The Homeless Chicken

I know the theme lately seems to revolve around animals, but at least this story has a happy ending.
Friday evening, I was taking the children to visit their dad. As we were driving along, Tori said, "MOM! There's a chicken living under that bridge!" I have to say that I *did* see some kind of bird out of the corner of my eye on the side of the road. *But* I really didn't believe that it was a chicken--mostly because there weren't any houses near there.
Yesterday, Dimples and I had to make a run to Corsicana. Along the way, I did indeed see a chicken living under a bridge and yelled, "Oh my gosh! There really IS a chicken living under the bridge!! Let's stop and get it on the way back!" Dimples, I'm sure thinking that I'm STILL crazy, said yes.
Well, our trip took longer than planned, (I HATE grocery shopping in a crowd!) and we had to get home to pick up the kids. I called ahead and explained the plan. They were all for it.
We loaded up in the van with a dog kennel and *a* (Mom had said bring several) blanket and trekked northward once more.
Upon arrival we found the chicken roosting in the trusses. We whooped and hollered and threw empty soda cans until she flew down. Now, at this point *if* I had been smart, we would have caught the chicken as she ascended, but I wasn't smart. Nope. I stood there laughing as she made her way to the ground where upon she began to run, head still intact, but in somewhat the same manner. This is the part that might have been interesting video feed, but fortunately it was too dark. We ran around like headless chickens after the non-headless chicken in circles and around and around and around and around and....well, you get the picture.

Up in the trusses

Then suddenly she ran over the road that went over the bridge, down the hill on the other side and out onto Interstate Highway 45. I held my breath as she made it to the median. *WHEW* Fearless Leader waited for an opening and darted across. It was very dark by this point. I saw her outline running along the median by headlight and motioned to Fearless Leader. He ran up and down the median while we ran up and down the side of the road trying to yell back and forth over the noise of the vehicles. I was so afraid that she would go into the road and be killed. Then she disappeared. Fearless Leader couldn't find her anywhere; I figured she had hunkered down in the weeds. Finally, he flushed her out and the chase was on. Again.
She disappeared once more, but Fearless Leader saw where she was trying to hide, and he threw the blanket over her. Finally, he caught her and brought her back to the side of the road unharmed but scared. We put her in the kennel to inspect her.

In the kennel at last

On the way home we discussed how she might have gotten out there. Ideas flew around: She escaped from an 18 wheeler that was taking her to slaughter, she flew out of the back of a moving van/truck, she was chased away from home by coyotes, she got scared during a storm and ran then was lost... At any rate, she was safe now, and Peace Keeper claimed the right to name her.
Arianwen (are-ee-an-wen) is a beautiful young girl. Mr. Whiskers (our rooster) is already quite taken with her and is not happy that she's penned right now. In a few days, she'll be out free-ranging in a safe new home away from the dangers of the highway and with plenty of food and water.

Arianwen, in her temporary home with Mr. Whiskers standing guard

Mr. Whiskers, posing for the shot

Scramblin' for Calves

Fearless Leader was selected for the calf scramble Saturday night. The prize was $500 to help with 4-H show animal expenses. 14 kids running after 7 calves--get the idea.
If you've never seen a calf scramble, this is how it works. First, a group of kids line up on the chalk line. Then, the calves are released into the arena. When the shout goes out, all the kids run after the calves, catch one, put a halter on it, and lead drag it back across the chalk line. It may sound like a simple task...but it's not!
Calves have a tendency (not unlike children) to want to go their own way. They don't like to be told what to do (see, I told you they're like children) and do NOT like to be caught or lead around. There is a good deal or running around in circles and falling in the dirt. Just because it is a *young* cow, doesn't mean it's very small. A calf can pull many an adult around, so you can imagine what it does with kids.
So Fearless Leader and the 13 other kids lined up. Honestly, I knew he'd catch one, but I was still nervous. He left the line at the lead, ran around in circles for a bit, then got one cornered. After it drug him around for a bit, he tried flipping it over on himself. Meanwhile, I'm screaming my head off and cheering him on. The calf wasn't cooperating and it took him several minutes to get it down. He layed on top of it while trying to get the halter on. Finally--it seemed like 30 minutes, but was really only a few--he got it haltered and up. Then the dragging starts...and continues. When you pull on the halter of an animal that's not used to being lead, the animal digs in its feet and sets back on its haunches a bit. This makes it very difficult to pull the animal. It's not unlike dragging a square boulder. With some ear bending and tail twisting, he finally got the calf across the line, got it down again, and sat on it. He was the FIRST to catch one and thus netted a nice prize. Now all he has to do is decide what animal to show at the fair...