FBI, new arrivals, predators, cooler weather

Last night was the first night of FBI for this semester. I think I counted fourteen people there with two regulars missing so this will be a pretty big class. It is a long session – three hours every Monday night – but it is a very rewarding time. The amount of Bible covered in those hours is a little overwhelming at first, but it is a real pleasure to take the time to digest it all through the week.

When we got home Victoria went out to close up the chickens. It has become her custom to let the dogs out just before bedtime while she makes the trek out to the coop. Last night our coop had a visitor so I was called on the remove a snake from the nesting boxes. It was a very large corn snake – quite beautiful. But I had to kill it in order to keep it from returning to the coop; especially since we are getting a fresh batch of chicks in a couple weeks. A snake that size could wipe out all the chicks in one night.

One of the ladies I work with is bringing a couple baby guinea chicks – called keets – to Mama this morning. They are just showing up on her place. Her husband’s grandfather has a large flock of giuneas and I assume they are reproducing but there are none sitting on batches of eggs that they know of so these must be hatching out on their own.

That’s good for me and Mama because we want a few guineas on the farm –as well as a few at Victoria’s. Since we are prepped for the batch of chicks to arrive very shortly we are prepared to house these few guineas also. Mama and I made a place for a larger guinea keet that she has had for about three weeks. So we are getting three very little ones and one larger – almost full grown – one.

In addition to the snakes we have been seeing we are also seeing a mommy raccoon with four little ones regularly. For the past several nights we have seen them scurrying down our road. If Mama had not been with me I would have run over two of them but as it was they escaped unharmed. I will have to kill them sometime later – hopefully before they get into the coop.

I will have to start taking nightly walks to see if I can eliminate the baby hogs and baby coons before they become a menace. The weather may actually be cooperating in that respect. I heard on the radio this morning that we are expecting a couple nights in the sixties by the end of the week. Could summer be over already?

We are also expecting rain with the approaching cool front. That will be a very welcome change. It will not arrive soon enough that I will not have to water tonight but help is on the way. This is the time of year that my plants can gather the energy to prepare for a long winter nap so they can come back with enough strength to put out fruit in the spring.  Warm days and cool nights are the blessing of late summer.

Of course, that only adds to the work I need to do to keep the baby chicks warm through those nights until they get big enough to do without a heat lamp.