I'm Ready to Scream! more post #12, Grapic pics post #13

[pebbles]

I'm sorry for your loss CCG. Everything bad does seem to hit at once and when you hit that final straw you just loose it, usually all over the poor, idiot slob who screwed up. When we built our home I purposely faced the dining room window toward a huge creosote bush (desert bush) it is very large for it's species and the only one on our property.

When they painted our house, the painters CLEANED THEIR PAINT BRUSHES UP AND DOWN ALL THE BRANCHES OF THE BUSH!!! I lost it all over the painters. You can't fathom how anyone can be that oblivious to natural beauty-so I totally understand. You had a whole yard to put the bricks in and you put it ON MY FLOWERS. Heavy sigh.

 

[Cats Critters and Garden]

Remember my crappy day yesterday? It got worse. My sister was in the kitchen and heard a weird noise, so she asked to barrow my cros, which she does all the time so I said yes. Less then a minute later all my mom and me heard was her screaming her lungs out. She says she doesn't even know she was screaming. But I ran to the kitchen and saw my cros weren't there, having forgot that my sister had taken them, and just ran out bare foot. It felt like I never touched the ground, I was running so fast.

When I reached the coop, where she had gone, she screamed something like "It's in the pen! It's in the pen with them!" It being a big, healthy raccoon who had one of my white birds pinned to the ground, not moving. I started yelling at it and opened the run in the hopes of getting some of the birds out of the way. Both Red and one of the WL/EE hens ran for it. I sent my sister for my 22 while I tried to get it out and the chickens safe. All of a sudden the raccoon climbed up the wall of the pen and squished threw a small crack between fencing and got away.

Then I saw movement the bird he pinned down started to move. It was Kernel my WL/EE rooster, his head covered in blood. I honestly don't remember if he came to me or I ducked into the run to grab him. The first thing I saw was his right eye was gone and the left was closed, swollen, and bloody with no way to tell if it was even there or what shape it was in. I sat there holding him hoping he was okay and watching for the coon.

When my sister came out I made her guard them and ran inside with Kernel, to find that as my sister had come out our dog had a seizure. Which caused him to fall down the steps from the deck on to rock. As I came back in mom was comforting him. But I ran Kernel to the bathroom to try washing him up and examine him for anymore wounds. In all his comb is cut up, a cut behind a his head, and his eyes. None of it was life threatening and he was to freaked out and wouldn't let me touch his head (who can blame him?). So I set him up in a cage in my room and hoped for the best.

This morning a little before 6 am, I woke up to the beautiful sound of crowing. While it would have been beautiful if I was already awake, but most severely wounded or sick roosters don't crow. So I got up and covered his cage with towels, not even thinking of his eyes. But he shut up. A little while later when I got up, I checkout the damaged eye and saw the most beautiful thing, a bright, healthy, orange eye.

 

[Cats Critters and Garden]

His eye/face:
(that is just the third eye lid, nothing wrong)

and the missing eye:

 

[Carol Dee]

Oh poor thing. He is so lucky to have you to care for him.

 

[digitS']

crocs?

. . . and, you patched the hole in the pen?

. . . locked up the chickens for the night?

I remember when I was quite young spending the night in the woodshed with my uncle's revolver waiting for a coyote to come back for more chickens. I'd found a rooster and a hen laid out flat and the innards eaten in the pen early that morning.

It didn't work. He was much more aware of what was out there in the dark than I was.

I kept the chicken door locked until I could open it in the morning but when the birds were allowed out of the pen, the coyote killed another rooster mid-day out in the trees about 30 or 40 yards from the house.

A day or so later, he came back and I saw him in the trees. I grabbed Dad's 22 rifle. Out the door I went, keeping the barn between me and where I thought he was. Since I was on the left side of the barn and he had been facing to the left, I just stayed against the wall and waited for him. The little rifle trained on out into the trees.

When he stepped a little farther along his way, he came in view. I was a fairly good shot with that little rifle but after I'd squeezed the trigger, the coyote took off at full speed.

I remember looking at the rifle. It was kind of like, "How did that not work?"

So, I got the dog out and we went into the woods. About 10 feet beyond where the coyote had been standing, she found drops of blood. The bullet must have passed right thru him.

I went back for the gun but our stock dog was gun-shy. She wasn't going anywhere with me as long as I was carrying a gun. I went 100 yards into the trees in the direction he was heading but couldn't find anything. At least, the coyote never came back and there were no more dead chickens.

Steve

 

[Cats Critters and Garden]

crocs?

. . . and, you patched the hole in the pen?

. . . locked up the chickens for the night?

Steve

Crocs yeah I can't spell today , I still need to fix the hole and the rest of the birds (Kernel is in the house) are on lock down in the coop until I can catch and kill the raccoon (didn't catch it last night just a opossum).

 

[vfem]

Wow, I'm so sorry. Totally sounds like one of my weeks. :/

 

[journey11]

Wow, crazy! Has your dog had seizures before? Must have been all the excitement that brought that one on. If that coon was out in the daytime, he could be rabid. They usually don't come out to hunt until night. Glad your rooster is alright. He is one brave fella to confront a huge coon like that!

 

[Cats Critters and Garden]

Wow, crazy! Has your dog had seizures before? Must have been all the excitement that brought that one on. If that coon was out in the daytime, he could be rabid. They usually don't come out to hunt until night. Glad your rooster is alright. He is one brave fella to confront a huge coon like that!

Nope Nick (our dog) has never had a seizure before.

I saw our lovely friend the raccoon today stealing cat food of the deck in the day light. He ran off and I tried to get a shot at him, but I missed due to the bottom part of the site on my 22 being gone. But the trap is reset with peanut butter and cat food....

 

[4grandbabies]

I hope you catch that awful racoon! They look cute, but can rip a dog or person up if cornered. Recently a fox caught our grandaughters cat, and hurt it badly, it had a hole in its neck, and made this awful sound when it breathes, that is almost healed up now, and she purrs again, and we rarely hear that wheeze when she breathes, she did lose one eye tho.