Skunk!

Since our chickens range free, we can only encourage them to lay in the nests we provide. Some of them like to find their own nests. These include a horse stall, between some hay bales, and in a patch of briars behind the chicken coop. The patch of briars is the problem spot. Not because we can't get to the eggs - because the skunk gets to them first.
I haven't seen the skunk. I'm assuming skunk because I see the hen laying, then come back for an egg that isn't there, and encounter a light perfume of Eau de Skunk. Now maybe I'm maligning the poor skunk, who passed through just once some time ago and has been followed by something else. After all, Eau de Skunk tends to - linger.
Whatever it is, it's snitching eggs in broad daylight, which probably narrows the list of likely suspects. Skunks do go after eggs during the day, as my poor Aunt can testify.
My Aunt M and my mother had the job of collecting eggs as kids. Before my grandfather bought the farm they kept a hen in the garage, and she had a nest there. They would wait to hear her cackle, then race to get the egg.
One morning when my Aunt climbed on the box she used to reach the nest, she encountered a faster harvester in a nice black and white suit.
She got out without being sprayed, and called my grandfather, who dispensed the usual farm justice. She wrote about her experience in an essay for school. The teacher sent her work home with the note "Not a true story!"
My husband offered to bait a trap, but there's a little problem with that. The traps are on loan from a friend, and I'm not confident in my ability to remove Eau de Skunk from it. And I guarantee there will be lots of Eau de Skunk. Plus there is likely another skunk just waiting to move in.
What we really need to do is build a coop big enough to house the nest boxes, which would likely make them more attractive to the hens. Only that requires time and money, two things Tumble Rock Farm is fresh out of just now.

-P

Tastes Like Chicken

Grimmy likes to feed the chickens.
Well, he thinks he likes to eat his food. He has no idea why all these birds run around under his feet every time he eats. He sprays food everywhere because he's a warmblood.
One time he got excited and dumped his bucket. The chickens swarmed, and Grimmy was too intimidated to chase them off. Missing dinner seems to have cured him of bucket dumping.
The other day I heard a chicken squawk. I looked over to see if she'd been pawed. She was scuttling away, ruffled and offended. Grimmy was trying to figure out what to do with his mouthful of chicken feathers.
I guess she didn't move when he told her to, and he's finally decided the chickens fall below him in the pecking order. So to speak.
There is nothing so funny as a colt with an unexpected mouthful of chicken feathers.

-P

The Tractor in the Tree

Yes, there really was one.

My husband must have Internet access. There's no cable where we live, so he signed up with the local wireless provider. They tell you where to place your pole and how high, and what sort of cable to run to the top of it. They don't do it for you.

My husband dug his trench (if you ever see him with a Ditch-Witch, run), laid his cable and placed his pole. Filling the trench back in proved to be too much.

He had an impulse.

Agricultural tractors with two-wheel drive are not meant to be maneuvered on steep muddy hills.

I don't know whether the tree partway down the hill was good or bad. It did stop the tractor's progress sideways down the hill, and the tractor did stay right-side up.

Others with heavier equipment retrieved my tractor. Amazingly the only souvenirs I have are a bad photograph and a bent steering wheel.

-P

p.s. I took the pic from the deck, so you really can't appreciate the slope. It's worse than it looks.

The Car You Can't Lock Your Keys In

My husband has always had problems with cars. He forgets to put gas in them, and they give up in awkward places. He forgets to take the keys out, and they don't let him back in. Sometimes I go to the rescue. Now with two children, a farm, and a career I sometimes have to refer him to roadside assistance.
He finally had to replace our much beloved Honda. The new (used) car is smart; if it has a key inside it refuses to lock. Problem solved for my husband!
Only one problem. He tends to leave keys around. Today when I arrived at work the car wouldn't lock. I had to search the car for the key he left in it before I could get to work.
Maybe it's not so convenient after all.

-P

p.s. Remind me to post the Most Interesting Places to Run Out Of Gas...