“The dogs want outside,” Kirk said and Arthur looked over and saw the dogs filed up at the door.
“Let them out and let’s take care of the animals,” Arthur told him, checking his AR.
Watching Arthur press check the AR, “We are really going to learn how to shoot guns?” Kirk asked with a wondrous grin.
“Yes, like learning the farm, that’s not negotiable,” Arthur answered, leading them out back.
“Big kitty,” Jim sang out and Arthur turned to see Jim approaching Kong.
“Jim!” Arthur snapped and Jim jumped a foot in the air, spinning around and putting his hands behind his back. “That’s an outside cat and what did I say?”
“Outside cats are feeuris,” Jim mumbled.
“Feral, that means wild like I explained yesterday,” Arthur corrected, turning to Kong. “But of all the outside cats, you leave that one alone. Even the dogs are terrified of him.”
Jim cut his eyes at Kong to see Kong looking at him as Kong relaxed on the porch. Slowly, Jim eased away and then darted behind Arthur to hide. “It’s that bad?” Kirk asked and noticed that as Kong was sitting, his head was well above Arthur’s knees.
Walking over to the buggy, “Kirk,” Arthur sighed, sitting down in the buggy. “That monster kills stuff a cat shouldn’t be able to. I know he’s killed raccoons, opossums, snakes, rats, rabbits, squirrels, and at least one fawn.”
“What’s an opossum and fawn?” Pat asked, climbing in the backseat with Jim who was looking at Kong with wide eyes.
“I’ll have to show you pictures of opossums, but they can be mean as hell. A fawn is a baby deer,” Arthur told him.
“That cat killed a deer?” Kirk cried out in shock, whipping his head over to stare at the massive Kong.
“A baby deer and yes, he did,” Arthur said, cradling Nicole in the sling with his left arm as he backed up and headed down to the barn.
“Are you scared of him?” Kirk asked as they rode in the dawn’s early light.
“I respect the son of a bitch, but he does a job on the farm. Kong kills wild animals that want to hurt the farm animals,” Arthur explained and almost added. ‘But if that fucker ever looks at me wrong, I’ll shoot his ass.’
“What about the other cats?” Pat asked, pulling up to lean over the front seat.
“Oh, they kill the mice and other small things that hurt the farm,” Arthur told him as he stepped inside the barn.
The boys looked around, seeing the horses and sheep running from the fields on the right. They turned to see the cows already waiting on the left for the doors to open. “Are you sure the little sheep don’t bite?” Jim asked in a quivering voice.
“Jim, you need to worry about the sheep with the big horns and not the babies,” Arthur told him, climbing out.
Jim looked at the big rams, “They don’t chase me.”
Pulling Nicole out of her sling, Arthur put her in the carrier and tucked a blanket around her. “That’s the problem; you don’t see them till they knock the shit out of you. When those turds hit, it really hurts.”
The boys stayed close to Arthur and today, he made them actually help. They all laughed while washing the cows’ udders and hooking up the milking machine. “You mean all the milk I poured on my cereal at home came from here?” Pat asked, pointing at the milking machine pumping the teats.
Reaching down, Arthur grabbed the teat of the next cow and milked it a few times by hand and the boys almost dropped on the ground laughing. “That’s how they use to do it and all your milk came from a cow, but not these,” Arthur explained as Kirk ran over.
“Can I do it?” he asked with a grin.
After Kirk, Pat, and Jim had to try, then Arthur let Kirk hook up the milking machine by himself. “Very good,” Arthur grinned and then led them across the barn to feed the horses and sheep.
When one of the lambs knocked Jim down and the other lambs came over, Jim screamed bloody murder, “They’re killing me!”
Casually, Arthur walked over and brushed the lambs away and picked Jim up. “Use your knees when they get close to push them away. Don’t kick or the rams come over and they’re mean,” Arthur told him, brushing the dirt off. When Jim was brushed off, Arthur showed him how to use his knee to push the sheep away but being little, Jim had to use his hands.
Arthur wouldn’t let them get in with the horses until the boys had calmed down a bit.
Finished in the barn, Arthur led them out to the pigs and chickens. Walking in the chicken coop, the boys all jumped back as Arthur punted a rooster that tried to get his leg. “Now a rooster tries that, kick his ass,” Arthur instructed them, but the boys didn’t want near the roosters. All they could see were the thorns sticking out from their legs.
Pat cried out when a hen pecked him as he tried to grab the eggs she was sitting on.
With Nicole in the sling, Arthur walked over as Pat looked at the hen with wide eyes. “Watch,” Arthur said and reached up, brushing the hen out of the nesting box by using the back of his hand. “Don’t act scared because animals can sense it.”
“Okay,” Pat said, moving to the next box and pushed the hen out and grabbed the two eggs.
Turning and holding up the eggs in triumph, “I did it,” Pat cried out.
“Very good,” Arthur laughed, holding up the egg basket.
With the chores done, Arthur led them to the buggy. “Kirk, sit behind the
