Friday, October 31, 2008

Political Break

I interrupt the political blogging for a chicken break. Yesterday at Barnes & Nobles I found a chicken calendar. Not typically a chicken aficionado, I began to admire this creature after browsing through the barns at the 2007 Calumet Country fair. I never realized there were so many exotic looking chickens out there in farmland! Fluffy tops, colorful feathers, and flowing tails made chickens look like birds from paradise and not from the rural farm. Playing into my fascination with chickens was a story told by a son and mother at the fair. A 12 year old boy was showing a bantam chicken and had been involved in 4-H for a few years. The boy's father had died a year earlier and the mother, while disliking anything having to do with the chickens, decided supporting her son and becoming involved in his interest would help them both through their loss. She was as thrilled to be at the fair as he was!

Those of us living in a city and not involved in farm life tend to picture generic chickens, cows, horses, pigs, and rabbits. What the fair taught me is the diversity of these animals. The common Guernsey has uncommon relatives. The rabbit that feasts on my shrubs has designer cousins. The calendar pictures yesterday reminded me of the fun I had last summer and in these dismal economic times, that was worth more than the cost of the calendar.

1 comment:

Cheryle said...

Good for you! Sometimes you just have to seize the moment and do something that gives you pleasure. I'm not a chicken person (unless it's fried :-)), but there are some really exotic birds out there!