The Blessed Event

Yes, it finally happened. It was one of those days, let me tell you…

Monday was Precious’ due date, but we were wishing the babies would have arrived on the weekend. We both had events that we couldn’t miss, and we were still having trouble accessing the cam away from home. It worked perfectly while we were at home. Go figure.

I rushed home after work, and saw that her udder was quite large, but thankfully, no babies yet. I milked a bit out of her, which also is a sign that babies are imminent. I knew from personal experience, though, that these things often take time. So I expected a middle-of-the-night delivery. I went inside and took it easy and dozed after supper. Of course, we had her on the cam loud and clear.

B woke me up about 12:30 to go to bed, and I couldn’t get to sleep, as she was bleating quite loudly with every labor pain. She was still in early labor, though. I finally decided I would do more good outside with her than inside in bed not sleeping, so I went out.

It was BITTERLY cold. I put on three pairs of pants, three shirts, two pair of socks (one wool), two coats, a scarf, hat, and my new thinsulate mittens. Then I found an old white comforter that could be bleached when done, and I took it out and wrapped myself in it. I was absolutely chilled to the bone. My feet were in intense pain from being so cold. But I remembered the pain of labor, and realized that Precious probably hurt more than I did. I finally brought my car to the barn so I could go out periodically and warm up. I must have fallen asleep about 5-5:30 am in the car, as when I woke up and went back into the barn, her water had broken. I expected to see pushing soon.

I did my chores, and came into the house to make sure that everyone was up and getting ready for school. They had no idea I had been up all night. In fact, B told me he had a dream that I told him she was kidding and I was going out to the barn. I told him it was no dream!!

I finally called my friend S and asked her when I could expect pushing. She said that the babies were likely not into the birth canal and were malpresented. I needed to go in with a glove, adjust the way they were presenting, and help her get them out.

WHAT?!! I had not signed up for this!! I know that complications happen, but the first time?! Why me?? She said that I should try it first and then call the vet if there were problems.

Time was of the essence, of course. However, not only did we need to get these kids born, but B and I both had to go to work. I had a conference call that I needed to be on, and an appointment to discuss some items with another colleague just before that. I needed to leave by 10:30 am.

So I took my OB glove and went in. I found the babies, and repositioned them, and she pushed them out. I was truly convinced that I had not acted fast enough and that they would be dead. To my tearful jubilation, they were both born healthy and very much alive! We dried them off and momma loved on them, but we ultimately had to take them into the house, as it was so incredibly cold. She missed them, but is doing fine, and happy to be free of that excess weight!

We have had to milk her and then bottle feed the babies, which is a lot of work (and very cold for us). But it is worth it. The babies are inside, in the mud room, in a dog kennel. We let them out when we feed them, and they are fun to play with and be around. They are absolutely adorable—hard to believe that they grow into such large livestock!

Pictures are below. And oh—no names yet!

BarnCam

Well... no babies yet.

And, given that life goes on (read: I have to work despite having babies due), we have set up a barncam. I mentioned it before, but I can't even tell you how consuming it has been. Firewalls, port forwarding, the direcway system, remote desktops, USB cams vs. IP cams, hard wired vs. wireless, antenna boosters, wireless repeaters-- all of this crap has consumed us for the past 2 weeks. All to make sure we don't miss the blessed event.

And, as is often the case with technology, when it works, it's awesome. When it fails, it's miserable. Unfortunately, it has failed more than it has succeeded. We strive for audio and video, since it's important to hear her as well as see her (especially if she moves off-cam). But if you have audio, your video can be unreliable, and vice-versa. When we are home, we can get it to work very well. At work-- where we need the most reliability-- it works not-so-well.

So, while we are at work, our solution is a streaming web cam, with no audio. At least we can see something.

Here is the link:

Our cam is "BarnCam"-- be sure to select the Friends and Family section, and then the Barn Cam from the dropdown link.

Sorry for the commercial nature of the feed-- it was all I could find. If you have a better solution, I will jump at it!!

Happy Monday. I have meetings all day today, so send Precious some good thoughts about holding onto those babies until at least late this afternoon.

Updated: Ugh, I see it's down now. See what I mean? And we're not there to reboot or anything...

I Kid, I Kid!

Actually, I am not kidding. But we do have a goat that is about to kid any day! I did not mention that we have two new girls, Precious and Tango. We now have three that are going to kid this spring, as Cindi is bred as well. Precious' due date is Saturday, and Cindi's is March 4. Tango has been ultrasounded, and is pregnant with twins, but nobody saw her being bred, so her due date is unknown. By looking at all of the goats, I would say that the date is somewhere between the two, maybe mid-February.

So, given the concern for being with the girls while they kid, we have been focusing the efforts during our scarce free time into crafting a barn cam. It would be very helpful for me to be able to view the cam while at work, so that I can keep tabs on them and come home if needed. It's also a long way to the barn when it's 10:30, freezing cold outside, and you're in your pajamas. Or 1:30 am and you wake up in a cold sweat just KNOWING she needs you out there, but you really don't want to leave the comfort of your bed.

Our barn cam is experiencing HUGE issues, however. First there is the issue of the metal barn. Then there was the connectivity between the barn and the wireless router in the house. Now we are having problems with me being able to view streaming video while at work. It's one thing after another. However last night we were able to keep a stable video connection between the barn and the house all night. We all slept like babies, Precious and Tango in plain view (and plain voice!) on my nightstand.

Again, I am concerned becuase I am at work today, unable to view them. But if we can just make it a few more hours, then we have the whole weekend... Keep your fingers crossed for me!

My Teeny College Made the News

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070125/ap_en_tv/people_colbert

People can be so petty. But it was cool to open Yahoo news and see my alma mater.

Saturday Morning

I haven't taken photos in forever. Friday night and into Saturday morning, the area was blanketed in a heavy fog. When the sun came up yesterday, we were treated to a beautiful sight! I couldn't resist even the nasty cold-- I dusted off my camera and headed out. Hope you enjoy.

The Transformation

This is the living room of our house, taken from the dining room. This picture was taken before we bought it. We had a vision, which was clearly different than the shag carpeting, light-blocking curtains and dark walls.






In the second photo, we have stripped the paneling off of the walls, removed most of the wallpaper underneath, and took up the carpeting. Even though it's not finished in this picture, you can see the transformation in the room just from lightening up the environment. Also, in the first picture, the "archway" was all framed in-- a surprise to us when we removed the paneling.



We stripped the walls, patched and painted them. We're now ready for trim and ceiling tiles. They had put foam 1 x 1' square sound-absorbing tiles up, and we are going to replace them with a tin pattern ceiling. Someday. When we get more time...


Same room, different angle. Isn't it so much better?

My parents should have named me Frank.

Because I am. It’s just the way I am.

So, I will be frank with you. (Spoken like I have never been frank before in my blog.)

I have not blogged about anything recently, as I have been intentionally avoiding the “elephant in the corner” as we affectionately refer to the term at work. It’s that thing that that is looming there, that everyone wants to know about but nobody wants to ask about. This elephant, in this food lady’s life, is her fragile mental health. How is my mental health these days? Am I hanging out in the rubber room? Curled up in the fetal position on my living room floor?

Well, my motto has always been “Better Living Through Chemistry” and this situation is no exception. Lexapro is my miracle drug of choice, and with the exception of a few speed bumps along the way, it has been a miracle.

I have a friend at work who battles his own demons, and he has said to me, “You need a heaping spoonful of ‘I don’t give a shit.’” And he’s right. However, I seem to have a cup full at the moment. Remember my posts about feeling guilt for not doing laundry? Or dishes? Well, there is guilt no more! But now I struggle with the need for some sort of motivation. I struggle with it at home and at work. I am very motivated with the animals, however. I am happy that I continue to honor my commitment to them as an “animal husband.” But the laundry? It’s not done.

B says that’s fine. He likes it much better this way. Let me tell you a funny story:

I had Christmas Day dinner planned out. My inner Martha Stewart was somewhat shut down by the drugs, and I had decided that I’d do a spiral glazed ham in the crock pot, put some veggies and potatoes in the oven, and then we’d just eat off of that all day. It would be a NICE dinner, but not a formal dinner. And there would be minimal work for me.

But the trouble started on Christmas Eve, when my Lexapro self decided that I couldn’t be bothered with the prep work. The inner Martha could not win that battle. I went to bed without the pumpkin pie or pineapple upside down cake being made. Martha was placated by Lex’s assurance that I would get up early and get it all done before 9 am. I mean, the kids will not let us sleep very late on CHRISTMAS, right?? Wrong.

Martha, Lex, B, the kids and I all woke up at 9 am. I am surprised that Martha slept that late. She is usually up at 5:30, banging around in the kitchen, trying to guilt everyone else into getting up and helping. But Lex drugged her into sleep. And we all slept well! We opened our prezzies, and I went to the barn, and it was all good. I came back, and snuggled under the quilt on the couch, and the sun was streaming in, and the cats surrounded me and…

I WOKE UP AT 2:30!!! And nobody had made anything; there was nothing in the house to eat (except the uncooked Christmas dinner and a few leftovers that were not enough to feed a ravenous household!). B suggested the grocery store, but Martha reminded him in her infinite wisdom that the grocery store was closed on Christmas day. Lex told him to go to the gas station and see what he could rustle up.

AND MARTHA WAS QUIET!!! She was drugged in to submission, and Lex seemed pleased that her family was so well fed WITH SLIDERS ON CHRISTMAS DAY !! What did BABY JESUS think when he looked down and realized that LEX LOVED HIM SO MUCH SHE CELEBRATED HIS BIRTH BY SERVING HER FAMILY WHITE CASTLE SLIDERS???!!! FROZEN ONES THAT WERE REHEATED IN THE MICROWAVE!!

Martha was secretly pleased when the kids remarked, “Mom, these are the nastiest burgers I have ever tasted! Can I please have that extra sub sandwich that dad got?”

Strengthened by this, Martha rallied the troops and enlisted help from everyone, to whip up the meal that had been planned! The boy made the pumpkin pie while Martha made the crust and barked orders at the crew. Thankfully Lex tempered the Martha dictator, and the atmosphere was one of camaraderie. Baby Jesus would be proud of THIS. We had the meal done by 7:30 pm, and ate our fill that day, and had ham for dinner for a week after that.

Later, when Martha begged forgiveness from B for being under the influence of Lex, B said he loved her multiple personalities with Lex in the mix. Martha asked him if he wanted to boot Lex out of her life, and while he said, ‘It’s up to you, Dear” she really heard the truth in his voice: ‘If you ever go off of this medication, I will run screaming for the hills never to be heard from again. Never, EVER miss a pill.” And I think he really means that, White Castle for Christmas dinner and all.

So, bear with me and my cup full of I don’t give a shit. It’s not that I don’t, I really care about things. But other things just get in the way…

Truthfully, and kidding aside, part of the titration is to get through the part where you are feeling somewhat numb. My first reaction to the medication was that I did not like how it took away all of the good feelings with the bad. My emotions were spiking up and down, and I liked the ups. I never even considered that the medicine would shave the peaks off of the good and the valleys off the bad moods. Fortunately, the peaks have come back, and the valleys have stayed away, except when appropriate. This has been a good thing for me. But I continue to have motivation problems. It’s the old, “spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” line. Last night I really intended to get some extra work done that I had brought home. Yeah, and B woke me up at midnight to go to bed. My laptop was still open. I had fallen asleep waiting for a remote document to load. I had every intention to stay awake, but…

Okay, you get the picture. The gist is this: I know you are all used to Martha with the stick up her butt. But please, be patient with Lex, and get to know her. She’s totally laid back and cool (when she’s not sleeping). And she’s REALLY, really good for Martha.

I'm SO making this next year...

Cool, eh?

Jumping to Contusions

Saturday night B and I went out to feed the animals. I had gone to a meeting, so when we went out it was later than usual. I fed as I always do, and stopped a minute to pet Major as he ate. I must have startled him or made him think that in some way I was going to take his food, but he instantly lunged at me and bit me in the upper arm. It was an extremely hard impact, it happened so fast and suddenly that I had no idea what happened until took a couple of seconds to replay it all in my head. He bit me straight through my coat, and while he did not break the skin, I can't imagine what he would have done had I not been wearing a coat. Or if he would have bitten my face. He did not mean to do it in that way, he has never been aggressive to me, other than nipping for attention or stamping out of anger. He has been relegated to low horse on the totem pole in the pasture, and I am sure he was instinctively potecting his food from a horse-- he just assumed that it was another horse coming up next to him.

Too bad.

it HURTS!

Just another day in paradise...

Last week when B was sick, we pretty much spent the day in bed, ala John and Yoko. B slept, and I kept vigil with the thermometer and extra quilts, but I had my laptop with me and got some mundane data entry done.

I also mentioned that the cats were there (most of the day), all three piled on the bed with their thermal support, and the dogs were sleeping on the floor, surely adding a degree or two to the ambient temperature.

The kids were downstairs watching a movie, I heard a frantic shriek, “Mom! Bub’s got a mouse!” She is the resident mouser, while the other two cats jump on chairs and quiver when they see one of the rodents. In a vain attempt to get the mouse away from her (we are happy to have her kill them, but prefer she doesn’t eat them), the kids chased her upstairs with her kill—that wasn’t completely killed. She ran into our bedroom and under the bed, and promptly let the catch go. She wanted to play with it some more!

I chastised her and told her I would really REALLY like her to find that mouse sometime before bedtime, as I would prefer not to wake up with Mickey on my pillow! She set to work trying to find it, and she did just that. However, when I tried to get it away from her, she jumped up on my bed and let it go in my bed!!

Yes, that was creepy.

At that point, I put all phobias aside and threw the covers back, grabbed the (still very much alive) mouse by the tail, and took it outside.

I’m trying very hard to shed my suburban image. Is it working?

Renegade!

About two weeks ago B had to work late. We chatted on the way home via cell phone, of course, and he was just about home when he exclaimed, “Holy shit, there is a cow in the road!” It was a black cow, and given that it was dark, although we live in the country, the animal suddenly appearing in front of his rapidly moving automobile was somewhat of a shock to him.

We had an idea who owned the cow, and that person does not actually live on the premesis. He does have tenants who live in the house on the land, and B knocked on the door and told the tenant. The tenant said that he did, in fact, know that the cow had escaped, as it was a “jumper.” I had seen the cow jump before, or at least one of the cattle, as I drove by and stopped to tell the tenant at the time (not the same tenant).

So, the next morning I was doing chores at 5:30 am, it was still pitch black outside, and I was checking the waterer to make sure it had not frozen over. All of the animals were still inside munching on breakfast, and I heard a noise on the east side of the barn, near the manure pile. It sounded larger than a cat, and it occurred to me that it could be a deer. I happened to have a flashlight in-hand, and shined it toward the noise. I saw two large, glowing eyes staring back at me, framed by two sets of eartags. It was the renegade cow! She had come quite a distance, maybe a mile. I went around the fence to where she was, shooing her toward home, when suddenly the flashlight’s battery died! There I was, dead flashlight in-hand, in the middle of my yard, so dark I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. I could hear the cow, as she wandered off in the wrong direction—going deeper into our property. It was all I could do to stumble back in the general direction of the house and get ready for work.

A few days later M was home from school sick. I stayed with her, and decided to finish up some chores that afternoon. I was standing at the kitchen sink doing dishes (we don’t have a dishwasher) when I saw old Boss just wander up the driveway, like she was coming for her scheduled 4:00 pm visit! It was just one of those “this could only be happening to me” moments. Have you ever had a cow come visiting? Walk up your driveway when you were just doing the dishes? Strange, eh?

When the bus dropped L off a few minutes later, I said, “Hey, there is a cow in our yard, back in the back. Let’s go try and shoo her back home.” He went out with me, and she would not be deterred. She wanted nothing to do with us, but wouldn’t go in the direction we wanted her to go. When we cornered her, she ended up jumping a fence (should not have been a surprise to us) but toward the inside of the property, not toward her home. L intelligently pointed out that we should just leave her, as she would go where she wanted with her ability to jump.

The next morning she was still there. It was a Saturday, and I figured that I should get her home, lest the farmer think I was attempting to steal his cow. So I opened the gate, and chased her out. She was reluctant to leave once she was in the open yard, so I had to shoo her all the way down the driveway and out to the road, where she moseyed on home. I heard someone drive along and honk at her, too, so I know she was just carrying on back the way she came.

Fortunately, it was in the day, so she was not creating a traffic hazard as she was when Bill first saw her on the road.

The next night, the farmer gathered up all of his cows and took them away. He rotates his pastures over the winter, so it was not unexpected. But it was a good thing she got home in time.

Gift Idea...

Give the gift of goats!

This is an amazing organization. At some point, when our farm is turning a profit, I would like to donate some of our profits to this organization. This year we can consider it from our family to other families.

Just think of the headlines, "Goats Bring World Peace and Prosperity!"

My most requested Christmastime recipe...

Even the folks at work are clamoring for it!

Oreo Cookie Truffles

1 (550g) bag Oreo cookies
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, at room temp
2 cups milk chocolate chips

Crush the oreo cookies in a food processor, half of the bag at a time, until fine crumbs. Mix the softened cream cheese with the crushed cookies until completely mixed together with no white streaks from the cream cheese. (If you have a stand mixer, this process is painless.) Roll into half inch balls and place on a foil lined cookie sheet. Freeze (or at least refrigerate) for 30 minutes. Dip in melted chocolate. Try not to eat them all before you finish the batch...

Sometimes I alternate with coating them with white chocolate and milk chocolate, for a variety. The chocolate center does show through the white chocolate, though, so make sure you're okay with that. You can also drizzle the milk chocolate onto the white chocolate cookies, and white chocolate onto the milk chocolate cookies. It looks cool and professional that way.

Almond bark is easy to work with, but I don't think it tastes as good as the real thing. It does provide a nice crunchy outer chocolate coating, though.

Okay, now I'm hungry.

What Movie is Your Christmas Most Like?

Your Christmas is Most Like: A Charlie Brown Christmas

Each year, you really get into the spirit of Christmas. Which is much more important to you than nifty presents.

What Movie Is Your Christmas Most Like?

News from the farm...

Check this out:



That means we'll have spring kids!! And it also means that Wolfgang can do his job. While it seems kind of silly, when your buck is not proven, it's a gamble to spend the money on him.

But all is well...

Celebrate! We are!

Rut Defined

rut [ruht] noun, verb, rut·ted, rut·ting

is a general term that refers to the breeding period of mammals. During the rut, males exhibit specific behaviors to establish harems or to attract females to mate with.

Before Rut:



During Rut:



Notice the legs full of pee, the beard all matted and also full of his fresh scent. He really stinks as bad as he looks. But we love him. : )

Blogging from Bed

No, it's not a kinky sex thing, or a John and Yoko thing (though that might be kind of fun and stress-relieving)-- we are sick with some sort of stomach virus. Ugh.

It started early Friday morning, like about 2:45, when I heard M's voice say, "Mom, I got sick in my bed." I can't illustrate enough how I hate those words. First of all, I abhor being awakened in the night. I am just selfish, I guess, or maybe I feel like my years of having babies young enough to wake up multiple times in the night are over. I really don't know the reason, but I am cranky, sometimes downright mean. Especially when it's like 30 minutes before my alarm is supposed to go off... Secondly, when there is a mess involved-- like, "Okay, get up in the night now, and be at your best, and make snap decisions, and hop to it!" No.Thank.You. I will just go back to sleep and pretend your telling me that you projectile vomited all over numerous items in your room was just a nightmare. Sleep well, love.

Alas, it was not a dream, but yes, it was quite a nightmare. She is a horrible patient, she should have been born a man. (And for the record, the men in my house are great patients. : ))

All Friday I stayed home and listened to her moan about her aching body, prepared various food items in a vain attempt to see what she could keep down, shared the couch with her, even though she was hogging the entire space... It's a mom's job, right?

L came home that afternoon and told us that 50 kids on the 3rd floor of their school (I would estimate that that's approximately 150 kids) were out sick with this virus, as well as numerous teachers. So it's a community effort.

Saturday things were a little better, though she was cranky and certainly not completely well. B had a project at work to get done, and was not home until nearly 4:00. Shortly after arriving home, he felt sick. Yep, you guessed it, it was all downhill from there. We spent the vast majority of the night with the light on while he practiced his aim into the bowl.

And now, I am blogging from bed, as I do everything in my power not to get sick, and also to take care of B. He has a fever, and is very cold. It doesn't help that the current temperature in our room is 58! We have some great quilts, though, and the three cats and two dogs are crowded around to offer their heat as well.

L and I are just counting down the hours until the inevitable. We keep asking ourselves if we feel sick, and we always say, "A little." We're just waiting... Hopefully by that time, B and M will be well enough to take care of us.

Appropriate Attire

After a wonderfully thankful Thanksgiving day, spent with great friends and our darling goddaughter, we spent Friday and Saturday doing nothing. Absolutely NOTHING. Watching TV, playing games on the computer, eating, just vegging out. It felt SO good.

But yesterday we saw the forecast: our 55 degree days will be ending soon—and abruptly. Our barn needs to be winterproofed asap, and cleaned, too. So yesterday we spent the day cleaning and doing some minor maintenance to the barn. B and I shoveled all kinds of crap into the back of the pickup truck—an entire bed full—and moved it to the manure pile. Our neighbor’s horses that we are keeping (temporarily) seem to go more than Major does. And he is so tidy, where they are slobs.

In any case, I realized that the local farm store closed at 3:00, and if I wanted to get any wood shavings for bedding, I would need to get there before that time. L and I decided to go. I contemplated freshening up, but I was just going to go in the FARM store. So it would be appropriate to be wearing bib overalls, a t-shirt, my work boots, and a baseball cap thrown over my scary hair. Right?

I was not expecting that the woman behind the counter would ridicule me for my outfit! She said to me, “Did you not look at yourself in the mirror when you put those clothes on today?” She also told me that she wished she had a camera…

Sheesh, you’d think one could go to town and shop at the farm store looking like a farmer without being ridiculed for looking like such.

Next time I will don a work suit and show up in my patent leather pumps.

Ernie Calling!

No, this isn't Ernie calling. But I got this new phone, and I was trying to assign ringtones to some of the numbers that call frequently. Thinking that a "baaing" sound would be appropriate for a phone call coming from home, I searched for "baa ringtone" and came up with this crazy site. You should visit the URL when you are finished watching the little video. It's a hoot.

Yes, it's sheep, but it's a baa, and it's hilarious. I need to make one of these videos of the goats at my house.




Hope you at least smiled!

There might not be any crying in farming, but by God, there sure is cussing...

I should have gone out to the barn yesterday when it was still light, but I got a new cell phone, and I was playing around with it. So I didn't get out there until after supper to feed. Mistake. BIG mistake.

I walked into the barn and smelled a horrible smell. Now, my biggest fear has been that I will encounter a skunk either in the barn, or cross paths with one outside. So far I've been fine, but last night I thought my luck had ended. Come to find out it was yet ANOTHER possum, but this one had been "skunked"! He stank to high heavens. He was in a horse stall, but very close to the exit that the cats have fashioned for themselves. So I grabbed a pitchfork and tried to encourage him to leave. No luck. He was angry, biting at the pitchfork and growling.

One thing that is interesting to note is that our animals have "keyhole feeders" which are feeders fashioned so that they can stick their heads outside of the stalls to eat. That keeps the feeders (and water buckets) free of food and poop so that they are less apt to catch worms or other disease. Goats will also (smart as they are) not drink from a bucket that they have soiled. So when I walk into the barn, they all have their heads stuck through the feeders, looking at me.

So last night I am shouting at the possum, wielding my pitchfork like a wildwoman, and suddenly I look and see that everyone, all six of them, have stopped their chorus of baas, and are looking at me intently. Dead silence, just observing the food lady take charge. It was quite amusing, given the amount of bellering that usually occurs. I don't know if they were glad I was getting the possum out, watching me supportively; wondering what the hell I was doing; or scared to death of my carrying on. But it was funny.

So I cornered it, and put a trap near it with some cat food. It was scared, and not going anywhere. In the meantime, I started feeding. I have taken Wolfgang out of Cindi's stall, as it has been a month and we are hoping she is bred. So Ernie is back in with her and Joe Llama. I have had to hold a separate bucket of feed for Joe because Ernie steals his food. Well, last night I held the bucket for him, but Ernie got too close. Joe spit the contents of his mouth straight at Ernie, but Ernie ducked! Guess who got spat at?! From about 18", nearly a point blank range, he spat straight at my face. Grain. Covered in llama saliva. It was in my hair, stuck to my glasses, down my jacket, all over me.

Having finished feeding, and worse for the wear, I went back to dispatching the possum. It was still huddled in this corner, behind a door. I opened the door, to create somewhat of a triangle (hard to explain, but just go with me here), and left the only opening to be directly into the trap. I couldn't get to him, then, as he was behind the door. So I jabbed him with the pitchfork from under the door. He ran out, and directly into the trap. Success!

But then I had this stinking possum to get rid of. I really wanted to just let him out away from the barn, but I knew I would be dealing with his sinky self again if I did that, so I put him in the back of my car and took him to the same place we've taken the others. My car stank to high heavens, and I am hoping that after removing the animal, the trap, and the paper I put under the trap, that my car will smell better this morning.

I have a professional development class today, and I really don't want to come sauntering in smelling like a goat bathed in llama saliva, with skunk overtones.

Off to the barn to see what surprises are in store for me today...