It's been a wierd week

First, I was helping the girls get ready for bed and we found a tick in Emily's hair! It was attached to the crown of her head and swollen. I found another crawling around the kitchen. I think the cats must be carriers. I hate ticks. We pulled it out and then burned it.

Then, Wednesday night Leila and I were watching Battlestar Galactica when we looked out the window and there were five bright white lights in the eastern sky that moved in an arc across the sky. They were close together and as they moved the last one in the line winked out and another appeared on the other side. There were no blinking red or yellow lights and it didn't move like an airplane. The next day on the news they said that a lot of people had reported a UFO but not to worry it was a meteor bouncing off of the stratosphere. The day after that they said that it was fighter jets practicing maneuvers with flares. Either story sounds like a cover up from the X-files. That's right folks - UFOs!

Friday morning I awoke early ~5:30 and decided to get ready for work and be here early. When I got here Max says, "I guess it took an earthquake to get you here early." I had no idea but we had a 5.2 magnitude earthquake rumble through. It must have woken me up, but I didn't realize. I felt one of the aftershocks at work, but just a small tremor.

Saturday when we got up there were two lonely chickens wandering the yard. A raccoon or a possum got in during the night and slaughtered the rest. It was hard to ID the murderer from prints left in the blood, but I think that it was one of the two. I was so frustrated and mad that we went to the pound and brought home an 80 lb chocolate lab named Sam. Chica our stray dog that we took in ran away with a stray black lab a few weeks ago. Sam is a good dog for the kids, but he is not trustworthy around chickens. When I brought him home I fed the chickens that were left and he quickly lunged and grabbed one in his mouth. Not a bark, not a warning, just a bite, but on command he let it go and it lives, but is much more nervous than before. Oh, and it limps.

On a positive note we are going to try again with the chickens and leave them locked up with Sam tied up outside at night. We also have a good start on the garden. Hopefully we will have it all in by the first part of May and then we will start working ground for the pumpkin patch.