Daddy Goat

We love animals in this house.  We have a dog, a cat, and a fish, and I think I mentioned recently how much we love going to the zoo.  We give our pets lots of affection.  Our dog won't eat his breakfast until he's had some attention from us.  This usually means that someone has to get down on the floor with him as he lies on his side and hug him and rub his belly.  We call it "giving him some lovin'."  Toby has his priorities straight: lovin' comes before food.

Sammy's school had a field trip to the local zoo today.  We saw some cool things, including watching a python squeeze and then devour a rat.  But the best part was that we got to see Daddy Goat again.  Sammy named Daddy Goat last time we visited this zoo - over a year ago.  She just fell in love with this goat, and we were tickled when she named him after Adam.  She talked about Daddy Goat so much that we actually framed this photo and put it up in her room:

[caption id="attachment_3347" align="aligncenter" width="375" caption="Daddy Goat"][/caption]

So when we arrived at the zoo today, of course we sought out Daddy Goat.  The farm animals are all kept in a big barn and there must be at least 40 goats in there, but we recognized our favorite right away.  He's the biggest goat they have, and he was just lying there, and wouldn't eat much food.  I got a little worried when I saw how lethargic he was, but I didn't say anything to Sam.  After touching his horns, stroking his ears, petting his fur,and trying to get him to eat a bit of those strange food pellets, Sam finally said, DADDY GOAT IS SAD.  WHY IS HE SAD, MOMMY?

I told her that I didn't know, but that I agreed that he looked sad.  Later, she said:

DADDY GOAT IS SAD.  HE'S SAD BECAUSE NOBODY CAN GET INSIDE THE FENCE AND GIVE HIM LOVIN'.