Talking about the backyard reminds me of a couple of things – one of them is the comedy team “The Smothers Brothers”.  I was pretty sure that they were the funniest duo on vinyl at that time.  One of my favorite bits that they did was about Tommy having a pet chicken.   If you have never heard them, here is that skit.

http://youtu.be/PfgrREmy68A

I thought that they were pretty funny stuff back then and my oldest sister and I would sit in her room listening to that record and laugh and laugh.   At least it was funny til it wasn’t!!

I had been begging for a pet for awhile so to shut me up and avoid the kind of pet that one must keep in the house my father decided that I should have chickens and a rooster.  Well, mostly the rooster was just mine; my sisters did not like him at all.  Suddenly I was Tommy Smothers and I had a pet chicken!!

One rainy morning Pops went out to check for eggs and feed the chickens before leaving for his job.  He had on his suit, overcoat and galoshes because it was really muddy out there.  The chicken coop was on the far side of the garden and I could watch him from his bedroom window.  So my sisters, brother and I trooped into the room to watch him feed the chickens.

Somehow Red, my name for the rooster, was out of the chicken yard and Pops had to get him back inside so he wouldn’t be a meal for a stray dog or other critter.  Pops threw down feed for the chickens and hoped that would make Red come back inside.  No dice.

So Pops decides that he can herd this rooster back into the chicken yard by opening his top coat and chasing behind Red and yelling.  What a spectacle that was!!  We were all cheering on Red, of course, and whooping it up inside the house.  Suddenly Red turned around and charged at Pops.  He was trying to attack Pops with his spurs!!  Pops went from being the pursuer to be being the pursued!!

Then it happened….. Pops got too close to one of the ditches and down he went!!  He went sliding down  the embankment and into that nasty, muddy water!! When he finally crawled out he was covered in mud and water was running off his clothes; not to mention that his galoshes were filled with water. Red was back in the chicken yard eating breakfast like nothing had happened.

Pops came back up to the house and had to change his entire outfit so he could go to work.  He was not happy!! He was loudly cursing that rooster and saying that Red wasn’t going to be with us much longer.  I pleaded for my rooster till Pops left for work.

Fast forward to the weekend and we were served chicken soup……… chicken soup that contained my rooster.  I would not, could not eat that chicken soup.