Spring's Sweet Scent

|gərl| noun a young or relatively young woman
|glīd| noun a smooth continuous movement
SMOOTH?!?! Well, one can always hope.
I watch the girls take their numerous dust baths every day while they're outside practicing their chickenness. Ella, or Little Ella as she's commonly called, was the first to take to this ritual. I was really surprised since she is, as you may have guessed, the littliest of the trio. She is still the most eager and aggressive bather in the bunch. For all of them, it's like entering some kind of freaky opium zone. They get totally stoned, euphoria abounds! As you can see, Ella looks like roadkill once she's nearly done.
Speaking of roadkill...
It's really no surprise to learn that chickens aren't that bright. I'm sure that my girls would never make it to the other side of the road. They have, what I have named A2D2: Avian Attention Deficit Disorder. I thought my cats were bad??? They're furry Einsteins compared to these girls. It's all fine ... it makes for great entertainment.
It is with a very heavy heart that we announce we are closing Wednesday, April 26.
The Clay County Extension Agent points out the queen of the colony.
Tools of the trade. Bee smokers.
The strawberry plant I bought a couple weeks ago is producing fruit! It was a sweet and juicy berry and a reminder that I need to plant more so I can have a sizeable amount on hand healthy snacking.. or milkshakes.
It's evident from the two pictures that Ginger is growing and is the ugly chickling phase of poultryhood. These pictures show her growth over the last week.
Yesterday, I had the chicklets out for nearly two hours so they can do what they enjoy: practice becoming chickens. They make complete fools of themselves running around in big circles with their wings-a-flappin', but hey, if it feels good, do it! They occupy themselves by peckin' and scratchin' and spreading their wings out in the heat of the sun. Ella, much to my surprise, was the first to take to dust bathing. I didn't expect the littliest of the three to be the first one to do something so instinctual.
In this picture (taken last week), she appears to be ready for chick-sized coins to be placed on her eyes and to be planted in the ground. But no, it was her dusting while Xena looked on.
It happens when I'm in a conversation, too. I'll end up telling someone that Owney is stuffed, then I'll have to retrace the convo's steps to figure out exactly how I went from the subject of football to a stuffed dog in my favorite museum. (did you notice that April is National Card and Letter Writing Month?? Get busy!)
Anyway, it happened online earlier today. I was perusing some of my favorite online destinations and started following a thread of links. Want to know how I went from a farm in Missouri to a guy I went to high school with? Grab your compass, follow me, we're going hiking...
ps... somewhere along the way, I learned about a chicken that led a family from The Sugar Creek Farm to Hollywood. I need some lemonade and a sit in the shade now...
The goat-milking hands of a 4-H mom.
The Florida High School Association Rodeo competition was held on Saturday. Events included pole bending, barrel racing, team roping, and bull riding. This was another first for me. I'd never watched a rodeo. Why didn't I wear my ropers??