Tuesday, August 09, 2005

"I am a simple goat"

What a hoot to find a song with goat lyrics! You see, I'm housesitting in the Oakland hills just across the street from Tilden Park...and there's this herd of goats that they move around Tilden (keeps park service from having to spend money on clipping the grass, I guess). Yesterday and today they were where I normally play catch with Shadow, but since they are surrounded by an electrified fence, Shadow and I have been just playing catch in the street.

I went for a little walk on my own this a.m., and the goats were head-butting each other. This mostly looked like play, and was fascinating to watch. All the boy goats seemed to want to get in on the action and would follow the two around.

I went up there during my lunch to get away from the stress (which is dissipated for now, thank the gods), and I was amazed at the low-level hum that seems to come from the city down below. It's far enough up there that you can't hear the distinct noises, but it's like having a constant white noise.

The work situation, as I mentioned, went okay...and seems okay for now. And I feel like I got a lot of other really tough things done today. It's always amazing how well I feel once I've confronted a fear...it's kind of euphoric and I think it may actually be residual adrenaline.

I am sad to say that I had to get rid of Johann the hedgehog. He was just too big for the blog and was what was causing my sidebar contents to migrate to the bottom of the page. He was lonely and sad there, and I'm sure he will find a fine home on some other blog - okay, I really just deleted the code for him so he technically doesn't exist anymore, but I believe he's still with us in hedgehog spirit.

9 comments:

P'tit-Loup said...

Who sings "I am a simple goat." I just like goats anyway and that is my chinese sing, although some call it the ram. I prefer goat, because it gives you the option to conceive of the goat in male or female terms. Also, goats are immensely smarter than sheep, particularly rams who only think of two things: mating and fighting! Any sheep farmers out there?

Teresa Bowman said...

Isn't "La Bamba" about a goat?

There's a pub near my house with a couple of goats in a pen in the garden. I too have watched them headbutting each other; it looks like they enjoy it. They also enjoy taking it in turns to climb up onto a bale of hay and look haughty. Simple pleasures.

HistoryGeek said...

The title line is from the Goat Song by Adam Sandler. Google it, it's funny.

And don't dis the Ram, that's my sign baby! Aries...mating and fighting sounds about right.

I'm not sure about La Bamba...

LavaLady said...

thank you for making me laugh. Johann is in a better place now...

I LOVE to watch goats at the petting zoo, the sound of them is entrancing to me and I immediately begin to imitate them (I wish I could do it right now, but my office mates might find it a bit strange!).

Flash said...

"okay, I really just deleted the code for him so he technically doesn't exist anymore" -
Spins! And I thought you veggies were different!

Aravis said...

My grandfather has goats. I loved playing with them when I was a kid. My older brother and I would climb into the loft and jump down into this mountain of hay in their pen, but they never seemed to mind.

My grandfather had a funny name for their droppings. He used to call after us "Watch out for the dingleberries!" *G*

HistoryGeek said...

Flash - the sad truth is we veggies are heartless creatures when it comes to virtual pets...I do prefer to think, as LavaLady put it, that Johann is in a better place.

P'tit-Loup said...

Sorry if I have offended any Rams with my ranting, after all what do I know? I am only a kitchen appliance (Libra/Scale)!

Aravis said...

Yes, I'm the goat, being a Capricorn. *G*