You Know You're a Farmwife...

...when you come in soaking wet because a stranger stops by and tells you that your goat is stuck in the fence. But I'm getting ahead of myself. When this deal started, I was actually spinning on the "Indian Paintbrush" yarn I've been talking about. Someone drove in, so I went to the door. A gentleman had gotten out and said that one of our goats was stuck in the fence and he thought that wasn't a good place to be since it looked like it was getting ready to storm. I thanked him and noticed that one of our dogs was out of the pen also. She's been known to chase chickens, so I thought I'd better get her in before looking after the goat. By the time the escapee was returned to her pen, it was starting to sprinkle. It's not too long till chore time, I thought, I guess the goat can wait till then. But the sky did look dark, and it was starting to rain harder, and that wasn't a good place to be in the pouring rain, so I donned my husband's raincoat (for all the good it did...although a couple dry spots are better than none, right?) and headed out. Let me just say, that if you've never been around goats, then you probably don't know about their penchant for sticking their heads through the fence (greener grass, you know) and then not being able to pull them back because of their horns. They're curved in such a way as to make it easy in, but not easy out. It had been quite awhile since this particular goat had gotten stuck, so I guess he was about due. And, of course, he decided to do this right before a rain storm. Anyway, I knew from past experience that it's sometimes almost impossible to get them twisted around enough to get out without getting mashed fingers. So I stopped by to get wire cutters before I even ventured out to the pasture. The rain pounded louder and louder on the tin roof while I searched for the wire cutters. Finally I found them, and away I went. When I got there the goat was looking at me as if to say, "Where have you been and what took you so long?" It was raining pretty steady by now, so even though wire-cutting is frowned upon here, rather than wrestle with the goat for ten minutes and then cutting the wire anyway, I simply cut it to start out with and set the goat free. Did you know that when you bend over, the rain runs down the front of your raincoat onto your jeans? I studied the cut place for a minute to see if I could twist it back together a little. When I turned around, the goat was nowhere to be seen! He didn't even wait for me so we could walk back together! Well, at least he had enough sense to go back to the shed. Needless to say I was pretty well soaked from head to toe. I even had to change my socks! Ah, well, just a typical day on the farm!