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August 5, 2010

Chickens

I am a fan of chicken, whether the feathered clucking type, or the grilled/fried/baked variety. I love chickens.

My kitchen seems to have collected chickens in it, without my intentionally meaning to go with a chicken theme in my decor. I have a number of chicken figurines tucked into nooks and crannies, between the logs, and wherever else I can squeeze them without it looking too cluttered.


(ok, sadly I just uploaded the pictures and when it appeared Malcolm asked me what it was a picture of. "My kitchen" I say. And he responds, "oh I live there!" Its time to go home if one doesn't even recognize ones own home!)

Back to chickens...

So this past Independence Day when I was at Mom's house, I enjoyed some time visiting with her flock. She has a rooster...
...and some hens.

















....who provide her with yummy home produced eggs as well as companionship and entertainment.
Growing up, I always enjoyed having chickens around. We had a few off and on, and Gran'ma, who lived next door to us always had a flock. So you see, I come by my fascination with the birds naturally. Its hereditary!

It seems, that though I always thought it was just us girls, my Dad has either harbored or developed an interest in chickens as well. Earlier in the year he nabbed a threesome of banties at a flea market or farmers market or something, and came home with them. He came home and proceeded to divide the chicken yard and house so that each flock had their own turf.
My Dad's banty rooster...
So earlier this spring, the hen had laid some eggs, but wasn't sitting on them. My dad went to my gran'mas and got her incubator and two of the three eggs hatched. Meet the (now) teenagers in the family.
And when I was there in early July, the hen had gotten broody and hatched out a couple of her own.
So now there's a whole little banty family! Don't they make a pretty picture?

Mom's big rooster has yet to produce offspring, though I'm not sure he's the one at fault.

The two roosters, though far different in size, like to compete across the fence for the "who has the loudest crow" prize. Not sure who is going to win that one.

And like all teenagers...
these two like to sneak out of the house when no one is looking. Amazing that they fit through that fence. Just goes to show how much is feathers and how much is bird.

Unfortunately, as younger siblings are prone to do...
...the babies have watched their older siblings and are copying what they see.
Amazingly, with all the neighborhood dogs, skunks, hawks, snakes, etc in the vicinity, all four youth are still alive, at least last I heard!

I love my parents chickens!

Mom has another chicken that she keeps in the house. Its a chicken that I love....a LOT!



I keep telling her if she ever needs to find it a new home, mine is readily available. Wouldn't she look snazzy in my chicken kitchen?


Since my husband doesn't seem to recognize his own house, I've called the broker and told them to get us home fast!  Well, not exactly. Malcolm did mention to Mark that we'd like to go home in about two weeks. We're waiting our turn to load potatoes in eastern Washington and heading over to North Dakota. Mark called yesterday and asked if we were OK with going home a little sooner, as he has a load of corn in North Dakota that needs to get to Billings. Well....I supposed Mark..if you insist!
Actually, though we ought to work a couple more weeks, we are both about at our wits end and need a break at home. We haven't seen our house since we left on June 21. I'm thinking we're going to need to bale hay in the front yard when we get there.
So its a week off for us, starting sometime this weekend. Heading to the ranch for a couple days to fix a creek crossing with the bulldozer, hoping to get to visit lady near there who happens to have some Morgan horses, taking the truck and the computer to the doctor, and doing some much needed home time relaxing. I'm going to try to post this weeks Sunday Stills right before we get home, but other than that, you aren't going to see or hear from me till we hit the road again sometime around the 16th! As much as I enjoy the company you lend me, I'm looking forward to the reason for our separation!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Honestly! He didn't recognize his own house... lol yeah you guys seriously need some down time. Enjoy it and we will be here when you return to the road.

Shirley said...

Enjoy your home time! Loved the post on your dogs, before I read it I captioned the photo, from left to right when you are looking at it, "Who, me?" "I hear nothing!" " I'm telling!"