baby chicks . . .

As I'm sure everyone in Whatcom County knows . . . Cenex and Elenbaas have had chicks the last few weeks. Saturday morning, Tom thought we should go look at the baby chicks. I'm smart enough to know that he actually meant . . . let's buy some chicks. (Do any of you remember when he raised over 200 chickens when we were engaged and first married?) We went to Elenbaas first, but no luck . . . only baby turkeys. The Co-Op had just what we were looking for though . . . Grace didn't really know what to think when Tom started putting the in the box . . . This little duck was in the box and then I decided we better just stick with chickens, so out he came . . . I'm having a little regret now . . . the ducks were darling. I didn't take a picture of Grace crying and laying on the warehouse floor because Tom CLOSED the box . . . here he's trying to reassure her that the chicks are in the box and show her she can see them through the holes. We had to stop and show Grandma and Grandpa . . . I knew Grandma would especially love to see them since she raised A LOT of chickens in her day. Maybe someday we'll order them in the mail like we did when we were kids. Grace held the box tightly the whole way home and talked to them. They lived in the laundry room for a day . . . Tom nicknamed Grace "Lenny" from Of Mice and Men (remember the part where he killed the puppy because he petted it too hard?). It took a little while for her to be gentle with them . . . one time she went and got my brush and was taking it to them and saying "pretty hairs, pretty hairs". Glad my brush didn't make it onto the chicks little bodies!Sunday night Tom and Grace built a new house for the chicks in the shed . . . the light is really bad in there, I'm going to have to work on getting some better pictures. Meet Abbie the Araucana, Belle the Barred Rock and Ruby the Rhode Island Red (those are all names that I would have liked to have named a future Baby D someday, but Tom doesn't like, so at least I get to use them on the chickens) Grace still tells everyone she sees, "baby chicks, new house!" Now you'll know what she's talking about if you see her. :)"You pick em up Daddy?"The Coupe Car was in the shed and Grace cried until we got her out for a spin . . . My happy little animal-loving girl . . . So far, so good . . . the chicks are staying warm and cozy in the shed and all 3 are still alive. Maybe in 5 months or so I'll be hawking our bounty of fresh homegrown eggs . . . HA!