Dear Friends,

Right now, we have a thick, thick frosty fog covering the whole place, with more snow coming....I really think I have seen enough! I do love it though. It makes for an interesting time feeding the poultry and the goats.

Speaking of goats...I have a funny one for you! "Mocha" , (for those of you who don't know, who is a 2 year old doe, and the love of my herd...) well, she was in heat yesterday. All day, she stood at the fence and "Baaaa-ed" her head off. She was fine if I was out there with her, but, I couldn't stay out there but for a few minutes at a time. (I had just came back from the Chiro and I couldn't get too cold, or my back would give out again). Around noon, I was laying on the couch (on a heating pad) and reading a book (dozing!) and I heard sirens; close by! The thought occured to me that they were awfully close, but, I really didn't care! Well, Sheila (steves dog) was outside barking her head off. and barking, and barking.....so, I finally crawled off the couch and looked out the window and there stood two county sheriffs in the yard by the goat pen....and they were Laughing!!! more sheriffs were pulling up at this time...so, I slipped on my boots and walked out there......seems that a neighbor (the one that lives about 5 acres from us, who lives in a "fortified" house...lots of fences, alarms, dogs, etc) heard a man hollering for help! So, he called the sheriffs office, saying that he "heard this man calling for help all morning...and he was hoarse sounding...maybe he was stuck under a car or something" (actual words of this man!) So, here the sheriffs run a code 3 out to McCanna Estates (thats us) and start prowling the neighbor hood with their windows down, listening for this cry for help. They narrowed it down to our place. We have a 20 foot stock trailer and a 24 foot pontoon boat in the front yard, and they heard this "sound" from this area....figured there really was a man stuck under something!! Well, behind these boats and trailers is the goat yard........figured it out??!! Yup, they spot the goats, and Mocha lets out one of her bellows and they just about died with laughter!!! As I was standing there, explaining the bellow....you know, sexually frustrated goat, needs buck desperately!!......one of the officers was speaking into his walky talky relating it back to the office.....oh my.....they were all laughing and joking and asked the name of the "goat" and they wrote this FUNNY report!! It was great!!

Well, just so happens that, Steve and I are friends with the Chief of the Sheriffs office, whose name is Sam, and Sam's wife, Brenda, works with Steve in his office....well, this morning, Steve got a HUGE ribbing from Brenda, about his horny goats!!! Steve is not use to this sort of stuff, or playing and he was slightly embarrassed !!! I think it is hysterical myself! Steve thinks it is funny too, but, he just has never had this sort of things happen to him.....I told him, welcome to a farm!!

Needless to say, I took Mocha and one other doe to the breeders after the sheriffs "party" left...peace and quiet around here until July! Love to you all, Sissy.

-- sissy sylvester-barth (jerreleene@hotmail.com), January 23, 2001

Answers

Wow! That is funny. Thanks for the best laugh we'll have today!

-- mary, texas (marylgarcia@aol.com), January 23, 2001.

That was toooooo funny. Thanks for sharing.

Bernice

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), January 23, 2001.

Thanks! I needed that laugh BAAAAAAAAAAdly!

-- Nan (davidl41@ipa.net), January 23, 2001.

That was funny! But I do have sympathy for your neighbor, mistaking animal sounds for human. I mistook human sounds for animal! Two summers ago, I was sitting in my back yard, and heard what I thought was a cat meowing in distress. I thought it COULD be kids playing, but just didn't sound right, so I grabbed a thick towel to wrap up the distressed cat, and set off up the hill to find it. A block and a half from my home, I realized it was a WOMAN yelling for help. I ran down her drive and couldn't find her, though her car was sitting there. She WAS under the car. She tried to jump into it as it was starting to roll away, fell, and became pinned between the car and her garage block wall!

Long story shortened, another neighbor showed up right after I did, and between us, we got the car wheels blocked (so it couldn't roll anymore) and called 911. She was only pinched and bruised a bit once she was rescued. She had been hollering for at least 10 minutes before I showed up, and none of her close neighbors heard a thing! The other neighbor who came had just come home from work and happened to hear the trapped woman calling. I plan to always investigate!

-- Joy Froelich (dragnfly@chorus.net), January 23, 2001.

Good Story! Mine scream all day too and drive the buck nuts.

2 summers ago we heard what we thought for sure was a child screaming in the woods just below the porch. I took off down the hill and Steve was following with the gun. It sounded just like a little kid screaming over and over. As we got close, a doe came running out, then a coyote. The coyote saw us and took off. Steve fired the gun, and then the baby fawn came out of the woods where the screaming was comming from. It was ok. It shook us up, that fawns screaming sounded horrible! We haven't seen a coyote that close since.

-- Cindy in Ky (solidrockranch@msn.com), January 23, 2001.

Sissy, If I were you, I'd be sorely tempted to ask your friend Sam Chief of the Sheriffs office, for a copy of the Police Report -- and FRAME IT! That is priceless....

-- Marsha (CaprisMaa@aol.com), January 24, 2001.

Oh, definitely get a copy of that police report!

When my city-slicker Aunt Gloria came to visit the first time, she couldn't find the place. Since it was well after dark by the time she got here and she'd already looked for an hour and a half, she decided to park by the side of the road and sleep 'til morning when the local store would be open and she could call us. When she finally got here, we found out that where she had spent the night was about 2,000 feet from our house across the fence! She said, "I need to take a nap! I was up late last night trying to find you all and again early this morning because I kept hearing a woman scream for help! I tried to find her, but couldn't. She just kept on hollering!" Just then, one of our peacocks let out a yell. The look on her face when she came face to face with that "screaming woman" was priceless! She had called the police, so we called them back to let them know all was well. LOL!

-- Wingnut (wingnut@moment.net), January 26, 2001.

Thanks for the laugh!! Sometimes I get mixed with sounds like your neighbor!

-- Jillian Sergel (oakridge@northnet.org), January 28, 2001.