Hello, Goodbye, Hello: Small Town Neighborhood Watch

Friday, March 4, 2016

Small Town Neighborhood Watch

So I am here in my office at the computer. In comes Bob. Cradled in his arms is a very serene red chicken.

"What are you doing with Nancy in the house?" My thoughts flit to poop on the carpet, a nervous pecking chicken, etc.

"Don't you recognize your own chicken?" asked Bob with a sly grin on his face.

I took a second careful look. "Oh, no, it is not Nancy. This chicken is BIG! It looked like a Rhode Island Red.

Bob had been out in the back yard trimming bushes when the new neighbor drove past and called to him, "I think I have your chicken. She is sitting on the hood of my car."

Now I would like you to know that the car this chicken was perched on is a gorgeous, mint condition antique Kaiser that is for sale. That chicken certainly knew how to pick a car to perch on.

Well, this new neighbor that we had not yet met and welcomed to the neighborhood, even though she lived directly across from us, was cautious about picking up a strange chicken so my husband took the mellow chicken and introduced her to our chickens. Of course our head chicken took to the fight, but in a few seconds my husband knew that the foreign larger chicken had the advantage. He locked up the stranger and came to the house for our cat carrier. I knew where a neighbor across the street had chickens since I can hear them boast when they lay an egg.

The neighbor was home, and it was his chicken. It turns out that they had a new puppy that had knocked a hole in their 6 foot fence and several of his chickens had wandered into the strange and dangerous world of cars and dogs.

We met two new neighbors this afternoon. It took a wandering chicken to bring this all about. Goes to show you that we should never be too busy to meet our neighbors. Life gets in the way at times of meeting and greeting those who live within easy calling distance. When we do meet them face to face these former strangers have a way of becoming real and familiar.

So tomorrow I will bring some nice fresh, organic eggs to our new neighbor with the beautiful antique car. She also has a motorcycle squeezed between her regular car and the Kaiser. Seems like it is time to properly introduce ourselves. She moved in over a month ago but.......as I wrote, life gets in the way. That is sad, I must say. Today I remembered that some of the most important things in life are those nearby who enter our lives and become a part of our sometimes "too busy" lives.

As for the neighbor with the roaming chicken, well, a gift of eggs is definitely not in order, and after all, we did return his wandering chicken, and he was very grateful and friendly!