Cows vs. Goats (and Surf Boards)

My commute to work in Minnesota brought me by several cattle farms. I felt like I got to know those cows that I drove by 8 or 10 times a week. They were mostly black, some had white spots, and a few were more of a dark brown, but I could tell the difference between them after years of following the same commute. I even watched some of them grow up! I loved the new crop of baby cows each year, and though a few of them disappeared, most of them frolicked in the field all summer, providing entertainment on my commute.



Bad photo of the goats, but best I could do while driving...

My new commute in California is about the same distance (37 miles), with the difference being I don't have any cows to keep me entertained. But I do have goats! There is one little fenced-in pasture of goats on the edge of Oceanside. The pasture is about the size of our backyard in Minnesota, but the goats do frolic and bask in the sun. The only problem is that it is right near a busy intersection with single lanes of traffic going each way, so I can only get in a few quick glances most mornings, and none at all some mornings.

The other morning, I got a closer view of some other goats - two rather large ones were grazing along the side of the highway. Four lanes of heavy traffic heading south out of Temecula at 80 miles an hour didn't even seem to faze them, noses to the ground as they chewed down the grass on the shoulder of the road. About the time I was worrying that they might get hit by early morning commuters, the traffic report came on the radio warning drivers to beware of goats grazing along the southbound 15.

I didn't see them the next morning, so I'm assuming they managed to find their way home. However, I did hear an announcement on the morning traffic report that drivers should beware of a three baby goats romping around on the northbound lanes of the 15!

The goats are definitely the most entertaining/interesting thing I've seen on my morning commute since the surf board that was blocking a lane one morning. (I imagine someone got out of their sport pick-up at the Oceanside pier and had their whole day ruined!)