Beulah’s Big Morning Out

I’ve often heard that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different outcome.  Well, if that’s the case, then last Thursday, I was clearly insane!
Let me start at the beginning.
We were happily working on our morning chores last Thursday.  I milked both goats, but when it was Beulah’s turn, she wasn’t standing there trying to rush the gate like she usually does.  I took off looking for her, sometimes if she’s grazing behind the dam, I can’t see her, so I walked that direction looking for her and checking fences for any spots she could have gotten out.  The fence looked pretty good, but I saw a spot where she *might* have squeezed under the barbed wire.  I took off walking through that neighbor’s pasture looking for her among his cattle.  I was on top of his big hill, trying to get a good view when I heard the girls yelling for me.  I couldn’t really hear them, but I gathered that they had found the missing cow.  I took off running back to the house.
When I was about half way back, I realized that the reason they had been yelling so loud was that Beulah was in the front yard with no fence between her and the road.

Have I ever mentioned that Muck boots were NOT designed for sprinting?
Have I mentioned that I was NOT designed for sprinting?

Anyway, she was actually happily munching grass and weeds, and had no desire to go back into the pasture, but we were able to get her to the milk room and get her morning milking out of the way.  I knew I needed to fix the fence where she had gotten out, but I also really needed to strain the milk.  The goat milk in particular had been sitting out longer than I wanted already, so I gave Beulah an extra large armload of hay, and I headed inside to strain the milk.

I was keeping an eye on her through the back door, but every time I looked, she was just happily munching her hay.  Well, toward the end of straining, I look up, and of course Beulah was nowhere to be found.  She was back in the front yard munching on the weeds she hadn’t been able to finish before.  By this time, it was raining and had gotten cold.  Of course I didn’t have a jacket on.

I tried to coax her back into the pasture the way she came out, but she was not having it.  I finally managed to wrangle her to the back yard, and  had planned to tie her up in the pasture when I got her back in so I could fix the fence.  Well, when we opened the gate, 2 goats rushed past us and into the yard.  In the confusion, I dropped Beulah’s rope and she took off at a full trot.

 Yep.  Before I could catch her, she was in the front yard for the third time that day.  You can probably imagine my frustration.

Once again, I led her to the back yard so that she would at least be in a fence and away from cars.

This time, I just let her munch grass around the propane tank and sand box while I made dang sure she couldn’t get out again!

The spot she was stepping over is in a place where there used to be a gate, so it was a perfect fit for a corral panel, which I pushed-pulled-carried-dragged-cussed across the yard and tied into place.

Beulah went back in the pasture, and I went inside, wrapped up in my lovely warm towel Erica had brought out for me and changed out of my wet clothes.  I’m a warm-natured person, but I was chilled through, so I spent the afternoon under the covers drinking coffee and trying to recover.  During the ordeal, I managed to pull something in my back, so I was sore for a few days, but Beulah has stayed where she belongs for a full week now, and I will count that as a victory!

Happy Thursday Everyone!