DD#3 just stood at the open pasture gate, dreaming her head off over some 12 year old boy and let all but 1 of the horses out, and 2 cows.... We kept yelling at her to close it-right over her head.

It went crazy for awhile. The one horse that didn't get out wanted out. I thought it was going to go over the fence. I finally got one horse in, then the cow and her calf followed her. Then it took about 20 more minutes to get the other 3 horses in. The entire time, they kept running back and forth, thru my garden. Several rows got trampled. They also kept racing by the poultry pen, so the ducks were quacking and flapping their wings, which seemed to encourage the horses to run faster.

The garden is too muddy (is rained all week) to try and do any repair work now. If this was old mcdonalds farm, he would have quit and went to city life.

I didn't reset the traps for the coons tonight-raining too hard.

DD #4 missed her 4H riding lessons because of the stock being out, and then after we got them in we discovered basically the trailer is stuck in the mud anyway. Will probably have to pull it out of its parking spot with the tractor.

No bills in the mail yesterday or today. No money spent today or yesterday.

I did sell $5 worth of books tonight on Craigslist, and 2 books off half.com-but they were only listed at 75 cents each.

I broke down my books into smaller lots and have 1 bite and a nibble. Hopefully one sack will go out tonight. I just want the pile out of the middle of the bedroom. I have a large bedroom--good thing, because in the middle is my ebay-sell pile. In the corner is my donate pile...

But, not to a coon. These were still in a box in the house-they just hatched Saturday, and arrived in the mail Monday morning. They were doing fine, but I found 2 dead this morning. But, still have 25 doing well.
I found some chickens that are laying for sale just down the road about 15 miles. They were on Craigslist. I have emailed the lady 3 times--I want them, but she keeps sending me the same response over and over--just listing the price. Even though my email says call me, or send me your number so we can set up a time to pick them up. I guess she isn't paying attention to what my email says....
I set the traps by the coup again, only to see something furry and grey run underneath it. I would have stuck my head under there to see what it was, but with my luck it would have bit me on the nose.
DD#4 takes several meds. One of them just went over the counter. Which stinks, because now the insurance wont pay for it anymore. The last time I had to buy it without using the insurance it cost me $80, and that was for the generic. Not sure what the OTC price is, hopefully the manuractur lowered it. Plus she takes it several times a day, sometimes every hour, so a bottle does not last her long at all. I hope a generic is available OTC. Sometimes it takes them awhile to get approval from the FDA to come out as an OTC. When I worked in a pharmacy several years ago, I learned that each company who makes the drug has to get approval.

I have listed several things on Craigslist. I list them for my husband, and I get a response. I list them for me, and don't get a single response. I have been trying to see a bunch of paperback books. Over 300 of them. All I want is $25 for them all. I have been stood up about 7 times over the last 4 months of selling them. Yet, I see people selling smaller lots for more money. They get what they ask because then their ad says gone, or sold on it.
No luck selling a bunch of little girls size 6 clothes, summer and fall-2 laundry baskets full for $25. Some still had tags on them. very nice, excellant condition. No luck selling leap pad books and the cartridges for them. No luck selling a bunch of kids books. No luck selling school uniforms-yet one in a "stained" condition listed by another ebayer went for big bucks--same uniform, same size......
I also listed the stuff on ebay, no response-I have perfect feedback on ebay also.
I was doing real good, then its like I am invisible all of a sudden. I had pictures on the ads. Took me several hours to get them to upload, but they were there.

But, only 1 middle sized one. So, based on the tracks we found, there are more. This ones feet aren't big enough to be the momma, and they are too little to be one of the babies. But, a great big one got hit in front on the farm, so I hope it was a guilty one too.

While it was in the trap, it managed to get to the water hose that runs beside the coup, and chewed it beyond repair. So, add another $22 worth of damage to the list these things have caused.

Traps will be set again tonight.

I know people will ask, so I will go ahead and tell you, the trapped coon died of "lead poison". A 22. Can't really release it down the road, or it would just start killing someone elses chickens. Others along the road are complaining of damage caused by coons also, so we are not the only ones having this trouble. I have seen more this year than ever.

Mowed hay Saturday, raked it yesterday, and baled it this morning. A crew is outside now picking up the bales putting them on the wagon. A neighbor bales our hay for us-we split the hay with him for his effort and neither of us has to buy hay for the winter. Works well for both of us. He buys the fuel to do it, and we pay for the fertilizer for the fields to grow it.

Well, since we have had invasions on the poltry coup, we have traps everywhere. Mice keep eating the bait. So, we threw out poison for the mice. The leg traps caught a cat (not ours--a wild stray). It is not the critter that caught the chickens, but to get in the trap it was caught in kind of indicates that cat was up to no good, or it would not have been where it was.
This morning when we went out to check the traps, we discovered something had been in the live trap, and ate threw the wire to get out. Chewed a hole the size of a softball right threw the wire trap. (Now I am wondering, are we safe in the house?? How big is this animal???) It did leave behind a small amount of fur--its grey with white tips. No tracks, which was odd because it was very muddy out, but, it may have rained after it got caught and left, and washed out the tracks. Previous tracks were of a coon.
On the bright side, the remaining ducks made it through another night, and nothing has attacked the rabbits yet. Nothing has managed to get into the pen or coup for close to a week now. But, they keep springing the traps. Tonight the big traps and additional traps have been set. I am anxious to see what the results are in the morning.
I have more chickens due to arrive by mail either Mon or Tues. They will be in the garage or basement for a couple weeks before they go to the coup.

Had 1 chicken left. DD #3 left the coup open and now we have no chickens. We have not caught any coons in the traps yet, only cats. But, the tracks we finally found were coon tracks. (found some bloody ones under the hay in the coup). Still have 3 ducks though. I have ordered more chicks, and they are due to arrive this coming week.
Took the 3 little ones to a nearby dairy today. It was family day. All events were free, unless you bought something at their store. We got a free hotdog and french fry lunch, free samples of cheese and milk, milked cows, toured the farm and bottling plant and had some games for kids. Lots of displays also. They do this once a year. The rest of the time they charge for their tours.

People don't believe how rural it is where I live. If I can get it to upload, I am trying to post a picture of downtown of the nearest town. Whats in the picture is it. 3 buildings.

They came again last night. We found prints in the barn--lots and lots of coon prints. But, we still can't figure out how they are getting into the coop and the pen. As before, doors were locked, so its not a door being left open. Windows were closed and locked. No holes that we could find-except for 1 and we blocked it up. I don't think a coon could have gotten in that hole, and no way a coon could have carried a full grown chicken out the little hole. A few survived the attack, some died today. We now have 2 yellow ducks, 1 black duck and 1 leghorn chicken. Thats all. One duck lost 1 eye, and the other may have lost both. No vets around here treat birds either...

I talked to a wildlife agent who confirmed that coons will eat a chicken down to the feet and will snap the bone so clean that it looks like a knife cut. (scarey). He also said they have been known to chew thru chicken wire and even hardware cloth. Apprently June is the month around here where the parents teach the young how to kill and hunt. If they are doing that, then they will kill more than they will eat (for the practice I guess). But, we found no prints of any kind in the coop or the pen.
The paper had a deal in it about 4 seperate reports of people finding a man sleeping in their barn. So, maybe we have had a combination of that and coons?? We will probably never know.

DH is off Monday, so we plan on electrifing the feed barrel. Something is eating the feed in it and tipping it over. So, we will hook up an electric fence charger to it. I wonder if a coon will turn it off....

I know for a fact they can open some types of locks-a girlfriend in college had one and it would let itself in and out of his cage. He would also open the kitchen cabinets and get into the catfood and lift the toilet seat to get a drink.

The only other think we can think of, if the coons are going under the coop and coming up thru the floor somewhere. It has a wood floor, but since its covered with wood shavings and straw, we can't see all the floor. Tomorrow I will take the shavings and straw out and examine the floor.

The survivors seem to want to sleep in the pen rather than in the coop, so that makes us think the invadors are coming in thru the coop then getting over to the pen. Its unusual for them not to sleep in their nests or roost.

Between what I paid for the birds and their feed, I am out around $216. I have been keeping track because I was planning on selling eggs.

You sleep in your vehicle in your nightgown, boots and holding a 410.....
Something raided our chickens the night before, so we slept in the truck last night trying to catch it. It did not come back.

It took 18 hens and a couple of roosters. We found chickens and chicken feet all over the coop, barn and yard. Some it ate completely except for the feet and wings. Others it just killed and left behind.

We can not find how it got it. No holes. The coop is tight. The pen is completly surrounded with chicken wire, with holes no bigger than a quarter. Its covered top, bottom and sides. We can find no holes, rips, tears or signs of fur from a preditor or a struggle.

The remaining chickens that were killed and left behind don't seem to have any marks on them. The ones (remains)that we found in the yard and barn have no blood on them, and appear almost to have been butchered. We are wondering if perhaps a person did it??? Doors were still latched when we got up. Dog went nuts that night-did he run someone off??

Almost like someone went it, rang there necks, was piling them up, left in a hurry, ran out and into the barn dropped a couple of wings and feet and was gone.
No fur or feathers left in a trail like an animal normally does. No animal prints or scratch marks on the side of the wooden building.

2 of my daughters at times have sworn they think someone lives in our barn behind the hay....Now, we are wondering do we have a hobo that visits??? A couple of times barn lights have gone off and on for no reason. We have had the law out twice, but they could not find anything. But, a neighbor is also having similar problems....

Got the lawn mowed. I only mow the orchard every 2nd or 3rd mowing, so skipped it this time. That reduced my mowing time to slightly under 6 hours. I didn't mow too close to the hay fields, as tomorrow we are cutting hay. I used 8 gallons of fuel at $3.39 a gallon (last weeks price, which is when we bought it--then it rained, so today was the first I could get out and mow)so todays mowing cost us $27.12. I also trimmed up some of the low branches that always hit me in the face when I mow.

After I mowed, I ran the tiller thru the garden. I can't see where the fuel level even went down in the tiller.

Fixed fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans and yeast rolls for supper. Figure I needed my energy after all I did today.

I think I have decided not to buy the girls math books at this time. We are home schooling. I have found enough free worksheets and lessons off the internet that seem just as good or better than the workbooks I have looked at that are big bucks. Plus by using worksheets in this manner, we can move forward and slow down as needed to match their strenghts and weaknesses. I spent several hours tonight printing off worksheets. They sould probably last us thru the end of this month. I also got a bunch of free CD and DVD's and other info that I ordered on line. A lot of it is from big companies and various government offices. We have videos now on all kinds of subjects, from how paper is made to fish speicies, money management, women in science, space, planets, conservation, lewis & clark,...even some spanish CD's.

We bought some mango's from the store that were 28 cents a peice. So, we made a lesson out of mangos. Did you know the mango tree is related to poison ivy? The tree and leaves are poison, but the fruit is not. The tree looks like an evergreen tree. We studied where they are grown, how to use them...got about 15 minutes for home ec cooking and 30 minutes for social studies. Of course I was asked, if they could do more eating lessons... We had tocos and talked about Mexico earlier in the week. I don't think it will be too hard to add more "eating lessons"

We rented a machine and cleaned carpets today. For what we did, it would have cost close to $125 to have someone come out and do it. They cleaned up so well, that I think we are going to buy our own machine, so we can do it more often. I used to have one (lost it in a house fire several years ago) that I paid under $150 for. If we used it only 2 times, it would pay for itself. Before, I used it at least once a month for spot treatments, and I did each carpet at least 2 times a year. DH has allergies, and we live off a gravel road, so I can see it getting plenty of use. I also cleaned the dining room chair pads and the office chairs as well.

The garden needs tilling, but it is too wet out. It stormed all night and there are puddles. But, I did notice some more plants are coming up.

I took the recycling in, (comes to our area the first Saturday of the month). Since we burn our trash, and have to dump the barrel, I do the recycling. Its free, and saves all the glass and metal that normally we would put in the trash. That just leaves ash in the barrel which we can dump in low spots on the farm, as it is not hazzardous. We recycle all the paper, plastic, tin, pop cans, glass...leaves very little to burn. Rumor has it that next month they may start taking styrofoam as well (as in meat packaging and peanuts).