Will You Goat to Homecoming With Me?

Braeburn's homecoming dance saga has become the stuff of local legends. So here is the story for posterity.

Being on a farm and having access to animals really increases creative options. Braeburn slipped over to Katie's house when he knew she would be busy. (Golden Delicious was at a party over there - she was our secret agent...)

Quickly, he and the spy twins unloaded the goat tote from the back of the truck onto her front lawn, tucked one of our yearling goats inside the tote, and stuck the sign (which was on an old real estate sign) into the ground and left. Successful operation in under 60 seconds. They trusted the maaahing goat to alert the party.

Golden Delicious came home and said, yes, the invitation was received. Then they just had to wait til later to go secretly retrieve the goat.

At about midnight Mr. Bechtel and the spy twins thought they'd just run over quick and get the goat. Unfortunately, the goat escaped while loading... Not being with the herd, she didn't stick around but shot across the cul-de-sac into the neighbors yard.

The boys tried to find her. They even came home and got the mother goat loaded up so she could call to her baby. No luck. Imagine sitting in a dark cul-de-sac in the middle of the night with a goat calling in the back. They finally gave up the chase when people's alarms and motion lights started going off as the boys slipped from one back yard to the next.

The next morning was sunday and Braeburn and the Spy Twins were back on the search bright and early. I was worried thinking dogs had certainly eaten her as she tried to find her way home. Poor thing. After they left I got a call from other neighbors asking if we'd lost a goat. Yes! Their kids were out chasing it but couldn't catch it. I called Mr. Bechtel and they chased the goat through fields, backyards, horse pastures, and finally to another house. The poor goat was exhausted and jumped into a window well where Mr. Bechtel caught it. Miraculously the goat was perfectly fine.

At church Braeburn was cornered by several people either laughing or wondering if "he was that boy in the blue truck who kept them awake all night..."

So, all's well that ends well. Katie responded with goat cheese and crackers saying, "thank you for cheesing me. Of course I'll go."

I think they had a great time. We do think Golden Delicious should train her goats to endure these things nobly and without running away, though.