Lovin' coconut oil - just like his big sister Lilly

In the world of grieving, you never know what will set you off.  I'm often completely surprised!  But it's not always negative.  Recently, I was holding Solomon and got my spoonful of coconut oil to swish for oil pulling.  On a whim, I gave him some too. He made an interested face as he considered it.  Then he wanted more!  I carried Solomon to my husband and told him that he liked the coconut oil - just like Lilly did!  And suddenly I wanted to cry. 

Coconut oil was the only food that Lilly ate well by mouth.  I feed some to her almost every day because of all the health benefits and in an attempt to help her gain weight.

Lilly preferred to eat globs of coconut oil off my finger, rather than with a spoon (March 2011)

Now every night, after I get my spoonful of coconut oil, I feed Solomon several bites.  He happily eats them and then runs off with the spoon to really lick it down well. 

This past Friday we took a day trip.  When we came home we were greeted by a horrific scene.  East the escape artist dog was loose and a dead chicken was laying in front of our house.  My mind quickly imagined a total massacre of all our chickens.  It was dark so Frank, Tabby, and I took flashlights and searched the yard but couldn't find any more bodies.  There were 12 (living) chickens in the coop. Four more were missing. 

Tabby found the pile of dead chickens the next morning in the woods.  We were both heartbroken that Taffeta was among the dead.  (Taffeta was a Silkie Bantam that was a runt.  Because of her smallness and problems, she won our hearts.  Hunter said she had "Trisomy 18" like Lilly.  So she was a special little chicken.)  Glad I took this picture of Tabby with her last week:

Tabby with Taffeta, our "Trisomy 18" chicken

Also among the dead was my other favorite, Friendly, the buff.  She had been our first chicken to lay eggs.  Sigh.  You can see more pictures and read Tabby's farewell to the chickens in her blogpost here. 

Frank spent Saturday fixing the fence so that Lord willing, East will not be able to escape again.  Note that we had left her hooked on a cable inside the fence Friday.  But, she broke her collar and had escaped.  West was a good girl and did not follow her sister out of the fence. 

This spring we started with 26 chickens.  We now have a dozen.  Wow.  Obviously raising animals can be as risky as growing crops.

So I don't have to end on a down note, here is another picture I took a few minutes before I took the above one of Tabby and Taffeta.  Solomon was working hard, helping the rest of the family rake leaves:

I do love the changing of the seasons and thank God for them!