Grain Shed Conspiracies

I know this is Animal Farm. I know the barn cats, mice, possum, and possibly a couple of raccoons have meetings and play cards in the grain shed at night. I swear I’ve heard a gavel banging, bottle caps opening, and a smoker’s hack out there. The pigeons keep watch. I fear they’re just about ready for the takeover.

The booming peacock population is no doubt part of the plan. By meddling with Nature’s cruel but crucial balance, I’ve pushed our flock from eight to fifteen. There’s Francoise & Mitzi with two chicks, Ramon & Wanda with four, Junior & Debbie with one, and the yearlings, Ike & Tina (Ike’s in the picture, sunning himself near the greenhouse windows). If one calculates the future growth potential, man…I gotta stop feeding the peacocks.

Ray saw Snowball (all-white barn cat) Wednesday, sneaking around by the garden. We hadn’t seen her lately. Then yesterday, we met Snowflake in the loafing shed. She’s an all-white kitten, maybe 6-8 weeks old, extremely thin and a bit wobbly. She dashed back into the pyramid shed (where the cats live) when she saw us. Haven’t seen the black tom for a week or so. Feeding the cats hasn’t affected the cat population, but it’s only a matter of time before Snowball spreads the word to neighbor cats about the late-night conclaves and the free Wal-Mart chow.

It was in the 90’s yesterday. I weeded the garden and picked cukes, our first ripe tomatoes, and jalapenos before it got too hot and sticky to work. Went to town to work at school for a bit and visit Mom. She was supposed to have surgery Tuesday and has been a wreck anticipating it, then it was cancelled on Monday due to “misplaced” medical records and a possible EKG glitch. So now she has to see a cardiologist and start the whole pre-surgical anxiety train going again. She just moved up here last year from Omaha, and while I know lost records happen everywhere, blunders like this surely fuel the South Dakota “bumpkin” rep.

Hauled out the baby pool for Yogi in the afternoon, slave that I am. It took him 30 seconds to learn to jump in and out, then he was in in in. He walked obsessively in a circle, blowing bubbles through his nose, then sticking his face under to try and catch the bubbles, which meant blowing more bubbles, etc. He also found a rabbit nest in the garden. A baby bunny peeked out, which gave him something new to obsess over. I’d like to think we’re all living in perfect harmony here, but in truth, the bunny was probably filling Yogi in on Uncannery Row’s animal hierarchy (we’re at the bottom, obviously) and future mandatory grain shed meetings…