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August 14, 2017: Change is Good

We have, in our living room, a small square box with a fish head on one side and a fish tail on the other. I don’t remember where we got it. Wait, my mother sent it to me with other stuff, one Christmas. Funny how this became a mainstay – we put loose change in it. Right now there must be at least ten dollar’s worth of change. Not enough to pay the mortgage. Not enough to pay the farrier. Not enough to live upon for any length of time. But it is something, and I am glad that we have this small bit of extra money.



Yes, change is good. This is literal change. There is also figurative change, change that is less tangible. Acquiring animals brings about change. Losing them brings about change. No animals equals no change. What makes me think of this is that Freebird is ill. She’s puffy and lethargic. The others, Freebird 2.0 and Rumba, are hanging out on their pen roost. They have become buddies. Now Freebird is the odd one out.

I have learned that there is not much a person can do for a sick chicken. I hope she does not die tomorrow because I have friends visiting – and as odd as it sounds, I am going to need time to mourn and reflect upon her life. Can’t do this with visitors.

Having visitors is a change. We don’t have many show up, so it’s a treat. I was talking tonight about how I am disconnected from social media. I just don’t have much interest in it. And because I’m disconnected, I don’t interact with very many people. Some would say that the world is changing and that if I don’t become connected, that I will be left behind. I guess that by being left behind they mean that I will become less connected to people. I am thinking that I will be pegged as an older woman who is eccentric – but then, so be it.

My life is rich and full – and I have time to do what I most value –acquire animals who bring me great joy. And part with them when they die, which brings me great sadness. It’s a yin-yang cycle, for sure. It is also a harbinger of change – for instance, life will not be the same without Freebird. What I most like about her is that she made the decision to stay with us. This was after being a free range chicken, which in some ways is preferable to being one that lives in a coop. But then again, there must have been something about coop life that Freebird enjoyed, for she always returned to it after being allowed outside.

Right now I doubt that we’ll get any more chickens. Rumba and Freebird II are both laying eggs, we are averaging two eggs a day. Freebird has opted to sit on their eggs and on the two ceramic eggs that Pete purchased for this reason.

Yes, change is a constant. And change is good.

Next: 222. 7/1517: Day with Friends

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