Love the Weekends!

It was so nice to have a Saturday together as a family!!!  With Phil working 70 hour weeks, we all live for the weekends. 

We had a tragedy this morning.  Last night, we decided to leave the chickens out in their yard for the first time.  We have 1 inch chicken wire all around the cage, a plywood covering around one section, and 2x4 supports holding everything together including the bottom which is partially dug into the dirt.  We hadn't seen any signs of animals digging and the chickens were asleep under the covered area so we assumed it was safe for them to be out.  This morning, there was a pile of feathers on the outside of the cage and Sawyer's rooster was gone.  I am flabbergasted that something (raccoon) was able to reach in and pull an entire chicken through a 1 inch hole (only 1 tiny wire was broken).  There were lots of tears.  It was horrible.  We went back to the place where we bought the chickens originally and got Sawyer another Seabrite chicken (we talked him into a girl this time) and then two additional black cochins. I am not a violent person but I could stay outside with a shotgun and cheerfully blow away the deer, raccoons, and stray cats that are constantly ruining our garden, killing our animals, and bringing diseases to our pets with no remorse!

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