I am actually in Iowa right now.  My husband and I have temporarily traded pumpkin farming in McPherson, KS for corn roguing in Traer, IA.  It is kind of a working vacation.  I have not decided which is better:  pumpkin flood irrigating and weeding or corn roguing, both in 100+ degree weather.  So, since we are here, mom and dad (Grammy and Papa) are keeping us up to date on the pumpkins and farm life in Kansas.

Last night they called with sad news.  Something got into the chicken coop, killing 10 chickens!  Papa had been leaving the windows open with screen coverings, so the chickens wouldn’t roast prematurely in this weather.  Apparently, some critter, (maybe a raccoon??) clawed through the window frame and screen to reek havoc in the coop.  Grammy opened the coop door to a very sad sight in the morning 😦  Farming is not always easy. The crazy thing is that whatever killed the chickens didn’t bother the young guinea hens or the 3 quails in the other half of the coop.  We are thankful for that.

The guinea hens had slowly been disappearing throughout the spring because they preferred to roost outside in the trees during nice weather instead of in the safety of the coop. Every couple of nights one would “disappear”, so Papa and Grammy had recently brought 10 new ones to the farm. Glad they are safe.  The quail–don’t ask–let’s just say Papa rescued a nest and hasn’t yet released them into the big bad world.

Needless to say, Papa is setting a live trap out for the next couple nights.  I’ll let you know if the culprit is caught.