Hot Chicks In The Shower

We have hot chicks in the shower, baby!

Let me explain.

We picked up our mix of 8 baby chicks at the feed store, and we set up their nice warm home in our downstairs shower. The kids love taking care of the chicks, holding, and petting them. They’re growing fast and have gotten some feathers in already. We have 2 aracaunas (one brown, one grey, they lay blueish/greenish eggs); 2 leghorns (both brown, they lay white eggs); and all of the rest lay brown eggs — a buff orpington (the cute “typical” yellow chick, turns into a yellow chicken); silver wyndotte; golden wyndotte; and a black australorp. This is our third round of having chicks, and I love it. It feels routine, so easy, nothing to figure out or think about since we finally know what to do for routine maintenance. I really love having chickens.

So our current critter count is —
– 6 grown hens
– 8 chicks
– 1 hermit crab (we are so done with hermit crabs)
– 2 fish (we’re kind of done with them for a while, too, until the kids are older and stop dumping entire containers of food into their tanks)
– 2 bunnies (they’re still too shy to hold, which was what motivated D to want them in the first place, so they’re cute but there isn’t a ton of interaction)
– and 3 rats. The rats are great fun, but they’re not dogs. Which is what we are realizing is what we’re “good” at and like the best (after chickens). We look forward to adding a small dog to the menagarie after Quinn’s a little older.

Quinn has had her hair cut exactly twice. Once at a salon, which was a bad experience for her. Running into the gumball machine on the way to the chair didn’t exactly help. The other was in our bathroom a few weeks ago, when I trimmed the ends because they kept getting knotted. Last fall, I set up an appointment at my friend Stephanie’s home salon for her, but Quinn wanted nothing to do with it. Out of the blue, Declan said *he’d* get a haircut instead. I was shocked, but thrilled. D’s been seeing Stephanie ever since, and he loves partnering with her for his cuts. He had an appointment for a trim this week, and any time it was mentioned in conversation, Quinn would pipe up and say, “I don’t *want* a haircut!” which was fine, since I wasn’t planning on getting her one. Quinn went to the salon with us, and sat with me while we waited for D. As soon as he was finished, Quinn said, “My turn haircut.” I was shocked, and so was Stephanie. I couldn’t tell if Q was serious or not, and Stephanie had to tend to another client before coming back to us. I didn’t want to make a separate appointment that I’d have to pay for if she changed her mind, so I figured we’d stick it out. As we waited for Stephanie to finish her other appointment, Quinn got increasingly hyper and I felt trapped – if I left because she was too crazy, she’d likely be (allegedly) upset to miss the haircut; if I stayed, she’d likely be too insane to sit still for the cut. I opted to stay, since we were not disturbing anyone else. When it was her turn, Quinn sat in her “princess chair” (the spinning stylist’s chair), wearing her “princess dress” (the black hair cape), and she remained a STATUE for the entire haircut. I didn’t take pictures of the event while it took place, convinced I’d screw it up if I distracted her. Stephanie and I kept glancing at each other, like “How is this happening??” These kids sure keep me guessing!!

After the haircut, we went to this paint-your-own-pottery place we discovered recently.

We had a nice visit to Schenectady this weekend for a friend’s surprise 40th birthday party, a junior high classmate I hadn’t seen since 1983. The kids had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa! I also met up with my dear friend Darcy whom I hadn’t seen in 20+ years but reconnected with through e-mail last year. I loved spending the afternoon with her, just as easeful as it was when we were kids.

D teaches RNC the DS.

Gardening fun