Eight Year Anniversary

This week we are celebrating an important eight year anniversary. Eight years ago I decided to pick out my own present for Valentine’s Day. Jason is notorious for failing to give gifts or cards for any occasion, be it Christmas, birthday, anniversary, and especially Valentine’s Day. Thus, in 2009 I decided I was going to get a gift for Valentine’s Day that I really wanted.

In January I went online and started doing my research, and found a quality breeder of registered fainting goats. The breeder had a crop of kids that were a few weeks old that would be ready to go to new homes in mid-February. The timing could not have been more perfect. I looked through dozens of pictures of the kids that were available and after much contemplation I picked out two females and paid my deposit.

Jason made it clear that he didn’t want any more “dependents” or “mouths to feed.” You might have noticed through the years these are a few of his favorite terms. Plus, we already had non-fainting goats. Long time readers of this blog might remember Billy and Bubba (I did not name them, my dad named them), the stray goats that showed up at our farm in 1996 and were with us 16 and 19 years respectively. Jason argued strongly that I should be happy with non-fainting goats. On the other hand, Jason really liked the idea of being off the hook as far as remembering to do anything for Valentine’s Day. If he agreed to the fainting goats he didn’t have to pick out a card, or heaven forbid have to pick out a gift. The no card, no gift allure was powerful, and a few days after Valentine’s Day we made the trip to pick up Mina and Jo.

Before we ever met them in person Jason insisted we name our new fainting goats Wilhelmina and Josephine. I told him I wasn’t calling my goats Wilhelmina and Josephine every day so we settled on Mina and Jo. We put a huge dog crate in the back of my Tahoe and off we went to get Mina and Jo. A few hours later we were on our way home.

As we drove along on the interstate we listened to the constant nervous bleating of Mina and Jo. It was raining that day and a semi-truck went flying past the Tahoe making a lot of noise and splashing water all over our car. Suddenly we heard “thunk, thunk” and the bleating stopped. We had two fainted fainting goats in the back of the Tahoe. I started to cry.

Jason gripped the steering wheel with a death grip and said:

Jason: Why are you crying:

Me: Because the goats fainted

Jason: They are fainting goats, they are supposed to faint

Me: It still makes me sad

Jason: We just spent $500 on fainting goats, they fainted, and you’re crying.

Me: Yes

Jason: Just to clarify, you specifically wanted fainting goats because we already had non-fainting goats, they f*&#@ing fainted because that’s what fainting goats do, and you are crying. his death grip on the steering wheel gets even tighter

Me: Yes

And that was how the first 2 of our three World’s Cutest Fainting Goats came into our lives. Miss Lyle came along two years later. As it turned out Jason adored Mina and Jo and somehow my Valentine’s Day present turned into his babies. He built them teeter totters and other toys for them to play on. He bought them a Winnie the Pooh ball and played soccer with them. He groomed them and fed them treats, they LOVE raisins and Mrs. Pasture’s cookies. He began referring to them as “The Girls,” and to this day they are known as The Girls.

We are now eight years into life with the World’s Cutest Fainting Goats. I can’t imagine the farm without them. Happy Eighth Anniversary to Mina and Jo. Enjoy some of these old pictures of The Girls.

Mina and Jo the day they came home

Mina and Jo on the run as kids

Jason playing with Mina and Jo

Jason playing with the goats on their teeter totter

Jason and Jo

Jason chaperoning Jo and Mina as they played on the wood pile; note The Don, our infamous rooster, behind Jason. Surely everyone remembers The Don?

another picture of Mina and Jo with The Don

One of our most treasured possessions given to us by one of our clients; the World’s Cutest Fainting Goats (along with Jason and one of The Don’s offspring) memorialized forever in a painting.