Ok, I have decided that if I ever do move out into the country that I have to get a fainting goat. A co-worker and I were discussing goats one day, can’t remember why and she said something about a fainting goat. I had never heard of such a thing and when I googled it to prove it as she suggested, the videos were so funny that I marked one as a favorite. Now everytime I’m having a stressful day, I bring up the video, turn down the volume and laugh hysterically. Usually others come to see what I am laughing at and they start laughing too and voila…tension gone, good mood restored.
The goats don’t actually faint. Their muscles just freeze for about 10 seconds when they are startled and in most cases this makes them fall over. It’s a genetic disorder…or entertainment for LeeAnn, however you look at it. It doesn’t hurt them and its quite funny.
I have only fainted three times in my life that I can remember. None of the times were because I was startled. Two of the incidents have happened in the last few years and occurred when my blood sugar suddenly dropped and I didn’t have time to react by eating something. Luckily, both times there were people around to make sure I was ok. Once the pharmacist at Drug Warehouse witnessed me faint while waiting on my prescription to be filled for my diabetes medicine. If you’ve ever had a prescription filled at Drug Warehouse you can see why I fainted from low blood sugar. It takes forever! Mealtime comes and goes while you wait and wait and wait. The other time was in my own front yard when I mistakenly thought I could mow the yard before I ate something even though my stomach was growling. Not a good idea with diabetes. Luckily, my mower had the feature where if you turn loose of the handle it kills the motor. My neighbor across the street saw me go down and came over to assist me. Other than being really, really embarrassed, no worse for the wear. AND he finished mowing the front yard for me. Hmmmm, maybe I should do that more often.
The other time I fainted I was in 6th grade and we were on bleachers in the cafeteria practicing for a Christmas concert. Luckily, I was on the front row because I was short. I remember the room spinning and then a teacher standing over me splashing cold water on my face. And is the case in grade school where anything you do that interrupts the class routine I was the talk of the day. Not quite as big a hit as Jimmy Jackson who threw up on his desk one day during a game of 7 up but pretty close.
I think the fact that there is such a thing as a fainting goat proves God has sense of humor. I thought when I looked it up I would find out that it was a defense mechanism to protect them from predators, kinda like a skunk’s spray or a porcupine’s quills but that really doesn’t make sense. It would just make it easier to catch them if you were a wolf or a farmer wanting some tasty goat stew. Yuck!
I found out there is actually a fainting goat festival in Tennessee every October. I think I may have to plan a trip there. How much fun would that be! All it takes is a loud noise or a sudden move to startle the goat and it faints. Wonder how that works out? All the people making noise and milling about. I picture field full of goats sprawled on their sides. Just as they get up another noise makes them fall down. Sounds funny to me.
The whole subject of fainting led me to another google for information curiosity session. I wondered if there really was such a thing as smelling salts...like in old movies when they would get the smelling salts to revive what was usually a “delicate” woman. I found that in the old days policemen carried what were called lady vials which were vials of smelling salts used to revive fainting women. I think next time I’m pulled over for speeding I’ll pretend to faint and see if they still carry these.
Actually, most of the googled links to smelling salts talk about the danger or such. Apparently you can die from inhaling these. Though a further google search didn’t turn up any smelling salt deaths.
Ok, so back to the goats If you are feeling a little down, copy this link and past in your address bar.
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/429/
No comments:
Post a Comment