Thursday, August 23, 2012

Who Says Chickens Can't Fly


 Our chickens have decided they like to roost in the top of the trees. This is a problem we have never faced before. All the other chickens we have had have been content to perch on the roosts we made for them in the coop. But, these girls, they like the freedom of the trees.
 When they first started doing this they were much smaller and we said "when they get bigger the branches will not be able to hold them and they will have to stop".  They solved that problem by going higher and higher in the trees. We have tried clipping their wings, but that hasn't stopped them. They have figured out a way to start at the trunk and jump from branch to branch until they get where they want to be. We went out and watched them last night, it would take them about 15 minutes to work their way way to the top, many times when they were almost there they would fall and have to start all over again. Silly chickens, they know there is an easy to reach roost in the nice warm coop, I guess they think it's worth all the extra effort it takes to get to the top.

I admire their determination: they know what they want and are willing to work hard every day to get it. Perhaps I should be a little more chicken.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Note to Self: Don't Complain About Stuff

We came home from vacation. It was a really good very busy vacation full of experiences, adventure and lots of driving.

We came home exhausted to find... our dog ate the couch. Not just nibbled it, but tore it into little bite sized pieces. We left him toys, paid the neighbor kids to play with him every day but, apparently the last day before we got back he got bored and ate the couch. So I piled the bits of foam into a cushion-shaped pile, duct taped it together and threw a blanket over it. The next day the light fixture in the dining room broke, so I figured we would eat more candlelit dinners. The day after that we received a quite unexpected bill for $100.00 in the mail. And so it went on, day after day one catastrophe after another. It was getting pretty depressing. After about a week of disaster after disaster, as I sat duct taping the washing machine together I thought. Why am I whining? All of this that I am depressed about is just stuff, and stuff is temporary. Look at the bright side; sure the couch and washer are duct taped together, the handle of the oven is broken and so are  the fridge shelves and my dishwasher. But isn't it a blessing that everything broke in such a way that I could still use it? The furniture was over 20 years old and worn out anyway. And perhaps it is better that the family can't see my cooking. Look at all my blessings: four healthy kids, no cancer! no seizures! a wonderful husband and a family that loves and supports me, What more could I ask for? How petty of me to complain about silly temporary stuff.


The funny thing is, as soon as I stopped whining the bad things stopped happening. For date night that week we went to Home Depot and bought a inexpensive dining room light that my 15 year-old installed for us, and a couple of days later we went to a furniture closeout store and got a good deal on a new love seat and couch.


As my oldest son would say "It's all good"