Monday, April 17, 2017

Another Plain Old Day On Earth


Every day Camellia comes onto the porch through the piece of torn screen that she and Maurice and Jack use to access the back porch. Every day.
I used to feed the cats on the back porch when the dogs were still alive but that hasn't happened in years. Camellia obviously doesn't forget though, and Camellia does not lose hope.
I love that old hen. She was Kathleen's hen and she still lays me a nice pale-as-can-be green egg every few days. She's a love.

I had a walk this morning and saw a large doe, I think, on one of the roads. We stood and looked at each other for a good long while and then she took off and disappeared into the woods. Mr. Moon tells me that it might not have been a doe as bucks lose their horns this time of year which I find very amusing. He said that when the males don't need their antlers to fight for a girl (his words), they shed them.
So. During rutting season, male deers are literally horny. The rest of the year, they are not. Literally or otherwise.
How could I get to the age of 62, married to a man of the woods for 33 years, and not know this fact? I mean, I knew about rutting season and I even knew that bucks shed their antlers but I never put two and two together.
I just looked up the etymology for the word "horny" and supposedly it has to do with a male erection looking like a horn but I think that may not be exactly true.
Hank- what do you think?
"Hank" is what our family used to call google before google was invented.
"Ask Hank. He'll know." I wonder how many times that has been uttered by one of us. Which is why he's such an amazing Trivia Guy.

Anyway, I have no idea what I've come here to talk about tonight. I have been a good little housewife today, mopping and doing laundry and taking trash and recycle and sweeping and chicken tending. I have never seen a new batch of young chickens mesh so seamlessly with an old, established flock as I am seeing with the teen chicks and the older birds. No one seems to be giving anyone much notice at all and the teens are sticking close to the coop, as new ones do when they are allowed access to the great outdoors. Every day they will push their boundaries a little farther and I think tonight I will set them to roost in the hen house with Mick and the big gals. It is time for them to learn where their roost truly is. I am so interested to see if there are any roosters in this new crop and if so, how that plays out with Mick.
I have no idea why I find chickens so interesting but I certainly do.

And so it goes. Another day in Lloyd, normal in all regards with the exception of getting to hear my newest grandchild's heartbeat for the first time which is a flat-out miracle.
I always say I don't know shit but I do know that for sure.

Let us all sleep the sleep of the deserving tonight. May our dreams be sweet, our bones rest easy, our souls rest easy too.
Like Camellia, may we never lose hope.

Love...Ms. Moon




6 comments:

  1. Camellia wants some dog food huh? I'd probably have to sneak her treats for being so cute. Probably a good thing I don't have chickens.

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  2. I like Hank. I tell my wife to ask the Almighty Google. But I may have to shift to Hank.

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    1. I like Hank too ... wish he'd blog!

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  3. Yes. That beautiful word. Hope.

    I think you are about 3 or 4 hours ahead of me. May you be sleeping soundly, dreaming of chickens and grandchildren.

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  4. I generally refer to it as the All Knowing Oracle. but Hank works too. Wet with rain here so I guess I'll tidy up.

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  5. Ever-hopeful Camellia! I'm so impressed that her memory is that good. It's amazing to look at that tiny chicken head and realize how well it processes information. (At least, the information needed by the chicken.) I wondered the same thing about the word "horny" when you mentioned the deer factoid (which I also did not know). It does seem possible that someone was making a double-entendre, about both deer AND people!

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.