The Unhappy Ending of the Story from the Coop

You may recall from last week the tale of the hen (Mama Hen, as I had come to call her), some eggs,  some chicks, and general havoc in the Winter Coop.  This story did not end well - no "lived happily every after" this time.  In short Mama Hen abandoned her eggs, none of them hatched, I moved her back to the Summer Coop, and she died.  Rather unexpected, that last part.  Sitting on eggs does take a toll on hens as they don't eat and drink much for an extended period of time, but usually it doesn't kill them.

It has been crazy cold here the last couple of days!  I don't think it made it to 60 degrees yesterday - June 24th!  I was wearing four layers to stay warm at the Farmer's Market but at least we didn't get rained on; actually we ended up being fairly busy.

Speaking of rain, we've had a pretty good supply of that.  The pumpkins, planted by the scouts three weeks ago, are looking good.  It was so dry that first week they were pretty darn wilty and we watered as much as we could to keep them alive.  They are doing fine now, and didn't Rollie do a nice job with the tilling?!  He is so helpful, I don't know what we would do without him. 

It's haying season.  Kevin is scaling back on how much hay we put up.  Our handful of goats just doesn't need that much.  He cut the one field we are using for hay this afternoon, and we will be baling it on Tuesday.

The every changing view from the milking stand

In goat news, Violet and Garrus have moved on to a new home.  They got to stay together and went to an experienced goat keeper which make it a little easier to part with them.

So, about Hoover.

Hoover has been part of our family for a year or so now.  He is a great running buddy when I have the time and excels at loudly barking at invisible threats.  Unfortunately, we still cannot turn our backs on him.  He cannot be left unsupervised anywhere but in the kennel in the shop or in the fenced dog yard.  Why?

Hoover chews on things - chair legs, stray socks, whatever happens to be handy - even if a bone is right there!  Hoover loves to eat tissues.  He will take them out of the trash and eat them.  He will take them right out of the box and eat them if he can reach it.  And if someone is in a hurry and just hurls the twelve-pack of Charmin up the stairs and hasn't put it away yet?  Jackpot!!

An entire roll (double size) destroyed.  At least we caught him before he ate the entire thing!

And with that I will bid you good evening.  Be well friends.