uneasy lies the head that wears the tiara
With the world (series) now made safe by my beloved Giants, I won’t bug you with sports
reporting for awhile. LSU and the 49ers have plenty of football left, and KU hasn’t even
begun its basketball season.
I have farm news to report anyway. We recently lost another chicken.
The circumstances were similar to the loss of Maxine August 31st. That day Maxine and
Rosie found a breach in the fence netting and headed out for some renegade free ranging.
At dusk I went out to put the girls up and found Rosie outside the gate, desperately trying
to rejoin the others.
I rapidly rejoined them and started looking for Maxine. When Jude got home she searched,
too, but we couldn’t find her in the usual places and we ran out of daylight. We hoped that
Maxine found a safe hiding place for the night.
Nope. Jude found her body a few days later by the creek. We think a raccoon killed her.
This time, two of the newer hens — Garbo and Princess II — escaped. I found Garbo squawking
outside the garden gate when I went out for birdie bedtime. Jude found Prin in the side yard
with a large puncture mark in her chest. We believe a raptor got her with a talon but couldn’t
carry her off.
We put the body in the freezer and gave it to our friend Lee the next day. We haven’t seen him
since to hear his autopsy findings.
Prin II was named in honour of Princess Layer, one of our favourites. We are retiring that name.
That puts the flock at 12. That will likely be the maximum from now on. Since the nights are
getting cold, we’ve started putting all the ladies in the larger side of the coop so they’ll stay
warmer. It’s taken them some time to figure out that they don’t all have to be on the same roost.
A few nights ago, there were six on one roost and six on the other at the same height. They were
all facing each other and chatting as if they were negotiating a game of Red Rover.
I love country living.
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Anchor Struck 
Or maybe just discussing the Giants win. Sorry for the losses. Just got back from Shreveport and East Texas. Timed it to watch Sandy from afar but stayed glued to the Weather Channel just the same. Glad to hear — from catching up on past blogs — that the earthquake did no damage. And congratulations again on the Giants win. Truly remarkable. And remember, had it not been for the good grace of the Washington Nationals to squander a six run lead and fold in the ninth, it might have shifted things in the baseball astrological environment. It was great pulling for a winner after the Nats went down.
I do appreciate the Nats’ demise. I was worried that the Giants would have to face them in the NLCS, and the Nats won five of six from them in the regular season. I expect a lot from Washington next year. I believe the decision to protect Strasberg will eventually be seen as wise. We might be looking at a way-too-early burnout of Lincecum.
Coincidentally, when we retire Princess Layer’s name, is there a little chicken jersey or something we can hang from the top of the coop. Might build morale.
When the coop first opened for business, I printed “FOWLS OF FAME” on a wall and listed the original seven and their approximate date of birth. After the first three died, I listed their date of death. I haven’t update the list since. It got too painful.
I am glad that you are retiring the name of Princess since it does not seem to have a end fitting to a Princess. Garbo is my favorite at the time being. I would love to hear some stories about her antics.
I have nothing planned for the weekend. My daughter called from Austin and is suppose to be here tonight. I have not heard if they are still coming or not. She may have had to work today and are getting a late start. I have no idea.
My son Matt and I went to a new Mexicaan place last night for dinner. It was over priced and terrrible. The only good thing about the place was the service, the food was lack luster and bland. It did not take us but 5 minutes into our food to regret the choice and vowed that was the first and last time.
I have inspection coming up sometimes this month and so I tackled cleaning the stove. Odd how I rarely cook for myself and the stove needed much cleaning, but it is over and done with and so I have several hours left with nothing to do but enjoy this beautiful Saturday. I am hoping that you have a great weekend as well.
We are having a great weekend, thank you, and I hope you are as well. Yesterday we were able to bring Garbo and the others over to the old garden as we buttoned up the blueberry grove for the winter. They loved it and didn’t want to go home. Today we hope to harvest some of the maple leaves that a frisky breeze is now knocking down. You mentioned an inspection. Are you opening another restaurant?
it seems to me that chickens spend most of their lives trying to get themselves killed… maybe that is why we eat them.. to save them the trouble of kiling themselves..
I hope they’re not suicidal. Three of the deaths resulted from their eagerness to explore, and Slinkee helped four of them along. Right now we seem to have a good balance and nearly all of them are laying. We’ve learned a lot about how to take better care of them. Knock on wood.