Before the Freeze

Our Neighbors Have Animals

These are Bella's views out the living room bay window. She sits in the window seat and watches the cars go by while waiting for the big dog & chickens.

their big dog - a great pyrenees

he just finished cleaning out the cat food bowl

Bella loves to see him and starts

hollering big dog, big dog

he is a beautiful dog and so friendly

and loves

cat food!

their chickens

on the front porch

cleaning up

the bird seed

and leaving lots and lots of poop

coming out from under the hydrangea bushes

at least Bella now knows what a real

chicken looks like

own own hens and chicks

appear to love their new home

Mom's pink camellia

loads of blooms this year

impatiens were doing great

until the freeze this past weekend

these were at the corner of our patio

lone iris still blooming

I've seen on many blogs the wonderful chicken houses being built and how many eggs they are getting and it all looks and sounds so wonderful.

But we live in the country more or less and chickens can and do run wild at times. This summer is the first time we had chickens visit our garden and there were only a couple of them. No big deal we thought. Then those 2 decided to bring their friends and this past week we had at least 7 at one time digging and scratching up everything they could. Mom mulched the new hydrangeas one morning and by the time I got home in the afternoon all the mulch was in the driveway where the chickens had moved it. Amazing how well they can clean the ground but so very frustrating also.

So Mom called our neighbors and she said yes her husband had been having trouble keeping them in their pen this summer but they would try fix the problem. Her husband stopped by to talk while we were re-mulching Saturday afternoon and said we could have fresh chicken for supper if they stayed a problem. Alan will be thrilled I'm sure, NOT.

While growing up we city kids would visit our grandparents farm in TN every summer. One of the highlights were picking up eggs from the hen house until we found our first chicken snake. It was at least 6' long and I swear our feet didn't touch the ground all the way back to the front of the house. Pape took a hoe and dragged him out. Us city kids were scared spitless!

Then there was the summer they decided to get the chickens ready to eat. Pape wrung their necks and we yelled and screamed while headless chickens flopped all over the back yard. Then it was time for grandma to do her thing and we didn't even watch that. One of my brothers still does not like to each chicken. haha

Critters

The Latest Cat Food Critter

I'm watching from inside the porch

taking his picture through door

open the door and he backs off a little

he's not afraid of me at all

I'm still standing in the doorway

clap my hands and he retreats a little

but only for a minute

back to check out the missing bowl of food

He finally ran away after I stomped my feet and clapped my hands several times, I was back standing at the doorway again by this time. I had been bringing in any food our Wild Cat doesn't eat every night about the time it gets dark. This raccoon has decided to come early, the past couple of nights he has shown up around 6:00. So much for leaving the food out for Wild Cat, he will have to eat a lot earlier from now on.

Velvet was laying on top of Mom's new car while all this was going on. Don't know why we thought he would be any help. haha