Tired of the Carnage

As I have mentioned a lot in my blog I have an arthritic hip. I had a fractured pelvis when I was twelve and between sports, childbirth and wear and tear, it has become so painful my life is No fun. Anyway, my parents have been so worried about it that they made an appointment with a doctor to see what we can do about the pain. I was suppose to be at the doctor's office at 9:00 a.m. yesterday, so I got up early showered and got ready before heading out to feed my critters. When I got half way out the yard I saw the carnage. I yelled for Mindi to come quick and we saw 5 of my chickens dead in their pen. Three had been totally eaten, two just killed. Something is getting into my backyard and killing my chickens. I think the same varmint is the one who killed my cat a few weeks ago.
I hurried and went to my appointment, with Mindi to see her doctor, and over to get an X ray before we were able to come home and bury the dead. Mindi dug the hole while I went over and picked up the chickens and put them in a bucket. We then decided we needed to do something to keep what ever is killing our animals out of the pens. When Rich and Dave got home they worked their magic on making it impossible for anything to get in, or my animals to get out until the morning. Most of the killings have been way early in the morning so a few people I have talked with have said they think it is a coyote. Anyway, I realized that ever since I made Ethan take my two white labs, all this killing has happened. I guess it is either let my own dogs kill my pets, or a wild animal. I do LOVE animals but it has become so hard to limp around the yard and keep up with two acres of grass, pool, ponds, and animals. I know my kids think I'm crazy and my husband has learned to pretty much keep his mouth shut about them, but I'm tiring of the responsibility of trying to keep them alive. When I called Spencer yesterday to thank him for the Mother's Day present and told him about my morning, all he said was, "sorry Mom, but that's the circle of life." I guess Rich's little saying, "some days are diamonds and some are stones," really is true. Don't I deserve a diamond day? The sun came up again today and so far everything is alive. I'm not going to hold my breath though, maybe just knock on wood.