Fox attack, return to Maine, Spring IS here

We went away for six days and came back to a different Richmond. When we left on April 17th during the tail end of the big North Easter, there was snow on the ground (not to mention a few roofing shingles.) Upon our return the evening of April 22, it was warm and glorious, and the peepers were out in force! I am told that they started peeping some the night before.

I made a fatal mistake with the chickens yesterday. Since they had been cooped up for a week, and yesterday was predicted to be so nice, I decided to let them before I left for work. I opened the coop door at about 6:15 and got in the shower. At roughly 7:00 I looked out the window and saw a fox in the side yard, quite close to the house, with a Sussex in its mouth!

The fox was not too scared of me, so I got several pictures of it trotting away with the Sussex. I ran around in my work clothes looking for other chickens, caught and returned two to the coop, closed the door and went to work - my first day at the new job. Kavi found two more outside when he got home, leaving our total flock count at 10: nine Marans and one last Sussex. The only traces of the missing ones are a couple of piles of feathers in the yard.

Other animals: Tree sawllows have arrived, loons were heard, bats are flying, mosquitos are biting, a woodcock is back in the swale on this side of the road.

I uncovered the garlic bed. A deer tromped across the pea/fava bed, but nothing is up yet. Kavi did some roof repair last night and is stiff today.