Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Tale of Two Chickens
by Ed Powers
This series tells of a rooster named "ROJO" (red) and his adventures after losing his beak in a tragic accident. ROJO was brought into the country by Juan Garcia. In "Sorta Ricco" Garcia raised fightin’ chickens of which ROJO was the best.
Juan is a colorful character to say the least. He came here and moved in next door to us (Ed and Gladys Powers). Juan’s Chicken, ROJO, soon became a regular in our yard and also the hen house just down the road. After fallin’ on hard times Juan Garcia moved away but he left ROJO with us. So we quickly made pet of ole ROJO.
Well Gladys had a cement chicken in the flower garden which the wind and rain had peppered until all the paint had come off this stone monster. Nothing would do but this old cement boat anchor had to be painted and fixed up so he could stand guard over the flowers. One bright Saturday I brought out the paint and brushes and fixed up old "stoney" with a new array of colors: red, brown, yellow, and all the colors of a real live fighting chicken.
Old ROJO had been perched on a limb in the dogwood tree and almost missed the placement of Stoney in his Sunday best just underneath the foliage of the azaleas about ten feet away. But, when he did notice that cement chicken he promptly began to crow and make weird noises as if he wanted to fight. And, that's just what he wanted. He sailed over that Rock Island Red and began kicking and pecking at the new paint which was there to stay along with the other parts of Ole Stoney. About the third pass over Stoney's head ROJO made contact just behind the cement chicken's head and a terrible thing happened-ROJO broke the top of his beak. Boy! did this ever break his spirits.
The Tragedy of a Broken Beak!
Our story continues with ROJO crying the blues over that broken beak. Have you ever seen a sad rooster who cried over anything? Guess Not!Well this thing got more serious than you might think.
ROJO was suffering from a broken spirit as a result of that beak being broken off half way from the tip. But, unless you've been around chickens before you won't ever realize what a dilemma this chicken was in. You see chickens use their beak to eat and drink. Unless the beak is extended the full length then the chicken can't eat or drink.
Well that problem was solved when I was instructed by Mrs. Ed to "hand feed" him. This I did in order to avoid any repercussions in the homestead. With these techniques I managed to keep him alive. But there was some other things for which he was lacking and one of those was companionship. You see, ROJO had been slipping off to the neighboring farm for romance. In fact he had quite a following of hens looking forward to his return. But with a broken beak, he couldn't perform as a healthy rooster should. (Again, you have to know about chickens and their unique methodologies in romance to appreciate this predicament.)
Enlightenment is in order. Chickens use their beak in making love. The rooster (of which ROJO is one) uses his beak to hold on to the feathers on the head of the hen in order to make the union complete and fertilize the eggs in order for them to hatch.THIS ALSO WAS WHAT ROJO WAS A MISSING.So! the only thing left for me to do was to make him a beak!
Beak Making Made Easy!
Contrary to what you might think, beak making ain't easy. I thought I could just pick out a piece of wood and carve a nice beak. So I got a piece of hickory wood ('cause its very hard wood) and whittled my way into a very fashionable beak for old ROJO. It started out as a very rough piece of timber with no recognizable form. My fingers started out with no nicks and cuts on them also; not so when I got through with that project. Fortunately I didn't have to have any stitches. The next "biggie" was to get ROJO to hold still for the attachment of that wooden beak. I got Gladys to hold him (or at least try to) while I took super glue and affixed the homemade beak onto what ROJO had left. It was a struggle but when it was through, it was on fairly straight and looked pretty good. At least he could eat with it and time would tell as to whether he would do all the other functions he was want to do. This picture what ROJO Looked like with the new wooden beak!I kinda got the feeling that when the sun went down, ROJO would not be around and sure enough he was no where to be seen at evening time. I guessed he was off to the neighbor's hen house. Oh well, if he comes back with that beak intact, I will have done a great job (or at least an adequate job).The True test of a Great Beak!
Well, ROJO made it home the next morning and to tell you the truth, I was surprised that old wooden beak looked so well. He sported a few scratches and splinters on the thing but it looked fairly well considering what it must have gone through in the night. I could tell by just looking at ROJO that there was one test yet to come for his new beak. He was just strolling around the yard and looking at that old cement chicken in the flower garden and I knew it was just a matter of time before that stone monster would be the object of ROJO's hatred. He began to circle that old hard head in ever decreasing circles and you never heard such noises coming from a chicken. "Squawk, squawk, squawk and more squawk," were the sounds I heard as ROJO made clear his intentions to attack that rock one more time. I could have intervened but then I kinda wanted to see just how good that beak was myself. After all I wanted bragging rights to the construction and maintenance of that beak. I had already told the guys at work about it and they were coming by to take a look-see at it before long. If ROJO whipped this stone chicken, well then, I'd have even more to brag about. So, non-interference was the plan and I just watched. ROJO made a flight over that stone chicken's head and left a tiny mark on the paint, which wasn't even visible without real close look'n. His second time over that stone brought some more pain to ROJO 'cause he broke that new beak off just where it was glued on.Well, I felt like a failure and ROJO was destroyed! He just tried to look at that beak and see if it was really broken again. This made his eyes go kinda crossed and he was sure pitiful to look at. He just stood there looking at the broken beak as if wondering, "What in the Sam Hill happened?" This is twice ROJO has been beaten by the same chicken who never passed a punch or gave a kick.Oh well! Back to the drawing board
Another Day/Another Beak
By now its plain to see that this beak making has got to be more than a happenstance or chance venture. So I set out to find the very best material for the next beak. After hours of searching and many questions of long-time friends, many of whom were also fabricators, I settled on the material from a plumbing pipe. Advice from my buddies led me to believe that "schedule forty" PVC pipe would do the trick. After a brief visit to the plumbing supply house, I set out for home to build the beak. Amazingly it didn't take as long to make this beak as it did the first one that failed. After all, I had experience. (You might tell your friends who need a beak built I got more experience than anyone around these parts.) Carve and sand, carve and sand, that's all it takes. But this time I took a little more time and carved some words and pictures on the side of the beak. On the left I engraved "The Year of the Chicken" and a beautiful picture on the right side of a mountain sunrise over a log cabin complete with smoke in the chimney. You can tell by this description that this was a great beak.The next and most demanding task was to affix this beak to ROJO's broken part with expertise and make sure it is on straight. Well my neighbor came over to help hold ROJO down and I tried to apply the super glue just right. But it was no use. The more we tried to hold him down the more he kicked and scratched until I was about to give up.Just then I was inspired!My Uncle Bill, from time to time, was prone to take himself a little spirits for his mind and body's sake. He has been known to go unconscious from such things. So I thought if I could get enough of what Uncle Bill had into this chicken maybe he too would pass out. Oh! Heck, What could it hurt?Oh well, i t's off to Uncle Bill's house to get the stuff.Too Much juice Makes for a Limp Chicken
The funniest thing in the world is a drunk chicken. He can't hold his head up and his legs won't stay under him. When he's on his feet his head is on the ground. When he's on his butt both legs are in the air. What a sight to behold! After two hours and thirty minutes, ROJO could stand up but only if he spread his legs about a foot apart and then he kept doing the two-step. He reminded me of a game we once played. "You put your left foot in, you take your left foot out, you put your left foot in and you shake it all about." Yeah, you know the game. Well the shaking it all about was the funniest. When ROJO put his left foot in he shook all over. The feathers stood out on his neck. His head bobbed up and down like one of those little dogs over the back seat. All the while he was playing put your left foot in take your left foot out. After about twenty minutes of this ROJO decided he would try to crow. Now that's sound you gotta hear to believe. First there were four or five cock-a-doodles (or rather cock-a-do-do-do-do's). Then in about a minute there came the doodle-doo's. This went on for about an hour and ROJO began to look like himself again. You shoulda seen him when he finally got enough strength to stand up and look at that new beak. He acted as if he couldn't believe his eyes. Maybe he thought he was in rooster heaven or something. I surely wanted to know what he was thinking with that little rooster mind!
Now there's a great state of mind. Me wishing I could read a chicken's mind. Much like my cousin Lukey when he had the same dream his dog had. You see Lukey was watchin Old Blue, the coon dog, who was asleep by the hearth and Blue kept jumping and kicking in his sleep.Well Lukey said, “I shore would like to know what’s goin’ on in that dog's head.”
Uncle Bill told Lukey, “Get that pillow old Blue has under his head and sleep on it and you’ll have the same dream Old Blue is a having.”Lukey grabbed that pillow and went off to bed. About 3 AM we were all awakened by Lukey who was out in the back yard yelling to the top of his voice. When we got there Lukey had his tongue stuck in a salmon can. Maybe I didn't want to know what ROJO was thinking after all.The Proud Owner of a New Beak!
Well the end is here!Old Rojo had passed the test with that new beak. He finally came face to face with that cement chicken again after all this fixing on his pecking thing and this time it went like this:He made a fly or two at the colored imitation and finally that plastic replication of a beak hit the mark and broke that cement head right off. When he did, ROJO began crowing as loud as he could. BUT, he still wasn't finished, even though I thought he was. ROJO took a look around to see just what else he could whip. He flew over to the pen where my bulldog was housed, sailed over the fence, and commenced to whup up on a fifty-pound bulldog and leave him whining in a lump in the corner of the pen. After that he flew to the top of a fifty-foot pine tree and crowed until the next day.
All night he crowed and crowed. NOW HE HAD A NEW BEAK AND HE WAS PROUD OF IT!
THE END!
HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE STORY.Cuzin Lukey
© 2003 - Ed Powers All Rights Reserved
Juan is a colorful character to say the least. He came here and moved in next door to us (Ed and Gladys Powers). Juan’s Chicken, ROJO, soon became a regular in our yard and also the hen house just down the road. After fallin’ on hard times Juan Garcia moved away but he left ROJO with us. So we quickly made pet of ole ROJO.
Well Gladys had a cement chicken in the flower garden which the wind and rain had peppered until all the paint had come off this stone monster. Nothing would do but this old cement boat anchor had to be painted and fixed up so he could stand guard over the flowers. One bright Saturday I brought out the paint and brushes and fixed up old "stoney" with a new array of colors: red, brown, yellow, and all the colors of a real live fighting chicken.
Old ROJO had been perched on a limb in the dogwood tree and almost missed the placement of Stoney in his Sunday best just underneath the foliage of the azaleas about ten feet away. But, when he did notice that cement chicken he promptly began to crow and make weird noises as if he wanted to fight. And, that's just what he wanted. He sailed over that Rock Island Red and began kicking and pecking at the new paint which was there to stay along with the other parts of Ole Stoney. About the third pass over Stoney's head ROJO made contact just behind the cement chicken's head and a terrible thing happened-ROJO broke the top of his beak. Boy! did this ever break his spirits.
The Tragedy of a Broken Beak!
Our story continues with ROJO crying the blues over that broken beak. Have you ever seen a sad rooster who cried over anything? Guess Not!Well this thing got more serious than you might think.
ROJO was suffering from a broken spirit as a result of that beak being broken off half way from the tip. But, unless you've been around chickens before you won't ever realize what a dilemma this chicken was in. You see chickens use their beak to eat and drink. Unless the beak is extended the full length then the chicken can't eat or drink.
Well that problem was solved when I was instructed by Mrs. Ed to "hand feed" him. This I did in order to avoid any repercussions in the homestead. With these techniques I managed to keep him alive. But there was some other things for which he was lacking and one of those was companionship. You see, ROJO had been slipping off to the neighboring farm for romance. In fact he had quite a following of hens looking forward to his return. But with a broken beak, he couldn't perform as a healthy rooster should. (Again, you have to know about chickens and their unique methodologies in romance to appreciate this predicament.)
Enlightenment is in order. Chickens use their beak in making love. The rooster (of which ROJO is one) uses his beak to hold on to the feathers on the head of the hen in order to make the union complete and fertilize the eggs in order for them to hatch.THIS ALSO WAS WHAT ROJO WAS A MISSING.So! the only thing left for me to do was to make him a beak!
Beak Making Made Easy!
Contrary to what you might think, beak making ain't easy. I thought I could just pick out a piece of wood and carve a nice beak. So I got a piece of hickory wood ('cause its very hard wood) and whittled my way into a very fashionable beak for old ROJO. It started out as a very rough piece of timber with no recognizable form. My fingers started out with no nicks and cuts on them also; not so when I got through with that project. Fortunately I didn't have to have any stitches. The next "biggie" was to get ROJO to hold still for the attachment of that wooden beak. I got Gladys to hold him (or at least try to) while I took super glue and affixed the homemade beak onto what ROJO had left. It was a struggle but when it was through, it was on fairly straight and looked pretty good. At least he could eat with it and time would tell as to whether he would do all the other functions he was want to do. This picture what ROJO Looked like with the new wooden beak!I kinda got the feeling that when the sun went down, ROJO would not be around and sure enough he was no where to be seen at evening time. I guessed he was off to the neighbor's hen house. Oh well, if he comes back with that beak intact, I will have done a great job (or at least an adequate job).The True test of a Great Beak!
Well, ROJO made it home the next morning and to tell you the truth, I was surprised that old wooden beak looked so well. He sported a few scratches and splinters on the thing but it looked fairly well considering what it must have gone through in the night. I could tell by just looking at ROJO that there was one test yet to come for his new beak. He was just strolling around the yard and looking at that old cement chicken in the flower garden and I knew it was just a matter of time before that stone monster would be the object of ROJO's hatred. He began to circle that old hard head in ever decreasing circles and you never heard such noises coming from a chicken. "Squawk, squawk, squawk and more squawk," were the sounds I heard as ROJO made clear his intentions to attack that rock one more time. I could have intervened but then I kinda wanted to see just how good that beak was myself. After all I wanted bragging rights to the construction and maintenance of that beak. I had already told the guys at work about it and they were coming by to take a look-see at it before long. If ROJO whipped this stone chicken, well then, I'd have even more to brag about. So, non-interference was the plan and I just watched. ROJO made a flight over that stone chicken's head and left a tiny mark on the paint, which wasn't even visible without real close look'n. His second time over that stone brought some more pain to ROJO 'cause he broke that new beak off just where it was glued on.Well, I felt like a failure and ROJO was destroyed! He just tried to look at that beak and see if it was really broken again. This made his eyes go kinda crossed and he was sure pitiful to look at. He just stood there looking at the broken beak as if wondering, "What in the Sam Hill happened?" This is twice ROJO has been beaten by the same chicken who never passed a punch or gave a kick.Oh well! Back to the drawing board
Another Day/Another Beak
By now its plain to see that this beak making has got to be more than a happenstance or chance venture. So I set out to find the very best material for the next beak. After hours of searching and many questions of long-time friends, many of whom were also fabricators, I settled on the material from a plumbing pipe. Advice from my buddies led me to believe that "schedule forty" PVC pipe would do the trick. After a brief visit to the plumbing supply house, I set out for home to build the beak. Amazingly it didn't take as long to make this beak as it did the first one that failed. After all, I had experience. (You might tell your friends who need a beak built I got more experience than anyone around these parts.) Carve and sand, carve and sand, that's all it takes. But this time I took a little more time and carved some words and pictures on the side of the beak. On the left I engraved "The Year of the Chicken" and a beautiful picture on the right side of a mountain sunrise over a log cabin complete with smoke in the chimney. You can tell by this description that this was a great beak.The next and most demanding task was to affix this beak to ROJO's broken part with expertise and make sure it is on straight. Well my neighbor came over to help hold ROJO down and I tried to apply the super glue just right. But it was no use. The more we tried to hold him down the more he kicked and scratched until I was about to give up.Just then I was inspired!My Uncle Bill, from time to time, was prone to take himself a little spirits for his mind and body's sake. He has been known to go unconscious from such things. So I thought if I could get enough of what Uncle Bill had into this chicken maybe he too would pass out. Oh! Heck, What could it hurt?Oh well, i t's off to Uncle Bill's house to get the stuff.Too Much juice Makes for a Limp Chicken
The funniest thing in the world is a drunk chicken. He can't hold his head up and his legs won't stay under him. When he's on his feet his head is on the ground. When he's on his butt both legs are in the air. What a sight to behold! After two hours and thirty minutes, ROJO could stand up but only if he spread his legs about a foot apart and then he kept doing the two-step. He reminded me of a game we once played. "You put your left foot in, you take your left foot out, you put your left foot in and you shake it all about." Yeah, you know the game. Well the shaking it all about was the funniest. When ROJO put his left foot in he shook all over. The feathers stood out on his neck. His head bobbed up and down like one of those little dogs over the back seat. All the while he was playing put your left foot in take your left foot out. After about twenty minutes of this ROJO decided he would try to crow. Now that's sound you gotta hear to believe. First there were four or five cock-a-doodles (or rather cock-a-do-do-do-do's). Then in about a minute there came the doodle-doo's. This went on for about an hour and ROJO began to look like himself again. You shoulda seen him when he finally got enough strength to stand up and look at that new beak. He acted as if he couldn't believe his eyes. Maybe he thought he was in rooster heaven or something. I surely wanted to know what he was thinking with that little rooster mind!
Now there's a great state of mind. Me wishing I could read a chicken's mind. Much like my cousin Lukey when he had the same dream his dog had. You see Lukey was watchin Old Blue, the coon dog, who was asleep by the hearth and Blue kept jumping and kicking in his sleep.Well Lukey said, “I shore would like to know what’s goin’ on in that dog's head.”
Uncle Bill told Lukey, “Get that pillow old Blue has under his head and sleep on it and you’ll have the same dream Old Blue is a having.”Lukey grabbed that pillow and went off to bed. About 3 AM we were all awakened by Lukey who was out in the back yard yelling to the top of his voice. When we got there Lukey had his tongue stuck in a salmon can. Maybe I didn't want to know what ROJO was thinking after all.The Proud Owner of a New Beak!
Well the end is here!Old Rojo had passed the test with that new beak. He finally came face to face with that cement chicken again after all this fixing on his pecking thing and this time it went like this:He made a fly or two at the colored imitation and finally that plastic replication of a beak hit the mark and broke that cement head right off. When he did, ROJO began crowing as loud as he could. BUT, he still wasn't finished, even though I thought he was. ROJO took a look around to see just what else he could whip. He flew over to the pen where my bulldog was housed, sailed over the fence, and commenced to whup up on a fifty-pound bulldog and leave him whining in a lump in the corner of the pen. After that he flew to the top of a fifty-foot pine tree and crowed until the next day.
All night he crowed and crowed. NOW HE HAD A NEW BEAK AND HE WAS PROUD OF IT!
THE END!
HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE STORY.Cuzin Lukey
© 2003 - Ed Powers All Rights Reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment