What A Difference A Day Makes

Never were two contiguous days more completely opposite than

Saturday and Sunday were.

Saturday was exquisite... sunny and mild with abundant blue skies.

I spent the day cleaning chicken houses, mowing, gardening,

changing sheets, doing laundry and ironing.

It was peaceful and all was right with the world.

By nightfall, though, the sky grew cloudy and threatened rain.

Sunday was cold and rainy.

In her typical fashion, Annie took off early in the morning

and didn't return til mid-afternoon.

On her return, we noticed strange behavior... she was obviously agitated about something.

We spent the day here on the farm with family.

We ate a late lunch together and just shared good family time together.

I got lots of hugs and kisses from my three grands.

I love being a mother and a grandmother...

and I love my people fiercely!

It was a perfect Mother's Day in spite of the weather.

Until...

Later in the afternoon, Jack and the kids donned their jackets and muck boots

and headed out on the gator to see the animals.

Here is where things went south.

On the way to the barn, Jack noticed one of the chickens on the fence of the pig yard...

a place we never find chickens.

They just never venture that far from their home.

By the time the gator reached the goat pasture, it became obvious...

a fox (probably a family of foxes) had been through...

in broad daylight and decimated our chicken flock.

We lost over half of our flock.

We have only 14 chickens remaining out of 30 some.

And one or two of them were quite traumatized.

Even the roosters are gone.

It's at this time of year when the fox parents begin to teach their young

to hunt... usually, though, it happens closer to June.

And normally, at that time of year we lock our chickens in their yard.

Apparently, the teaching began earlier this year.

And we believe that perhaps Annie stumbled upon the fox family

on her way home to the farm.

That would explain why she came back agitated, with blood on her,

and a little skin missing from her nose.

Luckily, the runner ducks and the guineas were unharmed...

they were in the front pasture... upset, but unharmed.

It is quite discouraging when you spend so much time caring for animals,

trying to keep them safe...

and then all of a sudden something catastrophic like this happens.

All of the birds will have to stay in their own yards for a few weeks,

until the foxes lose interest.

If only all our days on the farm could be like Saturday.

Life is not like that though.

It's full of trials and tribulations and problems to solve.

It's why a day like Saturday must be cherished and enjoyed to the fullest.

Lately we have heard several Baltimore orioles around the farm.

They have been visiting our hummingbird feeders,

as well as some orange flavored suet cakes in the front of the house.

They have the happiest song and are one of my favorite birds.

I mentioned last week that Bobby has been walking on only three legs.

Dr. Becky did check him out and feels that he has an abscess brewing in his front left leg.

There was no opening in the skin, so she put him to sleep and tried to aspirate to see

if there was any pus.

There did not seem to be a pocket of pus anywhere,

so we are going to watch it for now... it will either get better or get worse...

at which point she will be able to better localized the abscess.