There was a bit of interest when I revealed my new job as a substitute rural mail carrier, but I haven’t really talked about it since. Between the confidentiality of mail and the unspoken rule of not talking smack about your employer in public spaces, there are very few grand stories to tell. Mostly what gets me excited are all the animals I see.

The long tailed sheep and the peacock on the drive up. The house with the pot bellied pig in the yard (“Don’t mind the pig, she won’t bother you”). Or the other house with the guinea hens and the ducks and ducklings. The two big brown geese who put their heads down and charge the car. The llamas (they were cuter before they got shaved for the summer). The goats standing in their feeder, the goats compressed into the small shady spots, the goats out of the fence and all over the yard. The baby horse is mostly grown up, but the minis look just as much like My Little Pony as ever. The crazy fast puppy that keeps pace with the car up to 40mph.

Oh, and there are plenty of cows, I just don’t get so excited about them. They don’t get too excited about me either.