A Camp Mystery

Girls, today is the day that we get to share with you one of the greatest mysteries of 2022.

It was a calm and sunny afternoon, 4:30 p.m. to be exact. Elizabeth had just welcomed Alli, JF, and I (Anne Hayden here) down to the Barn to earn our Barn Day patches. She was training us on how to take care of the animals for when she went into labor with baby #2 (Welcome baby Charlie!). All seemed right in the world; Poptart was prancing, Gloria was mooing, Sven and Olaf were nibbling on grass and continuing to bloat. We learned how to feed and water the animals, which allowed us to earn our Barn Day patch, and we all went our separate ways.

At approximately 6:30 p.m., I had just sat down to eat my dinner when the phone rang. Caleb was calling to tell me that Poptart and Jack had ESCAPED! I jumped into action.

The animals were dashing around on the highway, only to be cornered by a kind person on a motorcycle. I ran over to the blackberry bushes where the man on the motorcycle had cornered these Farm Barn escapees with a garden hose. The man eagerly asked if I was the camp wrangler (little did he know I had only completed my Barn Day patch just an hour prior). Right as we managed to capture Jack with a rope, Poptart takes off towards the road again, making her big break!

The chaos continues as the kind man hops on his motorcycle and chases after Poptart while I walk Jack back to the Barn. As I am leading Jack into his stall, Poptart comes dashing around the corner searching for her donkey bestie and running from the motorcycle.

I put the minis safely back in their stalls, and the motorcycle man and I high-five knowing that we had just earned an advanced Barn Day patch the day we have had. As we turned to leave, we look over to our right and see Gloria…outside her fence…also an escapee! But, we didn’t fear, and this didn’t even phase us, as we were now wranglers. We quickly got her back inside her fence.

While the animals were all returned to their homes, it still leaves us all to question how did they manage to escape in the first place? Alli, Elizabeth, JF, and myself can all confirm that the gates were closed when we left the barn.

This only leaves us a few options:

1. Underground tunnels? We don’t truly know what Poptart is capable of, do we?
2. Competive high jump? There is also the chance that Poptart, Jack, and Gloria were competing in a high jump contest and leapt over the fence.
3. Ambidextrous? Then, there is also the chance that Jack is smarter than we think, and he can unlock a fence with ease.
4. Eagle involvement? Or, did the bald eagle swoop in and unlock the gate with his talons?
5. Mermaid sightings? Lastly, and this feels like the most probable answer, the Lake Eadith Mermaids swam upstream after the blob was taken out of the lake for the winter and have started playing spooky season tricks on us.

What do you think really happened? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!