Jan. ‘10-Trap Shack Showroom is warmed with the heater that’s been blasting all day for us. It’s end of 2009 inventory time. It’s a carefully selected time to count the remaining trapping and coon hunting supplies. Hawken busied himself digging in the waxed dirt with a shovel. An hour later-we had a large part of the wax dirt spread on the bottom shelf. We’ve added a number of new products over the last year.  Thanks again for visiting us via our website, Showroom or by coming to an Open House in 2009.

Upon finishing the Trap shack inventory, I started to head to our lower farm -just shuffling my clodhopper boots. Admiring Muir Creek’s frozen surface and noticing the snowcoated black cauldron pot that sets in wait for the next wood chunks to be ignited to warm her. Then the sun kisses my rosey cheeks and Skinny Kitty is scrambling down the road. He’s hightailing it to the lower farm in hopes of kitty vittles. But, wait! There’s movement that catches my eye off to the left. By now you know that opossums are rampant here. Mmhmm. Another opossum is teeter tottering in the sunny shadows of the old hay shed. I use the term hay shed loosely. It’s truthfully a ramshackle shed that has served it’s days well. Just now it’s seen much better days and we still stuff round bales and old equipment in it to make it feel useful.

 I am speed walking with style that makes the Pillsbury doughboy proud. I’m layered with clothes and my fingers are still numb from inventory. I stumble and my frost bitten toes smash into the ends of the boots. Tom is getting closer and I blurt out, “There’s another opossum down by the gravity box in the shed.” Tom takes off and returns for a tool.

I enter the heat of the milkhouse and pet the Billie goat and Sammy Cat.  Sammy Cat moved in again this winter with Billie goat. She sits on top of the hot water heater in our milkhouse like she did years ago at her other farm home. I pet her and she hops to the floor and crunches on her special hairball control kitty vittles. Billy goat alllows Sammy Cat to sleep curled up next to him. She has her little hay bed that she curls up next to Billie in. Then it happens! Skinny Kitty, Punkin and the other cats invade the milkhouse. There’s a cat fight now and a mad goat. The goat is pounding fiercely on the cattle panel and sending the old cream cans shaking. I grab Sammy Cat and shoo the rest of the kittys out. Tom walks in and tells me he didn’t see the opossum over there by the gravity box. Then he grins and reminds me the gravity box isn’t parked in that shed anyway. By now we’re both laughing and I had to go and see if I could locate the critter-Nope!!

My life is a cartoon! What cartoon or comic strip do you find yourself in?

Sue Roskos