You seem like you probably need a cute puppy picture, so here you go. This is Pearl with her Christmas present from my mother, her very own squeaky composition book. Every dog should have one.
But don’t let her cute little face and innocent eyes fool you. She is, apparently, a hunter. I’ve told you stories about our chickens before, and most of the stories have been about one chicken in particular named Heihei. She has always been an odd bird, pecking to the beat of her own drum. And while most of the flock is happy to just be, this biddy is always looking for adventure. She is the first to find a way out of the coop, whether it is through a hole under the fence or, if we forget to clip her flight feathers, over the fence.
She may think twice about doing it again. The other day, the girls and Kim were in the schoolroom working on their lessons, when suddenly the yard erupted in squawking. When they looked down into the yard, they saw Heihei running like her life depended on it, with Pearl in hot pursuit. A rescue mission was quickly put into action. Pearl managed to get close to Heihei more than once, but never quite caught her (thankfully!). Finally, Heihei found a spot under some ligustrums, and as Pearl was analyzing the best attack plan, Kim scooped up a grateful chicken. Heihei is the last chicken that likes to be picked up, and she is always hard to catch. This time, it seemed she had spent most of her energy and was happy to be safely out of Pearl’s reach.
We now know what happens when Pearl meets the chickens up close. There is a dog on YouTube that my girls think is hilarious, and this clip is all I could think of when Kim told me what happened: Tucker Budzyn and Chimkin . Now, Heihei’s wings are clipped and since this incident, we have not had another meeting of fur and feather. Let’s hope peace continues to reign.
P.S. I discovered this music video this week, and it has become my theme song for this year: Turn Off the News and Build a Garden . There are a few explicit lyrics, so listen when the kids aren’t around.
