Snapshots from Father’s Day 2010
At my parents’ house this weekend, I spotted a few weather-worn pins clipped to the line and thought of all the lovely clothespin photos I’ve seen at blogs like Ann Voskamp’s. Moving in close, I saw that this shot would feature a couple of unexpected elements:
Strung between them, a spider’s web, and crawling up one of the clips, a leggy insect sporting antennae like quirts.
In the fields, something else new and unexpected. My dad no longer raises cattle, and he’s getting a bit old to be mowing the fields with the bush hog. The solution? A herd of goats.
Dad’s fields are being “mowed” this summer by a herd of 30 goats (on loan from another farmer) that have been chomping away at the ironweed, foxtail, dandelions, and thistles. Free mowing for Dad, free food for the goats. 
Free entertainment for the kids and their cousins.
Drawing a dotted line around my nephew’s cast, Dad said he and his friends used to think this joke was pretty funny back in the 1930s and ’40s.
Here’s Dad, pleased with his joke, pleased with the goats, pleased to be all together one afternoon celebrating fatherhood.
Photos by Ann Kroeker © 2010
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Your Father’s Day on the Farm looks like so much fun. And the goats! I love goats. They have a sensibility all their own.
My dad still cracks himself up, too. I share his sense of humor!
So pleased you had a pleasant day. And glad you packed the camera!
The goats are a new thing, so I don’t really know much about them or their sensibilities…they seemed very calm and surprisingly quiet. I expected to hear a lot of bleating, but they didn’t make any noise at all.
As long as they just eat the grass, this is a good deal!
I was listening to a talk show on the radio. A reader called in with a problem. One of her horses ate the steering wheel through the open window in her car. Just ate it clean off. The mechanics laughed and said, Yeah, they had heard of this before and personally know someone who had a rear view mirror eaten by a horse.
Now that’s horses. Goats are known to eat things…
Anyway, I thought I’d leave an interesting comment for you!