Baby, It Ain't Cold Outside...

It was 103 in Seattle today and they broke the record for the all time highest temperature ever in Seattle. In light of that, I thought you might enjoy a picture of moi in the snow.

Ommmmmmmm.....

Hey, a goat can dream can't she?

Over The Rainbow

I'm melting...meeeelting.... OY, what a world, what a world.........

Some Like It Hot

Some do, but I don't. That's it. I just DON'T. You see, they have issued a special weather statement warning that this weekend and beyond it is supposed to soar into the 85 to 95 degree range. Not only that, but it is supposed to last for several days. That just never happens. Now this might not seem very hot to some of you, but I can assure you that around here we see it as akin to the Mojave.

Just so you know, I have asked for one of those plastic pools. Normally I don't like getting wet, but it seems like just the ticket for our predicted heat wave. I do need to figure out how to keep Boo out of it though. I can picture it now...Boo stepping in and all the water stepping decidedly OUT. I think it would be much like trying to put a big fat tennis ball in a Dixie cup.

Anyway, if we did get a pool, maybe I could become a surfer babe. I think I could ride the waves. After all, I do have aerodynamically superior ears. It'd be a breeze. On the other hand, now that I think about it, maybe the whole pool/surfer thing isn't such a good idea. I can see as how it might make for some soggy Peanuts. Certainly that would never do since the crunch is such an integral part of the whole Peanut experience. Well, like I'll just have to let you know how it all turns out. Like hang hoof and Oy, duuude.

The Case of the Caprines' Quantum Conveyance

It has been a long, dry spell around here with no mysteries to be had. That is until now. Goatzooks! Make haste, Watson, my good man! Another mystery is afoot!!!

At any rate, you may recall last February when we reported the Tale of Teleportation. Just in case you have forgotten, you can refresh your memory here. Anyway, at that time it was found that during the night Ella and Watson had mysteriously changed places. No one would admit to anything, and sadly the mystery was never solved. It remains a cold case.

However, this time when the goatmother came out in the morning, all five of us were on the 'boys' side of the barn and both gates between the two sides, just as before, were latched. To make matters even more mysterious, however, an extra latch had been placed on the gate to prevent it being inadvertently (or, in the case of Ella, in-your-face on purpose) butted open. The extra latch was also still in place. ( Doo, doo, doo-doo, Doo, doo, doo-doo, Doo, doo, doo-doo... you are entering another 'dimentian'....) And, the really strange part is that none of us, not one, remembers ever moving. Now how is that even possible???

Despite our apparent lapse of cognition, I, Marigold Holmes and my trusty comrade-in-arms, J. Hamish Watson, set about trying to solve the mindboggler. After a great deal of careful scrutiny, amazing analysis, inscrutable inspection and flat out undeniably astonishing skill, my dear Watson and I arrived at a most surprising conclusion.

No, my friends, no aliens were involved. The culprit to which our mysterious conveyance was attributed was ...what we have ... in the barn... is none other than ... are you ready for this??? ... a Poltergoat. Yes, my friends, there really can be no other explanation. Poltergoats are usually associated with an individual. This individual is typically in some kind of emotional turmoil or emanates some sort of destructive energy. Did I say destructive? In that case, who else could be responsible? Of course, it has to be Ella.

We are not sure what we are going to do about it. Maybe nothing. After all, Ella isn't about to change her nature anytime soon, which means I suppose we'll all have to be extra vigilant during the night. Maybe we'll even give the Poltergoat a name - something like HITler...or maybe Buttler. At any rate, I think I'm going to hang out next to Boo from now on. If ever there was an anchor it has to be her. In the meantime, if any of the rest of us sees or feels anything strange happening, I can only say, keep your wits about you, your hooves on the ground, and heed this advice: "Now clear your minds. It knows what scares you. It has from the very beginning. Don't give it any help, it knows too much already." Tangina, 'Poltergeist', 1982. And above all, DO NOT GO INTO THE LIGHT, whatever you do! They may not have Peanuts over there.

I'm Baaaa-ack!

Well, here I am again. Finally. Actually, I am so far behind that I am ahead, but there has just been so much eating to do that I just haven't had a moment to spare. Take, for example, the scene you see above. Now there is an advantage to living in a place that tends to have the occasional high wind in which the trees seemingly battle to stay upright. It means that trees often lose and fall down...and that means we get to eat the spoils of war.

Now, as you can see, everyone gets in on the act. There are a couple of significant points I would like to make about the above picture. First of all, please note that the goatmother DID NOT take the time to capture my best side. In fact, I think she did this on purpose, but that is beside the point. The other thing I would like you to note is that the U.S.S. Boo actually can get at least part of herself off the ground if the reward is significant enough. This actually has not gone to her advantage since the goatmother now realizes she actually can get up on that stand to have her hooves trimmed.

Oh, well. That's life. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made.

Worth Waiting For

Oh, my goat! What is this??? Looks yummy...uhhh...beautiful, don't you think? So what is it, you ask? Well, this is a picture of the goatmother's Epiphyllum. You see, as I have said before, the goatmother views herself as somewhat of a 'gardener'. Now, this doesn't mean she is all that good at it really, but she tries very hard and that has to count for something ... I guess.

Anyway, as you may or may not know, the goatmother used to live in California (waaaay too hot for me) and moved here 5 years ago. This was in her pre-goat era. Now when she resided in California, one thing she always liked to do was go to the annual cactus show in a place called San Juan Bautista. So some 7 years ago, or so, she purchased one little limb of an Epiphyllum (or Orchid Cactus) and decided to bring it to Washington with her even though it had never bloomed (hope springs eternal and all that...).

Just in case you were wondering (you were, weren't you???) Epiphyllums in the wild live in the branches of trees. To me this sort of makes them like birds, or monkeys. Why don't they call them Bird Cactus or Monkey Cactus? At any rate, Epiphyllums don't really like the sun and they sure don't like a lot of rain. ( Uh, oh. Doesn't sound like a Washington sort of plant to me, but then what do I know?) With that in mind, the goatmother hung it out under the eave of the 'doggie' house nee potting shed in the summer, and put it inside the potting shed in the winter under fluorescent lights. One might wonder why she didn't bring it inside the house, but it turns out that Epiphyllums must have cold in order to bloom (again with the hope springing eternal thing ...).

So the Epiphyllum grew from a sprig to a many-branched sprig, but still it had no blooms. Then the goatmother read that the thing to do was not to water it in the winter. At all. Whoa. Harsh. This was an extremely hard idea for the goatmother to consider, but she gave it a try. Amazingly, last year, in the spring, the annoyingly-unadorned managed to put out two small buds. The goatmother, being the goatmother, thought, 'Oh! I must give it some water!'... at which point the buds promptly fell off. Oy. Way to go Mother Teresa.

So this year, the goatmother stepped on her compassion and DID NOT water the Epiphyllum. It set on two buds and still she persevered. 'Oy', she thought, 'this plant has not had any water since October.' But she held her hand and waited...and waited...and waited... The buds grew larger and every day the goatmother would go to the potting shed and think...'any day now, any day now'. Then last night, the goatmother went out to the potting shed and lo and behold the eagle had landed! And as you can see, it was very well worth the wait.


And just so you can see how large this bloom actually is, below is a shot with the whole plant.

I, myself, like to think that it finally opened in honor of my dear friend, Baby Belle. "Do not watch the petals fall from the rose with sadness, know that, like life, things sometimes must fade, before they can bloom again."