Get out and try! Go on and teach. Grab only a towel. Guess one and tell. Greatest of all time.

No, it’s just a goat.

I dropped Karis and her Scout troop at Hawk Mountain Scout Reservation two Sundays ago and then came home that night. I saw that Misty and the boys had spent many hours repainting the shed in the field; we now call it the barn.

Monday the goats arrived, and later in the day, which was good. I met the person who transported them for us and we transfered the animals in the parking lot of the local casino. I had never been there before but it was fun to text Misty and tell her I was on my way home from the casino with goats.

I was supposed to teach a class that night at 8pm. Thanks to PJ for covering for me as we were still getting the animals unloaded and situated.

I spent the next day framing out pens in the barn and packing up to head back to camp. I spent Wednesday morning making food and prepping things before I drove back up to Hawk Mountain to rejoin the troop.

I spent that afternoon like I did the next two- riding my mountain bike, mapping the trail system for the camp director. The trails were well marked but quite rugged and unrideable in some places. Still, I did my best to record and label them.

It was a weird first day back at camp. July 13 was Dave’s Day. You can read about that story in the post “Wasted.” I did my best to be social but it was just an extreme juxtaposition: contemplating the death of a friend in combat while surrounded by oblivious, joyful young scouts. A heavy rain storm caused me to seek cover. I ended up talking with another scout leader. Dogs are an easy subject and Ritter gets me into more conversations than I would prefer.

Turns out the person sitting in the shelter of the Welcome Center pavilion was an active duty Chief (E-7) in the Navy, there with their troop that week. It’s hard not to bump into military people at a scouting event.

I’m glad that the goats are 100% my children’s responsibility. It makes it easy to walk away and not think about them. I rode hard the next two days as well. I could tell Ritter wasn’t used to all the gravel and rock he was running over. Plus, a black dog with a thick coat in summer doesn’t run as fast as he does in winter.

Karis is in a blue shirt because she was also staffing the week her troop was at camp and had to teach merit badge classes. It’s nice that she has a job this summer but I miss her. She’s only home Saturdays and goes back to camp Sunday.

I called Karis’s goat “TBD” until she got home, met her, and finally named her Marlow. All this goat business has really put me behind in my riding for the month of July. I’m only 118 miles into a 250 mile goal with 10 days left in the month. I’ll finish it, don’t you worry- it’s for a cause but I’ll tell you about that next post.

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These Veteran stories of struggle, adventure, and post traumatic growth need to be heard!
Join the cause to de-stigmatize mental health issues.
Please SUBSCRIBE, share our website with friends / co-workers, and support us by donation or at the STORE.