Going to Guatemala with an achin . . . . in my heeaarrt.

In about eight hours I will be on a plane flying south to Guatemala where the monsoons have already begun and the fact that something about any reasonable change to our country’s attitude towards immigration has NOT taken place is felt in the tangible way that we passport wielding, English speaking, comfortable folks can’t begin to comprehend. Seriously. But I am going to hop on down for a two and a half week jaunt to visit friends and relax a bit – ahhh the power of the dollar…. How conveeenient. To think that such a reality is entirely IMPOSSIBLE for most folks in Guatemala or almost any other country where the predominant human color scheme is other than pasty is a nearly insurmountable obstacle for the minds of us Citizens. In fact most of the time, when one hears that someone from Guatemala, Mexico, or any other country south of here would come to visit or work in the US of A, the assumptive fear that too often follows is that we should worry that they might stay. What if I stay in Guatemala? Anyone (besides my boss) worried about that? The double standard is a bit like an elephant giving us all a collective lap dance and we not only are unwilling to acknowledge the elephant is there, but that we don’t even know what a lap dance is. Anyways, my soap box rant aside, what I really wanted to say was that I am going to Guatemala, where the chicken buses run wild and the chickens speak Spanish, so my entries will be a bit more sparse, but I hope to get you up to date on our travels and adventures.

In the mean time, here are some links on Guatemala in case you are interested:

Current Events
Photos
Human Rights work

The light.

Do you think this is the light that chickens see when they die?

Chicken down.

Let us please have a moment of silence for Chewbacca, whose chicken soul has went to be in the great free range feed lot in the sky. This morning I awoke good and early (for those of you that know me – gasp!) only to find the smallest of my hens in a not-so-chicken-comfortable-position, that is, stretched out on her side and D-E-D dead. I have recently wondered if she was sick as she was often sitting alone in unusual places and a bit slow to move when I would check on her. Luckily there was no fowl play such as dogs or hawks, though mysteriously there is a giant hole in my prickly pear cactus and large pieces that have obviously been eaten…leads one to wonder if she overdosed on prickly pear – a growing cause of fatality among young chickens these days. Evidently it is a hard-knock-life for chickens in the desert.

Chewbacca, we barely knew you as you scampered away from us on your chicken haunches, but still we loved you. You were a hen among chickens, a beauty among fowls, and a lousy egg layer – and we shall miss you.

R.I.P.
Chewbacca of the Desert
February 2007 – June 27 2007

Cray-zee.

So good…even chickens can get down to this – so why can’t the rest of our country? For more info go here.

Inspiration.

Perhaps it is out of place to use a blog about chickens, that is at times self-deprecating and at least attempting to be amusing, to occasionally be somewhat introspective, but I will let you all in on a little secret that might explain the twists and turns that will inevitably exist on this blog. It is this: that like so many other things in life, I find the project of raising chickens and growing food in my backyard downright inspiring. The learning and changes that are apart of that work are some amazing gifts. The fact that I have a blog about it all is merely a bit of evidence to that reality. It really is that simple for me. And if in between my shared idiosyncrasies, attempts at humor, and pangs of seriousness, some inspiration makes it’s way into the wide spaces that we inhabit, I will be oh so satisfied.

I think there are times in our lives that we need inspiration more than others. Today I was looking for some and was fortunate enough to find it in and around my house. For me they are more than photos, they represent opportunity creation passion life and much more. I won’t try and explain them, but I wanted to share them. Wherever you are, I hope you are finding your own inspiration…

The cutting edge of chicken lingo.

I am going to start a new saying. This is what it is going to be: It’s hotter than inside a live chicken!© And ladies and gentleman, that’s HOT. Technically speaking that means it is more than 107 degrees, but just like any colloquial saying (which this will be quite soon I am sure) I feel that we can take some liberties even if it is not technically hotter than inside a live chicken. Besides, just like humans, 107 is just the average and each chicken varies of course. My hope is that it will be a regional specific saying with a global reach. SO, feel free to use this new saying as you please…in fact, why don’t you say it with me: It’s hotter than inside a live chicken!© Doesn’t it just roll right off your tongue? It’s catchy too. If you want to be on the cutting edge of chicken trendy this is your in. Don’t hold back because you think others won’t understand you – they will be dying to get on the it’s-hotter-than-inside-a-live-chicken©-train too, so say it with abandon, and often. Very soon your friends will see you as the trend-setter that you are.

(Currently, it is NOT hotter than inside a live chicken© – it is only 101 degrees – but later on today it might be…)