Tales from WannaBea Farm

Joyce Stark Goat Shock

I went to Ryder Oil a week or so ago to fill some propane bottles and started to pet their beautiful yellow lab but for some reason he wouldn't have anything to do with me that day. He acted like he wanted to be petted but was skittish for some reason. It kind of hurt my feelings at first because most dogs like me. Then the lady there told me that he was just jumpy because several people had shocked him with static electricity that day.

Poor thing, I know how that feels, as I am always getting shocked myself and it HURTS! I have learned that if I touch something made of wood before touching something that I know will shock me that the electricity will discharge into the wood and I will not get shocked. Please don’t ask me how this works because I am scientifically challenged and have absolutely now idea why it works, I just know that it does. For a while after I learned this I carried a small piece of wood in my pocket. Then one of the local businesses gave me a “Wooden Nickel” put out by the Buffalo Chamber of Commerce, and now I always carry it in my pocket. If I am going somewhere that I know is going to be a “shock area”, I make sure to reach into my pocket and touch it before touching door handles, metal chairs and such. I can even go to the grocery store and open the frozen food doors without getting shocked, then screaming and otherwise acting a fool, just as long as I touch my magic nickel first.

But it reminded me of something that happened a while back. It was a cool, dry day and I put some crackers in my pocket, pulled on my rubber boots and walked out to the pasture to give "Hershey" a little treat. Hershey is the only one of the goats that I have sort of made a pet of. She is a little chocolate colored goat, hence the name Hershey, plus she's a "her" and a "she" and that added up to Hershey. Does that make any sense to you? Well, it was perfectly normal for my weird brain.

Anyway, back to my story. Cool dry day, rubber boots and wading through the tall grass all adds up to just one thing. Static electricity. Uh oh! Hershey looked up and saw me and knowing that she would get a treat she came running to me. As she skidded to a stop I reached out to her and knew I had made a mistake as soon as I heard the spark. As I touched her she jumped straight up in the air. She looked almost like a long legged Halloween cat with her hair sticking out all over her and she let out a long drawn out “Baaaa” that sounded amazingly like a curse word. When she finally came to ground she looked at me suspiciously, shook herself, stretched her neck out for a cracker, thought better of it and jumped back away from me. Standing there looking at me she finally decided it was safe and started to try one more time, but again at the last moment she shied away, not certain just what had happened but pretty darn sure that it was all my fault. Finally she made up her mind, she was NOT having any more to do with me and she turned tail and went back to the herd, looking back over her shoulder at me, giving me dirty goat looks. She wouldn’t have anything to do with me for days!

This was one of the few times I’ve been the shocker as I’m usually the shockee and then the other goats wouldn’t come near me for a few days either. I'm still wondering what she told them about me.