Damn Chickens

I love our chickens, honestly; but those damn birds need to stay the hell out of Joanne's flowerbeds. We would like our chickens to be free-range (a.k.a. do what they please) and we thought three plus acres would be enough to keep them occupied. Man were we wrong.

Unfortunately we live along a heavily traveled road. I guess the noise makes them a bit uneasy because they want nothing to do with that part of the yard. So, a combination of road noise and the cats lurking around the house, they have decided to make the daily commute to our neighbor's yard.--A little side note. Chickens are in fact in no real danger of cats; in fact just the other day one of the chickens charged a cat that got a little too curious. Be it as it may, although there is no real danger (meaning death) the chickens in our case would rather the cats stay their distance.

So their travels leave us with this: Earlier Meg and I were doing what-have-you in the garden, keeping an occasional eye on the chickens under the fruit trees (our property) when we heard Joanne hollering in her yard. I looked to the fruit trees and sure as shit, no chickens. We ran out of the garden and into Joanne's yard to see her armed with a broom and expletives. The chickens, who are not not known for their stealth, were seen hauling ass for cover into some near by pines. I immediately began apologizing to Joanne and she insisted that it was okay (she's a sweet lady), but it doesn't make us feel any better or less embarrassed. So we gathered the chickens, sat them down, and told them why they had to stay away from Joanne's petunias. Their response was their usual simple and erratic stare, like they knew there was no way they could ever understand, but had an inkling we might be in cahoots with the cats.