The Kindness Of Others

 

 

I wanted to add a quick word about the kindness of others.

 

Yes, I will be totally honest, this blog started with a little dose of anger. I wanted to let people know about the potential danger of this disease and I was not really happy with the situation that I was handed. ..

 

 

Anyway, many asked, so ...where  did Maddie go?

 

 

Well, first, a little bit about Maddie. 

Her plane from Oregon got delayed the first day we had arranged,  so as ill timing goes, I had to pick her up at 11 PM after my grandmother's wake. The pick up was about as "bump free" as middle of the night pick ups can go at the airport. I had to sit and wait while airport employees radioed the cargo area meanwhile Nick had to do circles around the terminal since parking isn't allowed. The airline she was on had no personnel present and it was actually a very helpful man from a different airline that that offered his assistance. After some  waiting Maddie was finally hauled down the hall of baggage claims announcing her presence and dismay with as loud a "MAAAAAHHHHAAAAAA!!!"  as any small little goat cold muster. Nick and I got her home and as exhausted as we were forgot to even latch the gate on Maddie's pen that night. We were lucky the little goat from Oregon decided to stay put that night and we found her that morning happily  munching on "Wisconsin hay" with contentment.

 

..It was a few days after Maddie's pick up that I would learn of Natasha's status. Luckily the little girl was so shy I decided to keep her separate from the adults for a while..( I mentioned this in one of the posts prior)

 

What I wanted to report was, when I took Natasha and Chloe to the vet that day I noticed that there was a man watching while we had out "appointment". During the appointment, the goats were taken out of the crate on at a time, haltered, and then while they sat in the bed of Nick's truck, the vet gave them the injection. It seemed odd to me that there was a guy watching us as we did this. I think he was trying his best to due his duties in the vet clinic's garage but at the same time was very much glued to our dismal situation ..

 

A few days later as I was discussing the situation with my mom she asked, "So what could I do to help you?".. Well, aside from a good prayer, .. I told her, "You could find someone to take Maddie until she is a tad older..just to make sure she doesn't get infected." 

I didn't expect her to find someone.

 

But, as luck would have it she did.

 

 Mom had a friend from church that has a few goats as pets. They were pygmies and about 12-14yrs old. None of them had current testing, but, as a 12-14 yr old pygmy they were in very good health and it was unlikely they would endanger Maddie, or be a danger to them.

 

 Oddly enough, the man that took in Maddie for those few months was actually the man who was watching us put Chloe and Natasha down. (I am keeping his name off the record because he would prefer that) .  He was an employee of the vets office and was sad from watching the whole ordeal with Natasha and Chloe and he was more than willing to help us out.

 

I am sure most goat owners are aware of how the drought affected agriculture this year. Even taking on a small little goat could be an expensive gesture. Well,  I want everyone to know that he didn't ask or accept a shred of payment. I am sure I will find a way to repay him at some point in the future but I want this to be a note to everyone that, yes, the bad in people can come out in goats...but on the converse, there is a serious amount of good too!!!!

 

Looking back, this was not a good situation that I wanted to find myself in, but I can tell everyone that  I think I am better off from it because of people like I mentioned above! It was a good lesson and I hope that this experience will help me, Nick, and my goats for the better in the long run.