Here's Dexter in solitary confinement. He's behaving himself for the most part. I think the hardest part of the day for him was when he heard us at the bus stop, and he couldn't be there to see the girls off to school.

We've decided that "innocent until proven guilty" does NOT apply to the farmyard. We just know our animals too well. Dex is definitely to blame.

We are still missing 5 chicks. But, I am amazed by the resiliency of the ones who survived the attack.

As you can see, they're pretty roughed up, but they're all lively and eating and drinking now.

Here you can see the cute little exotic one at the top of the bunch. I'm glad she survived.

I was pretty shaken up by the events of yesterday. Discovering the little helpless chicks strewn about the yard was horrifying and excellent fodder for the awful nightmare I had last night.

John could tell I was pretty upset and asked me yesterday, "You do still like this life we're living, right? Because stuff like this is just part of it."

He's right. Our backyard is so full of life right now. Milkshake, our new 6-week-old kitten is on our heels constantly; these precious chicks are chirping away. But with all this life comes death. Death is, after all, just a part of life. And, I more than like this life we're living. I absolutely love it. And I will take the bad along with the good because the good is just THAT good. ;)