Ranchsitter Dispatch #3

It was a day of animals and sun today...two of my very favorite things.

When I went out to feed this morning, I was surprised to find no one but Hank was there, so I decided to feed meowing Johnny Cash first. Who could resist this face?

I was startled then to hear a noise quite close behind me and turned to see:

He took just one bite and quickly retreated. I chuckled.

But then I heard another noise and turned to see...

I knew then it was just a matter of time before my third visitor/hay thief would appear. I was not disappointed...

Here’s Hank asking Alan to please share his breakfast with him because he didn’t get enough of his own. Alan said no. I didn’t blame him, really. Hank clearly didn’t wash up before coming to the table:

One of the side effects of the delightful sun we had today is that the majority of the lingering crusty ice/snow finally melted away, revealing a good number of ... (how do I put this delicately?) EPP’s (equine poop piles). I pulled that awesome Rubbermaid wheelbarrow of yours out into the corral, thinking this job wouldn’t take too long and found myself, instead, scooping poop in something akin to slippery quick-dry cement. The heavier the wheelbarrow got, the harder it was for me to tug it and my feet were sliding out from underneath me and then holding me fast:

It’s always an adventure at 7MSN.

After breakfast and chores, we all just stood around for a while:

I tried to liven things up a bit by running ahead and yelling at everyone to “follow me”!

Their lack of enthusiasm was palpable:

George decided chewing on a prickly tumbleweed thingy would be more fun than playing my game:

Which totally cracked Hank up...

Beautiful Lucy, meanwhile, just struck her best serene-pose, completely ignoring the boys and shadowing me for loving pats and hugs.

Which she got a ton of.

Smart girl.