I’m having internet problems…hopefully they can be fixed by Tuesday.  That’s the date to have it fixed anyway.  I can randomly blog, but I can’t send emails.  It’s driving me crazy. 

Anyway, I lost a chicken last night to a nasty skunk!!!!  I heard the chickens hollaring around three o’clock in the morning…off I ran to the hen house, filpped on the red light and there the nasty thing was ———–Right in the process of chomping down on one of my hens!

Made me so mad I threw a stick at him.  (I didn’t want sprayed) Then I ran in and got Terry and he came with the gun.  By that time I was back out in the hen house, the other hens flew outside or into the run.  Quick count told me I was missing one.  Which meant the nasty bugger got one hen already.

How he got it would have to be dealt with in the morning, in the meantime the problem was to get the darn thing OUT of the hen house. 

We could have shot it in there, but then the skunk spray would distroy the hen house and I didn’t want to have to rebuild a hen house.

So long story short…the skunk got away! 

I only lost one chicken, I have a damaged hen, but I think she is going to recover, and I’ve set a trap for the skunk.  He will be back… they always do when they know there is easy pick’n for food.

Which reminds me, a neighbor who lives a few miles from us on the Plateau lost 3 goats to a bear one night, the bear returned the next night and got three more.  The government man gave them permission to shoot the bear if it returns. (Yes you have to ask permission.)  He returned, the bear hide left with the government men, the rest of him was buried with a backhoe on the property.

A ride on the Uncompahgre Plateau showed us that the nasty pine beetle has made it’s way into our woods  The Ponderosa and Yellow Pines are dying off just like the lodge pole pines from here to Denver.

I hope you can see all the little holes in the bark, that is where the beetle bores into the tree.  I wonder what it’s going to take for something to finally be done to save the pines?  It takes years and years and years for a tree to get this big. 

I guess I had better stop now, this post is really rather negative. 

Sorry,

Linda