An Easter Trio plus Mice

If it weren't 104 degrees outside, you'd think it was Easter around here. 


Chicks:
We've got a new order of future egg layers; a trough full of tiny chicks peeping away in the barn.

Ducklings:
And several new broods of ducklings just hatched out.  This is what comes of not having the will to send off every last drake on the place.  When one is both soft-hearted and soft in the head, this is the result.

And...

A Bunny:
Look what the cat brought in.  I was hanging up laundry when Bruce yelled for me to come help him.  This is never a good thing to hear, as it generally involves an animal.  And so it was: Multi-Pass had brought in a very small rabbit and dropped it in the kitchen.  Bruce, using his own brand of rabbit psychology, laid down a brown paper bag, scootched it close to where the rabbit crouched and waited.  Mr. Bun Bun,  obligingly hopped right in.  We walked down to the pond and released it into the tangle of blackberry brambles under the cottonwoods on the bank. 

Mice:
Mice do not fit the Easter theme, but they also figured in the days events.  We roasted our first chicken (Chicken #21 at 4.5 pounds) this evening.  In the process, we also discovered that the mice appeared to have chewed through something very important in our oven.  We'd just taken the chicken out to test its temperature for doneness when we heard a loud whooshing sound.  It was the sound of gas rushing, unlit, into the oven.  Bruce quickly switched the oven off and we finished cooking the bird in the microwave. 

In spite of this mousely sabotage, the chicken was cooked and then eaten.  I'm happy to say that it was delicious.

Tomorrow we'll see about what to do about our oven.  I'll also (belatedly) plug in those sonic mouse traps that I'd ordered (Yes, Caroline, it helps if I take them out of the package!).