Saturday

My mom once told me that all the emails I sent her titled, "Saturday", always start with the words, "I'm so exhausted". Once again, that has proven itself true. It has also been a rather interesting day, one that has me feeling very accomplished.

I had an outreach with the zoo that had me leaving the house quite early this morning. I arrived at the college where the event was to be held, and settled in. I always enjoy working with the other docents, it's fun to chat with them during slow times, and it's nice to have someone reach over with a paper towel and clean mess off your leg, or gently say, "actually, that animal is from Africa, not Europe." Hey, no one's perfect!

The day wore on, we had an ongoing flow of people coming by, enough to keep it interesting without getting overwhelming. I decided it would be fun to hold the hedgehog-harmless enough, right? It's just a hedgehog. So I don the heavy gloves, and scoop up Harley. It's fun to show people how they roll up in prickle balls, and become impenetrable. Harley would also peek his cute little face out between my fingers like he was shy.

I'd had him for a while, and Harley was resting in my lap. Nothing big going on, I was just relaxing, listening to everyone talk. All the sudden, Harley latches on to my wrist, and won't let go! Let me tell you, hedgehogs have 36 very sharp teeth, and bites HURT!

When a hedgehog feels threatened, they will "pop" up in the air to give a predator of mouthful of prickles. Harley kept popping with his teeth firmly embedded in my wrist. It was enough to bring tears to my eyes. The worst thing is that there were 4 other volunteers there, (and one with more experience than me), and no-one knew how to detach this thing from my arm.

I thought maybe if I put him back in the carrier, he'd let go. But someone had come by and put 4 bbq plates on the carrier, so that was out. The only thing I could think of was to rush him over to the water fountain, and douse him in it. A guest followed me over and hit the button for me. (very hard to do when your hands are tied up with hedgehogs. Hips don't work well.)

Harley released the second that cold water hit him. Relief! My wrist had multiple teeth marks where he had bitten me, in an area about the size of a quarter. It hurt so much, but no blood drawn. After putting Harley in jail, (his carrier), I sat down, and said, "There goes having a hedgehog for a pet! One volunteer later said she would have dropped him. I guarantee, if I had tried to drop Harley, he would have been hanging from my wrist by his teeth.

When I told my boss about the bite, I told him nothing unusual had happened, he was resting one minute, and bit me the next. Mr. H said, "Welcome to hedgehogs." Nope, not having one as a pet. EVER. I'll stick with ferrets, and guinea pigs. They are more my style.

After the zoo, ( I got 6 hours today!) I met up with my dh for a fun evening out. Okay, well it was nothing glamorous, he'd been driving, and I'd been holding animals for the zoo, but we had fun together. We ran a couple of errands, and grabbed a bite to eat.

Then we went home, and had a nice time talking about everything on the way. We got home, and the house was so hot. Not what we wanted after a long hot day at work. Time to clean the a/c unit. Actually, cleaning the coils isn't too much work, it's putting it back together that's the hassle. I think it took longer than cleaning the whole thing.

Our last chore for the day, and by now it was about 8:30pm. We needed to repair our pool gate. Sometime back, a dog had broken through the lattice, and broke a big hole in it. Eventually, the bottom of the gate had broken off completely. Not only was this a hazard for neighborhood children, it wouldn't confine the dog either. So after a bit of trimming and nailing, we have a strong new gate. Just in time for my niece's visit next week with her little ones. I'm so excited! Plus, we have a fenced in area to let the dogs run. Thank you honey!

By this point, dh and I were hot, tired, sweaty, and covered in bug bites. I told him we should strip down and jump in the pool. He started in the house for towels, and I said, no, just get in the pool. What a refreshing treat after so much work, and such a long day. Of course the kids thought we were crazy, ( or something), but who cares. Nothing beats relaxing in your pool after a day of hard work.

At this point, after all the hard work we've put into our pool, I think it must be full of Holy water, as we have sure cleaned the h*ll out of it~ Have a great evening!

Chela

Allison the Sad Chicken

Allison was a beautiful chicken that lived on a happy farm in a lush countryside in the Midwest. Allison loved her happy farm. She had lots of other chicken friends, and the farmer took great care of them. There was lots of green grass, and trees for shade. In the distance there were grand snow-capped mountains.

Allison should have been really happy, and usually she was. One thing bothered her though. When the other hens preened their feathers, they would lay down nice and smooth. The farmer would run his hands down the chickens’ backs, and comment what pretty feathers they had. However, no matter how much Allison preened, her feathers refused to lay flat. They poked out, and curled, and refused to mind Allison’s beak.

Poor Allison felt so very ashamed of her feathers. She often hid in the barn, under the hayloft where no one could see her. She would sit and wonder why her feathers weren’t as pretty as the other hens. Why didn’t her feathers look like Stacy’s, or Fern’s, or Heather’s? The other girls tried to be nice, and say they liked the way her feathers looked, but it didn’t help how Allison felt.

When the hens went out to sit in the sun, and gaze at the mountains, Allison stayed in the barn. When farmer John threw treats out for his chickens, Allison didn’t feel like joining them. Sometimes she’d talk to the other hens when they came in the barn to sit on eggs, but mostly she just kept to herself.

One day, Allison noticed a big trailer in front of the barn. What was Farmer John doing? There was a lot of commotion while something huge came out of the back of the trailer. Allison fluttered up to the top of the stall door and had a look. What was that big thing? Suddenly, a big neigh sounded in the barn!

“Meet Kate everyone! “Farmer John proudly proclaimed to all of us. By now all the animals had crowded around the barn to see what was going on. “Kate is a draft horse! She is going to be helping me in the fields, to harvest crops for your food.” He continued.

The animals were amazed at how beautiful Kate was. Her beautiful white coat glistened in the afternoon sun. Her hooves were huge! They were the size of the tray Farmer put out full of food for the chickens. Kate was so tall! She looked as tall as the tallest trees in the yard.

“Hello everyone “said Kate. “I am so happy to be here. This looks like a really nice farm, and the mountains are so majestic. Farmer John and I will get a lot of work done in the fields to bring everyone good food to eat. Then in the evenings, we can sit together and talk over dinner.”
Farmer John went inside to eat dinner while the animals got acquainted. Kate wandered the barn yard, and talked to all the animals. She met the sheep, the goats, the cows, and the geese. Of course she met all the chickens. They were worried about her big hooves of course, but Kate set them at ease.

“Don’t worry, ladies. I am very careful of my feet. I will set them down gently, and feel for feathers before I drop my hoof. You are my friends, and I don’t want to hurt you.”
After looking around the farm, Kate wandered back in to the barn. She went to eat some yummy hay the farmer had set out. When she grabbed a mouthful, she startled Allison, who had fallen asleep in the hay!

“Oh my goodness!” exclaimed Kate in surprise.” I didn’t see you there, I’m so sorry. I just wanted to get something to eat.”

“It’s okay; I guess I fell asleep here. I watched you arrive, and was just amazed at how pretty you were. And well, how big you were. By the way, I’m Allison.” She commented to her new friend.
“May I ask,” Kate inquired, “why aren’t you out in the barn yard with the other hens? They found some great food out there.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s just...” Tears welled up in Allison’s eyes. “Well, my feathers aren’t as pretty as the other hens. They don’t mind my beak, and poke up everywhere. I try and try, but they just curl everywhere. I’m not pretty.”

“Oh Allison, Honey, you are a very beautiful hen.” Consoled Kate

“I am?” asked Allison

“Oh yes, Allison, you are beautiful. Your feathers are so curly and cute. They have personality! You have curly feathers because you are a sizzle chicken. God made their feathers to curl, not lay flat. He must like curly feathers, on the farm where I was born; there are lots of chickens like you. The farmer, Luke, loves them. He calls them his curly girls.” Kate explained.

As they were talking, Farmer John walked up to the barn.

“Hi Kate, I see you have found a new friend in the barnyard.” He commented happily. “What a pretty hen! I haven’t seen you around much. Where have you been hiding? I love your curly feathers; they don’t look anything like the other ladies. You should come out of the barn more often; your feathers are much too pretty to hide.”

From then on, Kate helped the farmer in the fields, and Allison joined all the hens in the warm sun and lush grass, and proudly admired the mountains. She often thanked Jesus for her beautiful curly feathers.

Chela