{celebrating dailiness} Double-take

golden egg

Linus and I have seen lots of eggs.  We've seen a lot of the inside of the chicken coop.  But we had never seen the two together.  And we hadn't expected to yesterday!


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{celebrating dailiness} Milestones

it's surprisingly hard
to get a picture of a chicken

file that under: Who Knew?

Jack is learning to cluck!  She generally sounds like a goose or Topper, but recently she's startled us & sent us running to the backdoor when we heard distinct clucking!  She looks so pleased with herself -- once she starts, she really gets on a roll.  And I'm pretty sure, when she finished today, she strutted right by big Brown with a devil-may-care why-would-i-flinch attitude.

I guess it makes sense.  They aren't born clucking.  It's a bit like watching a child's voice change.  Yet another interesting thing I did not know (or think) about chickens.

Speaking of chickens (why, yes, I was speaking of chickens again), here are some of my favorite books about raising chickens:

Chick Days by Woginrich
My Pet Chicken Handbook by Lucas & Torres
Chicken Coops - Pangman

For kicks:
Extraordinary Chickens by Green-Armytage
Fowl Play by Merrill

(And my favorite chicken book title: A Chicken in Every Backyard by Litt & Litt)

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Meg & Jack

I'm not "an animal person."  Translate: I never wanted a pet when I was a kid.  I didn't understand why my parents and brother seemed to be perpetually fussing around various dogs, birds, and hamster-y things.  I don't approach dogs and ask their people questions about them.  

I don't really know how to do a lot of The Things people do with pets.  So having animals for the first time meant asking a lot of questions.  (Reading a few books.)

It means, too, I guess, that I don't really think it's that weird that our chickens live in the house with us part time.  And it means I spent the weekend skinless and in tears because we had to take our rooster, Meg, to go live on a farm today (no, really, I delivered him myself) because we aren't allowed to have roosters in the city.

Or, does this make me "an animal person"?

A Friend for Maryann

Because hermit crabs do best when they live with others (despite their name), we went to Petco in Davis to find a friend for Maryann.  Sela chose this cutie (yep, I think she's cute!) because she thought she seemed like a good choice for Maryann - not too big and didn't seem like she'd crawl over top of her.  Her legs are a pretty gray-blue, and Sela named her Blue. 

She heartily ate the apple and grape dinner her first night with us, checked out the salt and fresh water, and today explored around the crabitat all day.  I think she's climbed over and under every surface, including the hygrometer (measures humidity) -- where she took a pretty long nap!  You should know that the hygrometer is about a quarter-inch thick and is velcroed to the side of the tank.  I'm serious - these guys are funny.  People don't believe me.

A Sad Day

In Memoriam

Rapunzel Arugula

With sadness we say good-bye to our

first and beloved pet

A New Cocohut

A while back, while cleaning out the crabitat and sterilizing everything, I accidentally scorched Rap & Maryann's cocohut in the microwave.  I felt terrible.  I loved the way they both squeezed in there.  Rap's shell didn't even fit through the opening.  It was truly genius the way he got in and out.  And sometimes, Maryann slept inside and he slept just outside the opening with one of his claws reached out touching hers.  It was their home.

I loved their cocohut, too.  One of my very first experiences with them was to walk into the kitchen and see Maryann just standing on top of the cocohut.  It cracked me up every time.  Always made me think of walking into a dining room to find a dog standing casually on the dining room table.  Is that weird?  Oh, and sometimes I would see Maryann perched on top and Rap gripping the side of the hut, at a slant, with his claw touching hers.  Just hanging out like this.

Anyway, we went right out the next day and bought a new one.  Linus gave it to the cashier to ring up and proudly carried it to the car.  I lovingly put it in the crabitat with some encouraging words and an apology.  Nothing.  Okay -- it takes time to get used to a new one.  I waited.  And waited.

I tried to coax them in by putting their food right at the entrance, as if to say, "See?  It's nice inside."  Nothing.

I turned it on its' side so that it could be explored.  Nothing.  I felt so badly.  They have their flowerpot to sleep in, and, of course, they burrow.  But still.

Okay, I can take a hint.  I finally let it go.

More weeks went by, then, I walked into the kitchen and saw this:

I'm so happy!

First Pets

 Some families have a dog.  Or a cat.  Or a guinea pig.  We (I) can handle... hermit crabs.  I think.  We'll see...

I already love watching the kids with them.  For instance, Sela named them Marianne and Rap (short for Rapunzel).  And Linus says, "This one is Marianne, and this one is RAP!" 

For now they're living in the kitchen.  I'm surprised at how much I enjoy watching them - they're pretty entertaining.  I thought it was a crack-up to see Marianne standing on top of the coconut shell!

Guess we'll be heading to the library to learn more about these little creatures.  This might just work.  But wish me luck, just in case ; )