The Craigs missed Soozie greatly - the barn seemed empty now without the playfulness of their little friend. For those who have goats, and really come to know them, the effervescent caprine personality endearingly writes itself upon the human spirit - once without, the spirit feels a few pages blank. Perhaps it was unrecognized intuition, for just two weeks prior to Soozie's last visit to the vet, Linda had located a 2-year old purebred Alpine doe for sale locally and had agreed to her purchase. The stated purpose was to give Soozie the added companionship of another goat. The sheep had been acceptable partners for her, but Matt and Linda had thought an addition of one more goat would be nice - not only to have "one of her own kind" for Soozie but also for their chance to own a goat that was currently producing milk.

Nodaway Silver Mist had been born in Missouri, and had made the rounds of a couple small farms around north Texas. She was the "odd goat" out at the time in the small Toggenberg and LaMancha herd of Rebecca Staggs. Mist had recently joined Rebecca's herd as a temporary addition - her actual owner needed a place for Mist to stay while he sought a new buyer for her. Linda had fallen in love with her at first sight - a large, rangy doe colored in creme with a powdering of chocolate across her back that matched the stripes on her face. Mist was the most beautiful doe that Linda had ever seen.

Linda and Matt made arrangements with Rebecca to keep Mist for a couple months while they kept an eye on the two barbado wethers for any sign that they might have been infected with mycoplasmosis from Soozie. Luckily, the two wethers, Baa Baa Louie and Ed McMutton, remained healthy and strong. A week before Mist finally came to live with the Craigs, another upset occurred - this time with the sheep. A stray dog got into their pasture and attacked Ed, damaging his right foreleg so severly that they had to euthanize him. Mist arrived to now share the barn with only lonesome Louie.

Mist easily took over where Soozie had left off. Louie followed her wherever she went. And Mist was very tolerant of the young wether, sometimes almost maternal in her manner with him - nuzzling his ear or allowing him to lay next to her. Louie would at times even revert to lamb-like play in her presence, springing up joyfully and prancing about her.

The pair seemed happy and content with one another, and the Craigs were happy with their very small "herd." Linda had, with a few nervous and awkward starts, learned to easily milk Mist and fully empty her udder within a couple days. Luckily, Mist was a very patient and tolerant subject for Linda's tentative hands! The Craigs found that goat milk far surpassed the pastuerized cow milk they purchased in the supermarket. There is always a wonderous and blessed difference in natural "as is" foods when compared to their processed counterparts. Yet luck was to be shortlived.

A little over two months from the time Mist first arrived, Linda arrived home from her job in Dallas to discover their dogs, Chico and Rags, agitated, Obie barking loudly from inside, and Louie bawling adamantly at her from the barn's side door. She dropped her purse and went running, dress cloths and shoes of no concern, into the stall to find Mist down - bloody and with a broken bone sticking out from her left foreleg, alive but acutely suffering from her injuries. Another stray dog attack had apparently occured, and once again the attacking dog had left behind a severly injured animal. Beside herself in anguish and blaming herself for not having protected her beloved charge better, Linda dropped to her knees and comforted Mist - and tearfully begged an apology. Matt arrived home within a few minutes of Linda's horrified discovery, and rushed inside to locate a vet somewhere on call for afterhours emergencies that would be willing to help Mist.

A vet in Lancaster, 20 minutes away, returned Matt's call within a half-hour. She reluctantly agreed to see Mist at the clinic. The Craigs carefully carried Mist to their car and placed her on their back seat. Getting to the Lancaster veterinary clinic, the young vet who had agreed to see Mist admitted that she was extremely inexperienced in treating goats or sheep and advised the Craigs, based only on her visual examination of Mist's leg, that the best choice would be euthanasia. She explained that, on the basis of the leg's appearance and in her own opinion, there would be no way to set it correctly, plus with the fracture having broken through the skin, that the risk of infection did not suggest any positive outcome of trying more aggressive methods for treatment. She offered no hope for an alternative solution. Matt and Linda, distraught and not wanting Mist to suffer unduly, sadly agreed to have Mist put down. They were still inexperienced with keeping goats, and not yet fully aware of the inate will and determination that many goats have to survive and recover from even the worst of health compromises. Given that knowledge today, they would not make the same decision.

The shock at Mist's sudden and totally preventable loss had they only protected her better, depressed Linda so much that she could barely go into the barn. Louie, while physically spared without a bite, bawled daily for his lost friend. Sheep and goats need companionship, and suffer greatly when they are alone. A friend made a suggestion of getting a donkey to protect Louie from any further attacks. The Craigs soon located an older small standard jack for sale in Cedar Hill. Knowing nothing about donkeys, the little gray dun jack made an impression on both of them when they went to look at him. He was at a small farm that had a variety of stock, including sheep, so they bought him hoping that he would both protect Louie and provide him with a friend. However, Louie had never seen a donkey before and panicked. He refused to share the same pasture, let alone the same barn, with Jake. Linda, still depressed and blaming herself for Mist's loss, had no desire to purchase any goats or sheep...yet she wanted Louie to be happy. Since the neighbor with those very scrub goats that Obie had originally enjoyed running after - those goats that first inadvertently prompted their own purchase of Soozie - also had a couple sheep, she asked if they would be willing to take Louie. They agreed and Louie went to his new home and to companions more of his liking.

Within a few months, the joyful memories of owning Soozie and Mist returned and replaced the sadness of their loss. It was Matt who first suggested, after their visit to the dairy goat show at the State Fair of Texas, that Linda consider getting a few goats once again. They made the decision to call Nat Adams, a woman whom they had met at the fair while exhibiting her Alpines. She invited them up to see her herd in Sanger, Texas and with that visit their lives became forever intertwined with goats. But this time it would be in a loving commitment to an exceptional dairy goat breed - the incredible Alpine.