Chicken Trouble - a note about hybrid breeds

We recently got a hard blow: Henny Penny is dying. We suspected she wasn't laying eggs for a little while -- though not that long, because I would see her in the nestbox each day and just assumed the eggs were hers. She started getting heavy around her middle and became disinterested in anything other than the store-bought feed we give her. No kitchen scraps, no vegetation, no bugs. This is not the bug-eating Henny Penny we know and love! We started keeping a little bit of an eye on her, the noticed that she was laying down a lot. One day she started closing her eyes = not good in the chicken world. We started doing research. It turns out that after two years of age this breed (Red Stars) are particularly susceptible to something called "internal laying." Simply put, the egg remains in the chicken and fluid builds up (hence the heaviness) until they die. There is no cure. It is common among all hybrid breeds and hatchery-born chicks, which is a very serious reason to find a heritage breed from a local source.
We went to the feed store and got some medicine that helped her get a little more comfortable. We had to give her injections for 4 days. (Aaron said he couldn't give her a shot so I had to every time!) She is now walking and eating and trying to lay eggs, but it won't last. She will eventually end up back where she was and then she will die.
I am preparing myself for the fact that, come autumn, I will have to kill a chicken. I think about it for a little while every day so that, when the time comes, I will have thought out every angle and I will be able to find the peace within to come to terms with the task at hand. But I can't kill her. She doesn't deserve to live on in pain, but I can't do it. We've been trying to find a vet that will put her down for us, but we haven't had any luck so far.
My dear, sweet HP. She is just the nicest little chicken there ever was.

Illumination Night

Knitting: Tessellation Cloth
Reading: Illumination Night by Alice Hoffman

This cloth has been such fun to knit! It's almost like a lace pattern. I've been knitting it while watching the hours and hours of recorded material that I need to watch for class. Shhh...don't tell!

I just finished Illumination Night by Alice Hoffman. A teacher had recommended it years ago and I finally got around to reading it. A hard book to put down, it's the story of a Martha's Vineyard couple and the people around them. And there is a giant in it. I liked Hoffman's approach to the story, but there were large portions of the book where she used second person and I don't think it was 100% successful. However, it was a perfect summer read!

English Muffins and Eggs Aaron

Over the weekend, Aaron and I decided to try our hand at making homemade english muffins. We used Mark Bittman's recipe from this book, of course. I really only need one cookbook in my life and this is it. I have loved this book for well over 10 years and it is the go-to for things like this.


These were so easy and turned out beautifully. I highly doubt we'll be buying englishes anymore. They are hardier than store-bought muffins and pretty delicious, too. Sometimes working with yeast makes me nervous. It just seems so apt to fail. I need to get over that, though, because things like this are just too good to pass up.


Of course, we used the homemade english muffins as part of one of our favorite recipes: Eggs Aaron. Once in awhile Aaron will make this incredible, eggs benedict-like breakfast. He uses sun-dried tomatoes in the sauce, but that is all I know about his secret recipe!

Aaron has also become an expert egg poacher, which is such a gift. I have to admit that I am not there yet.

Clematis on the front porch

Sigh. There are many things I will miss about this little house. My beautiful clematis is certainly one of them.