The Steve And Marley Show

After the cold spell we experienced earlier this spring a heat wave moved through for several days, with some highs in the nineties, causing us to water the flowers and garden daily. We had to replant part of the garden as the rabbits ate some of our tender little plants and the birds dug up some of our green bean seeds. We made cages and grouped our garden crops together in them, which is keeping the rabbits out for now. I know we have at least three rabbits because I have seen them all together at the same time. Both our dogs Marley and Steve love to chase the rabbits, while Steve has become fixated on them, stalking in front of the machine shed, waiting for them to come out from underneath. I have considered live-trapping them and driving them a few miles away to set them free, but then they could become someone elses problem. Another solution is just to shoot them on the acreage, but so far I am resisting that urge, so as of now we are trying to live with them. We have a robin with four chicks in a nest built on top of one of our outside lights. A thrasher can be heard daily singing its ever changing song, and it is nesting in one of our big ash trees. Recently Shelly took the dogs for a walk along our road and they were flushing pheasants out of the ditch. The birds were so startled they forgot to fly away for a moment and instead ran into to a cornfield, scooting along the rows as they made their escape.