WHAAAT! HOW DID SHE GET HERE???

Yep!! Henrietta is making a guest appearance. If you haven't been following my blog let me quickly explain. Henrietta --is/was?-- a bantam chicken who belonged to our neighbor. However, because we fed the birds she decided she liked our yard better than her own and adopted us. She became quite a friendly and healthily chubby chicken over the course of ten months. (October through July of this year). She roosted in the olive tree which is located at the fence between the two yards, and daily could be found sitting on the flower pot outside my den window, just a yard or so from my computer. There she would sit and gently caw to Bailey, my cat who sat at the screen, not two feet away from her. This was a daily routine, mostly with the window open.
The neighbors tried to catch her but without any success. She flew too high and too fast for them. Finally, their grandparents came to stay. They are from Mexico and are probably farmers. So one quiet night Henrietta disappeared never to be seen again.



I told my family I was going to get a replica to replace her on the flower pot. They didn't think I would find one. But I had a secret. I knew Kauai had many chickens and I remembered seeing some in one of the stores there. Sure enough, they still had them last month. Sadly they were roosters and crowed when you clapped your hands. But they had one who had lost his ability to crow and didn't have much of a rooster tail. So I bought him to make him a 'her'.

So with the aid of some black feathers for her tail, a little white paint to cover other black feathers, removing the wattle (those red hanging things under a rooster's chin) and trimming the comb, behold: Henrietta returns!!!

She will take her place on the flower pot when the rain goes away. The funny thing is that one evening after I had been working on her, I stood her on the hearth for the paint to dry. When I returned to the fireplace a little later, there was Bailey crouched down, creeping up to her, ready to pounce. Good thing I came in when I did. The new Henrietta is just about the right size and probably the best replica I will ever get.

This is the real Henrietta.

If you really want to know more about the Saga of Henrietta you have to go all the way back to November 6th 2007. To make it easier, click on the month you want to go to which is listed in the side bar at the right.

Entries about Henrietta can be seen on the following dates:

2007 November 6, December 6 and 10
2008 January 6, February 6, March 26
April 6, May 12 and 24
June 5, July 3 and 16