Cantaloupe, Cucumbers, Chickens and Cats. (Notice that the Cantaloupe rind, when rotated, makes a nice letter "C". They are small but oh-so-good!). C is also for cry.
As we were harvesting the first delicious cantaloupes from the garden (and an abundance of cucumbers) I noticed a chicken limping through our garden...and then I saw our huntress, the cat, stalking her.
We have been losing some of our young Black and Red Stars and at least one Black Australorp over the last couple of weeks. We set a critter trap and our first catch was our cat. She hasn't been caught since, but we haven't caught anything else, either. We didn't want to admit that this cat (which we have seen catch squirrels and rabbits) was eating our chickens. She single-handedly keeps our mouse population under control, but when I saw what she did to another Black Australorp hen this morning, I called my husband and we agreed that she has to go.
The kids came outside with me to see what the cat had done so they would understand why we had to get rid of her. The three youngest watched as I put the poor chicken out of it's misery, but my 7yo went to sit on the porch with her cat and kitten, and cried her eyes out. I'm sad that the cats are going, both because it means we'll have lots of mice in the house again and because my 7yo is so upset.
My 6yo recovered rather quickly, saying that we have to have a pet - dogs are too big and chase the chickens so we can't have a dog; the cats eat the chickens so we can't have a cat; but rabbits don't eat meat...can we have a rabbit? My brother and I had a white rabbit when we lived in CA and I've been wanting a rabbit or two for a while. DH says we can get one for a 4-H project in the spring. It will be a good extra-curricular activity for our homeschool this year.
1 comment:
Im sorry to hear that the cats have to go. But rabbits do make great pets.
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