"She's no longer with us!"

Before I go on, I have to say that Aaron is probably the sweetest person I've ever met.

That said, we've had a bit more sadness at the Double A this past week. Large Marge had a sudden and what looked like very painful death. I was going to give them their evening feed, and noticed that she did not look well at all, so I got Aaron and we tried to get her to respond, but it wasn't any use. Aaron was such a trooper. He held her while I freaked out, then she did a little spasm and collapsed and he looked at me and said, "She's no longer with us!" I wanted to cry (and I did) and I wanted to kiss him at the same time. He's just so cute.

We both wept and dug a little chicken grave.

We found out later that there is something called Sudden Death Syndrome common in chickens her age, so it was likely that, as she was in good health otherwise.

So we were back to where we started in the beginning of the summer, needing to find a friend for Henny-Penny. Luckily, we found one quickly this time. There is a newspaper called YOUR BULLETIN BOARD that lists all kinds of farm ads. I wish we would have known about it sooner. Anyway, we got another Red Star. However, she has a lot of white on her.

She's really pretty. She does seem to be quieter than Large Marge, but she has a different sound than HP. She almost sounds like a cat meowing. We haven't picked out a name yet. We need to give her time to adjust, as she's still a little scared.

Update 9/21/09

Tomorrow is officially the first day of fall. Summer was wild. Work was so busy, the garden needed constant attention, etc, etc. Where did it go? A couple of weeks ago I noticed that I finally felt like I came up for air and was able to take some deep breaths. I got some long-overdue reading done, some craft projects checked off the list, practiced yoga. I am hoping that with fall I will find more time to slow down. I spent the part of this weekend that I wasn't working actively trying not to think about anything important. Mostly, I spent some quality time playing in the wood shop.

Oh, the joys of the scroll saw! I wasn't planning on learning to use it just yet, but I found myself jigging away like a little elf.

There is something really healing about sawing through a hunk of wood. It's all about the feel and the smell. Working with natural materials is always special.

By the afternoon, I already had a few forest friends cut and smoothed out. I can tell this is going to be a new obsession. I am seeing some really beautiful things done with watercolors and wood online and I'm really excited to give it a go.

Speaking of forest friends, as a cheer-up gift (we all need one of those once in awhile, don't we?) my friend Joan gave me a set of just about the cutest things I've ever seen:
Forest Fairies, just in time for autumn. They are so precious! I keep setting them up and rearranging them. They're just too perfect. I really want to try this as a craft project. Oh, there are so many things to make! I can't imagine why anyone would ever be bored.

Chicken Love

Large Marge is LOUD. She starts squawking at around 6:30am before she even comes downstairs for breakfast. She squawks when she expects a mid-afternoon snack and outing in the yard. She squawks loudest at around 7:30-8am when Henny-Penny is upstairs laying an egg. Not sure if she's coaching her, singing an egg-laying song, warding off egg-snatching predators, or what.
I am not up on my chicken-logic.

Both of them love to eat the tomatoes that burst in the garden. Besides cracked-corn and beetles, it's their favorite snack. Elf likes them, too, and it's really fun to watch him try to eat a cherry tomato. He gets a look of surprise when it bursts open in his mouth.



They love venturing out and catching the bugs that you rustle up when you walk. They follow us around the yard, eating whatever jumps in their line of sight.

They have really incredible vision. They are aware of what is below them and above them, and spot hawks and ravens in the sky before we do.

They are really expressive, if you can believe it. Obviously, vocally, but otherwise, too. You can tell when they're happy and sad and nervous and content.


I think that I'll always have chickens after this. Aside from the piercing, irritating 6:30 wake-ups, they're really easy and they're really a lot of fun. Plus, they totally pull their own weight. We're averaging 12-14 eggs a week. Elf and Matilda better start fetching slippers and morning coffee. Well, Matilda told us about a mouse in the house (!!!) a couple of weeks ago, so she's off the hook. Elf, I like my coffee with a splash of milk.