Chickens and Chia Pets Have Invaded My RL House!

Actually, only two chickens, and just one Chia Pet. And neither was recent.

When my older daughter was in first and second grade, they had a project each year where they hatched chicken eggs. So for the first grade project, she brought home the baby chick for a bit.

For the second grade project, she brought home the baby chick and told me she COULD NOT RETURN IT.

Well, this baby chick - needless to say - grew up. Eventually it outgrew its box in the living room and had to be moved to the basement. My daughter named it Rosie. There we were, in a city area area that didn't allow farm pets, so we kept it in the house. And absolutely did not know what to do with it.

Rosie lived in the basement at night, and during the day, I'd go down and open the door and she would walk up the basement steps, and up the first floor steps, then through the kitchen to the side yard, which was fenced.

Now I've had a fair number of surreal moments in my life, but the ridiculousness of watching this grown chicken walk up the stairs every morning was beyond bizarre.

Once in the yard, Rosie would happily peck her way around, and I would hope we wouldn't get reported. Being a chicken, she managed to find her way out of the fenced yard, and I'd go out there and see her pecking away in the woods behind the house or in a neighbor's back yard, and have to call her back.

(I know how to call chickens, because my grandparents lived on a chicken farm. And I would just adore having yard chickens, but, as I said, they aren't allowed in the city!)

Meanwhile, my daughter trained Rosie. This consisted of grabbing the chicken, putting her on the patio table, saying "Sit" and pushing her down, until the chicken got this glazed-over look in her eyes and did just that. It was rather amazing to watch. I'm a gonna go down to the playroom later and find the pic I have of these girls with Rosie and add it to this post later, if I can find it. Anyway, poor chicken, having to bend to my daughter's will.

Eventually we found one of those petting sort of farms in the state that agreed to take Rosie and promised never to cook her for dinner. That was a good thing. Because let me tell you, having a chicken living in your house is definitely NOT a good thing. Very, very not a good thing.

The Chia Pet died.

coco

L M A O

This makes me remember my pet squirrel from childhood. My grandparents live in the middle of about 20 acres and have an enormous oak tree in the back yard. When I was about seven, a pair of squirrels made a nest and did their duty and had a bunch of babies. Well, one little guy fell out of the nest. I cried, and cried. My dad felt so bad that we put the baby squirrel in the box and took him home with us. My mom got one of those little bottles used to feed small animals and he became my little pet squirrel Corky. I can't remember how long we had Corky. But, he went from being an inside squirrel to having a large cage outside with a tree branch in it and a little house. He was completely spoiled and would get massively agitated if the dogs got fed before him. Eventually my dad decided that it would be a good idea to let him go back into the wild. Now, I was still rather young but this always bothered me because he had been domesticated. He didn't know how to fend for himself or interact with other animals. Well, besides dogs. But I was a kid and it was my dad's decision. So back to my grandparents we went with the squirrel. I cried so hard that day as Corky went scampering down the dirt road into the woods. About a month later my grandmother said that Corky brought a little friend with him back to their house, lol, and a few months later he brought back his babies for her to see. Yes she took pictures because she knew I would think she was just trying to say these things to make me feel better because I was so devestated.

The chia pet brings back memories too. There has been a chia pet making it's way around each of my extended family members for about ten years now. And no one has ever grown it. Long story and would make all of you think I have one of the most bizarre families on the face of the Earth. And I am nice enough to spare you all the details of it, lol.

Aw, that's so sweet about the squirrel! A friend of mine's father has a squirrel for a pet. He just leaves a window open for it all the time, and it comes and goes from the house to the yard and back again.

coco

This does remind me of my pet skunk Caesar.

As a kid we lived in a very rural area. My dad decided to take me out squirrel hunting when I was about 12. We took our dog along. Ugly but sweet mutt named Hobo, and he smelled something and scampered off after it. Turns out what he found was the carcass of a skunk that had probably been killed by coyotes. Beside the dead skunk, there was a single little one just crying his head off. Dad pulled Hobo back and took a look, then got that petrified look in his eyes. He was going to outright kill the little skunk with his shotgun, but being the kind-hearted kid I was, I convinced him otherwise. I mean, this little skunk was probably too young to spray, because it didn't even try to. It was about the size of the palm of my hand.

Anyway, we took the skunk home and my mom flipped her top, but with some convincing she allowed me to keep him. He got older. Sprayed the poor dog three times in a week, so as soon as he got old enough we took him to be descented and neutered. Needless to say he got fat after that. Found out why. He'd eat up his own food, then go scare the poor dog off and eat his food as well. I had to put the darn skunk on a diet. That was about the time I settled on calling him Caesar instead of just "Skunk".

I miss that skunk. Had to give him up when I went into the military.

Ha! Chickens are funny pets. When I was little, my Dad got the idea in his head that he wanted fresh eggs. So he went and purchased three chickens and turned our shed into a chicken coop. Every morning without fail, one chicken (who became known to us as Jumpin' Janis Joplin) jumped over the wire fence and ran around the neighborhood.

You want to talk about surreal? How about watching your Mother chase a chicken around the neighborhood in her bathrobe. Wow, I should really make her pay for my therapy bills.

My in-laws have a chiquita banana doll that has been "mysteriously" showing up at random family members houses over 15 years or so. Once it showed up in a "gift" from the congregation at our church for my mother in law's help with something. Imagine opening a box in front of the church and finding what you least expect. I guess she screamed and ran out of the church she was so shocked. Turns out her bro-in-law knew one of the church members and mailed it to him with instructions on what to do with it.

I dread ever finding it at my house.

i give this thread twenty stars!