Happenings ... good and bad

Much has happened these last few weeks.

I am out of the boot ... Yay!
I'm now wearing a close fitting stretchy sock that will be my friend for the next few months. After wearing that hot, and heavy, boot for the summer I'm so grateful to be able to wear the stretchy sock that I will wear it happily until the end of the year if need be!

After my third MRI of the summer I learned I not only have bulging discs in my lower lumbar but I also have them in my neck. The pinched nerves in my neck from those boogered discs, and bone spurs, have been causing tingling with numbing/pain down my left arm. It's crazy! Crocheting and knitting were nearly impossible until my Nurse Practitioner gave me a cortisone shot and a few days of prednisone pills. For now things are better but I know pain injections are in my future. My NP has already made the referral for the shots. My Mom has the same thing but I seem to be coming into it a little earlier than she did.

Because of the foot/neck/back thing going on Nicholas, my 15 yo neighbor, dug holes for me so the Figs and Pink Reliance Seedless grape vines are finally in the ground. Hip Hip Hooray! There are still three Blueberry bushes, two Blackberry bushes and several herbs waiting to be planted. They will find their homes asap.

Chicken News:
Frack is now living with the other hens. She had taken to following me around the back yard like a feathery dog. It was actually pretty neat. She followed so closely that if I made a sudden stop she ran into me. If I sat in the chair, by the bunnies, she would come over to me and sit a spell and "talk" to me. I love that murmuring cluck talk hens do among themselves. One evening I heard her distress call and hurried over to find her being stalked by a large feral cat. I called her to me, chased off the cat, then clipped Frack's wings.

Clipping wings does not hurt the chicken but watching her being picked on, and pecked at, was too traumatic. I truly thought they would peck her to death. =( Even Frick, who has always been with Frack took a turn at tormenting the poor girl! It has now been over a week and the bullying is somewhat better. Frack doesn't cower in a corner now but is very light on her feet and keeps moving away from the bullies.

Family News :
Please keep my Daddy and Angela in your prayers. Daddy has to have another procedure done this week regarding the bladder cancer. Angela is now off chemo treatments but has had a blood transfusion this week and will be getting another next week. My family are fighters but help from above is always welcomed!

Remember this, "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well", from Julian of Norwich.

~ Penny ~

Frick & Frack are home ... well sort of.

Frick and Frack were returned home Sunday evening. They were received fairly well by the home team. I had sweet corn waiting as their "Welcome Home Banquet", I thought the corn would take some of the attention away from the new faces. After sitting outside for a hour watching to see there would not be any blood shed I went into the house. At bedtime I walked down to check if they were all in their little coop. John had told me F & F might not go to roost. That they sometimes had slept outside so I wanted to make certain they did not become prey for hungry raccoon.

I shined the flashlight into the coop and counted chicky bottoms. Yep there were five fluffy bottoms sitting on the roost bar. Excellent. I went to bed with a happy heart.

The next morning I hear Tansy throwing a hissy fit slap my glasses on my face and look out the window to see what all the fuss is about and count chickens. One, two three, four. Oops that isn't right so I count again. One, two, three, four. Dang! I toss on my robe and slip into my Birks and trot down to look inside the coop. Maybe one of them is an early layer. Nope. Frack has flown the coop!

She is no where to be found. With all the feral cats in the neighborhood it didn't look good. Finally it was time to go to work and she still wasn't home. Sigh. John had offered to clip their wings but I have never had to do this and thought they would be okay. Hind sight IS twenty-twenty.

After work I stopped to talk to Angela and she said the Animal Control Officer had spent a lot of time driving around our neighborhood. Hmmm wonder if someone reported a loose chicken.

The next morning I'm rushing through my farm work before going to P.T. and see Frack in the tree by the chicken run. She has returned to her roots and like the jungle chickens is roosting in the tree! Her new routine is to fly down into the run for breakfast, a drink and a dust bath. She visits with Frick then when Tansy notices her flies up into the tree for the rest of the day. Crazy!

Hopefully they will all be reconciled soon ...