We have 2 rabbits... had bunnies, but the bunnies were eaten a few days ago by a huge bull snake. :-( a Tom Cat a very talkitive parakeet several betta fish a Chameleon We are expecting our new chicks on Monday... Buff Orphs, RH Reds, Dominiques, partridge rock, Black Astrolorp, Silver lace and Gold Lace Wyandottes, golden campine and one Speckled Sussex Rooster. We want to find one purple and one coral blue guinea to replace the ones we had. Not only were they the greatest bug catcher in the world, they were quite entertaining too! We also have a fox that lives on government property on the other side of our fence, that paces back and forth near the edge of the pasture, trying to get in. Very unrabbit like...the rabbits thought it is entertaining(and VERY brazen!) to tease the fox, hopping back and forth on the opposite side of the fence! That fox was going insane and I freaked out! This bold behavior promted me to put the mommy bunny in a cage... Daddy bunny loves to be pet, but is too "wild" to put in a cage, he will hurt himself trying to get free. No common sense! We are making the coop and chicken area "ultra Fox free" Any and all ideas welcome! We also have skunks and raccoons around that we are deterring from this area. Now I am worried about the bull snake. I am fine with him being on the property as long as he only eats mice and rattlers and leaves me and my pets(and their off spring) alone!

This ain't exactly a lawn where I live. It used to be a cow field. We just built houses and started mowing. This ground is good and solid. I mow it with a 1949 8N tractor (with ag-bar tires) and a finish mower. Having cows walk all over it is the least of my worries. No chickens except what he has in a pen up at his barn. He keeps about 5 chickens just for the eggs everyday. If I fence off the area of fruit trees that leaves about an acre for the cows. And it still leaves up plenty of yard space. If it were entirely up to me I would fence the whole place off and let the cows have the run of the whole lot. Front yard and all. The cows sometimes manage to get out of the ditch and up into the yard. They are not any trouble, but we live on a sometimes busy road. The fence is only to keep them in the yard and out of the road. There would only be 6 to 8 cows at a time at the most. Maybe I'm just blind to the flys. I don't encounter then when I'm near the cows. And to me they don't smell. And the fields don't smell. Or maybe I'm just so used to it I don't pay attention to it. We're gonna discuss it more today with the cow man. Thanks for the advice. Keep it coming. Pooh Bear

ceresone, I grew up on the seashore north of Boston and later went to college, lived, and worked in the city itself. I moved to the Ozarks in 1990 at the age of 33; the culture shock still hasn't completely worn off. I lived in Salem, Mass. for a few years too, it's a hub of witchcraft activity, schooling, and shopping. Maiming animals was never a part of their rituals, and the 'new agers' were always about the most peaceful and harmless people I ever met. Coincidentally, my next-door neighbor goes to some sort of annual gathering for wiccans, and you couldn't ask for a better neighbor. He'd no more cut the teats off a cow than .... I don't know what. Heck, when his dog hurt one of my goats he was in tears. I hear about cult activity harming animals a lot and I always suspect law enforcement and others are wrong about the source. The people doing it are just nuts. Within the past couple weeks someone found a dead cat in a refrigerator in their home, and nearby a pile of dead domestic animals was found. People started whispering about 'black magic', but there's not a shred of evidence to back it up. Drugs, alcohol, or sociopathy are simpler explanations. Yes, we have spotlighters, roadside hunters, poachers, trespassers, and just-plain thieves who'll butcher a sheep, goat, or calf right where they shot it. I had a guy I actually know come to the door, well before deer season opened, and claim he was quail hunting (with a 30.06?!) and he thinks he may have accidentally knicked a buck that then jumped my fence and ran into my pasture, could he go look for the poor little injured beast? He must think I'm deaf, I knew it must be right behind the house. His problem was that it was a trophy-sized buck too big to drag a half-mile. What an idiot - it never occured to him that if he shot a buck it might drop in its tracks? Since he's absolutely incorrigible, I let him load it up rather than risk the lives of my livestock, and he came back later with some nice venison steaks. I've told him a dozen times that if he wants to hunt, just tell me so I can lock up the stock- but he won't- he'd rather be sneaky. Yup, I've seen that drug-induced midnight target practice too, accompanied by cases of beer and revving truck engines making 'donuts' in the road. The people I'm thinking of used to have contests to see who could chop down a tree with a gun the fastest. Thank goodness the guy was such a loser that he managed to burn down his own house, then moved away. I do keep the livestock locked up under a high-intensity sodium vapor security light every night, and 24 hours a day during deer season. It's the only reasonable thing to do.

Bestlawn: The local Lesco dealer. I also used their starter fertilizer which I had success with last year. I put it down in the Fall with new seed (afer core aeration) and the lawn came up early ...like it was in Ireland in the Spring. I don't know why, but it was a dramatic green color, as though the root system had stored the nitro. over the winter. Maybe I was just heavy handed with the Fall application of starter fertilizer, but a lot of people were dropping their jaws when it greened up to bejesus two weeks before any other lawn around here. Thank you for all your great advice here.