Might as well laugh about it...now!

The goats. How we did ever get into the goat business... funny story. Jordon (21) was working as a surveyor last summer and ran across a pygmy goat farm ( after some research on KSL.com). I think he thought to himself- wouldn't a pygmy goat be fun to have, I think I will bring one home.. today!! So he calls me on his way home from work and that night he sets up a little corral for his new goat Gertie. I asked him what his plan was for this new addition and his reply was," I think I will build her a play yard and watch her play". If you could have seen the inside of my mind explode it would have been a shock, however I kept my cool and said with a rather large sigh... OK. I should mention here that Jordon left that very night for a 3 day camp out with the scouts. The next day Jaxon (10) and I went to feed and water and NO GERTIE!! I am sure that you goat experts out there are laughing your heads off because we thought we could corral a goat, yes with pig wire, what else? By now my mind is exploding on the outside, not just the inside!! I call his cute wife (Amanda) and she brings a friend and we search and search and search. I call all the neighbors and leave messages about the missing goat. That evening when I am thinking I will need to make a run to the pygmy goat farm and purchase a replacement before Jordon gets home... we receive a phone call. We have located the goat, so I grab Natti because she happened to be over helping me do string beans, and we run out the door. The goat had wandered into a nearby subdivision, made her way onto someones deck and found a cozy spot under a lawn chair. I thought to myself great, I will just grab her and off we go!!! Again the goat experts are laughing..its OK. Gertie gets spooked and jumps of the deck, that happened to be on the the second floor. The hosting neighbors freaked out and were so concerned about the goat they called the police... OH PLEASE!! I am chasing the goat, on foot, in flip flops, down a busy road.. are you getting the picture? I yell back at Natti and tell her to follow me in the car. I got the goat into the Orchard and thought I was on the home stretch.. OH NO! At this point the cop shows up with Natti.. I didn't know the neighbors called the police I thought Natti had gotten in trouble WITH the police, and wondered if this day could get any better. The goat ended up in the pasture, with the cow, with the sprinklers on, with me running with my flip flops through the sprinklers.... the goat leaves the pasture and heads back up the busy road with the cow who has just jumped the fence now following. The cop takes off after the goat I get the cow back into the pasture and fix the fence, Natti is looking for my cell phone that I lost in the chase and was ordered to call Jordons sweet wife and get her there immediately with a leash... See, goat herders, I am learning. Cop was able to pursue the escapee into a neighbors garage, he rings their bell and orders them to close their garage door immediately. The cop is then able to corner the alleged runaway and gets her into the back of the cop car for a ride back to the orchard. There we reconvene and discuss our options, we decide that a portable dog kennel is the solution, I know my brother who lives in town has one, so I call him to please, please drop what he is doing and bring it to us so we can get Gertie out of the back of the cop car. Thirty minutes later he shows up, the cop by the way was a really good sport as was Natti and Amanda ( whom I am just barely now speaking too, only because she married Jo she has to deal with it), it was still the longest 30 minutes of my life. I was hoping that our adventure wasn't going to end up in the police blotter the next week, as the cop did take down our names and birth dates! Everything ended up OK, Jo got an earful when he got home but nobody could appreciate our suffering and mental anguish but those who experienced it, Natti, myself, Officer Purdue and the few gracious neighbors who I know witnessed but were polite enough not to say anything.