the chicken whisperer

these little chicks and their four friends escaped from the chicken coop yesterday. the chicken fence had slipped from one of the nails thereby making just enough space for them to squeeze there little bones and feathers out into freedom.

i completely freaked. in that i'll-handle-this-and-while-i-figure-out-how-i'll-run-around-like-a-headless-chicken way. first i tried to catch them by throwing a blanket over them, but they'd run in to the bushes separating our garden from the field. the boys of course tried to help me, completely scaring the little chicks away (later i realized it might have been me, you know, woman with wild look in her eyes, sneaking up on you with huge blanket in hands). so, for a while i thought we'd lost them. and this was when i decided to call D.

not so much because i expected he'd be able to help me, more because i cannot have a mental breakdown without sharing it with someone who can truly appreciate my ability to whisper hysterically. like you're in control, but it's amazing that you are, because in a few seconds the chicks will be dead, slaughtered by a cat and the kids will see it and be traumatized for life and will never ever again be able to eat chicken, not even granny's chicken soup when they are sick, or chicken mcnuggets when they in some years from now end up at some nasty birthday party hosted by ronald mcdonald and then the other kids will laugh at them and they'll be even more traumatized. and never find true love.

of course D started out calmly by asking what exactly i wanted him to do while at work, and that maybe i could just keep an eye on them and we would catch them together later. of course i explained that this could very well be exactly that thing that would later make us refer to this day as "that day", and there would be "before that day we were happy". and "after that day nothing was the same".

as the chicks reappeared from the bushes, i stopped the conversation, got the boys inside, "play! here! right! now!". then pulled out D's fishing net, but the holes were too big: when i caught a little chick, he'd just run out. then finally it dawned on me: it seemed like they actually wanted to return to the coop. that they were actually trying to, if it wasn't for this crazy woman running around with blankets and giant fishing nets. so i made the hole a bit bigger and made them go there. and just like that - all six jumped happily in to the coop.

i called D to let him know how i had been able to actually read them, and that he might be married to an aspiring chicken whisperer.

at that point D was already on his way home. you could think that this would have made him irritated, but nope. seriously, non of us are very experienced in this whole chicken thing, so as long as there's a good ending it's ok to overreact a little bit. or a little more.



so instead he took the boys for a walk. in their case it would be a run-around. i guess that was what the chicks needed too. and i could sit down with a glass of weekend wine and enjoy the colors of some of the amazing flowers surrounding us these days.

here's to a nice and colorful weekend!