Flying solo at the farm. Cousin Tammy suggested we name the farm the House at Poo Corner or just the House of Poo. That seems apt. There sure is a lot of poo here.

Susan drove back down yesterday with her trailer to pick up Miles, the Primary Horse (I hope the Emergency Backup Horse, Monty, never reads this part. Shh, don't tell him I called Miles the Primary Horse). That leaves me in charge of two dogs, one cat, and one horse. Everybody needs feeding and cleaning and petting and brushing. Whew. Luckily, the dogs were kind enough to point out my mistake when I gave them hay and Monty dogfood. Monty just looked at my funny: out of one eye, like horses are wont to do.

So far, the interaction between the cat and the dogs has gone surprisingly well. We both thought that Kenya, the Rhodesian mix, would be the problem as she has always had a special spot in her heart for cats. Wait, I said heart, but I meant tummy. At least that's the way she's acted back home. Barley, the Weimaraner, on the other hand, if she met a warthog with its tusks dripping blood, she'd just want to play. One of their first interactions, the dogs and Iggy, found Kenya creeping up to Iggy on her belly with eyes downcast. Kenya really hasn't been that interested since.

Barley, on the other hand, well, perhaps this characterizes their interaction best. When they meet in the house, that is. The one time they've all met outside, ended a little differently. Once that happened, we decided to pull up a seat and wait for things to settle down. I remain optimistic.

Susan gave me instructions on horse grooming on Tuesday (if today is Thursday, that is). I added a little grooming to my morning horse feeding chores. Today, it went like this:

• Get up around 6:30


• Feed the cat


• Feed the dogs


• Open the garage door and Release the Hounds


• Feed the horse


• Groom the horse, which entails currying, brushing, and picking out the feet


• Spray the horse with fly spray, which, contrary to the what the name kinda implies, actually keeps the flies off


• Finish putting the stall mats in the barn


• Find the dogs (whoops, don't tell Susan!)


• Clean the dogs with a stanky towel, cause they just spent the last 20 minutes running around in the muddy pond


• Begin work for which I actually get paid

Just had to run off and break up a shouting match between Barley and Iggy. Iggy has happened upon the perfect defense.