Friday, February 24, 2012

An interesting day at Big Creek

It was an interesting day at Big Creek, even though for the most I was somewhere else. This morning Linda and I left at 9:00 A.M. with Dave and Lynn in the back seat for Blairsville and a lecture on keeping small flocks of chickens in the back yard. We drove over without incident and had a really good time at the talk. All of it was quite interesting even though much of it I was already familiar with from the practical experience of keeping chickens. Still I learned a lot. There was a bit to much about the commercial side of chicken production, eggs, meat etc. but was helpful all the same. The lecture was 2 hours long which was 30 minutes to long for me to be able to sit still for, being the way I am. That is not he lecturer’s fault but mine. We all learned a good deal about the back yard chicken and enjoyed it very much. During the lecture the presenter, a Mister Lacy was considerate enough to allow questions on any information he was elaborating on. At one point a man in the back of the room raised his hand, seemingly with a question. After he was recognized he stood up and asked if it would be all right if he read a poem he had written about his chickens. Hesitantly Mr. Lacey agreed stating that, “It will be fine as long as it is not too lengthy.” The questioner assured him it was not. He proceeded to read his poem. I wondered while he read just where in the world but the north Georgia mountains could a person go, get a lecture on chickens and have a poem written by a local thrown in for free. The man recited the poem without looking at the written version in his hand even once. I was surprised at his confidence; it must be nice to be able to stand up in a room full of strangers, almost 100 people and recite by heart a poem you have recently written, to your chickens. His poem concerned a rooster that had been lost through predation. It was almost touching and was clear that he missed the rooster very much, almost as much as the hens did, I fear.


After the lecture was finished the 4 of us drove over to Grinds and Glazes for lunch, which was very good. As we sat there consuming our lunch Dave looked over the table at me and, (being ever the comedian) asked, “When are you going to write a poem to your chickens, Tommy?” I replied, “Never, Dave!” After getting home I have not reconsidered.



                                                                       Ode to a Chicken

                                                                  ………….more later? Not likely.......Ha!.




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