I get a lot of questions asked of me regarding this blog. One of the most common is “How do I need to feed my goat?” or “What do I need to do to my goat at the show?” These questions come in the form of emails, phone messages, texts, etc. I normally don’t reply. Why don’t I reply? I haven’t seen the goat and therefore, can’t properly tell you. Simply put, I don’t know. I handle every goat as an individual. They are all different in terms of genetics, muscle, finish, quality, who the heck is judging, showmanship ability, etc. I don’t want to screw things up for you so I just step aside and say nothing. Saying nothing is not an art form that I am good at, either. But I don’t want to recommend something and it be wrong. Give me the goat & showman in real life….well, let’s just say the confidence level goes up.
A lot of those show kind of questions come in. But, the most common asked question, without a doubt–no close second, is….”You don’t really call your wife the ‘Dragon Lady’ do you?”
The answer is “YES”! Her phone # is logged into my phone with that moniker. She will answer to that name. When I was teaching, students called her that, to her face. There is some discrepancy as to whether she came up with the name or I did. We’re not sure. I do know that we were living in Waynoka and that we referred to her car at the time as the “Dragon Wagon”. She wears the name as a title. It isn’t derrogatory. Think about it. If you lived with me, then you would probably breathe fire also.
How do you get her to reveal the dragon side? It’s actually pretty easy. First & foremost, do something negative towards her kids. Holy Jeeminy!! Wear FR gear and get a helicopter with fire extinguisher stuff. Flames are coming out. Sometimes, negative acts towards close friends and family will also get her to shoot flames. We don’t have a home phone anymore as there are numerous ag teachers walking around with burns from calling the house “after hours”.
The other way is to hang around near my dumb ass. I can cause all kinds of flammable havoc. Sometimes, I try to cause issues. Other times, I just have a knack for it. I’ve lost a friend or two because they were in the vicinity of her being pissed at me. I haven’t seen Nick Pool in a decade or so. Big Bill lost part of his moustache. Mikey Thompson used to smile. So how come I haven’t been consumed by flames? Simple. I have an uncle that is a retired aerospace engineer that helped design the heat shields on numerous space vessels. You know? The black undersides of the space shuttle that keep it from burning up on re-entry. Well, I have the same engineering. Impervious to extreme heat–pressure at work, griping parents, bad judges or a wife shooting flames at me–I’m fine with it.
Actually, it is all in good fun. She is fine with it. She earned the title. Most of the above is true. However, YOU have to screw up to see the flames. And if you want to see the fire, without being the target…then come hang around me. It doesn’t take much for me to light the fire. I’ve noticed lately, that Duke is becoming very good at getting the Dragon Lady fired up. I’m not sure if this is healthy or not. I’m sure it is my fault as he is my son.
