The hunt is on

Last week, Silkie Sue was killed by a raccoon.  We found her body with evidence to prove who killed her.  It was sad because she's been such a great girl and was a wonderful mom hen to so many of our hatches.  She was also in the very first batch of girls that we got.

So we had a hunter come set traps to protect the rest of our birds and I set up our game camera.

It was only the second time that I pulled the card and I saw this fox walking across the driveway into the garden area.

A few days later he caught a fox.  He also was tracking the foot prints and found two sets of fox tracks, at least one raccoon and an opossum.

This morning the youngest came running inside to say that a opossum was in one of the traps.  I went out to snap a picture and felt really bad.  It's so cute!

The trapper came and took care of things.  I don't know what that means because I don't want to know.  I know he's let some things go before, especially younger animals, but I know I need to protect our hens so I just let him do what he does best.

Dog updates

The 5-gallon bucket that we keep outside to refill chicken water bowls froze solid.  It wasn't just the top later, it was a complete block.  I brought the bucket inside thinking it would defrost, but apparently the kitchen isn't much warmer because after a few days, the only defrosting occurred from the dogs licking it.

So the oldest decided to hack away at the block to give the dogs some ice to eat.

They went crazy for chunks of ice and were running around the house playing with them.  It was hilarious.

Later, Paisley was curled up on the arm chair, nice and cozy, until Cash decided to come over...

Firewood

I came home from the gym this morning and decided it was time to start cutting up the trees that the county chopped down.  I knew it would be easier to cut them when they were still fresh, and I figured it was an eye sore.  I cut them into firewood size chunks with the chainsaw and then had the boys come out to help me.

We loaded up our little trailer and I'd drive them up the driveway to unload behind the house where our firewood pile is.  

The first load

 I told the oldest that he gets to split them with the ax and I went back down to get a second load with the youngest.

When I came back, I was suprised to see how much he'd split.

Baby, it's Cold Out There

We had a pretty cold patch with temperatures below freezing even during the day.  The chickens didn't want to venture too far from the coops because they didn't like walking on the cold ground.  Clyde Jr. proved that point when he refused to stand on both feet.

No water

We woke up Wednesday morning to no water.  This is one of my biggest fears.

I had to run to the gym to shower for work and I called my handyman and a well guy.  I came home early from work to try to figure out what the problem was and we determined that the pressure tank had a busted bladder.  This meant that the tank wasn't creating and holding the pressure to keep water.

So I had to buy a new pressure tank.

Even after that was installed we were having a minor issue so we had to put in a check valve.

This all took a couple days to get to, so for the first two days, every time we needed to use the shower or a sink, we had to run downstairs to turn the power back on to the well pump so that we'd have water in the house.  It wasn't until Saturday night that things were back to normal.

We are more popular than we thought

We were in the doctor's office last week when suddenly the youngest pointed out a picture on the wall....

Little late in the garden season

I finally got outside and did some digging in the garden a couple weeks ago.  I ended up getting a storage tub and a bucket full of parsnips, carrots, celery, and potatoes.

Cash and Paisley - 8 months old

I'm so behind on updates because so much as been going on and so much has changed.... I'll let the pictures do the talking...

Really?!

No more outdoor fun

Friday night, the youngest wanted to sleep in my bed.  Despite my protests, I shared the bed with him and Cash.  It was a good thing, because in the morning he pointed out that Cash's eye was swollen and then his mouth.  I hadn't noticed it, but it was pretty obvious.

The trouble has begun

Although Paisley will happily skip into her crate when we ask her to, Cash is another story.  He hates the crate and no matter how we bribe him, he hates to go in and hates to stay in quietly.  Each time that I put Paisley in her crate, Cash will look at me out of the corner of my eye and then quickly hurry in to my room and jump in the bed.  He seems to think that if he "goes to bed" in my bed that I won't make him "go to bed" in his bed.

A few days ago we came home to this...

I'm not even sure how he managed to do that, but he's clearly planning to break free.