It all began innocently enough, we were on the road
to Christie Lake in 1978 and passed by a field with many goats, some very
young, so we stopped to look.
We learned that while there was a veterinary in town,
where we took Corky when needed, this farmhouse held another veterinary. As
well as his animal veterinary practice, he raised goats. When we saw someone
working with the ones in the field, I asked if they ever ‘rented’ one out for
the summer. The man we saw working happened to be the vet himself. He was a bit
of an oddball; he laughed and said, ‘Never have, but willing to give it a try!’
Mr. Potter, July 1978
He told me that we’d need to ‘rent’ a billy goat,
and a young one, less than six months old because after that age, they began to
‘smell’ and no one wanted them then!
There was little discussion as all the kids wanted
to take one home. I discussed price with the vet ($25 and when goat was
returned at the end of summer, he’d return $25 if the goat was in good
condition). I asked about feeding and he replied that he had one about ready in
two or three days to go off the bottle and told us to buy a bag of ‘feed’ in
town at the food store, and to feed him so much per day.
Thus, we left him, saying we’d be back in three days
to pick up our goat. We did so, and this was our ‘Mr. Potter’.
July 1978, Chris, Mr. Potter and Jim
When the day arrived, we picked him/her up and home we
went, goat cradled in Jim and Chris’s arms.
I had found an old baby bottle and nipple left over
from Jim or Chris, and using watered down milk, the poor goat was very willing
to be bottle-fed. In fact, every kid who lived near came over to help!
This was a joy to behold—Mr. Potter would follow the
one with the bottle all over the yard, evidence that he was recently taken from
Mom.
It was lovely summer weather, and the boys were
sleeping in a tent in the back yard. At that point we had a gate on the fence,
and I’d fixed a rug nest in the tool shed (end of the horse van that had been
originally the ‘buggery’ or sleeping cabin). However, the boys wanted Mr.
Potter to sleep with them in the tent, so I agreed, only to find the next
morning that the excessive bottle feedings had caused a problem. Poor Mr.
Potter had diarrhea! The boys cleaned it up and bottles were severely
diminished and then discontinued. In fact, doses of Kaopectate were needed for
poor Mr. Potter!
Mr. Potter remained the main attraction at our
cottage for the summer. I well remember the night before we had to return Mr.
Potter to the vet, Chris spent it in the hammock, hugging him!
July 1978, Mr. Potter and Jim
Six years later, we continued the Goat Escapade with
Zelda. By 1984, Jim was away most of the summer, but did make it up for at
least one picture with Zelda! Chris and Jim used to try to butt them with their
heads in play.
Dad used to talk about them on the ham radio and he
was surprised by how many people knew of them beyond Otty Lake!
August 1984, Zelda
'with a glare of ferociousness'
'with a glare of ferociousness'
as Beth put it below
Tim
and Rose Remember:
By the end of the summer
Jim and Chris stopped trying to butt heads with Mr. Potter and Zelda.
They had both grown so big and strong, and had small horns, so that it became
very painful to butt heads with them.
Corky loved to
"round up the goat". Her shepherding instincts would take
over and she would drive the goat all over the yard.
I remember the goats
being afraid of the boat. Corky would run to the dock when it came into
the bay but the goats would run away. I tried to take Mr. Potter for a
ride once and he completely freaked out and tried to jump out into the
water. After that he never came near the boat.
Chris and Zelda, 1984
Jim agreed:
Took Mr. Potter for a boat ride
once...only once. He bleated the entire short ride and pooped all over
the boat while scaring us because he looked like he was going to jump out.
Each of the goats would
follow us around like dogs. I remember running up to the Birches with
either Mr. Potter or Zelda running alongside me and Corky, enjoying the
exercise.
I remember we quickly
learned not to let Mr. Potter or Zelda in the cottage. They were not
housebroken and would crap anywhere they felt like it.
I also remember Mr.
Potter cleaned out Mom's flowers almost immediately. He loved eating
them.
1984, Tom, Jim, Dan and Chris
with Zelda and Corky
Sue Remembers:
Zelda had jumped up on the picnic table down near
the lake and we were all laughing with delight at the way she was skittering
and dancing on it. Dad grabbed his camera and sat down on one of the benches to
get some good pictures of her. Just as he was starting to shoot photos, she
came over, turned around, and then let loose a barrage of goat poop pellets at
him.
“Jesus
Christ!” he yelled disgustedly. But we all collapsed in hysterics.
Jim
Remembers:
We dropped Mr. Potter off in late
August, before school started. I remember when we went up to cottage on
Columbus Day to close -- we visited the farm again. I, along with Mom,
said, "there he is" when we saw a herd of about 50 goats in the
yard but I was never really sure. We didn't want Chris, who
was quite worried, to think Mr. Potter had been "sent away."
Mr. Potter was very social. He hated to
be alone. Unless it rained (in which case he went into the "dog
house" in the fenced in area) he wanted someone with him at all
times. We'd often put him on a leash and attach this to the clothesline
so he could walk a fair distance. If he was left alone...which included
us going out on the dock where he couldn't reach...then he'd bleat constantly.
Beth
agrees: What I remember is how attached they got to us. When
we all left for a while, say into Perth, they would bleat until we came
back, from loneliness.
I'm sure we have pictures of this
but, Mr.Potter loved to stand on our chopping block and look down at you with a
glare of ferociousness...just as he was about to butt you in the head.
Beth remembers:
Loved all these stories, too. I loved the goats. What a splendid thing to have had in childhood.
Zelda and Chris in the hammock
