Erin Goat Bragh!

"Erin Go Bragh" is an Irish expression we see every year around St. Patrick's Day, plastered on t-shirts, little wooden decorative signs, and other memorabilia of the season. While it means "Ireland Forever" these days, I read an article that explained that its literal origin is in the more somber phrase "until doomsday." Here at my temporary farm, erin goat bragh meant a little taste of doomsday for a plastered St. Patrick's Day reveler in green sneakers.  He was clearly not Irish, as his luck was nowhere to be found.   

Last night, Jess, my partner, was awakened around 2:00 a.m. by loud yelling. She stepped outside, peered into the darkness, and saw a shadowy figure of a man out on the sidewalk along the main road. She heard him yell out a few times - "Wooo hooo!" - as he weaved, then fell, then weaved, then fell. Shortly thereafter, a bush blocked her line of sight, but she could hear the sound of activity and crunching leaves, which she assumed to be goat traffic, or maybe Sweet Pea investigating.  This was followed by loud exclamations of "Yes, sir!  Yes, sir!" Jess suspected the police had found him, but she leaned out to look and there was no one else around. The man continued his declarations of respect as he staggered away into the night.

As it turns out, the authority he was addressing was the electric fence. He had fallen into it, as I learned when Michael the goatherd showed up to fix the twisted and flipped section of fence. The man had apparently gotten quite tangled in it. A neighbor helpfully called Michael this morning to report the fence situation.

A bent plastic fence clasp remains as evidence of our drunken friend's struggle to free himself.

Somewhere, today, within walking distance, there is a guy with a hangover and one sneaker. We have placed the other shoe in a prominent place, should he wish to return to retrieve it.  Thanks, drunk guy, for not driving, even though walking turned out to be a bit hazardous for you as well.