Goats have more than one use

With eight kids at home, we perpetually have a "house full", but at the moment, we're uber-full. Ben and Victoria, and their three kids, and their dog, had to move out of their house after a burst water pipe revealed the existence of the dreaded Black Mold, many Brown Recluse spiders, and an infestation of mice in the walls.

For a while there, we were anxiously scanning the skies for the Fourth Horseman, but all has turned out mostly well, and they've moved in with us until they find a new spot.

Last night, we got an extra grand-dog for the night, as one of the grown kids was having a night out, and she needed a dog-sitter. Just to add to the ambiance, this dog is in season, so our three males have been especially entertaining all night.

It now starts to get a little tricky, however, as tonight, we're expecting a couple from Australia, Ron and Adriana, to arrive and stay for the week. That'll give us a mere seventeen in the house.

You might think we're crowded, but our house is a bit like the Tardis, and is bigger on the inside than the outside, plus ... we have a barn, and our seventeen year old boys graciously vacated their rooms to our guests, in favor of barn-camping. (Lest you feel too sorry for them, the barn is air-conditioned, and has a bathroom and a mini kitchen, and I always buy them some extra goodies, like chips and cookies and tea, so they're making out like bandits)

My boys are awesome teenagers, and only have one real failing, which is they are really hard to get out of bed in the morning. It's the old "I just can't go to sleep at night because I'm not tired" and "I can't get up in the morning because I'm just too tired" thing. They sleep through their alarms. They sleep through their phones ringing. One morning we forgot to disarm the security system, and opened the back door, thereby setting off said alarm, and they slept through that, which is easy 120 decibels.

The only downside, therefore, to them sleeping in the barn is the difficulty of getting them up. I usually have to make three or four trips, spread over an hour to finally shake them loose, or I have to concede, and just let them sleep.

This morning, however, I had a cunning idea.

I walked in the barn and said "Gentlemen, it is time to get up. I am only going to say this once, but if I have to come back this morning, I'm going to let the goats into the barn."

Devin said "Oh crap!"

Dustin just said "Uh", but within a few minutes, both were upstairs, quietly eating breakfast. I said "Boys, I think I might be onto something here."

Dustin looked at me and said "Dad, it just shows that we trust you."

Goats are really useful animals.