Our faithful
followers will be familiar with our
rescue dog Clarabelle, self-taught and self-proclaimed farm protector!
Yesterday
morning Clarabelle was conspicuously absent when I went out to do my morning
chores , but as often happens around the farm, I got busy with other matters and forgot to go looking for
her.
Later she came
to get me with a whine and fervent gestures
towards the east woods, She seemed to be saying “come quick, I need to
get back to the tree” I followed her and
sure enough she led me right to the bottom of a tree, she was sure she had coon treed. I looked and looked but could not find one, she stayed there all day, repeatedly trying to convince both me and my husband that there really WAS a coon up that tree, she knew, she’d put it there! ( As the trees are quite close together in this part of the woods, we suspect he slipped away through the tree tops, while Clarabelle guarded the bottom of the tree!)
I guess that’s one that got away in spite of her best efforts! I imagine he’ll come back for the chickens soon enough, let’s hope Clarabelle isn’t too sound asleep at the time.
And just this
morning I found a large black “chicken snake” (technically they are a Rat snake
but here in the hills everyone calls them just plain ol’ chicken snakes
because of the frequency of being found in
the chicken house stealing eggs), I have a feeling this snake is the one who
smothered two of my setting hens this year, after first removing all their eggs
one by one!
A coon and a snake in the
same day, life on the farm! Which reminds me of the old country adage “You never know what predators live in your area, until you get chickens” seems everything likes a good chicken dinner!
Very smart dog and a real defender of the farm.
ReplyDeleteYou are very lucky to have such a great, handsome protector!
ReplyDeleteYes we are, she's 10 years old and I can't imagine what we'll do when she's gone!
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