Paddle like hell.

When the going gets tough, the rats abandon ship. The strong paddle like hell. Well... I am paddling.

In the last 2 days I have had 39 ducks killed by a pack of coyotes and a small band of raccoons. They are stealthy and cruel and have ripped several of my best buddies to shreds. Many have just been gone the next day. After I literally broke down in their big run, I started to clean up the mess left behind by the raccoons. At least the coyotes take most of their victims with them. They left only 4 to be disposed of. There were 4 they just killed for fun. They were probably teaching their young to hunt using my babies. Sad, the circle of life, it is what it is, so be it, hopefully they were hungry and my babies dies swiftly. As they say in my favorite TV series, "Their fight (flight) is over".

As I clean up the aftermath it reminds me of two of my own sayings, "be careful what you ask for" and "don;t speak it into existence". Bill wanted less animals, he got his wish. I had planned on taking 12 to be harvested. Only 4 f them remain. I had planned on taking 25 to auction as they were young and would make good barnyard pets, there is only 1 of them left. Among the dead was my best buddy, the mother of most of my babies, Penelope. She was a beautiful brown and white duck that always wagged her tail when she saw me. She was not friendly enough to pick up but we had an understanding. Id say hello to her and she would wag her tail. I let her sit on however many eggs she wanted as long as she raised her young. She did all of that well. She raised 21 of this years duckling crop. Most are dead along with her. Only 1 remains. My heart is broken.

As I try to remedy the situation with traps and loaded weapons and late night walks in to the pens I wish humanity had not encroached on these wild critters to the point that they felt they must break in and devour my babies. They got by 10 foot tall bird netting by digging under and pulling one section down, hopping over a fence, clawing through netting and fence in one area and the coons just climbed a tree and walked right in as they scampered down the tree next to it. They have stolen eggs, lives, love... I want revenge. I saw 2 of them. I tried to scare them with the pellet gun to no avail. Next time it wont be a pellet gun I take to their fight. Id rather bury them than my babies.

I will mourn the loss of my feathered friends but I will swim on. Always in shark infested waters but I paddle nevertheless.

Watch out for the human vultures and coyotes this week. They are out en masse as well. Having issues with people following through on promises and keeping their word. I have vowed to not get nasty. Its hard for me as it is so upsetting that I keep my word to all of them and follow through on every promise yet they do not respect me enough to do the same for me. May the coyotes and coons find them and usher in a visit from karma. I normally wish no harm on anyone but today I find it difficult. I pray tomorrow is a new dawn and a new day with a new heart for me.

As I withdraw for a while to regroup I pray that we can save whats left and that our neighbors' babies are spared. If you have a moment to say a prayer for all the babies we lost and those we will try to save, it would be greatly appreciated. Paddle on friends!