Rex.

Rex woke up around rude o’clock this morning and has since then crowed every minute on the minute. Once he realized that it was annoying he jacked that number up to three times a minute.

I’m worried. I’m worried about the state of the valley, or rather, the wellbeing of those close to me. Sure, I sleep 30 feet away from where he yowls, but there are people who live over a mile away who know when Rex wakes up and they tell me about it.

Our little lambs, Sabroso (as in tasty) and Peaches (as in fruit), have now taken up the habit of following Rex around. I had hoped that he would get self-conscious of having a captive audience, but he really doesn’t care. As a matter of fact, I do believe he doubles down on it.

Rex is our bastion, our sentinel. He maintains the flock and has yet to disappoint. Our community remains intact. He serves his purpose. But damn…We will put him in the roost with all of the hens tonight and see how it goes.

The same fella who gave us the lambs gifted us a copy of Carla Emery’s Old Fashioned Recipe Book. It has different-colored paper and was copied on a ditto machine from the looks of it. Purchased for $12.45 plus 50 cents postage (87 cents if mailed to Canada), this book is self-publishing at its finest.

There is a whole section on chickens in the book. Carla talks a lot about her mother, Carlotta, and how her mother loved her chickens and how the chickens lived her mother.

I’m reading the bit on how to eat rooster, specifically, how to slaughter (this may be a spiteful move but I’m gripey and tired this morning). Here’s what it says:

“To kill the chicken grasp it firmly by the ankles and both wing tips with the left hand and place it’s body on the chopping block so that the neck is stretched out across the block […]some people prefer to wring the chickens neck […] a more professional method is to stun the bird by piercing the brain with a knife run through the roof of the mouth or by a blow on the head.”

This recipe book is so much more. It’s a no-frills information guide to doing exactly what we are doing. I’ll share more about it as the days roll on.

What we have decided is that no animal is too far away from being a meal. I’m not comfortable with that all, but with Rex’s help, I’m getting there.

Today we fix the greenhouse and get it going. Also, we work on the eagle guard on the chicken yard to keep the resident birds-of-prey from snacking on animals that have names (I know, but I can’t help it).