Mojina and Moreno
About eight years ago, we became friends with two goats - really good friends. Yes, simple goats
They lived on the farmland along Finley Road in the Central Valley. That place always felt like a small Eden: horses, goats, sheep, cows, birds, dogs, cats, and bees all sharing the hills, creeks, and old oak woods. A little stream ran through the middle until midsummer, and ancient oaks gave shade along its banks.
Mojina, Moreno, and Cookie belonged to another farm. We saw them almost every time we hiked there. We started feeding them grass or fresh leaves from the trails. They were incredibly friendly, especially Mojina, the female. She was clearly the boss. Moreno and Cookie (the males) followed her everywhere, but whenever they understood what she wanted, they would suddenly act as if it had been their idea all along. It reminded me so much of human behavior.
Just before COVID, the owners sold the ranch and moved away. The new owners never came. During the long months of isolation, Mojina, Moreno, and Cookie were left mostly on their own. We started visiting them several times a week, bringing food. Of course goats can feed themselves - there are even proverbs about it - but what mattered most was that they waited for us. They would come running when they heard our voices and eat from our hands. In that strange, lonely time, caring for them helped us as much as it helped them.
Even after COVID ended, we continued to visit. Sometimes we brought treats. Last year we noticed Mojina was having trouble walking - her joints seemed inflamed, perhaps Lyme disease. Every month her condition worsened.
In February, when we saw her, she came over actively and ate with appetite. We thought she was getting better.
In the last week of May, we hiked the trail again. We saw Cookie standing near another goat (Mojina or Moreno - it was hard to tell from a distance). We called, but they didn’t come. There was plenty of grass around, so we assumed they were full and continued on.
In the first week of June, I went for another hike. I saw Cookie and a new goat. I called Cookie, but he was focused on a bobcat hiding in the bushes. The new goat came over and I fed her. Two local women were hiking nearby and stopped to talk. When I mentioned our old friends, they told me the sad news:
Mojina had died. She could no longer walk and had gone down.
Moreno had been bitten by a rattlesnake and died too.
I was shocked. We had lost two very close friends...
Cookie is still around, but he seems lost.
Mojina
2015 - March 2026
Moreno
2015 - May 30, 2026
They were just goats.
But for eight years they were our friends.
And in the hardest times, they gave us something simple and pure - the quiet joy of being welcomed, of being needed, of mattering to someone who waited for you on the hill.
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