I have my computer back!!!!  Yea.  I don’t know how I got a bug; I’m very careful about not clicking on stuff.

Pat is talking about getting rid of her chickens.  I am begging her not to do it.  I love the fresh eggs. I like the chickens as well, they aren’t afraid of me.  One of them let me pick her up and stroke her feathers.

But Pat has to let them out of the cage every day, and the coyotes pick them off--even if she is standing there with them.  They run in a pack and never stop as they go through the yard and snatch a chicken.  They aren’t afraid of Pat.  There are so many chickens she can’t protect all of them.

“A coyote got Bess,” she said.  “And Barbara.”  She names all of her chickens after the president’s wives.  Every chicken has a name--which makes it personal when a coyote grabs one of them.  

I hesitate to let Squig out in the yard when I go to her farm.  He only weighs 12 pounds.  And Squig thinks everyone--including coyotes--love him.  I’m sure coyotes would love him.  So I go out with him and stand right by him when he has to go.  All I need is something to swing at anything that tries to hurt him.  I can guard one dog.  But nobody can guard a flock of chickens except God himself.