Maybe I'll get Kerry to scan in a couple of old pics, because this was in The Days Before The Digital Camera...
While we were on the camping trip, that now lives in history as "Our Dam Vacation", we ended up in Winthrop over Labor Day Weekend. Winthrop is up in the mountains, in Washington (state), and is a 'wild west' town. They have rodeos. Real ones. So we went.
They had all the usual rodeo stuff - barrel racing, calf roping, bucking bronco riding (or whatever you call that!), and..... (ta daa!) all-comers KID'S EVENTS! The winners of the Stick Horse Race got giant belt buckles. That was not us. Then they had the Chicken Chase. They had all the kids come into the enclosed rodeo arena and then released a bunch of chickens - you catch it, you keep it!
I had no idea chickens were so fast and agile, and those farm kids were snagging them pretty quickly. About the time I thought it was all over, Tate came out of the fray with a pretty orange chicken tucked under his arm. She calmed right down once he got a snug grip on her, and Tate - my animal lover - was enthralled. He wanted to bring her home and keep her as a pet. In the house.
I had a 'policy' that there would be no pets in the house until everyone was out of diapers, and we weren't quite there yet, but I negotiated with Tate.
#1 A chicken is not a house pet.
#2 The chicken would be easy prey for the dogs and raccoons that frequent our neighborhood.
#3 There was no way under the sun that the chicken was riding home in my new-to-us minivan, so
#4 If the chicken left the rodeo grounds with us it's name would be Teriyaki (!)
#5 If Tate would graciously give the chicken to some farm kids, I would let him choose a pet more compatible with our lifestyle.
That's how we ended up with a hamster..... named Chicken.
6 comments:
GRIN! "Chicken" will be a great "1st house pet". My kids started with those when they were little. They moved on to rats. Yup. You read that right... rats. They had rats for almost 7 years! My daughter ended up getting only the hairless variety. Oh... MY, was all I could say. Now she has a hairless dog. (Chinese Crested). Homeschooling for us has meant we've had a lot of furry (and naked) additions.
I have a memory of the sound of hamsters in wheels. Funny that "Chicken" would remind me of THAT!
The hamster story is a 'flashback' - happened about four years ago. So, sadly, Chicken is no more. He was followed by Chicken Nugget, who has also "gone on to his reward". I guess it's time for another one!
I like animals, in general, but I'm not a real enthusiastic pet person. I have to admit I like these little pets with short life spans! ;-)
We've also had (or have) triops, tadpoles, tree frogs, fire bellied frogs, goldfish, ants, and hatched butterflies. Now we're trying out worm composting.
Actually, I wouldn't mind rats. I've heard they're smart, pretty clean, and generally good pets. They just don't seem as cuddly as a hamster!
Hi, Julie! Made a reply to your reply. It was rather long, so I left it over at my site, under your comment about the perfect pastor's wife. It is about how I trumped the cookie lady.
Oh, pets...groan. We have certainly done our duty there. Dog, cat, gerbils (don't get them...they really do multiply!), fish, lizards. The cat is still with us. He is a filthy animal and needs to die, but he is company, so...The lizards lived forever. They were those little green anoles that we bought at the pet shop. They usually live only a little while, but our younger son taught them to eat house-flies (yes) so he had a steady food source and the last lizard lived 5 years. He finally died in my hand one evening, after eating a house-fly and drinking some water. At least he knew he (Smiley) was loved...
Speaking of pastors, we knew a pastoral family (they were friends of ours) that had chickens in the basement of the parsonage (the church people didn't like it...I wonder why), but they were "show chickens" and they didn't want them to get cold!
Oh my goodness... chickens in the basement?! They're rather dirty animals. I wouldn't mind trying to keep a couple, but we're in the city limits and I have neighbors who would complain. *sigh*
I also have the rule about no additional pets (we do have two cats that pre-date the children) until everyone is out of diapers! My dear husband wants to pick up a golden retriever that is at the pound- NO WAY. At least it isn't a chicken (g)! We have a rodeo out here and they have "mutton bustin'" where the kids ride sheep for prizes. It's hilarious, but sometimes I wonder how we ended up in hickville, lol!
Mutton-bustin' sounds fun :0) After the "dam vacation" and the chicken incident I had an idea that every summer we should have some sort of memorable theme vacation... but it hasn't happened.
I still hope to get to my cousin's in Idaho one 4th of July for the annual Porcupine Races!
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