Well, a couple of weeks ago Lyn encouraged me to take a trip with her to interview some potentially new family members. As soon as I was ready to travel, I woke Stuart from his fourth nap of the day and invited him to accompany us to Greenwood for the interviews.
We entered the store and Lyn led us to an area where hundreds of baby chickens were chirping. There were many different breeds. Stuart and I made a couple of laps around the chickens.
Lyn had done her homework and knew what breeds she was interested in. She was soon chatting with a store employee and examining some young chickens. Stuart and I visited with some folks who recognized him from the articles that he writes for this newspaper.
We returned home with four baby chickens and the supplies needed to help them grow into hens. Some adjustments were needed to our garage, and our newest family members were set up under a heat lamp and provided food and water. Lyn told me that they will be full grown and laying eggs by midsummer.
It seems like I can see these baby chickens growing daily, and they are accustomed to us visiting with them. A couple of them seem to enjoy being held by Lyn.
Lyn and I are considering names for the new girls. Our three older chickens had special names; two of them were named after our mothers. Betty was named for my mom and Alberta was named for Lyn’s mom. The third, Jackie, is named after a former family member, Jack the rooster, who was a birthday present to me several years ago by our daughter, Michelle.
It was Alberta that we lost to illness several months ago. Lyn made sure that one of our new girls was of the same breed as Alberta. She was given that same name to honor Lyn’s mom again and also the first Alberta the chicken.
We waited about a week to name the new girls because we wanted to get to know them a bit better before naming them. Besides the new Alberta, we now have Nancy, Trudy and Kathy.
Nancy and Trudy are the names of Lyn’s sisters and my only sibling, Kathy. I’m certain that everyone is excited that they have chickens named after them.
Now there are eight of us sharing things around here. By midsummer we will be gathering in about a dozen fresh eggs every two days.
Shonk is a 1960 graduate of Southport High School, a ’63 grad of Indiana Central College (now the University of Indianapolis) and a retired bus driver from Beech Grove Schools.