The Captain Jack Show

Captain Jack

It is barely light at seven in the morning. I mentioned Captain Jacks perfume. You've been in a room where someone heavily dosed leaves a scent trail? Jacks' trail is an invisible cloak that radiates around two hundred feet, spherically. Yep. You smell him long before you ever see him. I walk into a scent wall as I turn a corner from the house. Quite literally I do not smell him one second and then his fragrance is a cloud which envelopes all. I make my way out to the chicken coop where the roosters (yes, I discover now, this day, that there are two singing in a dissonant manner) announce daylight. I open the coop door and Jack comes out and immediately begins to sing, calling in his hoarse voice. All of the chickens lived without incident with Jack last night. Phew.

Onward to the goat barn. Tinkerbelle at the door, the first one out, running to the fencing where Jack is pawing at the ground underneath the wiring. The other goats show little interest in Jack. Tinkerbelle is at the fence with Jack who is licking at her through the fencing. Much goat posturing amongst the rest of the herd. Head butting. The herd reunited has its ways of establishing who is who.  Tinkerbelle and Jack are outside of this pecking order, off in their own world. I usher Mocha and FLora into Jacks world, hoping they'll get happy. It might be a while since heat cycles are 18 days apart. Oh dear....

Mocha and Flora

I had spent sometime before releasing the herd with careful placement of cedar posts along the bottom of the fencing in places that looked like someone might be able to crawl underneath. I did not really think this would happen but when Jack got down on his side and put his entire head and shoulders under the fencing in a place where it seemed unlikely he would make it through...with all signs of making it through...I ran around and placed more cedar posts. I also barricaded a gate that only stood four feet high lest Jack jump over and find ways into the other pen.

It might be sweet that Jack and Tinkerbelle have such a strong natural affection for one another. But it is not OK for Tinkerbelle to get pregnant. I find I do not trust the fencing even with all the safety precautions I have put in place. Rutting is a FORCE of nature. I put Tinkerbelle inside the goat barn with ample food and water, barricaded. It is the best I can do. If Jack and Tinkerbelle manage to make something happen....

Every once in a while I long for a life where there is cement everywhere and my shoes never really get dirty. To go out into the world and wear clothing that is cute and not durable. To smell like a woman and not a male goat. To have a latte in a coffee shop with my laptop open and chic people parading through. It is a dream life of ease.

But the out of the every day quality of the wilderness keeps me riveted in place.