Where the Wild Things Are - Part 1

"THE GIRLS"

It's no secret around these parts that this is an animal friendly household. Doesn't really matter what sort: hairy, smooth, feathered, four legged, two legged, no legs....makes no difference to us. Even "the girls" as we call them get treated like they're part of the family. They don't come inside and curl up in front of the fire, but they're still a part of our family, our home life.

This one is VAL.

She was given to us by a couple who were moving overseas for a while and they wanted somewhere she and her sister in crime, RED could live out their days.

The one in the middle here....the black one, well that's DIONNE

She's about as old as the hills. In fact she's so old now that her old feet are all gnarled and scaly looking. She's a cantankerous old bird...and she needs her beak trimmed, but she's our cantankerous old bird and she's been a terrific layer.

They're what I call productive pets...we look after them and they look after us with eggs and entertainment. My husband says every back yard should have some chooks pecking around the gardens because they're always busy and they always give you something to watch...and they do.

There's nothing funnier than watching them run around the yard trying to catch a moth or insect...they look ungainly when they run, sort of like their arms are being held tightly by their sides...but when was the last time you saw a chook with arms?

Actually, we did have a chook a while back that liked to curl up in one of the dog's basket's, in fact I caught Dixie Chick snuggled next to one of the dogs in there one day. Looked a little strange, but hey, we're all friends here right?