Part deux

Sadie was miserable. And vicariously so were we, and I think it is safe to assume so were the neighbors. Craigslist offered little hope. I was grasping at straws and even considering useless fainting goats. "Fainting goats?" You may have found yourself questionably repeating aloud. Yes. There are goats that have a Myotonic condition that causes them, when over excited, to appear to have fainted. They just fall over like a ton of bricks. And who says God doesn't have a sense of humor? At any rate, this is how desperate to find Sadie a buddy for the holidays I had become.

I was hours outta my zip code into the search. Scouring every abandoned and forgotten nook and cranny Craigslist had to offer. Until finally. I came upon a picture of an adorable tan and white Nigerian. Albeit she was an hour and a half away, and it was Christmas Eve as previously mentioned. I decided to try the number listed on the off chance someone would actually answer. Low and behold he did!

"Chuck" the ole,boy on the other end of the line said that he had just sold his last doelings (technical jargon meaning baby girl goats), but that he DID have 2 "exposed" ( technical jargon for pregnant) does that he would consider parting with. I was thrilled! Sweet baby Jesus on the eve of His birth had seen fit to intervene on Sadie's behalf which saved us all (over again)! Then "Chuck" smacked me with the "catch". This would have to be a package deal.

You see, these does we're "twins" and just simply could not be separated. He made it clear that he was in no rush to let them go, no skin off his teeth either way, and that the price on Craigslist would be times 2. Insert heavy sigh here. We had just shelled out a small fortune on building the pen, the essentials and of course Sadie herself. Not to mention the chickens, their coop and all that entails. Oh, and of course the entire rest of CHRISTMAS. I had led my poor and amazingly supportive husband blindly down the path this far, I was having a hard time justifying, much less "selling the dream" of this sudden added expense. I thanked "Chuck" for his time. Wished him a merry Christmas and hung up the phone. 2 more pregnant goats? As I was mulling it over, as if adding her own two cents, just to make sure we hadn't forgotton, Sadie screamed. Ok. I would run it by my husband.

Say what you will about that man. But he has a huge heart. When we first moved in he had found a field mouse living in our shed. He lifted up the shelving unit that she had found solace inside and discovered that she wasn't alone. A freshly birthed litter of baby mice rested warmly under her body. It was quite cold out, (yes, it does that even in Floirda sometimes). He came in the house to tell me about his find and then swore me to secrecy. He didn't have the heart to evict the little family. And instead, had placed a bit of bread in there near the nesting new mommy. Sorry babe. You had to be "outed"on this one for the greater good. When I told him about my findings and the conversation with Chuck, he didn't hesitate to say, "Ok, when are we picking them up?" I LOVE this man!

I called Chuck back and informed him that we would be taking his goats. His response was, "you haven't even seen em' yet?" He apparently didn't quite grasp the intensity of this dire situation. Regardless, he agreed that we could come and pick them up in the evening on Christmas Day! Which meant only one more loud and lonesome night for our Sadie girl.

As our Christmas celebration wound down, we geared up for the drive to secure the twins. For those of you who ever doubted what you can actually fit into a Mazda 6, let me just tell you that I have continually tested the boundaries and pushed the limits. We once had 6 bales of hay, myself and my son in that sucker. True story. Today it was being used to ferry goats. We happily paid Chuck his steep "ransom" that we watched as he counted dollar for dollar in front of us reminding us once again, just EXACTLY what this was costing, then we loaded the "girls" into the back of the car with my son in the middle and set out for home.

I really wish I had a picture other than the one burned in my mind, of the twins, sat on either side of the floor boards of the car, nose to nose shaking. In that moment I knew we had made the right decision, and as pricy as it was, so had Chuck, in not to separate them. Upon arriving home, it was already dark and so Sadie has settled in for the night. Getting the girls into the car we had had extra hands, getting them out, we were solo and they knew it. We ended up carrying in our arms 2 very pregnant and very stubborn dwarf goats (the bonus of that being we got to smell their "cheeses-ness" yummmm). And we presented Sadie with the best Christmas gift she'd ever had. A herd.