Meet the man.........

Handsome, yes.........but don't be fooled by my good looks!

This is, of course, Vincent Van Goat. There is a story behind his name. Hopefully not one that will get me sued. About 9 months ago, my husband got a little doeling for our daughter. When I asked her what she would name her, she said "I'm gonna call her goat." " You don't want to give her a really cool name like the goat in Baby Einstein, 'Vincent Van Goat'?", says I. " Nope - her name is 'Goat'". "Mmmmkay."

A couple of hours later - "Mommy, I've decided to call her Vanessa Van Goat!" To which I reply, "Now that's a real name for a little girl goat."

Now, being somewhat (okay- totally) inexperienced in all matters caprine, my husband later realized that Vanessa shouldn't be alone - goats are herd animals after all. Next thing you know, one Vincent Van Goat has taken up residence with the adorable Vanessa, and the rest as they say, is history. Things got really amusing when we decided to acquire Vanessa's twin sister only to find out that she already had a name - Twister. So.......her official name is Twister Veronica Van Goat. Things sometimes get a little complicated.

Vincent is an extremely handsome pygmy goat with a somewhat dubious reputation here at the ranch. He is, in a manner of speaking, the caprine version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde, alternately rubbing against me and standing to receive as much attention as I will bestow, then later rearing up on his back legs and charging. This practice of his never has caused that much distress as far as I'm concerned, but the day he learned the dreaded "Hook" was the day I started looking like a leukemia patient. (Don't think the colorful pattern of purple black and blue hasn't raised some eyebrows either!) When he decides that it isn't all going his way, he swings that head around to hook a fairly sharp horn around whatever isn't up to snuff. The rearing and charging act is pretty much all a game but the hooking thing is for keeps.To put it put it succinctly, Vincent is a spoiled brat who wants what he wants when he wants it and he isn't printing out any schedules so it's up to us to guess what's on his mind. Obnoxious buck that he is, I love him every bit as much as I do the others.

And by the way,we give complete and total credit for the name Vincent Van Goat to Julie Aigner -Clark and Baby Einstein. Our daughter started watching Baby Einstein DVD's at a very early age, and even in this day and time in the midst of all the TV/DVD/whatever else bashing, I like to think that it was a good thing for her. Of course, we have the Vincent Van Goat puppet as well as the dragon puppet, some books and several DVD's from Baby Einstein. When my husband (unbeknownst to myself) got Vincent and Vanessa for our daughter, it wasn't even a fragment of an idea in my mind that I would talk about our goats in a blog on the internet someday, but a deep and abiding love for these animals has awakened the desire in me to share what have I have learned from them. So thank you Julie and Baby Einstein for the special names of our goats.