Glen Hill Farm: Thankful

THANKFUL

Now that Glen Hill Farm's blog has become such an internet sensation, I've had thousands of fans ask "Why hasn't there been a blog in 2 weeks?!" (Just kidding, it was only my mom.)

We were lucky enough to have traveled over Thanksgiving and I'm just getting back into the swing of things now. (Thankful to Nana & Papa for a great trip!)

So, when you have 9 animals at your home, traveling isn't actually an easy thing to do. When we only had one dog (a year ago we only had ONE DOG, isn't that crazy? Feels like a lifetime ago!) Anyway, when we only had one dog, traveling was super easy.... both sets of grandparents were so great about watching our Jessie for us at their houses. Skip ahead a year and two dogs and seven chickens later, it isn't quite as easy. Both sets of grandparents have moved into townhouses without fenced in yards, and truthfully, I'm not sure if Cooper would be the best houseguest. Lucky for us, my parents offered to stay at our house the week we were away. They did a fantastic job caring for all of our creatures! Both dogs were very spoiled by them. And for people who have never cared for chickens before, they were naturals! Cleaning up poop, changing waters, collecting eggs... They also had to deal with frigid temperatures and a decent amount of snow. Gold stars all around to Grandma and Grandpa! I meant to get a picture of the grandparents with all of their grand-pets, but it was too dark by the time we got home. So here are some from a different visit. Thankful for Grandma & Grandpa!

Yesterday we got hit with a giant rain storm. Where our house is a Carriage House (it was originally the garage for the larger house in front of us) it is built at ground level. So when the water starts rising, I get very nervous because if it rises over an inch and a half, I'm pretty sure that the water will start entering my living room! Yikes! Hasn't happened yet, but it came pretty close yesterday. And of course Jonathan was traveling for work, so I was outside in the torrential downpours trying to get the water flowing through the drains that were put in to help this situation. Anyway, it all turned out fine, but in the moment, as I was raking and pulling leaves out of the way, trying to get the water to flow away from the house, I was nervous. So thankful that the house stayed dry!

That water level is a little too close for comfort!

And last night, the fun continued. At about 9:30 last night (still pouring), the dogs started barking like crazy. I thought that maybe Jonathan had arrived home, so I let the dogs out to greet him. But no, I was wrong. The dogs booked it straight down to the chicken coop area. And that's when I heard that awful sound that I'm learning to recognize.... It was an animal, and Cooper caught it. Crap. So I run out in the rain to figure out what I should do. It is such a horrible feeling. I hate to see any animal get hurt, no matter if they are wild or pets. So of course, my first reaction is to yell "Cooper, no!" He had caught a raccoon, an adult raccoon. Not only was I afraid for the raccoon, but I was also afraid for Cooper's safety. (As usual, Jessie was just a bystander.) But as I got closer, I could tell that the raccoon had lost this battle, and it was actually more humane to let Cooper finish the job, rather than leave the raccoon very injured. It was over quickly, no blood at all. And when I inspected the chicken run I could see a few spots that looked like the raccoon was trying to get in. Actually, a few days ago, the dogs had chased a raccoon up a tree. I'm hoping it was the same raccoon because at least that way, I can feel like the raccoon had been warned and chose not to listen. Raccoons are one of the worst predators of chickens in my area and they'll usually kill many chickens at once. So really, as much as I hate it, I have to thank Cooper for saving my hens.