Raccoons:
Last night when I heard the raccoons at outside the bedroom (they make sort of a crabby sounding grumbling noise) and I got the flashlight out, and there was a raccoon at the very top of the bird feeder! It's on a tall pole. What's the deal? How can a raccoon climb that pole and clamber on top of the feeder? They are a menace. Mike has told me they climb on each other's backs, I'm not sure if this is true or not. There were two of them last night. If they weren't so destructive, however, they are cute in a way - when you shine a light on them, they just stop and stare. I guess if you had a gun (we don't) you could blind them and shoot them, but is farther than I'm willing to go. Now, if they were in the chicken coop... raccoons will kill chickens, along with bobcats, and foxes, I've heard, but there don't seem to be tons of foxes around here. Once in a while someone will tell me a tale about a fox hiding under a rhubarb leaf, but I'm not sure if they are pulling my leg or not.

After planting tomatoes in the garden and snapdragons out by the road, the wind is blowing and it is cold, and I'm afraid the wind will kill the plants. The day we planted, it was hot and humid. Go figure.

Chicks seem to be fine. Mike rigged up a way to keep them from the wind. The coop they are in is designed for summer breezes, and then it turns cold! Such is life.