SUMMER.

Finals are done! All my stuff is moved back in! Summer has begun!

I wanted to take a week off in between school and working, so I apologize for the time gap. I have been riding and sweating and signing myself for "responsible adult-like" things. This blog will be updated every Monday after this post, including such topics as "Practical Impractical Ponies", "Ten Things I Hate About Chickens", and "He's Just Not That Into You (... And the treats to change his mind)".

The Backyard Barn has grown big enough to have a waiting list, so I am going to be super busy.
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The only ones more excited than me were... You guessed it. My Littles flung themselves on me while the new Littles I've yet to teach gazed on with unconvinced faces. "When are we going to sleep in the barn?!"

Uh. What?

In my first week home, we fixed up an old room so I didn't have to sleep in the camper.. I took a breath, getting ready to explain this, when one of them gazed up with pleading eyes. "The Queen said we could have a sleepover in the barn when you came home."

"Oh, did she?"

The Queen is the owner of the barn. And also a real estate agent. And also a geology professor. And also a Dressage junkie. And also a wife and mother of two kids, one who plays the stock market and one who... You guessed it again. Is me.

Now, when we first built the Backyard Barn, the Queen hauled me out there before the stalls were finished. We laid a tarp over the hay and excitedly waited to fall asleep in our brand-new barn.

But we never did.

Hamlet stall-walked the whole night, and when the sound of him stirring shavings and shit had become mildly soothing, the train went by. Our dog spent the night exploring the barn and crawling in and out of bed, and the Queen, who had lost the youthful ability to sleep anywhere, tossed and turned. Needless to say, she was not looking very stately the next morning.

She also was in a very "Queen of Hearts" mood.. Luckily, I was wise enough not to comment, though I'm taking my life into my hands by mentioning it here.

We have never slept in the barn again, with the exception of Horse's birth.

See why she wasn't jumping at the opportunity to spend the night in a barn with 7 to 15 years old girls? (Oh, yeah. There's that too.)

But I am a sucker. One look did it; I committed to a night at the barn with a bunch of kids and a couple teenagers. They squealed with delight as I tried to figure out how to incorporate some form of horse management.

Later, the Queen and I ate dinner. "So, I'm spending the night in the barn."
"Oh," she said, sounding unsurprised with a smile. "We have cots!"

....... Yay?

-- Girl