Good n' Plenty

Perhaps it's the wind ... the last couple weeks of school for the kids ... the piles of laundry ... the weeds in the garden ... the eclipse ... or the fact that we slaughtered 27 chickens last weekend that is leaving me feeling ungrounded. I'm really not sure.

We had plans to slaughter Mr. Johnson and the Plymouth Rock Roosters on May 27th. But waking up to a cacophony of cockerels daily and having to pack defensive weapons to enter the orchard sort of came to a head when the turkeys escaped their temporary fencing. All the signs were there. It was time. We had been looking forward to and dreading the day of the slaughter. Thanks to Rex and his friend Baily we had them all on ice by noon Sunday. (Michael and I started at 7:30am). We took a quick lunch break down at the taco truck. (Yes, I realize the irony of hitting up a taco truck when growing our own food). I had a veggie tostada. Rex swore he didn't want to eat chicken for a very long time. His friend, Bailey, ordered the chicken supreme burrito. Ha ha. After lunch Michael and I cut the boys loose to have some fun. They had worked really hard that morning. They really only took one break. Poor Bailey showed up to an operation in progress and nearly lost his breakfast. Rex, on the other hand, had not eaten breakfast and all that pluckin' was making him hungry.

We didn't realize just how critical those extra hands were until everything really slowed down. I went to the back door covered in blood and feathers to find Rex standing inside wearing jeans, his shirt off, hair tucked up into a cowboy hat plating a lovely crepe. It was neatly folded on the plate with fresh strawberries and blue berries poking out the ends, a dusting of powdered sugar and a swizzle of pomegranate syrup on the side. Seriously? That's lovely, but can you come back out here and help us with some very yucky business? And the boys came right out.

As I had my hands deep inside the body cavities of the chickens, Michael could only take a few photos of the event. Lucky you! So, Michael and I spent the rest of the day sorting out stock packs and bagging chickens for the freezer and cleaning up the big mess out there. I swore I could not get the stench of feathers and blood off me for two days. Michael has been referring to me as Lady MacBeth. But after two showers that day we headed over to John and Susan's house to view the eclipse.

Those were some funky shadows cast! And thanks to my friend, Caryl, we had the special glasses to view the event. Wild! And Michael did photo some crazy eclipse shadows on our shirts. It looks like we're all wearing tie dye:

Anyhow, that was pretty nifty. Alas, today is Wednesday and I'm still kind of shook up from the events of the weekend I suppose. Valerie gifted a box of Good n' Plenty to me today. And as I'm out of my gourd, I just ate like half the box. Clearly I'm not in my body. And by the time I get back into it, that body might just be a bit larger. Maybe missing some teeth. What was I thinking? I need a summer vacation.