Sunday Ups & Downs

Sunday was an interesting day here at the farm. When the boys opened the chicken door in the morning to let the birds out we had 26 chickens (that's how many we've always had). When we left for church we only had 23. 

Just before it was time to leave for church, Ben noticed a coyote on the yard. We hustled outside to check on the chickens and found several piles of feathers. 

It took us a long time to round up the rest of them. They'd scattered into all sorts of odd hiding spots and were not eager to go back inside the chicken barn. 

Now the chickens spend their time inside the barn unless we're outside too. 

Sunday evening, our dear promiscuous mama cat Chuckles appeared on the yard quite a bit thinner than she had been in the morning. The search for baby kittens started and then ended in the oddest place:  

under the bushes just beside the house!

We also spent some time watching the three baby birds that are living in this nest on our porch. They're just barn swallows, and we shouldn't have allowed them to build a nest there but it was such a hassle to keep removing it that we finally just gave up. Now there are three little ones in there - usually with their heads hanging over the edge.

Thankfully, after one night under the bushes Chuckles moved her two tiny kittens to a safe corner in the garage.

I say safe, but that's just for now - our track record is terrible with kittens being too near our cars....
It was a little bit like mother nature on display at our place on Sunday. Hunting, death, survival, birth - a little bit of everything. What a wondrous world God created for us to be a part of.