A goat at the Cathedral?

Flashback from my years at the Cathedral in Baker City, Oregon, 2010 - Among the people waiting to talk to me today was a 7-year old Maggie McKenzie who will be making her First Holy Communion in May. She always has some serious question to ask me, especially since I befriended her after talking to her about her horses and ponies. Her parents own a big ranch with many cows and horses, sheep and goats. Well today she came in front of me and asked me “Do you want to go?” I told her surprisingly “Go where?”

“No, do you want a go?” Still confused, I again responded “Go where?”

“No, no do you want a goat?” Finally I understood her - she was asking me if I want to have a goat. As surprised as I was with the first unclear question, I was even more confused by this request. I told Maggie “What would I do with a goat, and where would I keep her?” Apparently this goat isn’t even born yet, as her mother later clarified to me. She thought it would be a great idea to have her around the property to munch on the grass instead of the noisy lawnmower. Of course I had to disappoint her and refuse the offer, but thanked her anyway. However I did ask her mother if she could name this goat Julian or Juliana, and she overwhelmingly obliged.

Later in the week, during the Religion classes, I noticed Maggie’s mother waiting for me with her daughter, and I presumed she had some further information about the goat, but the news was about one of their cows which had just delivered a two-headed calf. They showed me pictures of the calf and even though he died 24 hours later, the head and the common spine were taken to some lab and was diagnosed, and will be kept on display in a Cattle Museum. The vet who helped deliver this unusual calf was Kim Mahaffey, a local vet who is a friend of mine, married to Janie, our Yoga instructress. Even more incredible news spread a few weeks earlier when quadruplet calves were born of one cow, two of which died at birth, and the other two survived. Twin calves are rare, and triplets and quads are very, very rare.