LONG POST TODAY
I have been super excited to share my experiences of the past 6 or so weeks. What a ride!
I had planned to begin telling the story today but this morning I really felt I needed to write about something different yet somehow in my mind related.
Lately I have felt a very strong connection with the incredible world around me. I have been thinking about how much I love living in a place with such a variety of natural environments. I can get in a car and within a few hours enjoy everything from red sandstone arches and nordic mountain glaciers.
I've been able to see so many of gods creatures in their natural environment. Fish, snakes, frogs, rabbits, deer, moose, mountain goats... truly amazing creatures.
I have been thinking a lot about the stewardship we have been given to care for this creation. To conserve and preserve. Are we doing a good job? I'm not going to open that can of worms. Not today.
I have been able to see the convergence of our world with theirs. It is not uncommon to see some of these wild characters in and around my community. We live in an agricultural community so there are also plenty of cattle, sheep, horses, pigs, and chickens.
I've already introduced you to our chickens. My very first post was about chickens. They inspired me write the first words. It is interesting how much you can learn from these creatures. It is amazing how like us they really are.
We are responsible for the care of these funny birds. We do provide a warm and safe place to stay, and feed and water to supplement their foraging efforts but for the most part they are self sufficient.
This scrappy pack of 12 sisters owns the back yard. During the day they chase each other around, eat bugs and plants, dust bathe, and poop all over the place. They are essentially free to do as they will. They are able to fly over the 5' perimeter fence and sometimes do. but they always come back.
When the day is done and the sun goes down the ladies make their way back to the coop and put themselves to bed. After our kids are in bed (for some reason they don't put themselves to bed like the chickens do) Ali or I will go out to the coop to do a headcount, collect eggs, and secure their home.
I converted one of the garden sheds in our back yard into a coop by adding a chicken door with a gravity closer mechanism (I'm pretty proud of my ingenuity on this one) and a chicken ladder to the ground outside. I also built a raised wire mesh floor to keep them up out of the dirt and toilet. The original shed man door does not stay open without being propped so we always let them out through theirs. They can come and go as they please to lay eggs or get out of the heat.
One day about 3 weeks ago the chicken door was closed at some point. No big deal, It's happened before and the girls just line up outside waiting patiently for us to come out for the headcount.
Well, that night I forgot to go out. We had watched a movie and ended up getting to bed pretty late. My head had barely hit the pillow when I heard all kinds of commotion coming from outside. I realized I had not closed up the coop so I somewhat resentfully rolled out of bed and started to get dressed again. I heard the noise again, this time accompanied by a screams of terror. Something was attacking our chickens! So I ran/dressed to the back yard trying to get the stupid flashlight app on my phone to work.
I burst out the door into the silent night. Nothing. I scanned around a few times. Nothing.
As I started walking back to check the coop my eye caught the tiny reflection of a chicken's eye about halfway back in the yard. I approached the little red hen and she wasn't moving. I got closer and could see that she was alert and sitting calmly. Oh good, she's fine.
I went back to check on the others.
1,2,3,4,5...!
5+1=6!
12-6=6!
6 chickens were missing!
I herded those 5 frazzled chickens into the coop and searched the yard hoping the others had found somewhere safe to bed down and hide. Nothing. I searched everywhere without any sign of them. They had probably gone over the fence. and would make their way back when they felt safe.
I went back to the chicken I had found in the yard and she hadn't moved at all. Strange! I picked her up to take her back to the coop and she was wet. Not cold, water type wet. Warm wet. Oh no! I carried her into the house and doing my best to stay calm I found my very tired and still very pregnant wife to help me. It wasn't until we got her into the kitchen and started to clean her up that I realized the severity of her condition.
This is graphic but i don't know how else to tell the story.
Something, probably a skunk or a raccoon, had slit her throat. The laceration was about 4 inches long and all the way through the skin. Starting at the base of the front of her neck and going around clockwise and rising up to the left side of her head and her little chicken ear. My first thought. Put this poor creature out of its misery. But I had a very strong and calming feeling that this chicken would live. I said one of those very simple and direct 2 second prayers.
What do I do?
Super glue!
My grandpa had once told me super glue was invented for the military. When a soldier was wounded in battle and there wasn't time or equipment to close up a wound in a more traditional way.
It should work, right?
I felt horrible for doing this but I saw no other option. I sent my 9 month pregnant wife to the store at 11:00 at night to find some super glue.
I do a lot better than she does with blood and guts and I was going to have to do the prep work while she was gone. Using scissors I cut back the feathers near the wound, cleaned it up, and planned how I was going to put her back together. The cut was an L shape so I figured I would start at the corner and work my way back to the edges.
Ali got back and we went to work. She held the chicken and I started to glue.
I have used super glue to close a few of my own self inflicted injuries over the years and it is not the most pleasant sensation. This chicken was relatively calm and cooperative throughout the process. She was probably in shock but I think she also knew that we were trying to help her.
After the wound was all closed up and we had put some antibiotic ointment on her neck I was prompted that I was supposed to do something that I had never before considered.
I was supposed to give this chicken a priesthood blessing.
This was my internal monologue, no joke.
Seriously? Can I do that? Oh man, I'm going to lose my priesthood over this!
I anointed the birds head with consecrated oil and did everything I would do if ministering to a human. It was one of the most humbling and spiritual experiences I can remember.
I know that God's loving grace fully applies to all of his creation.
For the next several days this little lady seriously struggled. She would hardly move. She wouldn't eat or drink and we resorted to force feeding her with a medicine syringe. She stopped laying eggs which for me was a sign she was pretty messed up. It wasn't looking good for her.
Then as we began to consider the options and talk about the humane and responsible course of action she started to improve. Within a few days she was moving around more, eating on her own, making noise and being just about as annoying as ever.
This morning she laid her first egg in weeks and we are testing the waters of letting her go back to living with her sisters.
Sometimes we are called upon or feel inspired to do things that just don't make sense. Things that we have never done before or even considered. We may be required to step out of our comfort zone and our realm of knowledge . We may not do a great job or even fail miserably.
And that's ok.
The important thing is that we are willing to act. That we are willing to throw all logic to the wind and exercise faith.
This simple principle is at the core of what I define as "Burning the Script". Going against the grain of what we are comfortable with. Questioning for ourselves societal norms and expectations. Taking a huge leap of faith and relying on grace to guide us in creating a life worth living.
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