I risk life and limb for May’s Calendar.

The weather has been unsettled here in Color Country with patches of rain and even snow broken by occasional bursts of sunshine. But that’s good weather for photographing things because if you don’t like the light, you can wait a few minutes and it will be different.

I got a request for more wildlife in my calendar shots a few months back. The goats in “The Pasture” below our house are pretty wild, so I took my little Brownie pinhole camera down to see if I could snap a shot that I’ve had in mind for quite a while with the dramatic background of the spring storm to make it more interesting. Here’s the result. (But you’re going to have to wait until a few days before May for the actual calendar.)

What I didn’t count on was just how wild that billy goat in the foreground actually was. Well … “protective” would be a better word.

 As soon as I started across the pasture, he trotted right out and put himself between me and his little family. You can see that is where he is in the picture. 

Of course, I didn’t like the placement of the goats, or the light, or where I was standing. So I tossed a dirt clod at them to see if I could get them positioned better. Not a good idea. “Billy” decided I was a little more of a threat. You can see that result here. Sorry for cutting off a little of the top of his head, but I had other things on my mind at the time.

To cut to the chase (literally), I made it out of the pasture in one piece and with a new respect for Billy’s paternal instincts.