Chicken Butts

Chickens do not make good models for amateur photographers. They are either snooping and pecking at the lens or if they forget I'm there, have their rear ends facing me. So, in lieu of the fact that we are getting one, or sometimes two eggs per day now, I thought this shot would be appropriate. I like to call this, Where Eggs Come From. Today's egg was still warm when I picked it up, which is both weird and fascinating at the same time. Especially since the temps are below freezing so it takes only a few minutes for a freshly laid egg to cool off. It's very personal to go out there and grab a still-warm egg. My hens and I are intimate, you might say.

I took Dad to Walmart and then to lunch at Dennys (his two absolute favorite places). His legs seem to be very weak lately and I wasn't at all sure he could make the outing, but he did. He is a proud 85 year old who doesn't think of himself as old, at all. He refuses to use a walker, cane, hearing aid, or those motorized shopping carts that every store has these days. He will literally wait until his legs give out and fall down before he will admit that he needs any of those old-people items. This doesn't make me mad, because I understand what he's feeling. I myself do not feel my age - well, except when I first get out of bed in the morning. I know I have my limitations, like hefting around 50 pound bags of chicken feed, yet I still do it, very carefully. I don't want to give it up. That's how he feels.

He is actually doing an outstanding job of adjusting to his new surroundings. But it's super difficult for him to grasp our climate. He was happy when we got in the car and drove down the street because, "it isn't icy out." He thinks that if it snows or if it's cold, the roads will be icy. We don't actually have much problem with ice here, unless the conditions are just right for it, which is rare. How do I explain that to a man who's watched the news from afar and has no experience with it himself? As we drove past a plowed corn field he asked, "When will they plant these fields, in February or March?" Oh boy, is it ever gonna be a LONG winter. I tried to explain that the ground will be frozen solid until April. And then the best of all was when we were sitting down in Dennys to eat our lunch and I asked him if he wanted to take off his coat. It was tightly zipped up to his neck. He said, "No, it's too much trouble. I'm comfortable." So, I've finally convinced him that he needs to wear his coat, but it's a major hassle for him to get on and off. Once again I have to ask, can you imagine 85 years of living without a winter coat? He kept it on and zipped through the meal.