Getting Milk

With Lisa better, I left the house every morning to check my snares. One morning, after finding nothing, I climbed up on the rocky mountain face above the grotto to see if I could find some goat signs. It was a long climb, taking much longer than I thought it would, but it paid of. I found both droppings and tracks. I set out some snares to see if I could catch a nanny. A long shot, but I had to try. It took me most of the morning to finish setting the snares and climb back down safely. The deep and slippery snow made it dangerous and time-consuming.

Lisa wasn’t happy. My explanation that I was trying to get some milk for her helped ease her concern. "That's okay, honey. You're right. Our baby needs milk. But be careful. We don't need two of us with broken legs."

Two days later, I made the trek back up the mountain and found that I had snared a billy goat. A nanny lurked nearby and bleated when she saw me. A half-grown kid lay dead nearby. His body was torn apart and both the billy and the nanny had been raked by claws. The bloody tracks of a bobcat surrounded the kill. 

The goats were very skittish and tried to butt me. I managed to lasso the billy’s neck and tied him to a tree while I tended to his wounds. Besides the nasty scratches left by the bobcat, the guy had fought hard enough and long enough that the wire of the snare had worn deep into his upper front leg. At this point, both goats were too tired to fight any more. I led the billy, and naturally, the nanny followed.

The goats' condition made it hard for them on the steep parts of the mountain side going down. Several times, I had to tie the billy to a rock, tree or shrub and go back to carry the nanny down after she balked and bleated. She was very unsure of her steps and was not inclined to slide down by herself beside me. She was very docile in my arms and it seemed obvious to me that both were domestic animals before they had to leave their farm and fend for themselves in the wild. 

When we arrived at the garden enclosure closest to the shop, the gate wouldn’t open because the snow was too deep in front of it. I was able to rip a hole in the fence big enough to let the goats in, and then took a rope to tie the hole shut temporarily. It was 2:30 in the afternoon and Lisa was delirious with fear. She just knew that I had fallen somewhere up on the mountain, was hurt, and couldn’t get back down or call anyone for help. Charlie even screeched and jumped around as though to agree with her. Crazy monkey.

I hugged Lisa and re-assured her that all was well. I told her that I had captured two goats—a billy and a nanny—that would provide us with food and milk… even cheese. She calmed down considerably when she heard that, smiled and gave me a great big hug.

I went back out later that afternoon and dug out the door to that garden enclosure. With lumber that I had salvaged I made a make-shift shed for the goats. I patched up their wounds with tape and ointment and hoped they would heal well.

 I made another mental note to make a box trap next time rather than a snare. I knew they were hungry and one of our storage locations had all kinds of carrots, beets, cabbage and other produce so I brought several bundles out to the goats for them to eat. I also put out fresh water for them and spread some straw to lie on. With the nanny’s baby gone, I was fairly certain that she still had good milk. I gave it a try and she did. It'd been a long time since I tasted milk.