Latest arrivals at the zoo

Meet the newest residents up here on the hill. These are my future egg layers. We picked them up on Sunday afternoon at the main post office. It was about a half-hour drive, and hubby decided it was wise to pick them up last. I had to agree. The longer they were in the car, the louder their peeping grew.

It reminded me of a ride I took many, many years ago. We lived in West Virginia for about three years when I was a kid. My brother and I had spent part of the summer with both sets of grandparents in Michigan, but it was time to head for home. My mom's folks took us home. Besides my grandparents, my great grandma and my brother, we had a few more riders for the trip. Grandma Phil was bringing a batch of young chicks to my mom.

The family was cruisin' down the highway, and I would suspect all the windows were down in the car. Wouldn't you know, we had a flat tire. Did I mention that grandpa had gone to the Saturday sale in Hillsdale to get my brother and I $5 bikes???? Well, the only way to get them to West Virginia was to take them completely apart and stuff them in the trunk. Which was no big deal until the spare tire was needed. I can still see my grandpa pulling piece after piece of bike out of that truck to get to that tire.

Once the tire was changed, we were back on the road. By now, the chicks were getting hungry....and noisy. Every mile they got louder until my grandpa finally told grandma to find something to feed them, because they were really getting on his nerves. She dug around in the picnic basket and discovered fig newtons. Well, those chicks just loved those newtons, and they did get quiet for a while. But then the newtons hit them and they got the "runs". Grandpa had a name for such things....he called them "Phyllis' follies". He would give her a pretty hard time about the stuff she involved him in, but he was a good sport about them most of the time.

Funny the things that you never forget. I can still see that whole day in my mind, as if it had just happened.