I am always a little surprised when we come home from a trip and find all of our animals are still living. This sounds macabre. Josephine is always in good hands with Terry, having the time of her life playing with his three little monsters. It’s the cat and the chickens that are just left up to their own devices. We basically just put out extra food and water for both and hope for the best. There have been times when get home from a trip and Albus will not show his face for days. It is around day three of being home and no cat showing up that I start to get melancholy and right at this moment is when Albus shows up, full of meowing complaints. I was telling Amani last night that we say we hate the cat, but we really love him. I mean just the other night he brought a very large rat into the dining room and then ate it. What’s not to love about this cat?

The first thing Michael did when we got home last Thursday night was take a flashlight out to the chicken coop and count chickens. All three were present and Michael and I started talking about getting two new chicks. We can’t just get one chick because the other chickens will be mean to it. You’re supposed to introduce new chickens in pairs and we started to get a little excited about baby chicks. Then I hesitated. I worried about the size of the coop and if it was big enough to fit five chickens comfortably. They’d be cosy in the winter, but crowded in the summer. So we decided to wait until we were down to two chickens before we add anymore to our circus.

And who knows when that will be.

Every year, I am surprised when I find that the chickens are laying eggs. I will hold up the egg and say “well…this is probably the last year of eggs.” Marguerette has provided four eggs for us so far this year, which was completely unexpected. It is a joyful surprise. I’m still waiting to see if the other two are going to lay any. The weather has been so wishy washy. I figure that the other two are waiting until the ground isn’t so soggy since they prefer to leave their eggs in the window well. I am grateful for the few eggs we have received and the anticipation of more eggs, but I am really thankful that we still have at least three of our original chickens.

I am thankful that our little circus is still thriving.