Angel #4 had Band-o-rama last night. All the bands, grades 5 - high school put on a concert. The high school band usually sounds good under normal circumstances, but after listening to the 5th graders perform first, they sounded Carnegie Hall ready. The final song was all the bands playing together, it sounded wonderful and the 5th graders looked so proud playing alongside the big kids.
After we got home from Band-o-rama, I headed into the barn to close up the chicken coop for the night. I've been letting them out during the day when we've got good weather, they like being out scratching around in the sunlight. When I went into the coop, I took out my flashlight to do a chicken head count like I do just about every night. I'd just started when I heard a squawking and a chicken ran out of the coop. When I looked over, I saw a big old possum. Of course I yelled, a possum is basically nothing more than a giant rat. It ran off and I called hubs on my cell and told him there was a chicken coop emergency. That's when I saw the DEAD CHICKEN! That rotten possum killed one of my ladies. I was NOT happy. I think it was after a 2nd when I scared it by coming into the coop, it's intended victim was the one who ran outside when I walked into the coop. WE came out to the barn with a tire iron, but by then the possum was long gone, though he searched around the coop for it. Fortunately, we found the traumatized chicken outside and got her back inside. Hubs spent a good part of the day possum-proofing the coop. Hopefully we'll get out of this with only a single chicken fatality. I think we lost 9 of them last year. Stupid predators.
I also got the van fixed today. Sunday on our way to church the alternator belt fell off (this is the 2nd time that happened). We've had a problem with the belt squeaking on and off since early last fall. We've brought it in to be fixed, but they were having problems locating the issue and the last time I brought it in to see if they could deal with it, the stupid thing stopped squeaking the day of the appointment. Which brings us to Sunday - after the belt fell off, we ran into some problems getting home and were fortunate enough that a guy not only stopped to help us, but also had the tools to put the belt back on right in his car. That got us home all right, but then on Monday the belt started squealing really bad - like people on the sidewalk stopping to look at you bad. It was pretty embarrassing. So today it went to the shop and after spending way more than I wanted to, they finally fixed the problem (hopefully). The woman behind the desk said she owed me a big thanks - she had 2 salesmen in the office who were very persistent and not leaving, until they brought my van in. She said it was screeching so loud they couldn't hear each other talk so the salesmen gave up and left. Next on my vans Christmas list are new brakes and tires, then it should hopefully keep plugging along for at least a year before I get my pocket lightened again. We're talking about getting a different car, by the end of summer if all goes right. Now that we're down to only 2 kids at home, I'm hoping to finally get to downsize to a nice normal sized car this time. I'm mini-vanned out.
2 comments:
I was glad to finally get beyond the mini van stage, too. They're nice when you need them, but once the kids are older, it's nice to move into a smaller vehicle. Good luck on the car hunt and with that possum!
Those darn possums--I used to keep cat food in the barn but had to move it to the basement because of possums and raccoons. The damn possums would growl at me when I came in and caught them in the food. I trapped one inside the can one night, then the next morning realized I'd suffocated it. About a day or so later, there was another one in there, trapped that one, too, and by the next morning, he was eating the dead one. So gross! The only other excitement in our barn is when a snapping turtle showed up and was hissing at me. He was the diameter a little larger than a basketball. Hubby took him for a ride to a creek far away from us.
Glad the van is fixed and hope it lasts!
Post a Comment