Attack of the killer goats...

...and sheep, oh and one donkey too! Killer goats, in France? you might well query. And I state, emphatically, bien sur (of course). Ok, ok, here's the story. It was a gorgeous, sunny, fall day today. The beam detector that Josh has been slaving over all week is out of commission till Monday and thus, we have the day to ourselves. We decided to take advantage of this beautiful weather to do a little hiking around our house. There are many yet unexplored trails near us, so off we set. Marion, our neighbor had told us of a trail that leads west of us (at least I think it's west, I'm rather directionally challenged) to a neighboring town called Thoiry. Perfect for a nice walk with Ally. We find the path and head off, following the lovely little signs placed sporadically around indicating yes we are on a path and yes Thoiry is still that way. Eventually we come to a little gate, we go through it and find ourselves in a field full of what a appear to be sheep. Upon closer inspection we discover there are lots of sheep, a bunch of goats, and a stray donkey munching away on the grass.
The animals stare fascinated at us, or maybe it's Ally that transfixes them, but they stop and stare not moving a muscle until we are safely to the other side of the field and out the fence. We continue happily along our walk for, oh about an hour or so, when we are back to the fence leading into the goat/sheep field.
Only this time ALL the animals are directly in our path! There is no going around them. We start forward and they back off, as they should, making way for their superiors! But then, they decide it would be great fun to follow after us. hmmm...goats don't bite do they? Was going through my head, when in front of me Josh says, "C'mon Ally let's go" and they start running! Josh claims this was a maneuver to scare the goats blocking our path so that they would move out of the way, which, I will admit, he succeeded in doing. Unfortunately, he also succeeded in getting all the goats and sheep behind us to start running straight for us! Aaaahhhhh. Their comin' straight for us, or more precisely ME!
With a little shriek, I yelled, "Don't run, they're running after us!" To which Josh responded by speeding up. I could feel the fetid breath of the goats on my back as I too took to my heels and made a mad dash to the gate. What ever happened to no man left behind?!? If I can only get through the gate these crazy goats can't get me. I heaved a sigh of relief as I safely slammed the gate behind me. I turned on my DH (usually meaning darling husband, but I think at the moment he could be more accurately described as devil husband) and said, "what was that about?" He smiled and said, "I had to save Ally." What? You sacrificed your wife to killer goats to save your dog? THAT IS JUST PLAIN WRONG! His defense is that she is smaller than I am, the goats could have trampled her and besides, I was right behind him, wasn't I? Wouldn't he have felt bad if his poor wife had tripped and been ground to a bloody pulp under the cloven hooves of a pack of demon goats? Sure, but the dog would have been safe.