The neighbors that live on the hill above us go through all kinds of animals- the main reason being that they don’t bother to take care of them so unfortunately whatever set of animals at the time runs wild. Numerous cats and dogs have been killed. Then they decided to raise rabbits only they didn’t bother to pen them up. Guess what? The dear bunnies ran all over the woods- with several getting killed on the road. I wasn’t too worried until I planted my garden in front of the woods. One day I discovered that all my beet tops, cabbage, and lettuce had been eaten. Dana was slowly wiring the fence with electric after work and on weekends. A Sunday afternoon when he and Dwight went to look at the garden they came back with the news that the rabbits were in my green beans. I told him to let my dear “wolves” loose in the woods to scare off the rabbits.
It was then that Dana and Dwight were privileged to see the race of the “foxes and the hounds”. They said as soon as Shep caught wind of the rabbits inside the gate that he stretched out his long legs and without hesitation made a beeline for the rabbits with Natasha right on his heels. Dana said he had never seen a dog run so fast before in his life while Dwight declared that it was a thing of pure beauty to watch. Despite the rabbits having the advantage Shep still managed to nip one in the heel as it dived through the fence. Dana and Dwight kept shaking their heads and retelling the incident about the speed of my German shepherds that effortlessly went right through brush in a straight line to run off the rabbits. So now my dear doggies patrol the woods keeping my garden safe from any wild or tame critters that don’t belong inside.
Eloise Mae died and went to cat heaven after running away a couple of times and trying her paw at living out in the wild. For some unknown reason, despite being petted and pampered inside, this cat that I raised from a wild kitten was never satisfied to be a house cat. The first time Eloise ran away and came dragging herself back a couple months later she was only skeleton of herself with half of her beautiful tail cut off. I thought for sure that she would then settle down as a civilized cat, but nothing would do for her but to run away again. This time Eloise didn’t make it. Meanwhile Sarah Annabelle lives the life of a princess indoors getting fatter and lazier every day.
The chicks are busy growing and are now out in the big pen- after trying to dig their way out of the enclosed part of the barn where we kept them. They act like a bunch of kids out on the playground as they run around hunting for bugs or anything that moves. Dana enjoys feeding them from his hand and they are getting quite tame. My doggies are quite enchanted with them as well running along the fence and watching their every move as they flutter and chirp mimicking grown-up hens. I eye the dear things with visions of fresh eggs this fall. Meanwhile our lonely rooster- I’ve renamed Solomon considering all the wives this guy is going to have in the near future- crows and struts around stretching out his wings trying to prove his superiority in the hen house. Thankfully his tail feathers are starting to grow back. He just might end up looking like a normal rooster again.
