Famous last words

It was probably my fault, as we got into Rene after work tonight and settled in the comfy leather seats I happened to comment as I turned the key and started the engine something like "You know this is the first time we have started a week off without having a big job or emergency to deal with."

As Rene nosed his way into traffic Tracey and I planned the week ahead, reflected on a good day at work where we had met a good friend who had treated us to lunch, managed to get all the jobs done so we wouldn't be worried about problems at work, all was good in our world yet again. Better still the sun was shining and although this was the last time we would be driving home in the daylight til next year our spirits were high and we looked forward to shutting the gate at the bottom of our drive and concentrating on our small farm for the next nine days.

Once home I got on with sawing wood, I can manage this by kneeling on it as my arm still wont allow me to put any real weight on it, not weight enough to stop branches moving while I saw anyway. The magnificent seven raced around, Apollo was mooching through the fallen leaves munching the odd tasty one and Maggie stood and chewed thoughtfully while watching me. After a short time I did begin to wonder where Geisha was, now goats are fairly independent creatures but they are herd animals and half the herd was with me. I carried on sawing and carried in the logs, checked in with Tracey who was tidying up after me in the house and I returned to the stables to begin the mucking out.

Apollo had decided to try and get in the garden through the back gate, as I diverted the foal from entering the forbidden zone I could see Maggie had by now abandoned the newly sawn log pile and was half way up the cliff. Again. A plaintive bleat alerted me to Geisha's plight. As you can see from the picture she was in real trouble. Now you might think it heartless that I stopped to picture the stranded animal, what you cannot see in the picture is how torn up the ground was in front of her from her struggles and how high up she was at the edge of a drop. Prone to falling myself I wasn't going to approach the distressed goat without backup so took this picture as I waited for Tracey to get to us.

Geisha has a huge appetite and what seems to have happened is that she saw me feed the lambs this morning and decided to attempt to jump the stock fence at the base of the cliff. Somehow her hoof got entangled and trapped between the top barbed wire strand and the top square of the stock netting. Stuck fast she had struggled and fallen over the edge hanging for a while by her hoof. Eventually she must have made it back onto the "level" part and was waiting utterly exhausted for us to free her. It took seconds to cut the wire but carrying her down the steep muddy bank was an exercise in patience and teamwork. Luckily Tracey and I work well together and in a few minutes Geisha was wrapped up warmly in Trevor's stable and instantly eating anything on offer. It did get quite emotional at one point for all concerned, especially as we had flashbacks to losing our prize Anglo Nubian milk goat Fuchsia last year who died very suddenly. Her final moments were made as comfortable as possible lying on a bed of hay with her head in my lap. Her last goodbye was to vomit into my lap as she exhaled for the last time.

Geisha seems to be OK despite her ordeal, she is cold but has not stopped eating since she was moved to the stable. Her hip doesn't seem to have dislocated like we first thought, she is incredibly tired and in obvious shock but she looks like she will recover.

Back in Rock HQ we had a stiff drink, some old Christmas sherry, well any port in a storm and its better than our home brew which is impossible to drink even when desperate laced with lemonade and spoonfuls of sugar. Tracey reminded me what I had said earlier. I shall have to be more careful with my choice of words in future!