The charity collaboration to raise funds for Haiti disaster victims took precedence and my contribution went to this kit called AYITI which is available at Zig Zag Scrap

My contribution:

this only left me enought time to complete a glitter pack and frame pack to match the Denim and Daisies collection.

We have a new little goat. He’s a little cutie. A little bit smaller than Bubbles but they are both the same age. Poppet is a week older than Bubbles. We picked him up today. He lived a little over an hour away from where we live so he had a long car ride.

He was fantastic. He folded himself down in his box and stayed quiet for the whole trip.

Once we were home, I took him to the pen. The dogs rushed him, Bubbles got all boy goat and aggressive and the little tike got scared and ran into the fence.

I sent the dogs away and had some quiet time with the two goats sitting on the wall ledge in their pen. Bubbles got all shy, jumped on the ledge and hid behind me and would peek at Poppet from under my arm. Poppet pretended to eat. Then, Poppet came closer and Bubbles started to nose closer. It was Poppet’s turn to hid behind me and bury his head under my arm.

Once we got settled in the pen, we then went for a walk on the grass to settle under the grazing trees. Here, I took off Poppet’s ear tag and checked his hooves. His ear tag made a bit of a mess of his ear so I cleaned it up. You can see the mess on his ear in the photo. Such a pity that it was done to him.

Poppet was bottle fed and is totally tame. He follows people. Doesn’t even need to be on a lead to go to the grazing trees. He’s such a cutie. Let’s hope we get to keep him since I don’t have a permit to keep him yet.

I applied for a permit to keep a second goat last week. The inspector advised me that before he could apporve it, I had to have the goat. Then, he can inspect the property and poll the neighbours for objections. The whole process takes a month. I would hate it if the permit wasn’t approved.

Fun and fresh kit “Denim and Daisies” at Zig Zag Scrap 20% off until Sunday.

While I was doing the research on goats, I read that by the end of the day, their stomachs are full and will bulge. Sure enough, I guess this is what they meant. As he was stretching to reach the leaves, you can see the bulges. Every now and again, he folds himself up on the ground and starts to chew cud. He does the daintiest little hiccup, hardly noticeable and he chews his cud. He looks like a human chewing gum with their mouths open, chewing with an open mouth, especially gum, is my pet hate. Somehow though, the goat pulls it off in looking cute where humans fail miserably. The other thing that I noticed is that when he chews grass that he has just browsed (which he does with his mouth closed) his teeth squeak. I love watching him, he’s so fascinating.

And, since he’s not allowed to eat the Magnolia tree, he was reprimanded!

He was not happy about that and he had a tantrum. If he can’t climb the tree, pushing it down is the next best option.

If Bubbles can’t have his way, he head butts. He was reprimanded again, this time for head butting.

It’s been a busy month at Zig Zag Scrap with many new releases and guest appearance of the shop at The Daily Digi. This is the store collaboration that was featured in December and will be available at Zig Zag Scrap next week.

And this is my contribution to the collaboration

New this week, Parisian Fancy

I also released the following in December in the Zig Zag Scrap seasonal palette colours:

Glitter Brush Flicks

about you, about me glitter

clipped vintage frames

about you, about me kit

And here are some Christmas goodies. An Elegant Christmas kit is also featured as the theme for the blog.

Here are some matching frames for the kit

Vintage Christmas papers made from genuine vintage Christmas Cards, some dating back to Victorian times

Don’t forget the “Stitch me up for Christmas” stitched page decorations that were released last month.

We’ve had Bubbles for 5 days now and he’s coming along nicely. When the dogs run around him, he doesn’t run off startled and he is confident enough to push them out of the way if they are in his way. He tried it with me too, he used his head to push me out the gate because he wants to go that way. He needs to be taught manner. He has a hard head!

Before, I worried that the dogs might hurt him, now I worry that the goat might hurt the dogs. I’ll see how his horns go and if they need it, we’ll take the tips off.

We’ve had a lot of rain in the last few day and I cleaned him up today. I’m a little worried about hoof rot. I cleaned out his little shed and it’s dry, but while he’s outside, the ground is wet and it’s not drying out. Not with over 80% humidity, nothing is drying. We walk around in the grass and the ground squelches.

We’ve been having about 3 – 4 socialising times a day with us and the dogs and we have little picnics on the lawn except that Bubbles is the only one eating. I took these photos on one of the dryer days.

Lucy is very interested in what he does and she’s the gentlest one with him. Considering that she’s a herding dog, she’s not herding him at all. Jessie appears to herd him. If he strays too far from me, she’ll push him over. I’ve been watching her closely and I’m pretty sure she’s herding him. It looks a little aggressive to me.

I’ve also put them in the yard together and left them there while we were doing some yard work to get them used to being in the same yard together. It went well, but they (Bubbles and the dogs) were more interested in what we were doing.

It was at this time when Bubbles found the dogs were in his way and butted them out of the way. Mainly though, they were together nicely.

Bubbles has also grown. It’s almost as if he grew overnight. I’m sure he’s lots bigger today than what he was yesterday.

Let’s see what tomorrow brings.

We have two very social dogs – Jessie, the german shepherd and Lucy, the border collie. One of the apprehensions we had before Bubbles came home was how our dogs were going to react to a goat. We just didn’t know. The dogs treat the cats gently and defer to them. They are smaller creatures that have sharp claws that cause damage to noses. They sleep together but the dogs aren’t allowed to touch the cats’ food. If a cat is drinking at a water bowl, the dogs defer until it’s finished. The dogs know the difference between our cats and other cats and they chase other cats. But a goat? Don’t know.

We introduced the goat to the dogs with a fence separating them. The dogs were curious. They wanted to smell and sniff. Since we were there, they didn’t see him as a threat or food. Once they had a good sniff, they got excited. The goat reacted differently. It was accustomed to the other dogs, not our two. It sniffed them and was calm but only while they were quiet and still. As soon as the dogs get a little boisterous, Bubbles got defensive with a head down position. He would have been threatening if his horns were full size, but at the moment he is defenceless with his budding horns and just looks cute pretending to be menacing. While researching goats, I did some reading on the horns. They are part of the goat’s skull.

It feels really odd to pat the goat on and around the head. The dogs and cats heads are soft and smooth, they feel fleshy. But the goat doesn’t appear to have the fleshy softness that the dogs and cats have, it’s head is hard and you can’t get your hand over the top because there are horns there. It’s weird and it feels weird to pat an animal that has horns.

There are a few other things that feel weird about the goat. The coat is coarse wiht thicker hair than the dogs’ but still soft. I checked him over to get used to handle him and letting him get used to me handling him. I checked his ears and they are more closed than the dogs. I’m not sure how I’ll clean them. I tried to check his teeth, but he clamped his mouth shut. While I was doing research, I came across some hoof trimming videos and just didn’t get what they were on about, but now that I’ve had a chance to see and feel them, I can see how they work and I’m sure I can look after them.

Bubbles’ first night with us was uneventful for us. I’m sure it was scary for him. We gave him some grain and left him in the shed. He cried for a while and then nothing till morning. he cries every time we leave him.

Today, we all spent some time together on the grass. The idea is to get the goat used to the dogs. He’s still timid with them and of course, as soon as he runs, the dogs chase him which frightens him and he runs. He doesn’t get far because he’s tethered. The dogs just want to play with him. They get into play bow positions with him and start to jump and skip. Silly dogs. Emma joined us on the grass too, but she took one look at the strange goat and turned back.

Last night, I had laid some hay on the shed floor. Today I removed it. He staid in the shed all day and ate hay rather than the grass so it went. We tried him on a few other things. Carrots were not as delicious as they are supposed to be. He likes bread. Lettuce is ok. He had a couple of slices so no pellets for him tonight. He is drawn to the lower branches of trees. The willow must not be good since he had it once and left it alone since. The magnolia tree is good. One of the natives is good. That’s about as much explorations into food that we did today. He loves his pellets though.

I need to do more research on how to teach him things. I need to know how to get him to come when he’s called.

Bubbles is the best and Bubbles is a goat. After weeks of preparations, research and waiting, we finally picked him up today.

We had to make a few preparations for his car trip. We found a container large enough for him to fit in. I didn’t know what to expect and since the car is about a month old, I didn’t want to have to clean something that I could never get rid of the smell.

Anyway, we arrived at the homestead and he was there waiting. When he saw me, he timidly came towards me and had a sniff of my hand and that was about it.

We put him in the container in the back of the car and once the car started to move he just lay down and staid down quietly. The car trip was uneventful. He struggled a little when Peter got him out of the container.

I walked him around a little bit and then we introduced him to the dogs while the dogs were still in their yard. Just for safety, in case they didn’t like each other, they would have a fence between them. The dogs were very curious and just wanted to sniff him and touch noses. Bubbles is used to dogs so he didn’t have much of a problem with the dogs.

We let the dogs out and they just wanted to play with him. That was too much for Bubbles. He hid behind me and every time the dogs got too close for him or became too boisterous, Bubbles just came and stood near me or hid behind me.

Then, it was time to get him accustomed to the dog’s yard. We fenced a small area to contain the dogs in the daytime while we are at work and to keep them safe. Bubbles will be confined there with them. Our property isn’t fully fenced and the yard will keep Bubbles safe from predators that might wander in on our property. They can also keep each other company.

We sent the dogs to their mats on the patio and we left Bubbles in the yard. He cried. It broke my heart to listen to him. He stopped after a while and just grazed but every time I went there and then left him he cried. So sad. I had an idea that would happen and that was another reason we’re confining him with the dogs. Once he has the dogs for company he’ll be fine.

Nobody should see Santa naked. Nobody! It should not happen. Ever.

He wasn’t exactly naked, but he wasn’t wearing a shirt or singlet. Not even his beard. Only his shorts. Unheard of.

I work in a shopping center and the vacant office down the hall is vacant and is currently being used as a dressing room by our visiting Santa. He is as jolly and as real as any Santa but only in his red suit. His “ho ho ho” can be heard at various times during the day and he always ready with his laughter. Tonight, he emerged from his dressing room as I walked past the dressing room as I was leaving to go home. No shirt, no singlet, no beard, no red suit and no ho ho hos. Santa is a mere mortal after all.

Here is a new set of stitches to decorate your pages. On special at 20% off until Sunday at Zig Zag Scrap