Visiting Day

The goats are my early warning system.  As I finished up in the barn, I heard their snorts of alarm.  All eyes were looking toward the house and ears were forward.  Just because I couldn't see anything didn't mean nothing was there.  I've learned to trust a goat.  Sure enough, when I neared the house, Bessie Anne was playing with a guest, a dog I recognized and who should not have been out on her own.  (I was just glad it wasn't another skunk.)  Memories of Faye, the old black Labrador retriever who came visiting often, came flooding back.  I put a leash on this well-behaved dog, gave her a drink of water, and we sat on the porch while I put in a call to her mama.  It's only when a strange dog is a threat to my livestock that I call Animal Services.  I normally have a sit-down spell after coming up from the barn so it was no hardship to sit on the porch while we waited for the dog's owner to pick up "Houdini."  This wasn't the first time the dog had escaped from her fenced yard, but the first time she'd made her way up here.

I did some visiting of my own when I went to the Senior Center for lunch (I'm a sucker for salmon).  I'm really glad Camille talked me into taking advantage of this service.  Cam goes frequently, and I've started going maybe once a month.  There are no fast-food restaurants in the area, and where could one get a protein, starch, fresh vegetable, and fruit for three dollars?  This isn't school cafeteria food, either.  Another plus is meeting new people.  I tend to be reclusive and I really need to get out more. 

Home again, I buckled down and finished the paperwork that has been plaguing me for the last week.  Ta da!  Now I'm ready to take on the twenty-five pounds of pears that have been waiting.  They've been sitting in a box on the porch, and yesterday it was discovered that I'm not the only one who likes pears.  Squirrels have been visiting and helping themselves to a nibble here and there.  Sorry kids, these are mine.

It was a good day.