Beautiful Weather for Interactive Farm Animals...

I know, if I can come up with titles like that I should be working for the newspaper.

Yesterday the weather here was bizarre - mid-morning it was only 68 degrees and breezy and cool. The kind of day that made you feel obligated to go outside and do something.

There was a threat of rain, but me and Jessica and Charlotte and Mary headed out to some friends' property in a neighboring county to visit their animals. The humans weren't home, but we know the 'pets'.

Jim, Joe, and Jack are the horses and the donkey. This is Joe, very excited to see us and running straight towards us - stopping inches from our faces.

Jim is a little shyer, but he is still going to greet you and stick close by.

Jack really only cares about being on the same side of the fence as us, in case there are treats being offered.

Next, stopped by the cows and were welcomed with a hearty moo-hello.

Even the goat wanted to talk to us.

NOW, the story changes. Usually our friend Ginger has GooseGoose fenced up somewhere on her property, but for some reason, he was out and about, unbeknownst to us. That is a very, very scary thing if you know GooseGoose. He is as mean as any animal I've EVER known, and completely frightening because he is fast and fearless. I've seen him sneak up behind Ginger, who was standing too close to his fence, and he poked his head through, grabbed a huge chunk of her thigh with his beak, and started twisting furiously.

You may wonder why he is ALIVE, a question I asked, but Ginger unofficially runs an animal sanctuary, and many homeless, abused, lost, neglected animals end up with her. She cares for and tolerates them all. I personally understand and admire that, except when it comes to GooseGoose....

Looks harmless I know; that's because I wasn't exactly taking pics when he chased Jessica up onto the porch and turned to come after me .

Fortunately, Jessica found some croquet mallets on the porch, and we all grabbed one. We also had brought and umbrella, and we armed ourselves with that as well.

It was stressful AND comical trying to get in the car; Jessica held the open umbrella like a shield, and I provided back-up with a mallet so Mary and Charlotte could get in. Once I slipped in the driver's seat, Jessica scrambled into her side and slammed the door ahead of GooseGoose.

All pretty traumatic, but we consoled ourselves with a TacoBell car-picnic.

And we were home before the rain came pouring down, just in time for napping. :)