Chicken Impostor(s) - Part One

Remember when I introduced the Van Cluck Sisters?  

How could you forget these sweet, fluffy babies: 

May 2011- The Van Cluck Sisters Join the Family 

They were cute, but as soon as the fluff turned to feathers, we moved them out of their garage playpen and into "Cluckingham Palace" the royal hen house King Charming and his pals built for them in the backyard.  A sense of contentment came with officially becoming backyard chicken farmers, and we started dreaming about farm fresh eggs for breakfast.  

Two years later I can say we have more eggs than we can eat for breakfast, and we like our girls so much there are now ten "royal sisters" wandering our backyard each day instead of only five.  But of course our chicken story couldn't be simple.  What fun would that be?  (And what would I have to blog about) 

No, our backyard chickendom was fraught with drama.  Some might even call it treason or espionage!  : )  

While they were still chicks, we began to wonder how the pecking order would play out.  Who would be the queen of the coop?   Some of you readers even placed wagers.  

Most put their bets on one of these two becoming queen:  

   

"Angeline"

Lady Angeline Ann Van Cluck 

"Lady Di"

Lady Diana Van Cluck

I can see why.  Of all the chicks these two had the most spunk and personality. In the pictures they even look royal, don't you think? 

We were all so right!  (And yet so very wrong)

As they grew older, it was obvious that either Di or Angeline would reign supreme.  Every day, we changed our mind, though.  Who would win? 

"Maybe Di is the top of the pecking order."  

"No, now I think Angeline is taking first place."  

Then it happened.  It was the end of July and we were packing for our annual vacation when the girls came crashing into the kitchen to announce, "Guess what we just heard!!!"

"Di was CROWING!!"  

No!  Could it be?  A rooster!!??? We live in suburbia.  Just having chickens in the backyard was stretching the CC&R's, but a crowing rooster waking up the neighbors every morning at sunrise?  That wouldn't work AT ALL?  I could just imagine the knock on the door from the Homeowner's Association Police.  Or the dreaded LETTER IN THE MAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

King Charming and I decided it was easiest to remain in denial and believe that the girls were just hearing things.  So we left on vacation while his brother and sister-in-law house sat for us.  Unfortunately, denial didn't last long when we started getting texts like this, "Uh.  Dude.  I think one of your chickens is crowing."  

By the time we got home, there was no denying it any longer.  Lady Di was not a lady at all.  She, I mean he, was an impostor! 

There was only one thing to do- what any self-respecting, backyard suburbanite farmer would do:  

GET ON YOU TUBE AND LEARN HOW TO KILL PROCESS A CHICKEN, of course.    

It was messy.  There were feathers flying.  But the deed got done.  

The kids had fun watching.  

And I hid in the house.  : )  

So Lady Di became: 

Dinner.    

And Angeline became queen of the coop.  

It's a sad tale, I know.  But of course, there has to be more to the story, right?  

Stay tuned... More chicken drama in my next post.  


Love, 


Your Favorite Chicken Farmer  

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My "Wannabe Artist" Journal

I crave creativity.

Nothing makes me feel more alive than when I'm making something.  I think that comes from being created in His image. He's the Master Artist, Storyteller, Musician, Poet, etc...

But the mundane of life can suck that creative desire quickly. It did for me.

Lately, I have been trying to bloom where I'm planted.  I don't have to wait to be creative.  Maybe the big things will have to wait until I'm more free, but there are little ways to work creativity into the everyday and to let those moments of creativity be acts of worship.  

One thing I'm trying is a visual journal or an art journal.  I stumbled on one on Pinterest and fell in love.  (Click here to see what's inspiring me.)

Living inside of me is a wannabe artist, but I don't let her out much because I also have an internal jailer named Perfectionism who kicks her down all the time and reminds her often that she isn't a real artist because she isn't good enough so she might as well not even bother coming out to play.

(I hope you aren't worried about my multiple personality disorder at this point) : )

The concept of an art journal was a perfect way to set her free.  She can play and practice and make mistakes and it doesn't matter because it isn't supposed to be perfect.  It's supposed to be messy and experimental by design.  I had so much fun making my first page:

I made lots of mistakes but just painted over them.  I have a lot to learn about technique and tools and materials...but that is Perfectionism telling me I can't try until I have the "right" stuff.

Is there a wannabe someone living inside of you that wants to be let out?

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Has it Really Been Two Years? Jumping Back In...

It was only supposed to be for the summer, my break from blogging.

But every time I tried to come back, I was overwhelmed with the idea of catching up, so I just didn't.

Then as more time went by, there was more happening and catching up on my blog felt impossible.

So I just didn't.

Now, two whole years later, I'm missing having a place to share and connect and I'm wondering if anyone is still out there, there, there, (echo)

I decided instead of trying to catch myself and the blog up.  I'd just jump right back in and pretend that no time had gone by.

So here I am, two years later, but really it's been no time at all...

I'm still just Everyday Becky.  : )

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Emma- Your Email Was Lost

Dear Emma,

I'm so sorry but the email you sent me was deleted on my cell phone before I could respond.  Please resend your email so I can write you back.  : ) 

Love,

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"'Tho We've Gotta Say Good-Bye For the Summer"

That King Charming and Me...

We're always coming up with crazy ideas and doing weird things. 

I think our friends must wait to see what new crusade we'll be on next. 

So here's our latest: 

We're winding back the clocks to the dark ages. 

We're turning off our TV. 

We're turning off our Internet. 

We're craving a memory-making, nostalgic, and active summer without technology to distract us or steal away our time.  So we're taking a vacation from technology until September. 

We plan on having a family movie night once a week, and we can get on the Internet any time we are willing to ride our bikes to the library to do it.  Other than that it will be an old fashioned summer.  I might even write a few snail mail letters.  : ) 

I'm definitely planning on reading a lot of good books and hopefully writing a rough draft of a novel.  There will be Otter Pops, BBQ's, slip and slide, sprinklers, etc.   

I thought the kids would throw a fit when we announced our plan, but their response was, "You mean you guys can't be on your computers?" (said with shocked faces)  They just couldn't believe they get to have a whole summer of our undivided attention.  (Talk about convicting) 

I'm going to miss you all.  You may have noticed how infrequent my blog posts have already been this spring.  I think making the decision we made for summer has prompted us to be on the Internet a lot less already.

I'll check my email as often as I can at the library and may even be able to sneak in a few blog posts.  Otherwise, I'll see you all in September!

Have a great summer! 

Love,  

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The Persevering Pen

Born a scribe and given the gift to pen,
She dreams of painting stories with her words-
Masterpieces that entertain, elicit laughter,
          Even tears.
Portraits of adventure and beauty
The medium of words pointing to the
          Master Storyteller.

Her dream is pure while she is small
She writes on scraps and in notebooks-
Lists of characters with fancy names, fragments of plotlines and
          Fantasy places.
Mere scratchings of a little girl
The simple, innocent words revealing
          Sweet Dreams.

Growing older, and tasting life,
She clings to her pen but doubts her words-
Voices from within and without, voices of truth,
          Voices of lies.
Messages of ‘not enough’ and ‘too hard’ bombard
The world and her fear invite her to quit before
          She Fails.

Born a scribe and given the gift to pen,
She writes through the fear and the failures words that-
Sometimes fall flat, sometimes soar high, but always come from
          Her Heart.
Running the race marked out for her she remembers
The One who gave her the pen and calls
         
          Press On.


 
I wrote this poem today for a contest Rachelle Gardner (literary agent) is hosting on her blog.  I think she was looking for something a lot lighter and with more humor, but this was what came out of me today.  I decided to share it on here, too, because I know a lot of you share my dream for writing, and that others of you have your own dreams.  I just wanted to encourage us all to not let voices of doubt or fear keep us from running after the dreams God has written on our hearts.  I need this message as much as all of us.  : )  
 
Have a wonderful weekend!  
 
Love,  

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Introducing the Van Cluck Sisters

We have some new fluffy babies around here- 

Chickens!  : ) 

We may have been slightly influenced by a certain royal wedding last week when we named our girls. 

We each picked out a chick of our own and decided they needed very aristocratic names.  Prince Charming had a little help naming his chickie.  "Bird" just didn't seem fancy enough.  : )    


Meet the Van Cluck Sisters:

"Goldie"
Lady Goldia Rosemary Van Cluck

Goldie is a Golden Sex Link chicken and belongs to Youngest Princess

"Angeline"

Lady Angeline Ann Van Cluck

Angeline is an Ameracauna chicken.  She will lay pastel Easter colored eggs.  She belongs to Oldest Princess.  

"Lady Di"

Lady Diana Van Cluck

Diana is a Rhode Island White chicken and belongs to King Charming. 

"Ramona"

Lady Ramona Augusta Caroline Van Cluck

Ramona is a Golden Sex Link chicken and she belongs to Prince Charming.

"Bea"

Lady Beatrice Anastasia Adelaide Van Cluck

Beatrice is also a Golden Sex Link chicken and she's mine!!  : )

We are so excited to have fresh eggs.  They should be laying for us before school starts again in the Fall.  Right now they are still in their brooder, but King Charming is hard at work designing and building "Cluckingham Palace" (a.k.a. The Coop).   

As soon as they establish their pecking order, and we can see who is the boss, we will know which of the ladies will receive the title of "Her Majesty the Queen".  After that we'll decide who will become our princess, duchess, countess, etc.   We're not having fun at all.   : )

I originally titled this post "Meet Our Newest Family Members" but King Charming put the kabosh on that.  He has told us over and over again they are not family members, to not get too attached, and to remember these chickens are food providers, might die, and might end up in soup.  We're prepared for the worst, but still having so much fun.  I can't believe how fast they are growing and changing.  On Saturday they were puffballs.  Now they are already getting their feathers.  

I like being a chicken farmer!  : )   

Want to vote on which one you think will end up Queen? 

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