I Love This ...

CAGE! Yup, that is right, I LOVE this cage. Would you like to know why?

Well, this summer, not just one coyote, but two coyotes, jumped over our six foot brick wall and ate all of our beloved chickens. I know, what a sad day at the Cluff house you are thinking. I had already buried two of our foster chickens from our Jones Cousins earlier in the year. They were old and sick, poor things. Perhaps eaten was not the correct choice of words because when coyotes find chickens they get excited and after they are full they continue to "play" with the chickens until they don't move anymore. Well, when Richard saw this series of unfortunate events he said I had buried enough chickens, the Arizona ground was too hard and the Arizona sun was too hot and he insisted that we involve City of Mesa in the burial arrangements. I love that man, but in this case he was very wrong. This happened on a Friday and where we live the garbage gets picked up on Wednesday and it was toward the end of July. Fortunately for us, CSI did not come out to our home and investigate the terrible smell, but let me just tell you that it was DISGUSTING and I was never so happy to see the garbage man in my life as I was that week. If it is any consolation Jones Cousins, your two plump and beautiful chickens were the ones completely eaten, so I can at least promise you that they did not suffer much in their last minutes and they were not placed in the custody of the City of Mesa. O.k., I digress, back to why I love that cage so much.

These were our baby chickens when we first got them. Remember how cute they were?

They were wonderful chickens, blessing us with eggs everyday and starring in several Skyline High School videos that earned Matt good grades. Well, to think we lost it all and ended up with...

THIS! Richard grew up with small house dogs. I know what you are thinking, but we should all forgive him because he really is a good man. Well, I must have been out of my mind/depressed/defeated, because I ended up losing to a majority vote of 5 to 1 to get this little ankle biter. She is a girl and her name is Dixie. She came home from the pound two days ago. She is already beginning to be the boss of the house and she does NOT bless us with eggs everyday.

Don't let her cuteness fool you, she is a squirt and even though I grudgingly kind of like her and I personally potty trained 6 children, I have no idea how to teach this dog. Any helpful hints would be greatly appreciated. For now, I am very thankful for the cage. :)