Morning Wake Up

I had one of those moments yesterday morning, where you wake up and realize you'd forgotten something very important and now there was no way to make up for it.

I cleared out the fridge of leftovers that I knew no one would eat.  Lamb pot roast I'd forgotten to freeze went to the dogs.  They of course gorged themselves and then promptly got sleepy-eyed, though no one went so far as to actually nap.  Eggshells, coffee grounds and banana peels for the roses.  They love that.  Easy enough to tuck it under the mulch.  And then I took some leftover rice, quinoa and a few cooked veggies out to the chickens, and realized that I hadn't shut them in.

I called to no avail.  I saw no sign of them.  I walked around the lower pasture with a sinking feeling, looking for the telltale bits of wings and legs and feathers everywhere.  No sign.  But no sign of them around either pasture, either.

I dumped the leftovers--if the goats got into it it wouldn't hurt them--and slogged back to the house.  I had to get ready for work.  I told the boy that if he found the bodies to please bury them.  I felt about 4 inches high and fifty feet wide, creeping along like some vile fungus into the car.

And that's when I saw them.  They were bright-eyed and looking to me for their morning snackies.

You can bet I shut them in last night.

I didn't have time to raise chicks this year.  If I lost my dear biddies, that would be it for eggs, for stroking their smooth feathers while they spread their wings and tucked their legs waiting for the attention, no more carrying them tucked in one arm like a baby, and no more giggling with the girl as she gets one to perch on her arm with the declaration that this was redneck falconry in action.

But they're still here.  It's a very good thing.