Fun and games in the barn

Well I was going to write this after the barn feed yesterday, and then got swept away (a little too literally) to Hearts on Noses to help with the flood. So tonight's tale is really about last night's barn antics.

Last night all the barnguys 'n gals decided to play silly games. Ellie had been left in her stall for a while before I got there - can't remember why, the weather maybe? - so Carol asked me to let her run around in the barn for a bit before putting everyone to bed. When I reached the barn, Ellie was carrying on with crying and squeeling as only a baby pig can. I let her out of her pen, fed her some strawberries and melon, and then left her to explore the other stalls while I slipped into Tunie's stall to give her some salad stuff too. Tunie was NOT in a good mood. I guess listening to a baby pig carrying on in the next stall would get on anyone's nerves. She swore and grunted and complained, but it was clearly directed at Ellie and not at me. Her face was pointed straight at the wall between her and Ellie. She was muttering under her breath and telling me just what she thought of the situation. Finally she heaved a sigh, turned to me as if to say "see what I have to put up with?" and with resignation accepted the fresh fruit and spinach salad I offered her. But…

Just to make her point, she smacked her lips LOUDLY with every taste and said something that sounded suspiciously like "nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah!" which immediately caused Ellie to come running to the stall door and began a full blown temper tantrum.

"MINE! It's MINE! I want it. Don't give it to that fat pig, I want it!!! No fair! It's MINE!"

The only way to keep the peace was to fix Ellie's dinner and put her back in her pen where she happily chowed down. And then I went in search of the others.

Winston and Jenny decided to go into their stall very nicely and we had a little chat as I brushed them and gave them apples, saying my goodbyes to them (or so I thought - as it happened I went back to do the barnfeed again tonight, so we did it all over again!).

The sheep went in nicely, too. And Carl came right in, looking for his carrot as usual. But the horses were nowhere to be seen.

So out I went - in the torrential rain - looking for three lost horses. I looked to the right. Looked to the left. Went around to the pasture. Looked down at the lower meadow. Checked by the manure pile. Called and called and called. No horses anywhere.

I returned to the barn, thinking to toss the donkeys some hay to keep them happy while I went to break the bad news to Carol that the horses were missing….and there in their stalls, as quiet and serene as could be, were the three miscreants. Don't ask me where they had been hiding - I suspect flattened against the wall of the barn, slipping around each side just ahead of me so I couldn't see them, no doubt chuckling quietly to themselves as they went.

And they also thought I wouldn't notice that Gideon and Swinger had switched stalls - I'm not that dumb, guys, get back where you belong!

Tonight they were suitably well behaved, with only Ellie trying to trap me in Tunie's stall by bashing hard against it as I was trying to come out with her food. Oh, and Carl decided to be a jerk and keep Gideon outside until I got his grain and carrots. And Gideon, dear sweet Gideon, decided his stall door was not open wide enough for his liking and so WHACK! opened it further with his head as he passed me a look of annoyance that I should expect him to open his own doors.

Why anyone ever rents movies or watches TV is beyond me. All they really need is a barn full of animals and they will have nonstop entertainment.