Homestead Life is Never Dull, especially in Autumn

We have a couple hens that like to lay their eggs in odd places. Yesterday I found a broken egg, contents missing in one of those places. Later when I went to gather eggs, I found the same thing in one of the nest boxes and in the goat barn where another hen always lays an egg. There appeared to be some kind of unwanted visitor in our midst. It didn't take long for us to find out what it was. Last night after we got home from having Pizza with Steven, Priscilla and Elizabeth, Emery went out to lock up the hen house for the night as he does every single night. He came in saying he needed some help....two possums in the hen house and I need to hold the light so he could catch them. Young ones, but egg eaters all the same. They needed to be relocated before they grew up into bigger problems. Emery had the two of them in no time and was able to relocate them without too much trouble. While we were out there some skunk let loose and changed the scent of the evening air. We decided to make haste and get back into the house. Both of us had dreams last night about MANY young possums taking over the hen house. Maybe that qualified them as nightmares instead of just dreams !

There is always something that gives us chance to say "life is never dull."

The sun rose this morning so orange in the sky. Pumpkin color. A sure sign that fall is here. Leaves will start to turn brown with a tiny bit of color here and there. Texas is not a place of beautiful fall colors, more like dull colors. I do miss New England in the fall time. It will be time to give the woodstove a good cleaning and blacken before it begins another season of work for us. It will be time to change the furniture around so that some things are not so close to the stove as they are now and make room for the wood ring and give the kindling box a place of honor near the stove. We also need to put a safety fence up around the stove. Babies need to be kept safe from the stove. Getting ready for the cold months means some work needs to be done and sooner rather than later. It's not a good plan to wait until the last minute. My milk house barn needs a new roof before we start to get rain again and Emery wants to put in a dutch door into the feed room. Making life a bit easier for me. The children have all said the same thing, they wish we had such a nice set up when they were all doing the chores. Life tends to be that way. You have more money to do things AFTER the children are gone.

Time for me to get busy with the new day.....chores to be done.