Harmony? ~

Mink-colored Hans as a Baby in April

Rest in Peace Hans.  It was an August Sunday morning.  I awoke with quiet resolve and after some silent prayers and much thought to the task and the process of that task.  I did it.  He died peacefully.  He was afraid as is usual with him.  But he closed his eyes as if knowing this was it and relaxed... I stayed with him and held his chest as he drew his last breaths... spoke soothingly to him.  I had a chance to take him somewhere where he would have been taken care of for a while-another farm- but ultimately his future would have been uncertain there as well.  I felt I didn't want his demise botched in any way.   I knew how to do it quickly for him without the trauma of a car ride and foreign place. To do it on territory that was recognizable to him in the warm morning sun:   hopefully calming to him. With someone who cared about him even though delivering him to his creator. It was not any easy decision to make with my children.  But ultimately they agreed it was for the better good of the flock.  To find Harmony.   They had an overnight at Grandma and Grandpa's and when they came home Hans was a "Job Well Done"  per Grandma Ruth.  All were in agreement with this even the sensitive animal lover Grandma Ruth.  Grandpa Ken (and former farmer)  said, "Well...  Now you're a farmer."  Hardly. But a hint of what  it's like:   I surely experienced.

Adolescent Hans in his New Digs.

A rare moment: Heidi Holding Hans.

Mr. tooling through the Holly Hocks and Bee Balm.

Hansy just after he took over as Head Roo and

when the chaos was beginning.

The rest of that Sunday I felt melancholy.  Perhaps pennance from God I decided for taking one of his creatures.  Just a little something for me to live with that day.  

 I thought, "I'll let the kids be mad at me today if they need."   And as I put his 4.6 pound dressed-out  Hans carcass in the freezer,  I started to feel different about the whole thing.  Then confirmation from the kids, about a week and a half later, that Hans deserved to be cooked as something Grandiose and  delicious, and glad that he just wasn't returned to the earth in a shallow grave.  Although, only when they were ready for it.  So Hans has some freezer time yet until he becomes Coq au Vin.  And when all is harmonious with the Johnson Children having a Chicken dinner.

The Flock is quieter.  There are 8 now.  Roger has been reinstated.

Happy Boy.

My tomatoes are being unharmoniously harvested by the flock one by one just as they are about to ripen.  So now my kitchen window sill is loaded with Green Beefeaters and Green Purple Cherokees as I've just decided to harvest them all before the Chicks get them.  So much for the Garden Zen-ness.

 Harmony on a level I've been looking for:   The yellow lab is going outside where the chickens are free-ranging and leaving them be...  I am so pleased.