Dora's demise

Some very sad news to share today. Our poor chook Dora died of presumed un- natural causes yesterday. In the time it took for school pick up something happened that rendered her flat on her back, legs in the air kind of way. There were no feathers around to suggest a dog incident. She was tucked into a corner of the yard near the deck and we are not sure if it could have been a cat or a snake incident. I have spared you all the chook with rigor mortis photos.

The worst part was the fact that the discovery of her stiff little body by our visiting friends children who already had pre- existing BIRD PHOBIAS. I should probably just start a generous savings account now for their lifetime therapy sessions . Eternal gratitude for the father of the bird phobia kids who promptly dug a deep grave for
Dora next to the compost bin ( which was her favourite place to spend a sunny afternoon).

Then came explaining it all to Roboboy who was already starting to ask questions about death quite recently. I explained that Dora had gone to Chicken heaven where she was free to roam all day eating corn kernels with her friends. He was initially hysterical about her being buried ( under the dirt with no window) but found some glass hearts to use in the ground as windows  which seemed to make him feel relieved. He made her some treasures to take with her- some space foil and pirate money and was trying to get his head around the fact that the trip to chook heaven was a one way taxi with no opportunity to come back for holidays. He  then rapidly  moved straight on to asking about when we can replace her with  a white chook and another brown chook he also wants to call Dora.

I'm missing her today. She was so feisty and pushy and always underfoot looking for more food, more action and would search out my company in order to get more treats. Sooty is more beautiful, but like many humans who are more beautiful she has a much less well developed personality. I'm also worried that whatever killed Dora might be back for Sooty so we have had to curtail her free ranging while we are out. We did see a big ginger cat in our garden for the first time yesterday- has anyone else had incidents between cats and chickens? Our cat shows no interest in them at alll- not sure if all cats  are equal in this respect. So now the new job is to get out to Brookfield produce to choose  new bestie for Sooty. RIP Dora.

On a much lighter note, that wonderful mid century groove queen over at Make Mine Mid-century nominated me for an award :

Apparently this means "loveliest blog" and is awarded to new up and coming blogs worthy of a little extra attention. I am a little chuffed to be given this award and hope the extra attention is not being sent my way to correct my sentence construction as grammar has never been my strong point.
  
So, now it is my responsibility to gift this award onto 3 of my favourite newish blogs as well and share their positivity with the blog world.

1. Timber and Tin - a lovely blog about moving an old queenslander onto a block of land in the country
2. St John's Wood - another blog about living on acreage in the country
3. Clothwork - a gorgeous visual feast of crochet and quilting

So pop over and have a look and hopefully you too will be hooked  by this trio of delights. 
 
And if you need a comic boost for your day, frequently involving food smeared offspring, plastic horses with hollywood aspirations and some mid century appreciation go and hang out with the esteemed Make Mine Mid-Century