Remote gate opener

We have this goat, Basil, who weighs probably 250 pounds. He's very sweet but he does not know his own strength.  He when I go in to that pen with him, sometimes he runs at me and knocks me over. or just pushes me up against the fence and rubs his stinky head on me. YUK! that thing is covered with pee and I don't want to smell like that.

So, I don't go in that pen. Therefore, Basil has not been going out to the field to eat. I felt bad for him and talked to William. When William is home he lets Basil out, which makes everyone happy.

Pull the PVC to release the gate latch.

Before William left this past weekend, he rigged up a nice remote opener for us. It does not require that I go in to the boy's goat pen to open the gate to let the goats out.

Here's how it works; on the girl's side of the pen William put together a pulley system. String, PVC, and a nail, I pull the PVC which is attached to a string that opens the gate latch in the boy's pen. Then I pull the string labeled #2 to swing open the gate, then the boys go out. The first time they looked over at us wondering what was happening, but it didn't take them long to figure that out.

You can't see it in the second picture very well, but there's a thin string attached to the latch, so when I pull the string, that big latch releases allowing me to open the gate.

See the string? the string releases the latch.

The string goes a long way over 2 pens.

To close the gate, I have to release the string. First I have to feed the goats so they go far away from the gate. Then I release the string and hop the fence to close the gate. That's the only time I have to go in.

I love having someone creative around - creative but simple, nothing elaborate, we didn't spend a thing on this (except William's time), and if it breaks there's no real loss.

Thanks William!!

The gate swings open, then I wrap the string around the nail to keep it that way.

Obi likes birds

Obi has never been to the zoo so today we took him and Rosie. He saw real monkeys and giraffes for the first time, but his favorite animals were the birds (lorakeets) and meerkats. He liked the bird that landed on mommy, the one that ended up on his own head. Then he kept meowing at the meerkats. So adorable.