10th Photo

Okay, I'm a little slow lately!

It's been at least a week since my buddy, Randy at Chicken Boys, tagged me to find the 10th photograph on my camera. Since the disc was empty, I went to my chicken photo file and pulled the tenth one out of there.

There really isn't a big story behind this photo. These are two of my oldest hens and certainly my two favorites, snuggling in the hen house. Cora Bell has the bars and Shakira is black. Cora is a dingy girl. She is a loner these days. She comes to the garage to look for me because she knows I'll give her snacks. When I pick her up, she snuggles in and closes her eyes.

Shakira is much more reserved. She doesn't like to be held. She is beautiful and big. She reminds me of the dignified older ladies in church.

Chicken Funnies

This morning, I went to the hen house to let Skippy and the girls out. Cora always holds back. I usually take her some special treats from the kitchen. This morning, it was stale Cherrio's...Honey Nut to be exact.

I grabbed a handfull from the bag and held it out to her. She immediately started gobbling them up. A few hit the ground in her haste to eat them all before the others realized she had treats. All of a sudden, she looked up at me with her eyes crossed! A Cherrio had gone over the top of her beak and stuck there...sort of like a ring on a finger. She couldn't swallow it and couldn't push it off. I should have run for my camera, but didn't have the heart to leave the poor girl crossed and confused. I plucked the Cherrio from her beak. To teach it a lesson it won't soon forget, she ate it!

I do love my Cora Bell!

FYI...No signs of Hazel, so far. We hear him calling, but he hasn't been enticed to cross the road!

One of Those Days!

My friend Melissa's dad died earlier this week. His funeral was in her home town of Williamston this afternoon. Williamston is about 2 hours from Raleigh and about 30 minutes from our river house in Blount's Creek. Since we haven't been to Blounts Creek since September, I thought I would make a circuitous trip.

One of our neighbor's at Blounts Creek got a new statue. Ronald's Ronald!

I left home at 8:45, wasted time stopping by the library that didn't open until 10:00 on Fridays, grabbed a biscuit from BoJangles and hit the highway. At 11:00, I rolled up to the double-wide at Blounts Creek. Since I wouldn't be staying long, I didn't turn on the power. I walked through and saw a spot on the kitchen ceiling where we have had trouble with a leak. It was back. Water had been standing on the counter. Some had dripped into a trashcan under the counter and was frozen. Yep, it has definitely been cold!

Kitchen Ceiling leaks again!

Well, you know I have to pee everywhere I stop (not unlike Riley Dog, I have to leave my calling card!) In the dark, I sat upon a very cold toilet and drained off the Diet Coke. I called Tony to report the leak in the kitchen. He asked about the pipes. I hadn't seen any water in unusual places. He told me to grab the flashlight and make sure. When I walked into the larger bathroom, I noticed a puddle on the floor. Upon further inspection, I realized there was ice in the toilet. Not just floaters, but solid chunks! The tank was at least 5 gallons of solid ice. I went back to the frigid toilet I had used. It too was frozen. Now, just what would I have done if my ass had stuck to the toilet like that boys tongue stuck to the light pole in The Christmas Story? Sometimes, you just don't know how lucky you are.

Frozen and cracked!

Next stop...Tony sent me to the back of the trailer to turn the water on. I crawled underneath (thank heavens I can stand up under there), flipped the switch, listened as the pipes filled with water, then watched as water began shooting out the cracks in the frozen pipes. "Turn it off! Turn it off!" was Tony's response. I did. I hate to say that I was glad I had a funeral to go to, but was relieved I could do nothing to make the messes go away.

I ran back inside the trailer long enough to change from sweats to funeral clothes. And would you believe, the beach air shrank my black pants! Sometimes you just have to make do with what you got. Hence, I wore my black pants and did NOT tuck in my white shirt. Add a sweater and hope the layers cover up the the bulging pants.

NO PHOTOS OF MY BIG ASS!

Back in the car, I headed to Williamston. I stopped at Wendy's for a cheeseburger and left my calling card in their bathroom. While washing my hands, my phone rang. My friend Jane was calling. She was already at the funeral home. I walked out of the bathroom, but thought I was missing something I had taken in. I told Jane to hold on while I went back to the bathroom to look for my phone. Not until the door closed behind me did I clue in. I announced to Jane that I am such a dumb-ass! At that point, she realized the phone I was looking for was between my shoulder and my ear and I was talking to her on it! DUH!

Really cool car in the Wendy's parking lot waiting to take me to the asylum!

At the funeral home, I found Jane and a few girls from the Piedmont neck of the woods. We sat together during the service. The ancient minister got off to a slow start. Apparently, he did not know the deceased very well since he kept referring to Angus as Anglius. I could not look at Jane and struggled to maintain control of my face throughout the service.

Back to the car and another 2 hours on the road and I made it home before dark. Look who was waiting for me!

Cora welcomes me home!

Cora Dog

This morning, every time I went into the garage, Riley Dog would bang his nose against the tin trash can that holds his dog food. That's his way of saying, "Feed me, dammit!" Since the cupboard was so bare, I couldn't even offer the poor dog a bone and in an effort to distract Riley Dog, we loaded up in the truck to go to Pet Smart for a huge bag of Nutro kibbles for older, less active dogs. This makes me thankful that I do the shopping for our family as somebody else might decide to feed me rice cakes for the big-assed mothers!

Feeling extremely guilty for not providing the poor dog any breakfast, I snagged a small plastic cup of dog food, opened it up and let him dine while watching a room full of puppies in a training class. Knowing that Riley Dog wouldn't shrivel up from starvation, we headed off to finish our list of errands.



Upon arriving home, I discovered Cora Bell and Hazel the Boy hanging out in the garage. Riley Dog was happy to sit in the truck while I unloaded. I hauled out the huge bag of food, poured it into Riley's can, tossed a piece of the food to Cora, expecting her to look at me like I was crazy when instead she gobbled it up! I couldn't believe it. I filled up Riley's dog bowl and she sidled right on up to it and helped herself.

Riley Dog has been willing to share his garage space with Cora Bell, has overlooked the poop presents she's left for him, and even lets her drink from his water bucket from time to time, but I'm afraid he is going to draw the line at sharing his groceries with her, even if they are low calorie. As a matter of fact, he's probably thinking fresh chicken might taste pretty good right about now!

You better watch your back, Cora Bell!

And I thought the story ended here! But, noooooo! Tony came home from work and informed me that Cora was still in the garage. Since it was nearly dark, I went out to walk her to the chicken house. When I entered the garage, this is what I found!

I guess my old girl is on a health kick! Diet dog food and bike rides! Should Riley Dog decide to dine on Cora Bell, she'll be thin and stringy. The diet dog food is sounding better all the time!