The raccoon, Mama’s week off, teaching tomorrow

One of the things I tried to get done Saturday afternoon was to return the stock trailer to the barn lot so it was not sitting in the front yard over the weekend. I ran into problems with that after I unhitched the truck, picked it up with the tractor, and drove it over to the gate I needed to enter. All the cows were there waiting on me. I do not know if they were expecting to see the calves again or if it was just coincidence but there was no way I was going to get through the gate without them getting out. I parked the tractor and trailer in the road and walked to the barn to get some feed for the cattle to keep them out of my way as I accessed the lot. We do it all the time and the cows are used to the idea of getting fed special things that only come out of the barn so they followed happily.

When I opened the freezer where we have been storing the feed, I did not immediately recognize what I was looking at. It was easy to tell something had been in the freezer because several bags had been torn open and were wet with urine. There was a lot of poop throughout the freezer and something large was snoring in the corner near the only small opening to the fresh air outside. When I finally processed that it was a raccoon, I had to decide what to do about it. I poked it. No response. I squeezed it near the tail. No response. It continued to snore. So, I picked it up by its back, being careful to avoid the teeth at the other end and began to move it out of the freezer. It was only when it uncurled that it began to wake and I woke up quickly. It grabbed hold of the corral fence, twisted free of my grip and scampered away. It looked back several times as if to say, “What was that?” Mama was very glad I was the one who found it. With the bags of feed all soiled by the coon Mama was hesitant to use it but I told her the cattle will not mind – and so far, they have not.

Mama did not really enjoy her first day off, but she made the best of it. She and Victoria are both off today but I do not have high expectations for a high success rate on getting her list of tasks taken care of. She is going to Denton this morning – if she feels like it when she gets up – to get bagels at Panera’s. She will make several other stops but that is the main focus of her trip. I wonder at the efficiency of driving thirty miles to buy bagels but they are half priced today. We were talking about a couple at our church and their focus on saving and thriftiness. Mama is unimpressed by their attitudes toward money. Today reflects that. Using a quarter tank of gas to spend money on overpriced bagels because they are half priced is not saving money – except in Mama’s eyes. The fact that Victoria is encouraging her to go only fuels her determination to reap the “savings” offered today only.

I will be teaching tomorrow. The class is an eight hour class and it will be my first time to teach it. I have been through the class twice now so I am looking forward to being the presenter.  My company has at least allowed me sufficient time to prepare so I feel as ready as I think I am able to be at this point. It has been a while since I was required to talk for six or seven hours straight but I have done it in the past and if all goes well, will do it many more times in the future.

Cori, Nate and the kids made it safely to their destination in New York enough ahead of the storm that they will get to hunker down through the brunt of it. They had a few issues traveling through New York City, with its exorbitant tolls on vehicles towing trailers, but they did make it.

Mama breathed a sigh of relief.