Spring Sorrow

Well, I am learning that with loving animals comes a certainty of grief. Keeps me on my toes. We were able to get a lovely new goose for Pilgrim, named her Gracie. 3 days later, our dogs caught her outside the fence and attacked her. She escaped to the refuge of our neighbors' pond only to disappear beneath the surface while the kids were watching. We still have no idea how a enormous waterfowl could drown, nor what has happened to her body. It has drawn our small neighborhood of farmers together as we all banded together to find her the first time and now, to try to figure out what happened to her. Submerged rope? Snapping turtle? We'll probably never know.
Then, in the afternoon on Sunday a coyote showed up out of the blue and snatched a chicken from my yard. I was outside raking and screamed at him to no avail. He ran off just long enough to deposit his catch and was back for another one. I charged him screaming my head off and waving my arms and he just looked at me as if calculating if he could nab another meal before he ran off. Needless to say, I called my neighbors with shotguns for backup before I relaxed a little. It was completely unnerving- He was only 15 feet away and the size of a German Shepherd and I've never been that close to an uncaged wild animal in my life. So far we haven't found him.
The baby chick and keet are growing well and we expect a hatch next weekend from our chicken eggs. The guineas have laid another nest in the woods- we'll see how long they survive out there. I'll probably incubate the goose's eggs next and only help the guineas if the nest is destroyed. The neighbor has been allowing a friend to hunt racoons on his property with good results so the chances are fair the nest will make it.
All of this ensures that life is never dull and that my kids are developing a bit of a fatalistic view of how life and death work.
One funny moment: I put in my garden and some flowers out front and our little dog, Toby got quite muddy. I watched TV until fairly late and when it was time to go to bed, just couldn't face crawling in without getting a shower first. With how dirty Toby was, I decided to wash him up while I was in there. He got all cleaned up and when released zoomed off through the house. Each time he gets a shower, it's like this mega high for him and he has to burn off energy for at least 20 minutes chasing our other dogs. Well, it's nearly midnight at this point, so I nab him and plop him on the bed hoping to settle him down. He starts digging at the covers and spinning around in an attempt to go to sleep- only its like he's in Fast forward mode. It was the funniest thing watching him spin like a dervish for 15 minutes before he finally collapsed to rest.
Life is good.