Dad the Rooster is dead. At least that’s what I told everybody. I found him on the floor of the coop one morning a few weeks ago, looking like he just keeled over from his roost during the night. I grieved for him. I announced it on my Facebook page. I wrapped him carefully in a feed sack and placed him in the garbage can. Like it or not, sometimes being a Farm Woman means being an undertaker. Some people around this house think that I should just toss my chickens into the woods when they die and “something will take care of it.” No way. “Something” would probably be more wolves, coyotes, fox or other scary creatures around here, and we have plenty, thank you very much. Since I can’t dig a grave through a foot of snow and frozen ground, my dead chickens will get the most proper burial I can give them. Except that Dad the Rooster didn’t die, Christopher Columbus did.
The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated. Mark Twain
How did I get the two of them mixed up? Because I didn’t notice the dead rooster’s feet. The two of them looked pretty much the same, but Christopher Columbus had no toes. One cold winter’s night about three years ago, he escaped from the coop and flew into the woods. I tried everything to get him back inside. By everything, I mean tossing corn around, calling his name, and even clucking a little like a chicken. Nothing worked, especially the clucking part, I might add. I reluctantly gave up that night, thinking for sure he would be a goner. My son-in-law spotted him the next morning, high up in a tree and covered with frost. He thought that he had died there during the night, frozen to that limb, because the temperature had dropped to well below freezing.
It’s easier to stay out than to get out. Mark Twain
Christopher Columbus surprised us all by living, but he lost all his toes to frostbite. Most surprising of all was that he not only lived, he thrived. He ate like a gentleman, always offering food to the ladies first. He preened. He even balanced well on his roost without the toes that chickens need to hold on.
Mark Twain’s death was reported three different times; the first two were mistakes. I’m very happy that Dad the Rooster is alive and well and sitting next to his favorite wife Old Mum as we speak. Christopher Columbus, my adventurous little rooster, will be missed. I still have six roosters, and will probably have at least one more, come spring. I’m thinking of naming him Samuel Clemens.
Let us endeavor to live so that when we die, even the undertaker will be sorry. Mark Twain
Oh, how this post made me smile! Is that wrong? I’m not happy that your dear, sweet rooster died! My sincerest condolences. Truly. But your sense of irony, the inclusion of such apropos quotes… pure morning reading bliss. R.I.P. Christopher Columbus. And long live Dad the Rooster! Thank you for the Monday Morning Smile. 🙂
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PS – I hope you don’t mind – I’ve shared a link to this post on Wine Before Five.
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I don’t mind a bit, and thanks for sharing. I’m glad that it made you smile, because I deliberatly wrote it that way. Thanks for “getting it.”
Chris
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Chris, I’m sorry you lost Christopher Columbus. At least it sounds as if he died in his sleep due to natural causes, and don’t we all want to go that way when it’s our time? I don’t know how you keep so many roosters and they don’t end up killing each other…
Seriously, what’s the secret?
~ Lynda
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I really don’t have a secret, except that I have only one full-sized roo….the rest are bantys. maybe the size of him scares them into submission. I also have a very large coop for them, which is a good thing, since they have to be “cooped up” for much of the winter. It gives them room to have their own space. Thanks for reading!
Chris
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Hi! I love your blog and I would like to recognize you by awarding your blog the Versatile Blogger Award!
If you would like to accept it, please go to my blog to receive it here:
http://thepocketfarmer.com
If you do not accept blog awards, please let me know and I will forward it to someone else instead.
Thanks for sharing!
Sue (The Pocket Farmer)
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