Update part 1: Army of Chickens

OH EM GEE!  I'm back again, from another ridiculously long absence!  Please don't throw anything at me. 

 I have been zipping all over the place!  As you know, I've been beslinged of late, and unable to do necessary things like, say, drive myself to get food.  So, since my parents were going out of town (to the Isle of Wight for their 30th anniversary, yay them!) I got shuffled off to Wake Forest, NC to spend some time getting taken care of by my godfamily, the Murrs, a couple of whom (Laura and Eamon) I introduced y'all to way back at Christmas.  I spent most of my time there eating.  Mrs. Murr is a fantastic cook, and plied me with (among varied delectables) mountains of homemade sauerkraut, rivers of happy milk and the thickest cream I've ever tasted and fresh eggs from their army of chickens.  Take a look:

just a few

my favorite one!

the delicious output

The birds are locked in an enclosure with a small yard and a henhouse at night, but during the day they have the run of the whole yard - which, as you can tell, is mostly pine forest.  There are about five different kinds: little white ones, slightly bigger black, red and striped ones and then the beauty you see above.  She's the biggest of the whole flock, and she has these gorgeous ruffles of feathers all the way down her legs, like fancy lace pantaloons.  She struts around like a big-bosomed aunt from a P. G. Wodehouse book, usually with a couple of the little white hens following her. 

Apart from the two Murr boys, Eamon and Liam, I encountered only a couple more beasties: first, the Murr's positively liquid cat, Luna:

...and a tiny kitten that Eamon brought home from a trip, named Ollie and threw into my arms, where he promptly fell asleep. 

yes i know he's not asleep here

He fell asleep pretty much everywhere else, too.

I was squealing like an idiot the entire time I took these (and many more) pictures.  I mean, really.  Kitten. Sleeping.  I can't not squeal.

During my stay, the eldest and sole Murr daughter, Laura, returned from a school trip to Mexico, bearing a real Mayan sleeping hammock (so cool!) and a sketchbook crammed with pictures of Mayan runes and temples and spouting crazy stories of beautiful female vampires who live in trees during the day and come out to feed at night.  She had only been home for a few days when she, Mrs. M. and I all packed up and took off again, heading north to Ohio...which is what the next post will be about.  Stay tuned!

For now, I'll leave you with more chickens:

-N