Bird of Paradise

This bird is funny...

My pet chicken

I have a pet chicken. She has turned out to be a wonderful pet...

"Why do you have a chicken?"

Good question, I thought you might ask me that. Well- a few years ago my grandparents introduced me to a documentary called "The Natural History of the Chicken." It was very interesting and uncovered many injustices of the chicken industry in the US. Aside from that- there was a woman featured in the movie who had a chicken for a pet. It was a beautiful white Silkie Bantam and she dressed her pet in a diaper so that it was able to walk freely around the house. This tickled my interest. Ever since I watched this movie, I thought that it would be fun to have a pet chicken.

So last spring my desire to have a chicken grew and grew. I found myself going to farm stores on my lunch breaks in search of a Silkie chicken. I told Andrew that I wanted a chicken. He didn't get it and looked at me as though I were crazy. "Where are you going to keep it?" he asked. I then pitched the idea of the chicken wearing a diaper and living inside the house with me. Then I knew he thought I was crazy. So that was were my dream ended... or so I thought.

To my surprise, on our one-year anniversary, Andrew had two little chicks waiting for me in my room after we got home from our dinner. I freaked out!! That was the best present! I was so shocked that he got me chickens... I still am. The chickens lived in a box for a while- then Andrew and I built them an indoor chicken coop. Then I discovered a wonderful place called chickendiapers.com This website is awesome! You send in the measurements of your chicken and this lady sews a diaper for you. And the diaper works SO well. With this diaper your chicken can roam freely and their poop falls in this little sack.

In June of 2006, one of my chickies was taken from this world. While grazing in my yard, a hawk took the life of little Agatha = (

Ever since that day, I took the other chicken (Dymphna) under my wing and we have grown so close. She is now almost a year old and lives with Andrew's parents. She comes to my house sometimes for slumber parties though =)

Here is some videos of her:

I just fell down

So I just fell down the stairs outside... it hurt. I think I am very prone to getting injured. Two years ago, I tore a ligament in my ankle, last year I fractured a vertebra in my back, this year I had my appendix taken out... (I guess that's not an injury, but still something that went wrong). Seriously, sometimes I feel like I shouldn't leave my house unless I am covered in bubble wrap.

Usually my injuries are snow related. My dad has even advised me-- "if you see snow falling from the sky- RUN!" This last winter we had quite a bit of snow. On one Sunday, we had to walk a few miles to Mass to avoid driving in the snow. Each step that I took gave me visions of falling. I could close my eyes and feel the pain of breaking my back.

It's funny because as I was walking down the wet steps today, I imagined myself falling... and then I did.

Luckily, today my injuries only include a scrape on the foot, bruise on my back, and a blow to my pride. Andrew (my boyfriend) heard me fall and yelp and came running to my rescue. I greatly appreciate it but I felt like a big baby, because I was just sitting in my fallen place and crying. I wonder when we stop crying after getting hurt? I just can't imagine my mom or dad crying like I did today. But I have to give myself credit, because I've proven to be strong under pain in the past. I think I embraced all of my previously mentioned injuries with humility and strength. I try to offer up all of my pain for different intentions--but when caught off guard, I can't help but shed a tear.