The haunting of the headless chicken.....

Early morning feeding chores can be such a peaceful time. The birds are all happy for the new day and the air is filled with their lovely songs. Lazy dogs have yet to wake up and face all the many questions of their day like, "Which pillow should I shred on the porch today?"  The princesses are still all snug in their beds dressed in their mismatched PJ's. And Sweet Man has just been seen off to work.

This morning proved to not be quite as peaceful. When I walked by Sweet Man's stove I heard an eerie scratching sound coming from inside.

Now any other day I probably would have just shrugged it off and went on with my tasks. But not this morning. For you see, this is where the headless body lay of our rather large feisty rooster. By the time the deed was done the previous evening,  a storm had rolled in, and a fire was not lit to cremate the body. So it lay. Waiting. With the door closed.

All sorts of disturbing thoughts entered my head on this foggy morning."Was it possible that it was too dark to see correctly, and a foot had been lopped off instead of a head? Is it possible for a chicken to survive without a head? Has he come back from the grave to torment me for taking his life and then not even eating him?" AUGH!!! I just had to know!!

Armed with nothing more than knee high rubber boots, I proceeded to approach the stove with caution. I figured if an ax couldn't be the demise of a chicken, a pair of rubber boots wouldn't do a bit of good. But still I walked on ever so slowly.  I listened. I heard more scratching. I smacked the stove to see if it would quit. It didn't!! Whatever it was doing in there, it was not happy. "Oh Lord, please forgive me for taking the life of something you created. Please don't let this headless chicken flog me!! I just know I would be traumatized by such an event."

I listened again and found the sound to be coming from BESIDE the stove, instead of in it. Further inspection showed this...

This sweet little turtle had somehow found his way into a piece of stove pipe and couldn't get out. Oh he was giving it his best try. He would manage to climb halfway up the pipe, only to slide all the way back down.

SHEW...now this I can handle! This can even be something exciting to wake the girls up to show them. A headless chicken, not so much!