[b][i]Wednesday Spring 3rd[/b][/i]
[i]Mineral Town[/i]

	The smell of animals was overwhelming for most people in a barn. Many wouldn’t call the animals pretty or smart either. They are food, products, or simply part of the food chain which we resides on the top. Even if they breath, eat, sleep, and can do much more as to what it called life they are not put on the same tier of people. Natalie had an odd idea that it was the smells that made people believe this. If animals smell of perfume and shampoo perhaps people would like them more, or if they wore fashionable clothes with and had puppy dog eyes they wouldn’t simply be seen as a resource. However, even in this smell the barn had one extra member in it. In her night of unrest she found solitude in the smells, sounds, and company of her animals. Her pillow was a simple hay bail and her bed was the floor to the barn. No one would even compare it to a one star hotel, but for her it was as close to home as she could hope.

	Her biological clock struck her alarm of morning after years of training it to. She shifted on her pillow before her head fell off it entirely .Falling to the ground which jolted her even more awake. Rubbing a possible bruise to be found later her eyes tried focusing after having been startled open. In front of her she saw her cow laying down yet awake. Belle’s, the cow, head turned in the direction of its waking owner and simply chews slowly on hay it had gotten from her troph. Natalie reached out and patted the nose of her cow before standing up. Stretching her entire back from a night of wretched support Natalie let out a massive yawn. Today was another day of spring work that came with the melting snow. And first was to milk the cows. One by one she brought the trademark silver bucket over. Having to relax each cow before milking them. After setting that milk away into bottle and storage to be sent to the market later she went outside the barn.

	Natalie found her horses in the field thee way she had left them last night. Their heads nodded over in sleep was giving the rising sun an even greater tranquility. Deciding to leave them be Natalie turned her chicken coop. She had to move sleeping chickens and avoid rousing the ones who were known to be squawkers as she retrieved the harvest of eggs. After each egg was pulled she put that in the cooler that sat in her gaudy storage shed as well. Tomorrow she will use her small wagon to bring them to the market she decided before moving to water her small garden. That didn’t take long before she took an hour using a sickle to get fodder from her field and move it to her barn. Each blade of grass cut effortlessly by her sharpened blade and creating one of the many signature sounds of a ranch.

	As that was finished she looked to the sky wand decided it was around 8am. Her morning work was done in the span of three hours, but she still had more things to do today. Quickly grabbing a bag of a few of her tools she walked to her porch and then also collected her saddle. It wasn’t a pretty saddle, much like everything else on the ranch, but it worked and that was all that mattered to Natalie for now. Moving of she put the saddle over Calico who had been woken up but her stroking of his nose and soft voice. “Ready to work?” she asked nicely before Calico gave a small snort. To everyone but her he was an intimidating monster, but she saw past his dark eyes and large build with ease.

	Getting on him she directed him with reins towards the north. Trotting out of her ranch as the sun lit town that was coming before her eyes. Smiling to herself as she had always loved the view of her home in the morning Natalie thought back to simple random events in her life. The morning ride on Calico was one of the many things that always kept her happy as a rancher, even if she was alone in her life. Natalie passed by the blacksmith whom she waved to and he waved back before Saibara returned to his trademarked clang of hammer to metal in perfect tempo. Next she passed by the chicken farm she moved into to talk to Lillia. Knowing her illness Natalie made it one of her tasks to talk to her often, as being cooped up, no pun intended, on the same plot of land not seeing people could be ones worst nightmare. Natalie knew what it was like to have no one to talk to or share stories with, so it was something she cared for about deeply.

	Finally Natalie arrived to Yodel Ranch where she saw Barley working with his animals. The old man was far slower than she was with work, so he was never finished with his daily chores even with the help of his granddaughter May. They had taken Natalie in when she first arrived for a job and she felt as if she owed them since. Barley always tried to get her to stop helping out, but she knew he was thankful and she wouldn’t let the man work himself to death just yet. Waving as she arrive she yelled out “Good Morning Barley!” And that was all that was needed before she hopped off her horse and began to do more work.