Farm Forensics

Things on the farm have been pretty quiet the last two weeks (relatively speaking...).  Andy is traveling for work and I am busy keeping up with two kids.  Regardless, though, chores still have to be done such as taking waste to the compost bins and turning the piles.  On one of my recent trips to the bins, I stumbled upon this:

A HUGE pile of poop.  Our past life of suburban living, we would come across the occasional "surprise" left by a  neighbor's dog but nothing of this caliber.  Upon further investigation of the area, I came across two more piles leading behind Andy's shop toward the barn.

As parents of a one and three-year-old, we are very comfortable talking about poop.  At least one conversation during the day revolves around poop- color, consistency, size, frequency.  A hazard of the job as a parent.  So, when Andy called us on FaceTime later that evening, I recounted my find, detailing the pile to determine what animal could have left it.  Size? Large.  Consistency?  Clumpy with hay bits.  Cow pie?  No.  More piled with several large clumps.  Color?  Almost black.  Yes, folks... Andy has been gone for a week and we discuss poop.  Very glamorous over here.  Anyway, we decide based on appearance and opportunity, the most likely source is a horse.  Our neighbor keeps three of his horses fenced in on our back two acres which helps with our yard maintenance. After a quick head count confirmed three horses still fenced in, I determined the culprit was not one of them.

So, it appears that our our horses have a midnight visitor.  Perhaps some Don Juan is roaming the neighborhood looking to chat up a filly or possibly a horse performed a prison break and stumbled upon some left-over food in the compost pile.  Regardless, now I have three piles of crap to scoop up in the yard. Thank you horse, thank you.