Week 4 - When One Lives in the Country...

When one lives n the country, one must remember that certain things are inevitable.  Power outages are not addressed quite as quickly as those same issues in the city.  Items one likes in the markets are not always available in the country.  Movie theaters are farther away - necessitating driving farther to get away from reality for a short while.  And wild animals are more prevalent in the country.  

That was brought into blazing clarity this past week.  You've heard me talk about John's rooster, Foghorn Leghorn and his harem of 6....about 3 weeks ago, Foghorn went missing and John found the evidence of his disastrous meeting with a fox out in the meadow.  And Thursday, 3 more of the females met their own demise.  I had spotted the fox earlier that morning - he certainly wasn't suffering from starvation....and now he's had 3 more chickens during the morning....I'm kinda hoping he had indigestion after his hunting and killing spree!

We have tons of gray foxes here in southwest Missouri..and they aren't warm and cuddly creatures, in spite of their looks.  They are grisly killers!

I mean, 3 chickens in one morning?  Killers! John is going to place a Have-a-Heart trap over in one of the fields where he thinks the fox 'travels'.  He won't actually set the trap for a few days, only put it there with some chicken meat...once the fox is used to having it there - and getting some food there - then John an arm the trap and catch the bugger...and then he can dispatch Mr. GrayFox so the remaining 3 chickens are safe from that predator.

On another note, John and I cleaned out the area of our sitting room where I'd put all the items we had been storing in mom's room - until she moved in with us, that is.  We spent over 6 hours sorting and purging and then John put all the stuff we are saving up into the attic - including 11 huge plastic tubs of quilts - yes, that is eleven!!!!  The sitting area is now clear of all items except one cabinet that will stay - it houses some quilts behind a glass door and can act as a TV stand.  John is devising a plan to do some minor repairs to a wall and then paint that room - and we can then place the book shelves and mount a huge TV and actually use it as a sitting room!  I can't wait!!!

It's cold and rainy and mostly an icky day today...not complaining - we need the rain.  But it is what it is...cold and rainy and icky.  I'm off to make a cup of tea and knit for a while.

Thanks for stopping by!