As all of you loyal readers are well aware, we moved last year.  Moving the goats was a big undertaking as there were miles of fence and panels that had to be put up in order to contain/protect these beasts.  I like to have things done right.  No loose ends.  I spent thousands upon thousands for posts, wire, panels, etc. There are pens all around this piece of paradise.  From east to west, on the south side and in the barns.  

    I put a new gate going into the east pen several months ago.  I needed a taller gate, not for me, but other visitors.  In order to make the gate fit, I needed to add a 2′ piece of panel between the shed and the gate.  I had a piece of panel that was about 20″.  I wired it up but it left a gap of 4″.  I normally would cut a panel to fit snuggly.  But, I was sick of cutting up panels and this was close.  I decided that I would just stack some bricks in the crack in order to fill the gap.  4 or 5 bricks stacked one on top of the other.  This worked for months.  Numerous does with kids in this pen and no escapees.  As far as I was concerned it had become a permanent fix.  But then somebody jinxed it.  

     Last Sunday, we had several visitors throughout the day.  One of the visitors walked through the gate and noticed the brick part of the fence.  Kennedy points at the brick barrier, looks at me and says, “Nice bricks.”  Nobody else had ever commented on the bricks, but now it was out there.  I was soon to be jinxed.  

    This week, I had an escaped kid out of the east pen.  Guess where the doe kid got out?  Yep, the brick barrier was down and she was out.  I caught her, put her back in the containment unit and re-stacked the bricks.  Next day, nothing was out, but there were signs.  The bricks were down again.  So, I removed all of the bricks and wired in a 4×4 post that fills the gap permanently.

     I always wondered what secrets Bryan used to make his goats so successful.  I now know that he is obviously a goat whisperer.  They listen to him.  My goats had been hanging on his words and when he pointed to the bricks and said, “Nice bricks.”  They saw him, listened to him and followed his instructions.  They had been shown the way out.  The bricks were forevermore jinxed.  Thanks.