meeting the matriarch

Today I moved all the goats out of the South Paddock,

so Tsuga could bring her babies down

and introduce them to the bigger goats, 

through the safety of a fence.

Also, so Tsuga could really run around and kick up her heels.

Which she did.

The babies discovered a rock that,

compared to their rock by the barn, is a massif.

It is a continent.

They were ready for the challenge!

Scrambling up, and leaping off.

Over and over and over.

There was a lot of exploring.

Goats explore mostly with their mouths.

Here is Tsuga,

starting her daughter off on what could be

a lifetime of tree destruction.

Nice job, Tsuga!

(If I want to keep particular trees alive here,

it is up to me to keep the goats well away from them.)

I was keeping as eye on interactions through the fence,

to make sure the big goats wouldn't get too rough.

(A goat smashing its head against a fence,

especially when you are a goat on the other side of that fence,

can be a very scary thing.)

Most of all, I was looking forward to seeing LeShodu,

the Matriarch,

meet her greatgrandkids.

I perched in one doorway of the little raised barn,

so I'd have a bird's-eye view.

(A low-flying bird, but still.)

Betula thought this was a great idea.

He immediately trotted up the ramp and 

joined me at the adjacent door.

That lasted about two minutes.

Then he moved over to share my doorway instead.

Even some of the hens had front-row seats!

Right on cue:

LeShodu walked out from her shady spot under the barn.

Tsuga saw her from across the South Paddock

and ran straight over with her kids.

They all stood at the fence, 

very smart and lovely,

looking through at LeShodu

who was only a few feet away.

Here's what LeShodu did:

She ignored them.

She very deliberately Did Not See Them.

She turned broadside to the fence.

She yawned dramatically.

She looked away from Tsuga and the kids, Very Hard.

Then she walked right back into the shade under the barn.

(Curtain.)

I said, "Betula, did you see that?"

And Betula said quietly -

because he was only a centimeter from my ear -

"My mother has always been...complicated."

Oh, Shodu.

Well, it could have been worse.

The babies didn't seem to feel the snub, by the way...

They scampered off and got busy deciding

how to take down this red maple.

I have no doubt of their eventual success.

~~~~~