Stranger Than the Usual

The other day was a little more strange than usual.  Do you ever think to yourself, "This seems so absurd...I couldn't make this up if I tried?"  And I think I do have a pretty active imagination. :)

Everyone was doing outside chores in the morning.  The little girls discovered the cats playing with a mouse.  Actually, they were torturing the poor thing & it was trying to get away dragging it's back legs.  They're older brother decided to put it out of it's misery by hitting it with a shovel.  He didn't think to ask the girls to go somewhere else, and as can be imagined, they got pretty upset.  As I'm hanging out the window seeing what all the screaming is about & trying to calm Susanna down (Alyssa wasn't as upset, but Susanna is my little Dr. Dolittle), I thought I heard a noise that is odd to hear inside.  I shut the window, walked down the hall & found 2 chickens standing b/w the laundry room & the kitchen.  They were looking side to side, checking the place out.  Obviously, someone left the door open. :)

Most of the rest of the day was the usual strange/normal stuff.  We're trying to get our new rescue-retired harness horse in with the rest of the horses...but Casey & Red are being territorial.  So, we keep having to mix & match the herd up.  Red is a Nakota mustang & has very clear distinctions for herd behavior, who's a part of the herd...and who is NOT.  He isn't accepting Super 88.  Poor 88 doesn't have a mean/aggressive bone in his body & doesn't seem to know how to protect himself-this is the first time in years he's even been turned out with another horse.  He got so worked up trying to get away from Red that he actually fell down on his side in the pasture.  So, we'll have to work on that another day.  I think it was because the pony was in there, too...so we'll do 88 & Red alone next time.  Got Casey & 88 getting along as long as they're alone; next we'll add others to see what dynamics occur.  It really is fascinating (and sometimes downright terrifying) watching horse relationship behavior.

The Equine Dentist came in the middle of the afternoon & what an amazing little "field trip" that turned out to be.  The dentist was awesome-super friendly, let the kids get right in the middle of everything & explained it all...and she was calm, gentle & patient with the horses.  We had never used an equine dentist before-just had the vet float their teeth, but Casey had potential problems & it turned out she did a better job, cost less money & only uses sedation if it's actually needed (unlike our vet who gives it to every horse). Here's Tootsie Toes(18) eyeing the bucket of tools.

And, finally for the strangest thing of the day...these two came up to us while we're working with the horses, asking us to guess what's on Alyssa's forehead & cheeks. I never saw them go inside, so I didn't think it was face paint.  Turns out Susanna (the blondie) picked a scab on her leg & painted Alyssa's face with her blood.  Uh..yep, those are my wild little girls.  The dentist was in hysterics...she said, "there's 4 kids in my family & I was the wild one.  I love it!"  LOL

An that wasn't the end of the day, either.  The evenings here lately have been busier than I'd like them to be (4H, softball, chorus, etc).  That evening Jonah had a softball game & Hannah had a mandatory meeting at her workplace (farmer's market)  She had already worked there in the morning & needed the evening to ride & do schoolwork, so that wasn't too convenient...plus that started 30 mins after Jonah's game started...arghhh!   Anyway, thankfully, my husband ended up being home early enough to take Jonah.  That should have made getting Hannah to the meeting no problem... except that on the way down the driveway, we discovered that one of the cows was loose & the rest were about to follow suit.  We got out of the car & herded him back in.  He walked up to the fence & from a standing position, leaped over the top.  We were amazed-they usually jump thru the wire strands.  It was really a beautiful jump! LOL. Except, then he started to burst thru the fence again when we got in the car, so Hannah stayed there to guard the fence while I drove back up to the house to see if the fence was off-it was.  Turns out that earlier the fence had been turned off for the horses when we were dealing with the dentist & no one remembered to turn it back on.
The rest of the evening was a flurry of taking Hannah to work, running to the ballgame, chasing the little girls around while Pat & Jonah played ball (church team), going back to get Hannah (and the meeting ran 20 mins later than she thought), trying to get back to the game before it ended, but, alas, I was too late.  Went back home & collapsed!  :) 
So, long story short...our days are usually strange, but not quite THIS strange! LOL :)