Fainting goats near Mineola
Sun, Jul 19, 2009 | by Michael Morain
It was a perfect, cool climb from the Council Bluffs flood plain into the loess hills this morning. A gauzy fog lingered until about 7:30 a.m., and as riders rolled east into the sun, they seemed to disappear into the clouds.
A hot air balloon took off near the Mid-America Center.
Down – or rather up – the road, a Boy Scouts troupe welcomed riders west of Mineola with three animals-turned-celebrities: Fluffy the rooster, and Buttercup and Peg-leg Pete the fainting goats.
As of 8:30 a.m. in what will undoubtedly be a long day for the animals, Pete had fainted three times and Buttercup only once.
“We’re trying to get them to faint more,” said Kristen Doyen, 14, of Glenwood, who was helping out the Scouts. “People just come up and run at them.”
That’s Buttercup in front, Pete in the back:
Apparently, the goats faint as a defense mechanism. Somebody said a YouTube video shows a bunch of goats who keel over at the sight of a suddenly opening umbrella.
– Michael Morain, filing from the back bumper of a Mineola firetruck
Enjoying your posts. Keep em comin!!
Hysterical.
LOL! Looking forward to your blogs!
I like riding Ragbrai with you—–by reading yyour blogs and tweets. I just don’t have to pedal as hard as you do!