Betty Poop, Tom's only named chicken, dies on the Farm

Last Wednesday as I did my chore of letting our chickens "free range" for two hours, I noticed my favorite hen, Betty, was very weak.  She stood in the middle of the road(no "crossing the road" jokes please) with her eyes closed and struggling to breathe.  I continued to watch her closely as some of the other chickens just passed her by.  The day ended with Betty hobbling back in the coup.

Now Betty is special because she bonded with us humans.  She was smaller and weaker that the other chickens as well as older.  She hung around the barn always curious about what was inside.  She may have been the oldest chicken we had.

On Thursday, Mike brought me the news that Betty had died during his watch of the "free ranging".  Betty had struggled to breathe again and Mike stroked her head as she was dying.  Before she did die our barn cat Sarah came over to Betty and watched as she took her last breathe.  Mike and I said some words of care and compassion for our fowl friend of another species as we buried her in the hills behind our house.

Betty is obviously missing each day when we let out the chickens.  She was one of the faithful hens who would not run away when I held my "Chicken Concerts" each week.  Thank you Betty for making us laugh and watch your life unfold.

Thumper, our City-Slicker Cat, spooked by first downpour!

When I faintly heard "yow" in what I thought was a dream, I finally realized it was Thumper.  It had started to purr down "ants and dogs" at 3:08am Sunday morning.  So I got up to pet him and thunk to myself that is actually WAS RAINING for the first time in the Sierra Foothills since Spring sometime.(At least that's what they tell me.  I've only been here at the Farm a little over a month)  I went back to bed after feeding Thump and pulled the covers over now that it was cooler.  Yeehaa!

I woke up to our Rooster doodledoing about ten to six as usual and stayed up.  Transition/transformation morning!  Each bioregion/area we live in has its transition times and days where you know there is a newness in the air.  This is it!  After weeks of hot, arid/dry weather our sacred land deeply soaked up this precious moisture for roots, leaves, shoots, soil, and dusty gravel roads.

Thumper is glad the downpour is over and we humans are filled with grattitude it came!
Next time,
Our Earth Guy on the Farm-tom