Hush My Darlin' The Coyote Sleeps Tonight

I had two new lambs born today, and as I was outside tonight checking on them I heard a coyote barking . The coyote was so close that had there not been trees between myself and the coyote I would have easily seen it. I wondered what it would be like to be one of my sheep, hearing the coyote and knowing it lurked nearby, smelling my new lambs and knowing instinctively it will kill me given the chance. Then I wondered at the many centuries past and even in some places present where people also fear animal predators. I remembered the song "In The Jungle" and I hummed this song to myself substituting 'coyote' for 'lion' and 'lamb' for child. I don't think it helps the sheep though, they are helped by me being there to protect them. Unlike God, who never sleeps or slumbers in His watch and care of us, His sheep, I need sleep and sometimes the coyote gets a lamb, or my whole flock of ducks. " He who keeps you will not slumber." Psalm 121:3

They're Back!

~I have been doing more research on coyotes in Washington, and was astonished to discover there are an estimated 50,ooo coyotes in this state alone! I think the majority of them are right around our home. I checked my flock of sheep around 2:00 a.m. and saw or heard nothing amiss, no ewes showing imminent lambing. So off to bed for a good night's sleep without too much back pain . Ahhhhhhhhhh.......

~Remember, the coyotes made a raid on our place and devoured all but two of our ducks....~

~Well, they apparently love to dine here at Cedar Pond and last night came back and helped themselves to lamb. The little lass on the far left, looking away from the camera...well, she was a feast for the coyotes. I am so angry! The evidence of the feast is but a few yards away from where the rest of the flock huddled and had to have heard and seen the gory deed. I was shocked as I viewed my sheep pen from our 2nd story window this morning. I looked out and saw what looked like someone had sheared a sheep while I slept. I knew right away I would find a missing sheep. I tracked the path of the villains and left the evidence for Hubby to investigate. ~He discovered they had dug under the fence, and eaten most of her IN THE PEN, and then dragged bits of her off ( probably for snacks ? ). He saw coyote and deer prints in a well used path behind our home , in a wooded and brushy area. We are still finding coyote scat up and down our roads. See, most of the 50,000 coyotes live right around here. ~Hubby is installing electric fencing around the perimeter of our pens tomorrow. He has transformed my weaving area into his own personal "coyote blind" for observation and predator control .

~And then, there is this. The mole mountains have doubled in size and number....~

~The moles have sprung the traps without being caught....our lawn is caving in, YIKES!~

~As time races on we have learned over and over that we really do not have much control over even the simplest things in our lives. Our health, the safety of our animals, the lives of our children and grandchildren, the weather.....the economy, our nation, and it seems even more important to remember to "trust in the Lord with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding..." Pretty soon the invasion of tiny black ants and ladybugs will start. A battle for every season here on earth.

The Imperfect Promises of People

~The night of the ' Big Storm That Wasn't', I went to bed so very thankful and happy for the very nice snow fall that was unaccompanied by the fearful and ferocious winds the forecasters assured us were coming. I slept peacefully only to be awakened by the sound of coyote songs and yips coming from right under our bedroom window. I woke Hubby up , just to listen. I assured him he did not need to go outside and check up on things because all our animals were safely penned up. I heard no sounds of distress coming from any of our animals, and believe me, we can hear all our animals from our bedroom.

Look at my lovely ducks in the picture below. I had 12 ducks. I now have 2 ducks, and I am very upset with myself. I made a promise to my ducks to keep them safe. We made a pen for them we thought would do the trick. All I had to do was pen them up every night...and as I was feeding them I assured them they HAD to stay in the pen for their own good. The day after the storm we noticed something did not look right at the duck pen, but the snow made it hard for us to see the reason

~Look at these tracks in the snow. They are coyote tracks. The coyotes had jumped on top of the netting covering the duck pen and collapsed it, and then must have set about to capture and devour EVERY duck. The little duck footprints were everywhere, under our window, up our road, ON the ice, at our back gate....the poor little ducks had run for their lives, ducks don't fly in the dark, especially domestic ducks. Can you see the blood spot above? It has been a long time since I was so upset about the death of my ducks, I have grown a little hard and calloused about duck death since we lose so many every year...I can't be crying over them , but there is something so very , very sad about seeing the frantic waddling footprints and then a splash of red on the snow and no more footprints...and to see this drama several times over written in the snow ALL around our home, up our driveway and our private road.

~Look at the coyote footprints."The apple tree never asks the beech how he shall grow, nor the lion the horse, how he shall take his prey." William Blake

~This blood spot is where a duck was taken as he fled to the pond for safety, but alas, our pond is solid ice and the coyotes picked the ducks off with ease. "Even a wolf will not stay where sounds no bleat to offer hope of prey." Greek Proverb

~What I do not understand is why the ducks did not quack, or make a lot of noise. Usually the quacking of the ducks wakes us, in the past their quacking has alerted us to raccoons and coyotes, and dogs after them....and we have been able to save the ducks. But I was awake and heard only coyotes. The coyotes had chased the ducks right up against the house. They were so bold as to leave their scat everywhere, our driveway, our road, our yard! Our dogs did not make a peep, even our outside dogs who HAD to know what was going on. The Mama dog Sienna was with her pups in their snug shed with a heat lamp ( enclosed in a livestock panel fence) and had to have also heard the ducks we eventually found huddled right up against the shed. All around the ducks were coyote footprints, which means the coyotes could also have picked off a litter of puppies if Mama was not there. But why didn't Sienna bark ? Why didn't the big black dog on the back porch bark ? We are a bit concerned around here.The coyotes are TOO bold. My grandchildren saw them on our pond and our road just the other day, in full view. The coyotes had come back again after their big kill. Our friends, Lanny and Dirt have had some big losses too, and I will let Lanny tell their tale, and hopefully a success story in a little coyote control.But Dirt and Lanny's loss has us concerned about lambing time , and coyote watch will more diligent this year . ~The two surviving ducks are safe in a shed with some chickens. The flying duck (above ) is one of my 2 survivors. We have plans to raise another flock of ducks, and plans for a new and improved duck house, but I am still sad, and very mad at myself. I made a promise I found I could not keep. But that is the way of man,or woman, isn't it ? I am thankful there is ONE who can and does keep promises. I am sorry ducks.

"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering , for He who promised is faithful;" Hebrews 10:28

NOTE: The coyotes are hunting in packs around here. We could tell there had been at least 4 coyotes here that night, and Dirt and Lanny had a yearling ram lamb ( and their Suffolk ram lambs are bigger than my full grown Jacobs)taken down and killed by a pack of coyotes.

Christmas, I Love It!

~This Santa was made by me a few years ago, and he hangs on the wall. I usually hang him on the front porch post, but this year he has joined all the other Santas on an upstairs windowsill.~There is no particular rhyme or reason for my photo selection today except these are pictures that make me happy, and they are seasonally appropriate, and I like being seasonally appropriate......no Easter bunnies here yet!~

~Leah, my 9 year old Jacob sheep ewe peering through another ewe's horns. Leah has a funny face, her teeth make her look like she is sneering, or smiling inward at a funny sheep joke...hmmm, what would be funny to a sheep ?Actually the word that comes to mind when looking at my Leah is 'sardonic', what do you think ?

~This is another Santa I made years ago. Some of the toys originally piled around him have disappeared, maybe he delivered them to children on the other side of the globe....

~Thorin, one of my 2 Pygmy / Nigerian dwarf goats begging for crackers. He too has a funny smile, don't you think ?He always appears to be wearing fake teeth or badly fitting dentures and wearing an odd grin.~

~The birdhouse outside our big living room picture window.Every year we have swallows raising at least 2 broods of young in this. I have been watching the chickadees and juncos perch on the steeple but could never get a picture of them perched there. Look at the snow on top, kind of looks like frosting.~

~The little village veterinary clinic. Don't you wish your veterinary clinic was this picturesque ? This little clinic draws the grandchildren to it. I have watched all of them just sit by it and gaze. Although you can't see from this picture, there is a scene inside the little clinic as you view it from outside the window. I have a barn and farm animals around the clinic, and the whole shebang is sitting on our breakfast bar, little animals, and people in the snow. Trees behind them. And room on the bar to eat and drink hot cocoa while looking at the village scenes and talking to Grandma. ~I wore the grandchildren out. They asked to go to bed, after playing with playdough, my Rudolph toys and baking cookies. #1 Grandson went outside with Poppa to track coyote footprints through the snow and ALL around our property and house, on the ice in the pond...down our road. He and Poppa are on 'coyote watch', because lambs are due anytime and we have discovered there are a LOT of coyotes regularly prowling around here. I have been awakened every night lately hearing coyotes on our front lawn, under the bedroom window. ~Tomorrow, we decorate cookies, do some crafting, playing in the snow and reading more stories. And of course, playing with puppies and cuddle time!Enjoy your winter and the Christmas season, it only comes around once a year!

Spot on The Lamb and The Shepherd

~The days are growing near for my ewes ( girl sheep ) to lamb, and Goth the Destroying ram will have to be re-located into his ram pen. I get pretty excited about lambs, and since Goth has been with his harem since mid-July, there is a chance we can have lambs this month. From my observations of my flock, if there are no lambs this month, it will NOT be for Goth's lack of pursuit and conquest. He is a happy ram. Ewes, alfalfa, what more can a ram want except for a tree or fence to destroy as the mood strikes.~Do you see the ewe looking towards me as I take this picture ? This morning as I hurried off to another bazaar, she was off by herself, not eating like the other sheep. I was certain we would come home to lambs, and I do not like to be away from home during lambing even though my Jacob sheep are very hardy and I have had only 1 lambing problem with my Jacob sheep in 20 years of keeping them.... ~So when Hubby and I came home late tonight after the bazaar AND Hubby's work Christmas party , a very big, and very healthy coyote ran right in front of the car , running out of our orchard which is right next to our sheep pen ! (the picture below was taken by me at Northwest Trek which is a few miles form our home). All of a sudden I realized in spite of all the family gatherings and festivities and obligations of this wonderful month long celebration, I have sheep to protect. Sheep need a shepherd , or shepherdess. I am the shepherdess of Cedar Pond and my sheep need ME for protection from predators. I called to mind all the scripture verses and Christmas songs about sheep, shepherds, lambs. "And in the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields, and keeping watch over their flock by night." Luke 2:8 ~During lambing I am up very , very late, checking on my sheep. We have a LOT of coyotes and a few cougars that frequent our area and a neighbor told me at the bazaar today they have seen a bear several times around their place. When lambs are born, though the mother can run away, the lambs are pretty defenseless. They need a shepherd. ~At the bazaar today, the man we commissioned to make a cane for Hubby brought the finished cane. It does not photograph well because the ram on the cane goes all around the cane. But the gentleman who made this actually pulled a picture of Goth from my web site and drew and worked him into the wood. It is a beautiful walking cane with carved in hand grips for Hubby. ~ Here is Goth, my single ram destruction crew. Can you spot the resemblance ? Anyway, as usual, my sheep cause me to think about Jesus. He was born even more defenseless than a lamb,and John the Baptist, on seeing Jesus coming toward him while he was baptizing in the Jordan said ,"Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" John 1:29 ~Jesus is referred to as a lamb, and in Hebrews 13:20 "Now the God of peace who brought us up from the dead, the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord." He is our SHEPHERD too ! We are always the sheep. I just have way too much thinking going on in my brain when I watch my sheep, and see the lambs, the rams, the sheep as a group. They are so dang stubborn, and often so defenseless, and resist my care and protection..no wonder we are called sheep. And yet, Jesus, GOD, became as a lamb, helpless and led to the slaughter, was crucified, then resurrected and is our great Shepherd. And I really, truly know , sheep NEED a shepherd! I need THE SHEPHERD ! This is the reason I am so happy to celebrate His birth, in a manger, ( there were probably sheep there ) in a stable, and His first visitors were the lowly shepherds who were out in the fields late at night. ( Notice, the shepherds were tending their sheep LATE AT NIGHT , night owls in the Bible!) I am a night owl sheep who the Shepherd that became as a Lamb led to the slaughter , tends and cares for in spite of myself...thank-you Lord. ~So,to all you sheep out there today, have a blessed Sunday..and rest of the week too ! Seek the Shepherd and hear His voice, and receive His care and protection. It's for your own good, as I tell my sheep while tending them and saving them from themselves!