This weekend we finally hit temperatures that made it feel like spring outside and the backyard cleanup has begun! And after that, there’s front yard cleanup, side yard cleanup, goat shed and chicken coop cleanup and garden cleanup. But we won’t think about any of those today. We’ll just think about how quickly our snow is (finally!) melting. We’ll think about the visitors we’ve had recently to our back yard. Do you see it there in the picture?
How about now?
Yes, a deer came and visited for a while. I couldn’t get a better picture because it kept hiding behind the swings, but the children had a great view from an upstairs window. They usually don’t get this close to the house as we tend to make a bit of noise, but I guess this one was hungry and was willing to risk the visit. We enjoyed watching it for about an hour before it moved on and away.
We also had a not-as-welcome visitor. Saturday morning when I was making coffee I looked out the kitchen window and saw something moving and the chickens scattering. My foggy brain took a second to identify what I was seeing. It was a rather large fox looking for breakfast. I shooed it away, though it slinked around the swingset for a while before a second shooing away worked. None of our chickens were harmed, but this does explain the mysterious disappearance of one of our older hens about a month ago.
And now that warmer temperatures have arrived, I won’t even try to keep the Littles inside. A bit of school work done this morning and they were out the door, running to work on their “secret hideout”.
We’ve been battling some drawn out colds so I’m pretty grateful for fresh air and sunshine to help with the healing. They’re grateful for the freedom that comes with spring. And I’m hopeful that the jackets and sweaters that were donned to go out somehow make it back inside at the end of the day, as only 5 minutes after they took off running I saw the three of them without any layers (and they surely aren’t needed today). Happy Spring, my friends!
We have chickens, too. We’ve not seen any foxes at our place but we did lose quite a few hens two summers ago.
We are enjoying the sunshine and warm air here, too!
They seem to be very good at not being seen. It seems that every three years or so we mysteriously lose a few or more. I think it’s a very stealthy fox family.
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