Today was a fibro day and I called in sick for work. Got up around 7:30-ish and settled into my favorite recliner end of the sofa with the dogs, the cat, and a nice blankie over everybody but the cat. Watched a bit of TV and fell back to sleep until after 1 in the afternoon.
As I was tending to the chickens, I heard a chain saw up behind my house and investigated. The property owners of the OTHER parcel behind mine were taking out a small tree. So I waited until the chain saw was stopped and called out "Hello!" to them. We introduced ourselves and chatted for a while. They're a very nice couple and they're glad the property is owner-occupied. Yes, they've heard the chickens, and they warned me about a fox population in the area. The chickens do NOT bother them at all. However, their next door neighbor had told them I was "raising" chickens.... like a chicken farm.
No, I keep pet chickens, ducks and a pair of geese. They all have names.
We admired my flock for a few minutes and they remarked how pretty some of 'em are, and that there are so many different types. They informed me some of my chickens regularly get out and forage on their side of the fence, but obviously make it back home again. Did I know where they were getting out? "Yup," I admitted. Well, they don't mind at all, were just worried about a fox getting them.
When I inquired about buying or leasing half an acre from them (after explaining why), they were a little uncomfortable about it but didn't tell me "no" outright. They've already dealt with property line issues with some previous owners of my property. But they offered (volunteered) their telephone number for me to call 'em "anytime." They can't imagine why anyone would complain about chickens in the country,
AND they would be willing to attend the administrative hearing if it fit their schedule. (Both of them are retired but they do leave the property occasionally.)
Very nice couple. He's quite talkative. I learned more about a couple of sets of previous occupants and my next door neighbors.
I left them to their tree felling.
This evening I put together a cat feeding station I found at Plow & Hearth. It's pretty nifty, as it is enclosed so dogs don't eat the cat food. Smudge has been making do with a make-shift feeding station the dogs have been able to stand against so they can push the dish of cat kibble around enough to dump it on the floor. Here's what it looks like, just completed but not put in place yet.
And this is what it looks like opened.
Nifty, huh?
