I'll start with the good news. This past weekend, my whole family packed up and headed to Shenandoah National Park for our second annual "Logan Family Campout". It began raining shortly after we had all arrived and set up camp and quit raining two days later, shortly after we had given up and retreated to our respective homes. This may not sound like the good news, but it is for two reasons - 1) Joe and I got definitive proof that our tent does NOT leak, and 2) we had a really good time!


In between downpours, we did manage to fit in a short hike to a nearby waterfall. On the way back to our campsites, we had the great pleasure to watch a mama bear and her two cubs feasting on acorns in an oak tree. The cubs were especially adventurous in climbing all the way out to the end of tiny branches that looked like they would break any moment under their weight. They have taken to heart the saying "You have to go out on a limb because that's where the fruit is".

That evening around the campfire, we thought we were going to have bear encounter number two when there was a loud rustling and shaking of bushes in the edge of the woods. However, just as I suspected, it turned out to be our friend Jay in a gorilla suit. Some of my family members who are not as familiar with Jay's prankster ways were totally fooled, and my six-year-old niece Savannah may be scarred for life.

The bad news is that Joe and I had to come home to the aftermath of an attack on our guineas. Something, most likely a raccoon, managed to snatch one of the guineas through the bars of the dog crate and nearly pulled the wing off of another. Despite an amputation of the mangled wing, the injured guinea died a couple of days after the attack. We are now down to 8 guineas and 9 chickens (one of our hens mysteriously vanished in broad daylight earlier in the, probably a hawk). The remaining guineas will be introduced into the newly expanded poultry house this evening after dark (the chicken house/tool shed has been entirely devoted to poultry, and the tools have temporarily taken up residence in the unfinished outhouse) and all of the birds will remain on lockdown for a few days to adjust to the new living conditions.

Lily and Wilson have officially been fired from their duties as guard dogs. The whole guinea attack happened while they were sleeping on the porch. It was raining at the time, though, and they couldn't be bothered to get out of bed.