One goat is off browsing
Tuesday, 9 September 2025
Species identification quiz: you can see four goats and one sheep. One (small) goat is in the right foreground, and blends with the surroundings. Sheepie is the larger beast near the back.
Musings
It takes a (goat) village
Monday, 8 September 2025
The gang sure likes to eat this bush. Whatever it is, it’s a volunteer, and scraggly, and I don’t care about it. Today I saw how they’re eating so high up. The medium brown billy with his back to us gets up on his hind legs and brings a branch down, and the pair of smaller goats starts munching on the now low branch. Then, the billy carefully adjusts his hold so he can munch, too.
Goats and water
Saturday, 6 September 2025
The goats’ real owner came and gave them fresh water this morning.
The troops were happy to see him, even following him when he went back to turn off the spigot.
Goats can go a while on the water they get from the vegetation they eat, so. they don’t drink all that much, but they’re not quite facultative drinkers, like gazelles, which can go much longer. Yet, they don’t drink as often as obligate drinkers, who depend on surface water to stay hydrated. Just some jargon for you, and a bit of info pastoralists have to know.
Neighborhood news
Friday, 5 September 2025
We made a pre-10am run to Trader José’s while it was relatively calm, before the squadrons of desperate shoppers hit the doors mid-day, then continue in rotation until Monday morning (in our experience, anyway). We discovered that plenty of exercisers visited in the same temporal window…lots of stretchy outfits, etc.
Another goat picture: busy troops.
Bewitched by precip
Wednesday, 3 September 2025
So, I stepped out onto the balcony late this morning to do a goat-check, even though they’re ranging where I can’t see them (this is a good thing with regard to their goal of vegetation clearing). I indeed couldn’t spot them, but I got to hear a light rain begin. That’s rather a magical moment, when it goes from not raining to raining.
Goats n knots
Tuesday, 2 September 2025
Welcome to goat world. Note that the last few days the goats have done a bit of excavation.
Also, I read an academic article on knots, as a global cross-cultural technology, presented with more detail than I would have believed possible.
