'Crash'-ing the Party

On Saturday, I was invited to two events: a goat show and a baby shower. I was very excited to attend both, so off I went to the goat show first, held at the New Mexico State Fairgrounds.

It was easy to find the buildings holding the goat show with all the 'Beh-ing and Neh-ing" emanating from within. There were rows and rows of pens filled with goats of all ages, sexes, colors and sizes. And there were goats and their owners lined up along the show arena, too.
The first arena held the Pygmy goats. It was fun to watch these goats and it was also fun meeting some of the owners from local farms and ranches I'd only known of or communicated with online.Then the second arena was for the Nigerian goats, which is where I was going to be camped out with my friend Kat (the gal who sold me my two angoras) from Flying Goat Ranch. And another newer friend, met through Kat, named Deanna. I was excited to meet her for a few reasons, one that she is also a homeschooler and two because we seem to have a few things in common, too. And finally because she had a 6 week old Nigerian wether she wanted me to meet.....

Here's Kat with her gorgeous Nigerian Buck she raised by hand from just 3 days old.
Kat and another one of her gorgeous Nigie goats.I enjoyed watching and listening to the judges discuss each goat's attributes with their owners. It was quite educational and interesting, too.In this arena photo you can see my friend, Deanna (the white shirt in the middle with a brown haired pony-tail).


While the show was moving along, Deanna's hubby took me to the goat pen where the baby Nigie wether was, so I could meet him.(He's the cutie in the center with the white around his middle) Deanna had named him "Crash". During most of my time there watching the show and chatting with many of the nice goat owners and my friend, Kat, I sat and cuddled 'Crash'. He was such a lovebug and actually fell asleep in my lap.
I was surprised by this because Deanna had been telling me that his Mama is not very friendly and he was also very shy. Deanna had been trying to get him on a bottle for me but had the worst time of it until just a couple days prior to the show. But he had finally started taking the bottle and his personality seemed to improve, too.
Isn't he so adorable?! (I was/am smitten, I admit it!)

So, I bought "Crash" before I left the goat show. But I still had to attend the baby shower and I was already running late, so not enough time to race back to the mountains to our ranch and still get to the far SW side of Albuquerque for the baby shower.
So.....have goat, will travel. And we 'CRASH'-ed the party! (Couldn't help it, pun intended! hehe)

Thankfully, my sweet friend, Jenifer was very understanding and didn't mind a goat showing up for her shower and wasn't offended that some of the attention was diverted off of her for a little bit by the cute baby goat in her garage.
And what stories she will be able to tell her baby, when he grows up! I mean, how often does it happen that friends bring you a goat for your baby shower?! She's oohing and ahhing over the gifts I brought for her. Love that! My buddy is due in just a few more weeks. Isn't she beautiful!And this is Jenifer's eldest daughter cuddling with 'Crash'.And here's Jenifer's second eldest daughter, the animal lover, getting in a few snuggles, too. That's her precious little boy to the left, too. HE's finally gonna be a big brother with his new baby brother's arrival. How exciting!
'Crash' seemed to enjoy all the attention, even though it must have been so overwhelming. He's got a very sweet personality.
Oh! And we have since renamed our newest addition to Laughing Orca Ranch. He reminded me so much of a Moon Pie with his chocolate and graham cracker coloring and white marshmallowy center. So, from now on, "Moon Pie" is his name.

Welcome Moon Pie!