Going Through the Motions

With the dogs being gone i’ve fallen into a depression. I try to go about my chores and my studies and keep chipper at work but i’m phoning it in. My family is in boarding at the clinic and until that window unit arrives i can’t bring them home. But, there’s an added layer of inconvenience in their absence. With them gone for now predator patrol falls to me. I guess i havent been doing that great a job at it because there are paw prints in the mud not 8 feet from the front porch steps. The mud was soft from the rain and the paws must have sunk down and back as the animal launched itself onto the grassy area. They look to me like the prints of a coyote. I think they just look bigger and more menacing than they are because the animal slid in the mud, leaving claw tip marks at the front of the prints. Then tonight i waited too long to go put the door on the chicken coop. By the time i opened the door it was pitch dark. I hadn’t left the porch light on so until that moment the property was in complete darkness. I switched on the light and pulled the door open. As i went to step out on the porch i heard what sounded like a loud burp and then a kind of snorty grunting noise. Jesus Christ. Feral hogs. I took the metal chicken door and smacked it loudly against the door frame. This did not send the hogs running in the direction i was hoping for. I quickly slammed the door shut. I decided the chickens didn’t need the door on the coop just yet.