Sometimes I can't believe everything I read, but I try anyway

This evening I read a most interesting article. I bet KFC can't wait to get their hands on one of these chickens, for research purposes of course... Too bad he's dead already.

Also, I hope I never spontaneously develop an extra anus which turns out to be homicidal (or would that be suicidal?) I'm adding this to my list of "ways I'd prefer not to die."

Extra anus kills four-legged chick

25 October 2006

By YVONNE TAHANA

Forzie the four-legged chicken will cluck no more.

The Te Uku-bred Barnevelder chick - hatched at Marlene Dickey's property at the start of last month - has died.

But it wasn't the extra legs that led to its death, more likely an extra anus, Mrs Dickey believes.

"He developed two bottoms and I think he got glugged up," she said.

While she was surprised by Forzie's death - he weighed a "good pound of butter" and was gaining feathers slowly - it was not totally unexpected, she said.

And it was fun while it lasted.

"He was a bit of a laugh."

Looking ungainly on its extra legs but twice as cute, the bird was an exception to the rule that chickens with defects are not normally born alive.

He was found dead on Friday and is now in the Dickeys' freezer waiting to be stuffed.

After he's been to the taxidermist, the family plan to donate the bird to Auckland Museum.

Currently listening: Black Holes and Revelations By Muse

Release date: 11 July, 2006

I Love

I decided today, that some things worth appreciating might not always get the credit they deserve. So tonight I'm going to make a list of simple things that make me happy, so that next time I'm feeling blue, I can read this list, maybe add to it, and feel better.

Things I Love:

1. The way that milk in my tea makes billowing cloudy patterns, no two of which are ever alike.

2. When something healthy that I cooked from scratch smells delicious, especially if it turns out to taste just as delicious as it smells. (Like this vegetable beef stew I just made, or the split pea soup I made the other day...)

3. When you're outside the moment it begins to rain, and the rain is so gentle and sparse that it kisses your face but doesn't soak you to the core.

4. How lightning brightens up the night sky like something much much larger than you just felt like taking your picture.

5. When you walk into a movie theatre and sit down in the perfect seat right as the lights dim.

6. When the first pomegranate of the season is bigger than your fist and just sweet-tart enough to make you pucker and smile at the same time.

7. When something I sewed together with no pattern, machine or measuring tape fits just as I intended.

8. When a movie that I thought was totally predictable completely surprises me with a twist I never could have made up on my own.

9. When a book makes me laugh out loud, or cry real tears.

10. When I'm walking along and the smell of star jasmine bushes or one of my favorite butterfly trees reminds me that there are beautiful things that occur in nature when everyone (and no one) is watching.

11. When I reach into my clean laundry bag and the first things that come out are one of my favorite shirts and a pair of matching socks.

12. When my phone makes that little ringing noise, and I find a text message or email from someone who feels the same way about me as I feel about them.

13. How I think I've never taken the picture I wanted, and when I check out my work later, I find a photo that's much better than I imagined.

14. How the most random things always turn up in my size at the thrift store. (like my super-cool never-been-used-before-me roller skates from 1984)

15. When I'm out having sushi and they have just what I want on special. (Especially if it's Octopus and it's super fresh mmmm...)

16. How even though my hair has multiple personalities, it usually turns out ok with minimal effort.

17. How even though I doubt myself, I can still do things I never thought I was capable of.

18. When I connect with another person, a friend (old or new) and feel rewarded just because I've been given the chance to know them in that moment, no matter how long or short the moment lasts.

19. When someone I know creates something so beautiful and unique that I feel humbled by their talent.

20. When I get to witness someone teach another person something that I taught them.

That'll do it for now. Now you tell me, what do you love?

Currently listening: Lights Out By Sugarcult

Release date: 12 September, 2006