Goat-Lover's Paradise

THIS GOAT, THOUGH! We had to pull over when we saw these buddies down the road from our house. They in a wooded field beside a little gray house, along with a bunch of chickens, pheasants and a couple of donkeys. The little gray house has been around as long as I can remember, but I'm pretty sure it has new owners. Somebody's been clearing the land and installing fences. We've never seen animals here before now.

We noticed chickens jumping in and out of the house's open window. Archer asked whether the animals live with a family of people or if they actually own the house themselves and live there together like a storybook animal family, sort of like in Mark Teague's Funny Farm or The Three Little Pigs and the Somewhat Bad Wolf. I suggested that perhaps some people-farmers live in another house nearby, but Archer said, "Probably not."

I told Archie to grab this feather for his collection, and then Pete said it might give him bird flu so we just took a picture and left it in the road. Can you really get bird flu from a happy little pheasant feather? Seems unlikely to me, but we're still negotiating Country Safety Rules. Also wondering how dangerous it would be to lean over the fence and give a goat a hug.