I grew up on a small farm in rural Pennsylvania.  Our farm was not a dairy farm or a horse farm, but a farm with a menagerie of animals; rabbits, ducks, pigs, a few heifers, one bull,  several cats, and a beagle named, Buddy.  Oh, I left out the dreaded chickens, a few possessed roosters, and three or four guinea hens that acted like terrorists. The first list of animals were sweet, cute, and always brought a smile to my face. However, the second list scared the daylights out of me! A journey down memory lane…….. I remember begging Mom not to send me to the hen house. She looked at me with her twinkly sky blue eyes,  straight face, and listened as I gave my reasons for not collecting the eggs. As I remember it went something like this, ” But Mom, the chicken’s don’t like me.  They won’t give up their eggs. The rooster pecks at my legs. And Mom, you will never guess what that dumb red rooster did yesterday!”  Mom just kept staring at me, not saying a word. I continued, ” Mom, that rooster started scratching the straw on the floor, then, ran and flew high, and landed right on top of my head!”  She kept looking at me, then said, ” Now, Cindy, they are just being chickens, and stop exaggerating about the rooster. He never bothers me. Now go do your chores.”   ” But Mom!”   “Go,” replied Mom as I slowly walked out […]

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