Partying with the Locals

Brother Sam is at it again, this time with one of the local men:



Here's his take on the event:

After I finished my last test pit yesterday I just threw my stuff from where I was in the pit to the surface. I was about 2.5 meters deep, so I could not see the outside of it. I threw up my hammer, my water bottle, my tape measure, and my clipboard with the log sheet on it. The slope to get into the hole is steep loose dirt, so it is kind of a struggle. As my eyes came to ground level I noticed a herd of goats surrounding the TP. Then I looked over, and one was eating my log sheet. I grabbed the hammer and raised it at him, and all he did was stare at me and then continue eating my work. I scrambled at him and he looked at me and made an Eli waaaaa noise (Eli is Sam's pet Pekingese. Looks like a giant furry cockroach, but he's pretty cute for a yip-yip dog -- ed.). I was pissed, but it was really funny. I took it away from him, and he gave me a 'well, you owe me something to eat now' stare and bleat. He trotted away a little bit, but I held my hand down and he came right back. I went to the truck to get my camera, and the herd moved on, but I motioned for my new buddy and he came right back. It was funny. It did sort of startle me when my head first broke the surface and was eye to eye with a horned goat though. Here are a couple of photos of my friend. It was really funny, and I had to rewrite the log sheet, but I could see all of the information that I had written on it, so it was no great loss. All of the goats are itty bitty.

I still think he's at a petting zoo, but he swears these are the wild natural fauna of Mongolia.