Bah Humbug

Trying to stay with a Christmas theme, but at the moment I'm not feeling very jolly.  There's words I'd much rather use, or one word, and it starts with F:(

We got hit again, as in something came and went on a killing spree in our north chicken field this time.  I was out yesterday afternoon, and Larry was just returning from a 40 minute walk with the dogs.  As he got close to home he heard a chicken cackling, and then more than one chicken.  He arrived home to discover another massacre.  No bodies this time, but 6 chickens missing, three injured, one of which was dead by last night.  He and David, who had been watching a football game on the TV at the time, hunted around.  They found chickens in shock hidden in weird places.  There were patches of feathers all around the field.  There was no evidence of where anything(s) had come in or out.  I did a pretty good search of the perimeter this morning, and there are no chicken feathers outside the fence.  No evidence of coyotes going over or under.  It's a bloody frustrating mystery.  I just feel so furious, and helpless.....and sick.

We went to bed last night (I guess that goes without saying).  My clock wasn't showing the time.  It is one of those things that broadcasts the time onto the wall or ceiling.  It's great!  Larry had been doing some cleaning and had knocked it to the floor.  I finally got the time working, but it was showing three hours later than it should.  Finally found the right button to fix that.
Luna usually sleeps in our room, on a mat in the corner, but sometimes she does that reverse sneezing thing, it can be quite bad and go on for a long time, usually around 5am.  And when she figures it's time for you to get up, if you happen to rustle the sheets even slightly, she walks over and pokes you with her cold nose, and 'encourages' you to get up.  Larry moves, and she comes and gives me the cold nose.  So I started shutting her out of our room so I would get a better sleep, since I need all the help I can get some nights.  If she's not in our room, when she thinks we should get up, she starts doing a gentle woof every ten seconds or so from the living room, which wakes me up.  Larry sleeps through it all.  So I'm damned if I do, and damned if I don't.  Last night she was in our room.  She must have eaten something gross, because she was stinking up our room something fierce.  Also, the Fat Ewe, was baaing the sheep field.  Kind of like Luna's morning living room woof.  Not loud, but regular.   Unusual for sure.  I listened for a while, and figured I had to check it out, because there was no way I'd fall asleep while that was going on.  It was already past midnight.   The Fat Ewe and Young Ewe were stood in the field, which was strange.  Normally they would have been in the barn. This is the field where the chicken massacre took place, it's also the sheep field.  The sheep were out in the hayfield when the killing took place.  I have to wonder what the result would have been in the sheep had been in there.   So there I am in my nightie and crocs with a flashlight, in the drizzle, trying not to slip in the mud.  (Going downstairs to get boots and a jacket is too much work and gets the dogs all wound up, barking etc). The Old Ewe is down on her side, thrashing away in the barn.  That was weird too.  She hasn't done that in more than a month.  Has actually been doing quite well for an old lady.  Anyway, I heaved her to her feet and went back in.  Shut Luna out of the bedroom.  Finally fell asleep.  Was the Fat Ewe looking out for her friend?  Something similar happened before.

The alarm went off  at 6am.  What the...?  All the messing around with the clock had somehow got the alarm turned on.  I fumbled in the dark and thought I turned it off.  It started up again 8 minutes later.  Fumbled around again and finally got it right, I think.  (I'd better remember to check it when I go to bed tonight) Luna knows that the alarm is all about.  Since there was no sounds of anyone moving in the bedroom, she started her woof, ten seconds of silence, woof, etc.  I wanted to just yell at her from the bedroom, but didn't want to wake Larry, (it amazes me what he can sleep through) so I stormed out there and gave her heck and tried to reassure Jake that it wasn't HIM that I was mad at.  Went back to bed.  Couldn't get back to sleep.  Got up earlier than usual, and was heading outside to have a look around, see if any chickens had come out of hiding.  Got downstairs to the utility room where Calli sleeps.  As most of you know, Calli has nerve damage, which among other things resulted in some loss of bladder control, and no bowel control.  We have to make sure she pees in the evening.  Larry thought he had accomplished that.  Obviously not, the utility room was a disaster area.  Feeling like the jolly Christmas elf I was not.

Anyway, after my long wander outside, in the field next door, I'm feeling just as frustrated.  There is no evidence of what happened to those chickens.  Mink or weasel, no, they wouldn't/couldn't have carried 6 chickens off.  A family of raccoons? maybe, but then we'd at least find some feathers on the other side of the fence. Same for coyotes, but how did they get in?   Eagles, sure, but they don't work in flocks, maybe in a pair, and we've had one grab a chicken before now, but 6 chickens?  It is just like the chickens were lifted off into the sky, and the worst thing is not knowing what we are up against.  Is it coincidence it happened when the dogs weren't here?

                                                                   Bah Humbug!