The Lonely Goatherd

True story: The first time we went to Vermont, I thought we would all die on the ride.  We had woefully underestimated how long the trip would take and so by the time I ended up taking over the wheel, it was well past midnight.  Everyone was conked out and snoring like bears (or it could have actually been bears outside the car, I don't know) and according to our printed out map, we were close, just had to go up this mountain, make a few strategic turns, and we'd find the top rated family resort in America (life sized Plinko games on the lawn!!).
The problem was 1. No "street" lights - we were waaaaay up Green Mountain 2. The "turns" were not so much turns as they were Nascar style 90degree angles 3. No street signs, and I won't even get into the boulders that were left there to punish wayward drivers.
At some point around 2AM I started hyperventilating and thought, 'If I don't see some sign of life in the next minute, I will just pull over on the side (HA!) of the road and just start honking like a madwomen (not to be confused with Mad Men, they'd never be in this situation).  And that's when I saw it:

It did NOT look like this in the middle of the night

The Von Trapp Family Lodge!  But I didn't know it at the time.  I pulled in, jumped out, and RAN to the lobby.  I just wanted to see someone, anyone so long as they were human and awake, to get out of the Twilight Zone I'd been in.
Wait a minute!  Why does everyone look so ... VonTrapp-ish?  Why does the rosy-cheeked guy in the lobby who gave me directions remind me of Frederick?  Did I see a picture of Brigitta on the wall?  Am I hallucinating?  In a daze, I went back to the car in a daze and it wasn't until the next day at our resort that I learned that I had "stumbled upon" the actual home of the real Von Trapps after they fled Austria.  After years of travel, they finally settled in Vermont because the real Maria felt that Green Mountain was as close as possible to her beloved Alps.
So anyway, this was a BIG deal to me because I love love love the Sound of Music.  Before DVR and Tivo, there was something called annual TV events.  I preferred SoM even to the Wizard of Oz because it never gave me nightmares like some other flying primates that will remain nameless.  This year is the 45 anniversary of the movie and so I wanted to finally give my kids what they've been asking for a hundred times:
Goat Marionettes!

Except the beer afloat part, my kids know the words to this whole song, really!  And they've never even seen the Sound of Music (I did show them this youtube clip though ... busted). 
So I jumped with glee when I saw this idea on Howdoesshe, and I used this goat:

to make my own version of these guys:

Unfortunately, I don't have pictures yet because my camera's dead and has joined a union - so it won't work when dead anymore.  However, just use your imagination and lots of googly eyes and be sure to follow the advice that reminds you NOT to tighten the brads and you will have your kids yodeling in no time.