Farm Animals on Duty

On Friday night we came home from an event, let the dogs out to pee before bed, and Nutmeg disappeared into the woods and did not come back. I was awake most of the night worrying about her.

In the morning when I went out to do the chores, I saw this scene  in the back yard.  I don't know how long this standoff had been going on.

The raccoon actually inched lower and lower despite Nutmeg being right there, but when he saw me, he moved back up the tree.

Nut has a lot of patience and settled in to wait.

The raccoon settled too, in the crotch of the tree, but looked pretty tired.  I wasn't about to let the chickens out with a raccoon in the yard, so I called Nut to come in for breakfast, and remarkably, she obeyed.

By the time I had fed the cows, the raccoon was gone.

On a different note,  tonight when I went into the barn to get hay for the cows, Poet was curled up on a hay bale and did not come running to meet me like she usually does.

At first I wondered if she (he? still not sure) might have had kittens, but this is what I discovered she was curled up upon. 

I don't know whether she is feeling a maternal instinct, if some chicken persuaded her to babysit, or if she is oblivious.  We have the silliest animals!