Food Chain

A couple of mornings back, Rick and I were walking the dogs down through the woods and we saw a woodpecker at the top of a pine. We walked on down to the barn and about ten minutes

later walked back through the woods towards the house......we heard the woodpecker, a screech and looked up and saw a hawk with the woodpecker in its claws. But we spooked the hawk,

and he released the woodpecker, both flew away in different directions.

Living in the country is a daily lesson in the food chain. We have battled raccoons and opossums....they thought that we had opened a KFC just for them. I can't tell you how many chickens we have lost to the 'coons and 'possums and hawks.

This past week coyotes have invaded............the first time, a few days ago, my sister-in-law saw one carry my niece's kitten into the woods, a couple of nights later one of our black labs, Astro

tangled with a couple and the next night, Buddy (my Mom's little dog we inherited) was attacked. Both dogs survived, we never found the kitten.

We try to live a peaceful existence with all the wildlife in our neck of the woods. It is difficult

when the wildlife decide to feast on the domestic. Not sure how to solve the coyote issue. ( I know what you hunters are saying, don't want to do the gun thing)

We put an electric fence around the chicken yard and that took care of the 'coons and 'possums.

Rick once saw an owl swoop down and carry our neighbor's cat away. We have lived here in the woods so long, that it is easy to be complacent about the wildlife. We see the deer, and the wild turkey, but there are also the snakes, and wild boar, small black bear that live up river and once I saw a wild panther cross our corn field in two leaps.

So, for the past few days I have been much more alert on my morning walks. I make sure the dogs stay close. I love living in the country, but there is violence in nature......when the setting is so serene it is easy to forget the lessons of the food chain.