The Loveliest Chicken Story Ever Told

Hayti, Missouri
I received this picture today as a belated Happy Chicken Day. I have such great friends. They totally think of me when they find themselves confronted with extremely large chicken sculptures.

Then there is this truly beautiful story from The Boy's mom:

"I was brought up on a large working farm in Maine, as (The Boy) may or may not have
told you. As a little girl I raised and showed special Bantam chickens, both for show and for the eggs, and especially for my pets. They were the best loved and cared for chickens that ever live. I started having my first ones at age three and showing them at summer fairs at age four when they were grown. They all had names and knew them and came to me when I called to them. I always had a rooster so could raise more chickens from the hens eggs. I started out with Andy the 1st and the last Banty rooster I had was Andy the 8th. I was then 19 and gave him to a nice man, one that played the organ at a Congregational Church, and had chickens of his own and his old rooster had passed away. My last hen had died at a good old age and my rooster was (or at least seemed) very happy at his new home with the Rhode
Island Red regular hens. (I am sure that he missed me though.) He truly was my dear pet and I would take a walk all over the farm fields with my little dog, Peppy, my rooster, Andy the 8th, and my two cats, Mickey Mouse and Topsy Twinkle Toes, who were old boys following me, and with my white bunny in a harness and leash hopping along beside me. Andy would sometimes fly up and land on my shoulder and crow to show off to the other critters. I was a blessed gal to grow up with all my many pets over my childhood years until I was ready to leave home and go off on my own.

When I was young and went off for a month with my Mama to visit my Grandmother in Massachusetts. I would get homesick and cry as I missed my pets. On arrival back home in Maine and to our farm one time at night at age eight, my Dad kindly got
out the flashlight and took me back outside to the chicken house so I could
go inside and see and love all of my chickens."

Lastly, my last Chicken Day present of the night was from BunBun's parents--a thank-you gift for taking care of their small menagerie. A little soft red BunBun of my own. Here is a picture of him hanging out at the festive little Thai restaurant we went to last night. Take special note of the "Yes Hot" and the patch that Wikus gave me yesterday.



Then there is "Redson" hanging out in the pocket of my jean jacket (check out my duck dress for Chicken Day! Also, if you look closely, you'll see I have another jean jacket on my legs; thanks to Wikus who doesn't get as cold as me--I need warmth for my legs):

Whence A.C.H.

(2008)

In ancient times, super-intelligent chickens came from outer space and landed in Japan (Nippon). Due to the primitive nature of the human inhabitants at that time in history, it was easy for these highly intelligent chickens to befriend the natives. For many years they lived in peace together until the humans grew jealous of the chickens and their superior technology. The humans rose up and enslaved the chickens. Many of the chickens escaped in their starships; and the few who were left behind refused to speak or display their intelligence in protest against their cruel enslavement. Over time, the chickens forgot their extraterrestrial origins, and lost their powers of speech. One day, their brethren may return from beyond the stars to liberate their unfortunate comrades, and wreak a terrible vengeance.

This day, December 17th, commemorates the chickens' first arrival on Earth, and looks forward to their triumphant reappearance. As humans, we decry the oppression of our feathered comrades, and humbly celebrate and submit to their loftiness and their eventual return.

(2009)

The Annual Making of Chicken Day Cards

Did I mention yesterday was hella cold? Well, it was. Last night Wikus and I had planned to put together our Chicken Day cards. We do this every year, but it isn't usually so damn cold when we set out on our project. Wikus has a terrible apartment. It is one of those that looks pretty nice, but is really a hideous craphole. I have a lot of guilt over this, because I pretty much got him this apartment--I am obviously a fool who falls for pretty things. Anyway, to prove how crappy this apartment is, last night Wikus was deep-frying tasty tasty tasty french fries and defrosting some Boca Chik'n patties, which made the power got out. I am not shitting you. He yelled, "WHAT IS THIS? BOSTON!" That's the kind of shit we put up with in Boston, but not here. The even more fucked-up bit was it was obvious that there was still some kind of ghost power happening. The light on the digital-converter box was on, and the faintest of glows emitted from the overhead light, yet nothing would turn on for us, no matter how many breaker switches Wikus popped on and off in the box. I told him to get a flashlight and go outside to see if he could find the main breaker box for his apartment. I sat in the dark and ate some french fries while he was out in the cold. See what a good friend I am? He managed to find the box, where there were two switches: one on and one off. Flipping the switch made the lights come back on, which was awesome. Except, EXCEPT, to keep the power on, we had to turn off the heat. That's right. TURN OFF THE HEAT. Mind you, his apartment could not have possibly been over 50 degrees in there with the heat set on maximum. Yet, this was too much for the apartment to handle.

At that point, considering my hands were numb, and I was fearful that my nose was going to fall off due to frostbite, we gave up on the idea of the Chicken Day cards for the night, and just watched a few episodes of The IT Crowd. If you have not watched this show, you must do it NOW. You can watch it on Netflix. Yeah!

However, that meant we had to get to work today. His apartment was marginally warmer. He already had the design made, and we had purchased cardstock this past Monday, so it was just a matter of me choosing the colors for the design and him doing all the cutting and folding. I messed around in Illustrator while he did the grunt work.

After a lunch of tasty tasty Tex-Mex (with The Boy in tow), we came back to my house (where it is warmer!) to assemble the cards. We managed to sit at the kitchen table for a couple of hours without breaking a window. Yeah us. Part of our annual tradition with the cards is to have a haiku. We make it up on the spot together, every single year. This year I did one-third and he did the rest, with me making a minor change resulting in a gerund.

This is a limited edition, and if you want your Chicken Day card, you better make sure I have your current address. We'll make more as needed, but it may end up being after Chicken Day (12/17), because we tend to get a bit lazy when it is cold outside.

Tomorrow: Tales of pet-sitting good times. Including: the children of one of Wikus' cats, and a bunny. Oh my god! Have you ever just sat and watched a bunny eat lettuce? It is almost as awesome as watching my tortoise eat lettuce. A damn amazing good time.