Monday, March 26, 2012

Oh My.


It has been a splendid day with boys galore. Okay, mostly Owen but Gibson came over for his first visit and even had supper with us.
Okay, okay, he didn't eat but he slept while we ate.

Of course I only let him stay in that little seat for a few minutes before my body took control of me and I reached down and scooped him up and ate with him cradled in my left arm. It made no difference to him but it gave me great joy and contentment.

Owen was such a good young'un today.

He seems so big now that Gibson is here. We sat on the kitchen steps and fed the chickens some biscuits from yesterday's breakfast and when it came time to eat our lunch he wanted to eat out there too. I said, "But Owen, let's eat on the back porch where we have a table."
"'Tend table!" he said.
"You want to pretend we have a table?"
"Uh-huh!"
"All right."
"Whoo-hoo!"

And so we did. He ate watermelon and pizza and we fed Miss Ozzie a few bites of fruit too, which she enjoyed tremendously and we discussed Mutant Ninja Turtles and their love of pizza and I tried to be hip and remember their names but all I could come up with was Michelangelo and Leonardo and I wasn't really sure of those two.

He took a nap with me on my new sheets which he proclaimed to be cozy and when I'd gotten him down with the Mr. Peep story, I discovered that one of the incubator eggs was actually doing something. Rocking a bit and there was a tiny hole in it and I could see a beak working at the shell. It was pretty darn exciting and I had to call Mr. Moon and the process is still going on now, hours and hours later and Mr. Moon is sitting in front of the incubator, watching the baby try to peck its way out. Another egg has a cracked shell and is moving a bit and yet another one is rocking. So...
We shall see.
If we get one real live peep, I'll be so happy although I would hope that there would be more. We'll just have to see. All of the instructions say to leave them alone and let them peck their way out- that if you don't, the muscles will not have developed enough for the babies to stand up.
Survival of the fittest and so forth and it seems cruel but so is nature and that is just the truth. It has its own system and it's best not to fuck with it. You can already hear the little guy in that shell chirping away. We chirp back, hoping to encourage the chick to continue with his or her struggle for freedom, release, life.

So it's been a very good day with lots of playing and painting and coloring and bathing and sleeping and pecking and chirping and cooking and laundry and laughing and Mr. Moon got home in time to play too and then were were puzzles and bamboo kicking and the hitting of trees with bamboo and then there was supper and baby-cuddling and now the little family has gone home and here we are. The kitchen is cleaned up and I am tired, tired, but a good tired.
A deserved tired.

Now I have to decide whether or not to stay up and watch this baby come out of its shell. I need to do a little studying to determine whether or not it can stay in the incubator. The information on the internet is so conflicting. And the information I have in my chicken book has yet a different opinion.

Ah-lah. I know far more about the birthin' of human babies than I do of chicken babies.
I suppose this is a good thing.

Well, I'll report in tomorrow. You can count on that.

Tomorrow. Gibson will be one week old. Bless his little heart. And he's already been out to Mer-Mer and Bop's house which his big brother knows better than anyone. When I bring Owen here I always ask him who lives here and he always says that Mer-Mer lives here and Bop lives here and Owen lives here.

I like that. And before we know it, Gibson will be considering it his house, too.

This sweet old house where chickens are born and there are hiding places for boys, and goats next door and a garden to help in and trees to climb and bamboo to kick and porches to play on and beds to nap on and where life just keeps on happening.

Night from Lloyd, y'all.

Love...Ms. Moon

UPDATE: The chick is out of his shell. Early moments and we shall see if he survives.
Wow.
Just...wow.

17 comments:

  1. Oooh! A baby AND a chick? Fingers crossed!

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  2. I love Gibson's little old man face. Ohhh! Muah!

    When I saw the picture of Owen on the steps I thought he looked so little. I guess size is relative. My boy is almost 6 feet tall.

    Mr. Moon is going to be a Mama! I can't wait to see the pictures of baby chicks following him around the yard.

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  3. Little critters everywhere. The joy of life new born. Baby chicks for easter =o). I am sure you will not be dying them pink or blue or purple (remember that when we were kids). Sending Big Hugs to all the Moons!
    x0 N2

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  4. Beautiful as always Ms Moon... Just beautiful words.. Spring has sprung over here in Ireland too, enjoying unusually warm sunny days with no greyness & rain.. It just lifts the soul.. Enjoy those babies.. J

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  5. Oh, I dreamed of chickens hatching last night, and am so glad to wake up to one of yours emerging. I'm glad you had a happy day, Ms. Moon. Those babies are gorgeous, all of them.

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  6. Life is so much wow if we choose to see it

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  7. A baby boy at your house for dinner, and now a baby chick! Very cool. I'm eager for a picture of that chick. I love that Owen thinks of your house as his house too.

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  8. Yay for a wonderful day and yay for little chicks!

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  9. New baby and now new chicks! How exciting...I wouldn't have a clue what to do with chicks...I hope you get it as right as you need to. It would be fun to see them grow up.

    You have me longing to hold a baby - someone else's baby of course.

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  10. My grandkids lived next door all their lives, well, until we moved out to the country, and they considered our house just an extension of their house, coming and going at their leisure. I loved that.

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  11. SJ- Love you too!

    Nicol- I know. Almost enough to put me in a diabetic coma.

    Omgrrrl- Chicks still coming!

    Birdie- You got that right. Mr. Moon IS the chicken mama although he says he's the chicken daddy. I know better.

    liv- See my response to Nicol.

    N2- No. We shall not dye these babies and of course I remember that. jesus. What were they THINKING?

    J- Spring is the ultimate tonic, isn't it? Glad you're getting some good gulps of it.

    Sara- We surely did!

    Deb- I do. I really do choose to see it. As much as possible!

    Lora- And he knows that he lives in his real house, too. Bless that boy. I love him so.

    Jill- I agree!

    Jeannie- There is nothing like holding a baby. Hell, I'm even looking forward to holding a chick!

    Ellen Abbott- Now that sounds perfect! Although I bet you go through a lot less food and toilet paper now.

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  12. The wonders of a beautiful, not so ordinary ordinary day.

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  13. Wonderful photos. Glad about the chick babies. Life in Lloyd seems so good.

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  14. I have enjoyed this post Mary. You somehow made the world seem calm and real all at the same time. I could just see myself following you around while you should me the eggs. You would tell me a thing or two or more that I did not know and I would be amazed.

    Yep...all is well in the land of Mary Moon...and that is as sweet as can be with a new baby, little Owen (who is really a big brother now), Lily and her hubby proud parents of two handsome sons, Mr. Moon beaming because every photo I see of him he is BEAMING!

    All is well...

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.