Have you ever heard that old saying, ‘Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong?’ Well, I had that kind of day the other day.
I haven’t gotten much sleep lately, in part worrying about A Close Relative’s healing after surgery. Then I had a couple of short nights for another reason – our %#$*@# mini-monster, a quirky canine with a preference for ankles, decided to become the Supreme Maestra Huntress all night long.
Living on a farm, sometimes critters get inside the house. That’s just a fact of life. Usually, it’s a frog, toad or mouse. A couple of times, it’s been a snake. But this time, our Diana, our Mighty Huntress, didn’t catch whatever caused her to dart under every piece of furniture and root under the tub and rungs every five minutes – all night long. So, there go another two nights of little sleep. I bet if I pieced together all of the five minutes of sleep I got at any one time, I slept maybe two hours total those couple of nights.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t do well without a good night’s sleep. Okay, one such night I can handle. But a week’s worth? Just change my horoscope sign to The Crab.
But the piece de resistance, the penultimate in things gone wrong, happened when I had Another Close Relative carry some chicken feed into the coop for me. He did so, then went back into the house.
Now, I really enjoy the chickens (the names I’ve given them match their personalities), especially the couple of dozen babies that are growing up so quickly. So, I spent a few minutes picking them up, giving them some shoulder-riding lessons.
Back to the house for me, after gathering the eggs. I pushed the button to open the coop door, and……..nothing. Door didn’t move. ‘It’s stuck,’ I think. I tried to open it a lot harder. Nope, not stuck. My Young Close Relative had, by habit, locked the door on the outside of the coop!
I don’t panic when faced with adversity. I assess the situation and decide the best course of action. So I calmly called out to my Close Relatives in the house, mere feet away. I called for a few minutes, with no response. I called louder. No response. Okay, assessment and action moved into ….. not panic … bigger action. I didn’t know my voice could actually reach those decibels I hit after that. Still no response.
We keep a shovel inside the coop to clean out old hay and stuff. I picked up that hay-scooper and tried prying the door open. Nothing. I commenced banging on the metal framework of the chicken pen – hard. Very hard. Think very dented chain link fence railing. I think between the yelling and the clanging, I was heard in Montana. But not by my Close Relatives inside our house. Not until Yet Another Close Relative who lives next door to us walked her dog was I rescued.
Back in the house, I stuck my head in the shower to cool off both my head and my ire before I spoke to The Close Relative who locked me in.
It really was one of those days.