At least hurricane Florence missed...

Are we all okay after the hurricane?
This week has tried to kill me, but it didn't have much to do with that. Hurricane Florence didn't blow in far enough to get us, at least not more than a few rainy, gusty days. I did attempt to do facepainting for the 4H art fundraiser at a local fair, which turned out okay considering that I (and Alicia, one of the other 4H moms) just painted as fast as we could before the rain moved in, while getting pelted with acorns and small branches blowing loose from the trees above us and holding down our supplies and tablecloth every few minutes. We lasted until about 11:30 and then had to pack it up when we were spending more time holding the setup together than we were painting.
I brought home a tiny cocoon one of the other ladies found that had blown down. Miss Chaos has been asking for a pet that's easy to care for, and apparently pet rocks are not “legitimate” pets.
The next day when I went to put up my chickens, I noted the misty rain and the slick steps, and told myself, “Self, be careful and don't slip!” Yeah, it didn't help and I landed hard on the bottom of the steps. And the bottom of me. It took a minute of feeling really stupid before I got up again and staggered out to finish putting away chickens for the night.
And just the night before last, I noticed the chickens were acting strange – Gertrude has been molting and brooding and sulking in the nesting box, but this time she was at the bottom of the ramp that led inside, like she wanted to go in but something was stopping her. So I had that much warning before I eased the lid of the nesting box open...

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And found a huge black snake!!! It was over four feet long.
Joe clipped his flashlight in the nesting box to spotlight the snake and I stayed out to keep an eye on it while he went to find whatever equipment would be appropriate to deal with it. Unfortunately, my chickens were attracted to the light and wanted to go in the coop! So I had to catch each one – in the dark, by then – while checking to make sure the snake didn't move – and find somewhere to put them. I ended up kind of stuffing them in the upstairs of Oreo McFurry's bunny hutch. Fortunately there was just enough room for four chickens to fit. After we got rid of the snake, I found out they had decided this was their new home and they all complained when I had to drag them back out and put them in their own coop. Oreo McFurry had no comment.
Other than that, the chickens are fine, the bunny is fine, we're fine, and even Pepper the evil cat is fine, though she misses our long walks around the yard. I've been sitting at my desk too much, writing and drawing, and the weather and spiders make it a bit tricky to find a good time to walk.

Until next time,
See you in the OtherRealm.