TwiLife

The Austin Film Festival was a new experience for us.  The talent was just amazing.  Call me partial but TwiLife was my favorite short film.  Young people don't realize that they will not be forever young even though I recall thinking that I would be.  Well I'm "over the hill" now which I guess is over the age of 50...or at least that's what I always thought that meant.  Actually I'm well past that age...so TwiLife was particularly interesting to me.  If you didn't make it to the film festival then look for TwiLife to appear again in the future.  It will be totally insane if someone doesn't pick up this film and make a biggy of it!  Baby boomers should unite in asking for a tv documentary or series of this film short.  It was 23 minutes of total insight depicting what we as humans will all experience if we live long enough.  The views on love, life, relationships, and sex were expressed in this 23 minutes of captivating footage talking about life and what comes after the firm bodies begin to be not so firm any longer.  These retirees show us that life is not over just because you have a few wrinkles or your hair is gray.  Sex, yes sex is still on the menu.  My mother use to say, "Youth is wasted on the young"....but the interviewees in this film show us otherwise.  The desire for life is still very much alive in them....and of course the memories of a wonderful life keep the dreams of the future alive.

Cock of the Walk is Gone

Just an update on the rooster.  He continued to linger on with very labored breathing still managing to rise to his feet in an effort to do his duty.  It was just too much to watch him die so slowly.  He was a very strong rooster and didn't give up easily.  My neighbor who once worked on a  chicken ranch came over early this morning looking for her dog who managed to escape under the fence and take himself on a walk about.  He had been gone for a full day and night and still not returned home.  She took a look at my rooster and determined that his neck had been broken either by a possum or raccoon reaching through the fence as he sat guard on his perch at night.  She suggested we put him out of his misery.  She just happened to have a 22 pistol in her truck which she carries for protection....remember this is Texas.  So instead of going back into the house to get my rifle she offered to do the chore for me.  It was a very sad morning.  After he quit flopping about as chickens do when they die, I pulled some of his wing feathers and tail feathers to keep.  At some point I will incorporate them into some sort of craft.  He was a beautiful rooster and I want to remember him.  It's quiet around here today without his crowing.  We shall miss him.

My neighbor found her big dog a few hours later.  Apparently he couldn't find the route he had taken away from home and was trying to figure out how to cross a cattle guard to come back on the road.

All is quiet and I shall go back to my knitting!

Cock of the Walk

As he lays dying I feel myself compelled to write about him.  Rooster - male domestic chicken.  I will miss him.  He was a flying Ninja, capable of inflicting a 2 inch hole into whatever he hit with his talons.  I don't know yet what could have brought him down so quickly.  About 3 mornings back we found him not crowing,,,  his head down and his proud beautiful tail sagging.  He had blood coming from both sides of his head but was not missing any feathers.  Nothing can get into the chicken pen except a snake and I can't imagine him sticking his neck out for a predator on the outside.  Even if he did that, he would be missing feathers at the least.  I'm certain if he was dumb enough to stick his head out at something it would have taken his head off.  And that's not his "MO"....  he charges with his talons in mid flight. Once he has taken his last breath I will examine him and I feel certain I will find fang marks.  I hope he delivered a few wounds to whatever it was.

He was so strong and proud as he strutted through the pen calling out  his cockle doodle doo at daylight and actually any time he felt like it!  I never could figure out his schedule.  He protected his harem from anything that came near and they all loved him dearly.   He never slept in the roost but instead stood guard all night perched just outside the opening.   He was a true gentleman, always allowing the girls to eat first whenever compost was tossed into the pen.  However he was very amorous and sometimes the girls resisted his amorous advances but he got his way.

I've always had a fondness for roosters, actually I have many ceramic and wooden ones in my kitchen.  There is just something so regal about them as they "strut their stuff".  We raised this guy from a chick and I had dreams of him becoming a pet.  The first time he charged me I was shocked.  He got me on the thumb with his talon and I dropped the eggs I had just gathered....fleeing for my life.

I have to admit that there were times when I wanted to kill him myself when I went to gather eggs and he would attack me.  I had to take a long handled rake covered in a bright cloth into the pen for protection.  He was terribly afraid of that...but I never hit him with it.  He learned respect for my husband as all the animals around here seem to have done.  Is it the sound of the man voice or the toe of a boot?  Whatever it is, I don't have it.  Not a creature on this ranch respects me!  I believe they all say to themselves, "Oh, here comes the soft spoken one with food and pats.  We can get away with anything with her."  The rooster was no different!

As he lays dying his flock is gathered around him.  Occasionally one hen will give him a little peck and it will rouse him for a second and then he goes back into the business of dying.  I will miss my King of the Roost.