Growing up we had about 7 acres of land and I did my best to fill all those acres with as many animals that I could find. I was one of those people that tried to save the world. This started from a very young age and continues to this day. I have a weakness!

There are so many animals in my past that I will never forget. I have had so many good memories that still make me laugh even to this day. Here is one my favorites.

The most memorable to the entire family was our goat that was so much more than just a goat. His name was Billy (ok..so I wasn't creative). He came with a girlfriend goat that we named...yes you guessed it..Nana. Anyway....

Billy and Nana arrived in the back of a car in a big box with only their heads sticking out. Billy was small, dark brown with big floppy ears and big eyes. He was the love of our life back then. See, we never had goats, so Billy was not treated as a goat.

When we got Billy, we were building our house. Since we did everything ourselves, the building went slow. The goats had the right to go anywhere they wanted. Nana did, Billy was no mere goat and hung out with his own kind...the humans. At any given time, he was hanging around with someone trying to find a way to irritate them. When no one was available, he irritated the dogs. Billy liked to play the staring game. He would start at a distance and then slowly move closer. This very much irritated my dog Rags. He was so successful, Rags was nice enough to remove part of his ear.

Billy just had a way of knowing what would push your buttons...and then he stood on them. His favorite game was block the door when you were trying to carrying things. When the basement was done and the second floor was started, we used a ramp to carrying in supplies. Billy understood this and stood sideways on the ramp so as to not let anyone pass. He really like this game. He felt this was a good use of his time.

When that was not fun anymore, he particularly liked the nail game. We bought nails in 5-gallon buckets because it was more cost-effective. So, you have a big bucket of nails sitting there. Billy took it upon himself to remove each nail from the bucket and place it on the floor...nail by nail, bucket by bucket for hours on end. Every nail, until the bucket was empty. In the beginning, his dedication was funny, but this soon just became irritating.

When that lost it's fun, he would stand on the wood pile that you were trying to remove wood from. That was a particular favorite. King of the hill was a way of life for him. Billy kept himself busy. If you were not careful, he would drink your beer and eat your cigarettes just for fun.

Well, as the house started to take shape and all was dried in, the doors went on. This upset Billy very much. He could no longer check on the status of things. This made him very, very unhappy. So, to get even, he would block the door until you let him in and have a look around. He just wanted to see the progress and two minutes usually did the trick. When the doggy door went in, in the basement, he took it upon himself to use it at his convenience. That was a constant fight. It was very humorous when he became to big to use it and got stuck repeatedly. You could open the door and he would swing back and forth.

He was a very intelligent goat, who didn't realize he was a goat. He honestly thought he was a dog and hung out with our dog Murphy. They got along pretty well, except when Billy tried to boss Murphy around. I think Billy realized his mistake when we had some wild dogs come through and try to kill everything. But luckily we had Murphy and Billy to chase them off. Of course, Billy realized his mistake when the dogs turned around to take advantage of lunch following them. The panic in his eyes let us know, he had finally found his place in the food chain and was terrified. He turned around and ran back to the house as fast as he could. Mom scared all the dogs off while Murphy was fighting all 7 dogs on his own (one of the many trips to the vet).

Well, the house was coming along and starting to look like a real house. Mom put in bushes... Billly ate them.... and mom put in some more. So the cycle went until she had enough. So BIlly got a house. We built a house for him, we fenced in the backyard with an electric fence and bought him the best food and hay, but Billy was not happy. In fact, Billy was depressed.

When we put him in the fence, he would just stand there. He wouldn't eat, he wouldn't drink and he looked so sad. It broke our hearts and he played us like a fiddle. Now my mom, the strict rule setter, take no crap woman that she is....caved faster than we could spell his name.

As Billy got thinner and sadder, we tried everything to make him happy. In the end Billy won, when he became very thin and sick, we brought him in the house, laid him in front of the heater with a pillow and blanket while hand feeding him pancakes (that is what he preferred). And just because Billy was Billy, he would only drink Blueberry cool-aid. So, for days, Billy lived the high life.

It was then time to return Billy to the pen...you guessed it.. he wouldn't eat, he wouldn't drink until he was freed. So.. went Billy's existence.

He was fenced during the day, but let out when we got home. He only drank Blueberry cool-aid (there was no regular water for this member of the family). He was allowed short trips through the house every few weeks to note the progress and was given pancakes on weekends.

The memories are endless, but some of my favorites are when he would walk us to the bus in the morning. The blackberry bushes down by the pond were great, so he was always up for a trip.

Billy died many years later and left a big hole in our hearts. He was often labeled the son my mother never had. I miss him now even to this day....