Picture this--Cliff is on the loveseat sleeping, I'm in the living room, cutting the butts off beans, watching a cooking show. The windows are open--it is a lovely, almost fall-like day.
"Coooo....look, a butterfly."
"Millie--are you out of the chicken fence again?"
"Coooo...."
Oh crud.
"Cliff, crate." (Good boy, he goes in his crate).
I open the front door, sprinkle some feed on the steps, and wait.
"Cooo....did you see that Miss Broody is under the apple tree...cooo?"
"WHAT?"
It wasn't just Miss Broody, 11/15 hens are on the lawn--Prudence is trying to catch butterflies, Elsie is in the flower bed, Myrtle and Harriet are at the end of the driveway...Elrma and Edna are eating the windfall apples...
"What the ?"
I slip on my Crocs, go out the back door (deck door--oh, look, the "Littles" are in the yard. Prudence is balanced on the wood pile trying to figure out how she too can perch on the fence and then bounce over..._) so I can open the gate (I'm really rethinking this "gate opens from inside the yard" idea), grab a container of treats, and start herding chickens.
As I'm herding the chickens back in the "chicken yard," I hear "BLARE-BLARE-BLARE" oh--crap, the tomatoes that I put in the oven to roast have set off the smoke alarm.
Who knew having chickens could be so much FUN!
Green acres is the place for me,
Farm livin' is the life for me,
Land spreadin' out so far and wide,
Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside.
And then there's:
Well life on the farm is kinda laid back, (in whose world????)
There ain't much that a country boy like me can't hack
Wait one doggone minute, I'm NOT a country boy!
These hens are out of control--their JOB is to lay eggs--not patrol the property.
Who knew having chickens could be so much FUN! (On my way to get hair dye to cover the grey they've given me this week.)