Greedy Goat or Glutton?

Marcie goat with her head caught in the hollow stump.

This morning I am extremely thankful for having such wonderful neighbors. Yesterday afternoon when I approached the home pasture fence, most of the goat herd poured down the hill to greet me; however, even after I had rustled the feed cans, Miss Marcie did not appear.

She's not one to hop fences or wriggle through tight gates (unless she feels the effort will be worth her trouble, in which case she can squeeze through just about any size opening). As such, it was odd that she did not appear at the sound of potential feed.

Looking uphill, I saw that she was busily feasting upon the Virginia Creeper topping one of two tall rotted-out stumps in that pasture. After hopping the fence myself, I went to investigate. She was quite engrossed. As I got closer I realized that our prized dairy goat had gotten herself hung up in the tree stump, and was close to hanging herself!

She must have lost energy after getting her head wedged into a V through which she had obviously reached in search of tasty morsels. Indeed, I lost energy trying to push her close enough that she could un-catch herself. Then I tried yanking the rotted wood enough to make an opening through which she could extricate herself, but that did not work either.

Luckily, our good neighbor Tony was about, and he heard my yell for help and hurried right over. After momentarily studying the situation, Tony began tugging at the wood as I had. While he worked the stump, I worked the goat. Marcie was free! Even better, Tony had the foresight to do more than free the goat, he saw fit to topple half of the tree shell, removing the possibility of any future accidents.

The herd rushed uphill to taste the vines Tony had brought to ground, and I gave thanks for having such a wonderfully helpful and wise neighbor. I had not even considered trying to break apart the tree to prevent future calamities. Thank you, Tony!

As for Marcie, like most of our goats she is greedy; however, when her greed leads to death-defying stunts, I'm thinking that her level og greed qualifies as gluttony. I'm thankful that Marcie the glutton is alive and well to tell her story.