hoffywhf
- Sep 22, 2015
- 3 min read

My Circus, My Monkeys

We’ve all heard the saying, “not my circus, not my monkeys.” In other words, stick to your own drama, you don’t have enough time or energy to get sucked into messes that you don’t already own.The last few weeks, especially the last 10 days, it has certainly felt like I have been living the antithesis to this saying.

There has been a lot going on in the last few weeks. We have lost residents and that is always hard. We have welcomed two new residents, and that is always fun, but also a lot of extra work on the front end. Ewen terrorized the farm running around in his cone of shame. We had to restrict the activity of a dog that has incredibly high amounts of energy and no clue how to walk on a leash. Carter had a very unexpected visit to the emergency room. He’s fine, thank you for asking! We moved my granddad to our area from Memphis. When you are 98 years old this is not an easy move. Jason and I have both had to see a doctor for various reasons recently. We’re not go to the doctor types, although in the last few months it has felt otherwise. And in between all of that we’ve had vets and farriers and horse dentists at the farm regularly.

I knew my circus and my monkeys were starting to get out of control when I needed to go run some errands and wanted to take some water with me. There was not a clean cup or glass of any type to be found in our house. They were all crammed into our overloaded dishwasher that was waiting for someone, anyone, to turn it on. I turned it on and kept searching. The only clean cups were Carter’s old sippy cups that even he doesn’t use anymore. I was desperate so I filled one with water and took it with me. Hey, I’m not proud and sometimes you do what you have to do.

My circus and my monkeys hit their crescendo last night. I was out in one of the pastures feeding a horse that is temporarily getting a late night feeding. Ewen was with me. As always he was running all over the place. All was fine, I was taking a moment to appreciate the stars in the sky. Until it happened.

Ewen found a skunk. Just like that we both smelled like skunk. At that point my circus and my monkeys were officially spinning out of control.

I have showered and bathed and showered and bathed. My clothes have been washed repeatedly. I finally got myself to the point where I only smell like a skunk if the wind is just right and I turn my head in the right direction. Ewen smells less like a skunk, but since he took a very direct hit it will take more time.

This is my circus, and these are my monkeys.

Two of my circus monkeys, Ewen and Timbit

Timbit’s expression says “wait a minute. I’m supposed to be the annoying one!”

Our cat Jingle. As Jason said, sometimes when we come in the house what we see leaves us with more questions than it does answers. Our cats like to be part of the circus.