Only at a 4-H fundraiser are you chasing a chicken through the Tractor Supply parking lot on a Saturday afternoon ….and nobody even thinks twice about it. Totally normal day.

Only when you live on a farm do you send texts like this to your kid’s friend’s mom….on a regular basis… “The girls were running with the goats on their leashes and [name here] fell down. She scraped her hand and knee a little. Just washed it up and put bandaids on. She is fine but wanted to let you know. ” Totally normal day.

Only when you live in a crazy barn do you have to spend 20 minutes figuring out how to feed the feral barn-cats in their transition cages without getting mauled by them because the farm dog decides she’s now a guard dog against those wild things. Totally normal day.

Ummm, did you really turn the goats loose in the back garden to eat the weeds? Now, call the crisis line–we have a jumper.

Only, ahem, ….here, do you find yourself stopped in the road waiting for cattle to cross on your way to a birthday party. And then find yourself at the end of a gated dirt road trying to climb a hill for signal to get better directions to the party…

And then, when you finally get back home and go inside for a break– there’s the chicks suddenly flying out of their brooder and the inevitable scramble for wire -or something, anything!- quick to cover them because it’s still too cold at night for them outside but now you have chickens flying …quite literally….down the hallway. Totally normal day.

At the end of the day, when the sun is starting to set and you finally think it’s time for things to quiet down…you find your kid in the arena training her dog to jump. “Watch mom! We’re going to enter agility competitions!”

And, of course, this was my day “off”. Totally normal day off.

Oh, should I even mention that one of the barn cats had her babies…

Sooooooo….. I’ll make some hot chocolate, put it in a thermos and say good night

Totally normal end to a totally normal day.

Good night from the barn folks.