“Hey Jess, what did you guys do this weekend?”   I reply without hesitation, “Oh we went to a team goat branding, had breakfast with good friends, then we all built a table, and topped er off with Sushi.”  “Wait- backup!  TEAM GOAT BRANDING.  Did I hear you correctly, Jess?  Is that really what it sounds like?”   “Why Yes, its exactly what I said.” I replied!  My reply was followed by an immediate widening of the eyes, open mouth gasp, and a blood curdling shriek, that sounded something like, “A goat branding, you branded goats?”   And here we are, as I sit ever so relaxed, and explain to you my friends how WE spend weekends in the desert “branding goats”!  Mind you, the table manufacturing or sushi consuming was not the shocking part of the weekend.  But rather, the goat roping- WEIRD!  Sounds all perfectly normal if you ask me.

So how many of you have ever been to a goat roping?  I have to admit, this was my first.  But definitely won’t be my last.  It was SOOOOO fun.  We were invited to some good friends’ house, to celebrate their HOMECOMING!  They blessed us with good food, great friendship, and a goat team branding.  Now let me explain to you how this inordinate amount of fun takes place.  You sign up on a three man team.  They turn three goats loose in the pen.  Each person has to rope 2 goats, and the other is the brander.  Now, this so called “brand” is done with white powdered paint.  No hot brand was used in the making of this film.  No goats were harmed in the friendly competition.  It was beyond fun, BEYOND!  You got entered as many times as you could possibly handle, heckled every other friend brander, and roped until it was so dark you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.  This my friend is called the team goat branding.  This is what you do in the desert on the weekends.  Some might say we have far too much time on our hands.  To which I reply, only enough time, that includes roping goats.  Hello, my name is Jessica, and I have a roping addiction.