I fought the law...

And the law won!  

This fluorescent yellow note was on our back mudroom door when we came home last Sunday! Farmer J was away from home for less than 24 hours; which is exactly enough time for our kids to get in trouble! And, of course, when I say "kids", I'm referring to Ciaran and Padraig! 

Goats are known to be the great escapists... so much so that we should name our next boy goat Houdini! Well, our goats are no different than any other and they also love their freedom and hate to be penned in! Constantly this one (Ciaran)

And this one (Padraig)

escape and wander near the road!

Like he is doing right now as I type this! Ugh! It's like having FOUR boys to watch! And the human ones listen much better!

Goats are also motivated to escape by their insatiable hunger! So we often find them here!

And here!

But while we were gone...they were found here by the road! 

A lovely sheriff pulled into our drive, noticed no one was home and figured out that the goats got out of their pen from here....

And after he got them back in here

He moved this board here to keep them safely inside!

Farmer J figured this all out from calling the sheriff as soon as we saw the note. He said the sheriff was very kind and we weren't going to get a ticket for runaway goats! We did wonder how he got them back in their pasture!!! Who knows, maybe he was once a farmboy or is a hobby farmer like us.

I think the main reason our goats escape is that they, like all of us, just want love and attention! Goats are almost as loving as a dog! And they cry out for us to come give them a pet or scratch (and likely they want goat treats as well!)

The boys and I went to the zoo today and this guy 

(1/2 Alpine; 1/2 Pygmy) loved my itches much more than the food pellets the kids had to offer! Can you see his closed eyes? He was in a temporary state of "goat heaven"!

My escape from direct "mothering" (I.e., taking some time to write this blog entry) is up as I'm now surrounded by little boys and was just blown up by a pretend bomb! Please don't judge- I swear we have tried to teach them peace, love and kindness :) Signing off; over and out!