The World Has a Sense of Humor

But luckily, so do I.

I celebrated a birthday Thursday.

It turns out to the be the same day as a neighbor of mine--discovered only by fluke when his son said "Dad, it's your birthday!" at the bus stop.  I was surprised, and offered my congratulations at having his birthday being the same day as mine (you know, 'cause I'm so cool  :) ).  Then his little one announced dad's age, as little ones like to do.

.....and I am 5 years older.

I have successfully become the oldest neighbor in a group of neighbors with kids, when I used to be the youngest.

Ha ha ha.

The craft fair was a total bust.  It started at 10, and we made a good amount of money in the first hour, and just as I was hoping that it would be the start of good things to come, the fair completely died.  By 12, it was a ghost town and I was just waiting for it to end.

I happened to hear from a lady behind me that the fair is "always" like this.  Needless to say, I packed up pretty much everything I came with, as did everyone else.  I have decided, that no matter how much I love the area I live in, I will only do shows in monied areas from now on.  I'm tired of  unpacking and then packing up my inventory.  I would actually, you know, like it to sell.

However, I think the booth looked lovely.  When my husband gets the pictures off of his phone, I will post them.

Then oddities of all oddities this morning, I woke to the sound of a rooster crow.

Beneath my window.

That should never be.  They are all locked away in the coop and I can't hear them except when I go outside to feed and let them out.

Every chicken that lives here was out this morning.  The back door on the coop was open.  I think I may have had a child come through here and open the door to look at the chickens and then leave it open.  A child that's not mine, mind you.  Unfortunately, sometimes the kids around here think that the animals are there for everyone to look at whenever, and just wander in and do what they like.  It's been a little issue, but I try to maintain my calm about it.  Thankfully, all chickens seem to be present and accounted for, even though they spent the night in an open coop.

That's just luck.  I'll be making sure all the doors are locked tight every night from now on.

And then, weirdness of weirdness.  Bella did something awesome last night or early this morning.

That stinker, Philip Johnny Bob!!!

I thought he had gotten to her right after the last little one she had!  I had a feeling.  She's been grouchy for weeks.  Snorty and snotty.  Yesterday, she built a nest, and I thought, "Ok, here it comes".  She pulled her hair out and all that good stuff.  But in truth, she nested after that first little one the last time, so there was a chance that it was a false pregnancy.  I have a New Zealand who nests all the time for no reason whatsoever, so I was weary and watching, but as I didn't SEE the mating, who knows?

She did!  This morning, as I was taking care of the chicken weirdness, I saw Bella standing next to her nest, which was closed up.  I thought maybe she was getting ready to deliver, or that she'd given up (like the last time she built a nest), when I did a little digging and inside was WARM.  Three beautiful dark babies are in there. 

I am pleased to say that they are seemingly healthy, warm despite the cold outside, and Bella seems to be caring for them.  Her nesting is certainly kick-ass.  The babies are so ugly they are beautiful, and I babbled like an idiot the moment I saw them.

I am a sucker for babies.  Non-human ones, mostly.

It's a little miracle.  She made some beautiful babies, and they are wonderful.  I'll be keeping my eye on her and her littles to make sure all is well, and hopefully they will grow up and get big and be hairy, as mama is a Jersey Wooly and daddy is an English Angora.  They should be interesting.

And I get the feeling PJB is proud, proud, proud.

And I will be reinforcing his outside fence a lot, a lot, a lot.

And it more than makes up for the crappy craft fair.

The end. ; )