It's been an eventful summer on the farm, mostly due to loss and near-loss. A couple weeks ago, I lost the last of my chickens. She let herself out and never came back - same as the one before her. No trace left. A Disney ending is looking more unlikely.
This means the chicken coop is now a cat house for Zoe, the little cat who bunked with the chickens. So I dressed it up for her, going from feathers and hay to wood floors and rugs:
Zoe took one look and fled in terror. Civilization is a frightening thing when you've lived your first ten years in a barn. But she came back and gave it a try. The bale of hay I added in the little room to the right probably helped sway her.
Hay for the horses - that's still a loss, but one I hope to correct this week with some outrageously expensive hay I will pick up myself an hour north of here. The farmer hesitated when I asked if he'd ever put up that third cutting, which made me think he bought this batch at auction and is selling it to desperate horse owners like me. I can only hope for a better growing season next year. Global warming sucks in so many ways.
But this summer's near-loss has a happy ending - Fritz's hoof appears completely healed, to the point where my 30-year-old horse has actually broken into a canter. Several times!
Summer wasn't so bad, after all.
The coop looks almost cozy enough to move into... certainly unappealing to barn cats.
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