And Then There Were Chickens...

Hey y'all!  

Let me introduce you to the girls:

Sally Field

Jane Fonda

Meg Ryan

Blanca

 

As you can see, these ladies are all  fine specimens and certainly pristine examples of Gallus domesticus. They came to reside at Hidden Valley Ranch a few weeks ago. (I'll share more on this rural "slice of heaven" in a later posting.). The gals were feeling a bit timid about traveling, but they managed to survive the journey home in an adorable barn shaped cardboard box with little cut-out windows.  Truthfully, I wanted to hug the box.  

Chickens lead a lackluster life. They eat, sleep, and poop.  Kind of like a newborn baby, except with feathers and weird feet.    In an effort to fend off any self esteem issues in my girls,  I gave them all glamorous Hollywood names.  Well, except for the littlest one.  In a moment of sarcastic weakness, my younger daughter named the tiny chick Blanca.  I'm afraid we'll have to watch that one closely...  For I fear she will be teased relentlessly by her coup mates.

And so this fowl adventure has begun!  

I'll leave you with a snapshot of the ladies crowding the water cooler, sharing barnyard gossip:

Around the Water Cooler

Transition

Here I sit, swaddled by a green Lay-z-boy, tears falling.  And I’m not really sure why. I cannot verbalize any one emotion to describe the torrent that presses in.  Two boys in bed, animals tended, dishwasher pulsing in the background… I should find solace in this quiet house.  Instead, I close my eyes, allowing the grasp of fatigue to take hold.  So many changes.   So many battles.  So many questions. 

Are they really ready to fly?

M-----, no longer a little girl,

Preens her feathers,

Soaring from my nest, too soon.

H----, a little girl hidden,

Evades time and space,

Free falling from my nest, too soon.

Too soon, too soon!

Where will you shelter in the rain?

Will you find nourishment as the world surrounds you?

From my nest I will wait.

A tired mother, hoping for your future,

Wondering why the years have gone, too soon.

Beginnings

Welcome, friends!  

I've finally mustered up the courage to join the blog-o-sphere and I'm hoping that you, my dear readers, will be kind as I chronicle the ins and outs of life from my perspective.  Please fasten your seat belts!  I'm committed to being very REAL in my writing.  We cannot learn nearly as much about our world and each other if everything is sugar-coated.  Too often we tell others that we're "fine," when we're really not fine.  We ask "how are you" more often out of habit than out of genuine concern.  Say what you think and mean what you say...  In doing so, be generous with praise and stingy with criticism.  

Until we meet again,

K