Bittersweet weekend (or nature shows her balance..)

My naive start at raising chickens has ended with the sweet older hen dying over the weekend. I found Red stiff and cold Saturday morning. The cold that Ruby tolerated was too much for her. It was sad and odd- human life and death issues are always so heavy and weighted, whereas this was simple and straightforward. When the boys asked why she died I just said "she got a cold and couldn't breathe" and they accepted it. Noah wanted to see the body so I showed it to him (already in a plastic bag, it seemed a good public health thing to not have a diseased chicken body lying around for scavengers). He stroked her and said he was sorry she died so sweetly, then ran off to play.

So I'm down to one chicken, and have to let Ruby get all better before I get any more. I'll admit to surfing the farm-garden section of CraigsList to figure out where I'll get the next ones- probably two pullets so Ruby can be the old lady of the bunch.

Here's a pic of Red in better days

Ruby seems ok. I want to imbue her with human emotions like loneliness, but I imagine it's a stretch. She's pecking and eating at weeds and grubs, which is just fine with me, and her congested eye is almost normal today..

Sunday was a fine day for tree climbing, with each child picking one right for their size..

The red oak was tiny when we moved in, and has grown beautifully.

I still have spurts of flowers rather than a mass explosion yet. The driveway poppies are blooming ahead of the larger ones in the beds..

So tiny but hardy..

Daffodil surrounded by volunteer poppies and sunflowers just waiting to bloom.