Barricaded Windows

The main page of the Land of Goshen is pretty accurate . . . Basically my home sits in the middle of the place and there are four pastures fenced off and divided.  The calves are in the west pasture, as the boundary fencing was already here and is not goat tight.  The north pasture is where the bucks live most of the year.  Bucks are rather pungent and their odor affects the taste of the milk, if they are around the does.  I keep them downwind through the heavy milking season.  I'm a very practical woman.  The east pasture has the pond and some timber.  I can look out any window of my home and see critters.  There is a small fenced in backyard, but the front and side of my home are not fenced off from the pasture to the south.

Last year, when my daughter, granddaughter, and great granddaughter were visiting, three goats just about made their way into the guest bedroom by way of the picture window.   The window had been open and we soon discovered pushing a screen aside, is no real challenge for goats.  My granddaughter came out with her eyes so big!  "Grandma, I had just closed that window, not 30 minutes ago, when those three goats knocked the screen down.  They would have been in the bedroom!"  She handed me little Zoey and went to pick up the screen.  Thankfully, there was no real damage done.

We've all seen businesses in rough neighborhoods with bars on the window.  They look like some sort of fortress through the closed hours.  In the country, it's the opposite.  We need a barricade when there is activity.  Until there was a light on and activity in that room, it had never been an issue.  We use fence panels for everything, including as it turns out, prohibiting goat access through the window.  There is still plenty of the picture window that is unobstructed by protective fence, so it seemed easier to fence in the window rather than fence around the house.  The goats can still come up to the window, this way, so no mowing is needed, either.

Early Monday morning I was checking the latest edition of the Goshen Gazette from my office computer.  My "office" is next to the guest room, also on the south end of the house.  My sweet little buddy Zinnia noticed my activity and came up to the window to see what was going on.  Such a sweet little face at my window.

She doesn't really have any manners yet, so when she saw me, she was sure this was finally her opportunity to "come on in."   

After snapping her attempted self-invited entrance, I quickly shut down the computer and turned off the light. 

The south side of the place is beginning to look like a downtown business in a rough neighborhood.