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Show Ride on 'Snoop' cure for spring fever grassroots i 7 Copyright (&1986 Becky Grass Johnson The sky was the bluest blue and the breeze was teasingly warm the spring day we decided to ride the goat. It was the kind of weather that makes kids break out with a good case of mischief. Pat was my older and wiser sister, and occasionally a partner in crime. I could always count on her for some good ideas whenever things seemed to get a little boring. She was the one who helped tie the ropes across the top of the cattle chute so we could swing like Tarzan into the corral. It was Pat who taught me how to jump from one straw stack to the other without falling 20 feet to my death below. And whenever one of her friends came to visit, I would gladly volunteer to be the dog or the cat if we ended up playing house. After all, she was my older and wiser sister. ,.; ,v ; ;: ' So on that warm, spring day when shenanigans were in full bloom, my older and wiser sister said, "Let's ride old Snoop." It seemed like a stroke of genius to me. If ever a goat deserved to be ridden, it was Snoop. I didn't especially like Snoop and she certainly didn't 1 ike me. She had earned her name by sniffing at all our pockets and mooching anything that was edible. She could detect an apple, stick of gum or a half-eaten graham she'd charge me from behind and "whomp!" She'd butt me into the ditch. (Dad always said that goats can't smile. But he didn't know Snoop!) Yes, if ever a goat deserved to be ridden, it was Snoop. Snoop was at the peak of health and rather large for a goat. As if her long, curled horns weren't intimidating in-timidating enough, she was black and white with a dark patch over one eye. And when she smiled, (as I was sloshing around in the ditch), she reminded me of a pirate. If you've ever felt the backbone of a goat, you've discovered that goats were not designed to be riden. Pat went to the barn to fetch a saddle pad and a rope and we walked towards Snoop with the gear behind our backs. Snoop had little idea that she was about to provide us with some goat rodeo." .-Snoop, was not smiling as Pat completed cinching the, pad to .her back, but I was. I almost hopped on when Pat informed me that she was going to be first. After all, she reminded, she was my "older and wiser sister." Pat had barely climbed on and secured her grip, when I let go of the ropes. Snoop shot for the barn like a bolt of lightning and I cheered for all I was worth. Pat stayed with her all the way to the barn door. We had one of those barn doors that we called a "dutch door." (That is where the top half and He bottom half of the door opens and closes separately.) Luckily fa snoop, the bottom half of the door was open. Unfortunately for Pat the top h alf was not. Pat kind of bounced off the top of the door before she hit the ground She lay there very still as I ran to help her I pleased in my h eart thai old snoop hadn't killed my "older and wiser sister." No one noticed Pat's skinned elbows (or pride) at the supper table. But when Mom asked ate the "goose egg" on her forehead, we simply explained that she hid run into the barn door. (And thai 3 was the truth!) That was many years ago andot warm spring days when the skies are bluest blue, I can sense wta the kids are coming down will a good case of mischief. Some fife call it spring fever. I tend to thW: is a race to see who can be the firS kid on the block to visit Ik emergency room. The kids will build enormous ramps out of scrap plywood lit their skateboards. They'll hold forward flip contests off of the trampoline. They may even decide to paint the dog. What they really need in te neighborhood is an "older a( wiser" sister and a goat n amec Snoop. by BECKI GRASS JOHNSON crackerk no matter where they were concealed. And if we weren't smart enough to offer them to her, she would simply help herself. Sometimes in her greedy rush to clean out our pockets she's miss and nip a good chunk of arm or leg. V Not only was Snoop undeniably rude, she was sneaky. Sometimes it was my assignment to move her to a new grazing place in the pasture and stake her by the ditch so she could drink. I soon learned that it was a mistake to ever let her walk behind me. '' She would nonchalantly meander along on her rope, and patiently wait until I was completely relaxed and unsuspecting. Then suddenly, |
