got the goat home and put her in the laundry room, blocking the door with a child gate. We'd stopped to pick up some groceries on the way home. Just as I was balanced with a gallon of milk in each hand and had gotten the storm door opened on the front door, their boxer, named "Buster", lunged at the goat, who cleared the child gate and flew through the open storm door.

Here we were, me with arthritis in my back, hips, and now-neck, and Jeffrey recovering from neck surgery--trying to chase this baby goat through the ravine, across the creek, and over the neighbor's field. We must have been some sight because the neighbor who owns the property we were on came over with his two kids to help us corral the goat in their barn. The dad closed the door and we cornered "Lil Bit" so that Jeff could get hold of her.

It was after we got her back in the house that I remembered I had my cat's harness and leash (I know, this is not normal, but then neither am I--or my cat) in the trunk of my car. It fit the goat perfectly and she was not allowed out of her pen without it from then on. We figured if she got loose again, we'd at least have something to grab at! She is quicker than a bullet.

Daughter--who didn't want the goat--brought her in from the kennel during a thunderstorm a few days later thinking the little goat was lonely and frightened. They now have 2 baby pygmy goats--and I am so happy to be back home!

Don't yet know what's in store for me health-wise. Jeff and I have often laughed and said they should just put both of us on gurneys in the same O.R., open us both up and remove everything that is non-essential to life.

So, I'm back home and have been a lawn-mowing fool. Love the new John Deere! When I'm cutting that grass on my big green machine, I'm on top of the world. Funny, hubby got a big red diesel F-250--and I got a John Deere LA-120 ... Wonder what the shrink assigned to help me with pain issues will think of that ...

Linda