Have you ever had this happen to you? A friend stops being your friend and you cannot figure out why? It's a rare event, but it happens. (It's different than a friend who stops speaking to you for known reasons. That's painful, but at least you understand the thought process behind it.)
(just before the rain)
I can't help but think that the rooster and I are in this kind of quagmire: I do not get his sudden (and not very consistent) distrust and anger toward me, at the same time that I am sure he'll never understand why we are about to give up on him. After four good days, he had a retreat today and honestly, it was the most puzzling one of all, because I was feeding the girls...
...and I noted him hobbling slowly toward us, so I fed him his own special handful...
...and just as I was going to leave them all to their treat, he chased after me and lunged.
Even Ed is beginning to lose hope with our training plan. It seems to have had no lasting effect.
To add to the drippiness of the day -- the weather finally broke. And I mean really broke. Like a tear in the sky that let out a pent up stampede of rain. Oh, did it rain! (And it will continue to do so for the next few days.)
On the upside, there was breakfast. In the kitchen.
And then I worked on my holiday cards. (I'm not that compulsive -- it's because a good sale at my favorite card printer ends today.) If you consider yourself to be a friend and have never received a season's greeting from me, it's because I don't have your address! Email it over! My father once told me that if there was one custom in the world he would get rid of, it would be that of sending cards. I didn't agree with him then (fifty years ago) and I don't agree now, in this day of e-cards and cyber-everything. (Even though my Polish friends commented last year that getting that card from me in the mail was so... retro.)
And after the card making effort, I went to the library. For a stack of books you would love to be reading on a wet, gray day.
At the moment, I'm forgetting roosters and raindrops and I am losing myself in the most delicious reading.
Such a dreamy, misty, wonderful day!
(just before the rain)
I can't help but think that the rooster and I are in this kind of quagmire: I do not get his sudden (and not very consistent) distrust and anger toward me, at the same time that I am sure he'll never understand why we are about to give up on him. After four good days, he had a retreat today and honestly, it was the most puzzling one of all, because I was feeding the girls...
...and I noted him hobbling slowly toward us, so I fed him his own special handful...
...and just as I was going to leave them all to their treat, he chased after me and lunged.
Even Ed is beginning to lose hope with our training plan. It seems to have had no lasting effect.
To add to the drippiness of the day -- the weather finally broke. And I mean really broke. Like a tear in the sky that let out a pent up stampede of rain. Oh, did it rain! (And it will continue to do so for the next few days.)
On the upside, there was breakfast. In the kitchen.
And then I worked on my holiday cards. (I'm not that compulsive -- it's because a good sale at my favorite card printer ends today.) If you consider yourself to be a friend and have never received a season's greeting from me, it's because I don't have your address! Email it over! My father once told me that if there was one custom in the world he would get rid of, it would be that of sending cards. I didn't agree with him then (fifty years ago) and I don't agree now, in this day of e-cards and cyber-everything. (Even though my Polish friends commented last year that getting that card from me in the mail was so... retro.)
And after the card making effort, I went to the library. For a stack of books you would love to be reading on a wet, gray day.
At the moment, I'm forgetting roosters and raindrops and I am losing myself in the most delicious reading.
Such a dreamy, misty, wonderful day!
Oh, Oreo! Lunging at the one who feeds you. I never understand those (pets or otherwise) who do that either. But I like the image of you curled up with new good reads, letting go of the rains and Oreo!
ReplyDeleteSuch a small head, that rooster has and I still cannot get inside it.
DeleteI will live vicariously for your weather in the months ahead!
Rain or shine, I always look forward to breakfast with Ed.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry Oreo is misbehaving. I have no cheeper wisdom to offer. My experience with cheepers was brief in the 1950s.
We, too, have had much rain - some swirled with wind. The leaves of my thick woods are falling faster than a bent deck of cards sprung loose. I have a writing project with a deadline that I must attack tomorrow. I tend to operate well with deadlines. Some silly people call it procrastination. Pfffft.
Hope Oreo is sweeter tomorrow - like his name.
Sigh... Oreo is about to be reunited with his true owners. Who knows where fate will take him. (I'll write about it a little in my post today.) What writing project? Something I/we could read?
DeleteWe too have a few rainy days ahead, after a positively summery day yesterday. When I returned to the house yesterday, my husband was home, so we decided that 3:00 was not too early for a glass of wine on the patio :) and he had lots to tell me about his appointment with a builder - we might add a sunroom (partly inspired by you!) and a first floor laundry, thinking 20 years down the road... Then last night it was so windy that I imagined we were in a beachfront cottage.
ReplyDeleteSo here's the rainy day, and I have my books ready and waiting. will begin with The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher by Hilary Mantel. what are you reading? I appreciate suggestions!
Are you liking the Mantel book? I had considered it! Right now, I'm rereading two books that I read long ago and that I suppose were my inspiration for writing the book I just submitted. (...In that I wanted to write a book that was different than these two!) One is a superbly written account of the transition of Eastern Bloc countries to market capitalism in 1990 -- by Eva Hoffman. No one without a background in Eastern Europe (sorry Poles, I know that's now considered to be a derogatory label) could possibly enjoy this book. The other is more well known just because of the movie it spawned -- Pentimento by Lillian Hellman (the movie was Julia). I want to remember where I am heading with my own project. As light reading, I picked up Beaton's Blood of an Englishman. I have an incredible soft spot for English mysteries.
DeleteOh, me too! The cozies. I will make a note of it, thanks!
DeleteI love getting real, live snail mail. Last year was the first year we received less than 20 actual Christmas cards and I was sad. It may be "retro", but it's just enjoyable to me to receive a handwritten letter or even just a card from people. Two questions for you: 1. did you make the pancakes from scratch and if so, could I please have the recipe? Mine aren't puffing up as much as I'd like anymore. 2. What are you reading? You should use Goodreads and then we can all follow you there too! No pressure. I'm finally back into reading after being in a funk all summer. Enjoy the rain and wind today!
ReplyDeleteSara, because Ed asks for pancakes so often, I started using Arrowhead Mills Natural Buttermilk Pancake and Waffle Mix while I was still working and they are so easy and so good that I've just stayed with them. 15 g of whole grain goodness per serving! :)
DeleteI talked about books in my response to JoyD above. I should look into goodreads. I find it so difficult to browse on Amazon...
So windy today! SO windy!
We don't do cards anymore - don't send and don't receive. Too much clutter and we have way too much already. Just one more thing to attract dust in this place!
ReplyDeleteI think you have Europe in you still. Maybe Oreo can sense Europe in you... and can't adjust. It's something and is very strange. Maybe he senses winter is coming and knows he never liked winter much so he's taking it out on you, figuring that you will defer winter coming somehow and just give him summer all year long. Who knows? The mind of a chicken is truly mysterious.
Well, I am an open book on this subject and have been all my life: I come with travel to Europe. It cannot be otherwise. I'm sorry, Oreo -- you cannot change and neither can I. :(
DeleteSomehow your flowerscapes since returning are particularly lovely. Perhaps it's a sense of fragility, of the winter to come? Jean
ReplyDeleteThe beginning of your entry stopped me in my tracks but then I realized you were talking about a rooster; Oreo. Looks like Oreo will be moving along. I think in your absence he became very territorial. You mentioned he had problems before and I think his idea is that he has jurisdiction over certain areas at the farmette. I am waving good bye to Oreo and giving him a big invisible hug as well. I wonder how the girls will act without him? Please keep us updated on the ladies if you have time. I love birds and have always been interested in their behaviors.
ReplyDeleteSome year I would actually like to break down and make holiday cards. Just once. I enjoy sending them. I love snail mail. It seems it is on the endangered species list. I love it when snail mail arrives. It's so unusual.
I don't send out many cards. Just to those near and dear. I know it is not beneficial for the environment so I limit what I do. Plus I just do holiday and birthday cards. Okay, some time Halloween cards too.
I worry about the girls too. I'll be vigilant. Most people do raise chickens without roosters (in fact, were I in Madison proper, I would not be permitted to keep a rooster).
DeleteAs for cards -- oh, Nora, personal messages are such a small tickle in the scheme of things! Far more important, I think, is your picking up the phone every time you get a useless catalog in the mail and calling the vendor and requesting a stop in future such deliveries. Personal correspondence is so beautiful! Get rid of your junk mail, not your cards, whatever they may celebrate! (I say this because I moved to this country at a time of no Skype. I could not have done it without the letters to those I left behind. Waiting for their mail was so important to me!)