Can We Talk?

Women pretend they don't happen.  Men and boys are proud of theirs.  My nephew Phil sent me an email with more information than anyone needs regarding passing gas...farts.  What is it about guys and farts?  I think it's a rite of initiation for little boys who learn, in the absence of the real thing, to make the sound with the cupped-hand-in-the-armpit technique at a very young age.  Grown men give high-fives for the longest, loudest, smelliest...I'm not sure what the scoring system entails.  Farts are followed closely by burps, also a cause for celebration in Man Society.

This is by way of introducing the fact that goats fart.  If they cough, they fart.  They get what Larry the Cable Guy calls the "walking farts," tooting with every step as they amble up the path.  When my neighbor Joel walks the fenceline of his vineyard, he's not sure with which end the girls are greeting him.  My grandson was about eight when he first came here to visit and, of course, went with me to the milking room.  He was standing very close to the back end, watching the milking process intently, when Ruthie let go a blast that blew his hair back.  Having been taught that farts were not "socially acceptable," he looked at me to see my reaction to this faux pas.  When I started smiling, it sent this little boy into gales of laughter.  "She farted, Grandma!  She farted!!"  I'm sure it was the highlight of his visit, and he probably shared it later at school in Show-and-Tell.  After all, he's a guy.