“The day after Billy Whiskers was sold to the Biggses,
he was shut in a small yard to keep him out of mischief.
Feeling lonesome, he thought that he would jump the fence and look around a little.
He was getting cross-eyed looking through the palings of the fence which were very close together,
so suiting the action to the thought, he vaulted over the fence…”
-Billy Whiskers
Sometimes Abby questions why we keep Walter, our male goat … yes, he can escape from every pen, jump a five foot fence, he can be a bit smelly at times, he can walk a tight rope and eat all the trees in sight but won’t clear the weeds and bush we wanted him to clear… but he is also the kindest, most gentle billy goat you will ever meet.
He jumps on the trampoline with the girls.
Sleeps at the back door like a dog when accidentally left out of the barn at night (oops).
Greets all visitors with a smelly side rub.
He’s Lyla’s animal sidekick.
And plays with babies on the grass.
Walter is supposed to be on the *other* side of this fence… ahem.
P.S. Having a billy goat around the house certainly has given our family lots of fun and interesting stories and memories.
So many, in fact, that it inspired us to read Billy Whiskers, a book written in the early 1900s, about a mischievous billy goat who gets into loads of trouble. He is lovable and likeable but full of bad goat-like habits. We love this series of books and it is a definite must for our home library.
