Kiersten's new running partner

Goats. Never had them. Never wanted them. But somehow we ended up with one for roughly 30 minutes.

Kiersten went for a jog on a beautiful January Saturday afternoon and returned home with a pet. A white-eyed, black beauty with one horn who absolutely ADORED her.

Erik and Nate watched her leap the back fence thinking she was on safe ground. Nope. That goat managed to get through the fence and whine at our back door for her to come out.

He'd run around to the front and then appear again at the back. Tyler solicited info on Facebook as to whose goat he might be. No response. I was afraid he was going to start eyeing up my plants and make a meal of them.

That crazy animal followed her all the way home for a mile and a half. If she stopped, he'd stop. When she started running again, he'd trot along right beside her. I think she was a little embarrassed from all the crazy looks and comments she got from people. Only out in the country would your goat become your running partner.

Well her pet had to go home and I wasn't about to run another mile and a half. I'd already run 5 that day. So we attempted the van. And by golly it worked . . . at 20 miles an hour. Several times I would have to get out and coax him along, "Here goat. Keep coming," bleating several times in between. What a spectacle we were. The only thing more unconventional than a goat cantering after a vehicle would have been if it was one of our legendary Lake Point peacocks. As soon as we escorted him back to the area where he latched on to Kiersten, we floored it and left him in the dust to find his way back home.