Chickens in the bath tub.

We all have things that remind of us of our childhood.  Some of us are blessed enough to have most of those memories to be happy ones.  Most of the things that take me back the second I see them make me smile. 

When I hear Loretta Lynn or Chrystal Gayle I remember playing my mom's records.  When I see a station wagon I remember the one we had when I was kid. For some reason that always makes me think of bring pudgie our dog home from the pound. 

When I see big colorful bangle jewelry or big full green indoor plants I think of Aunt Neda and how I loved her house.  I will never see a make-up kit without thinking of Aunt Bonnie and the red lights on top of antennas and water towers remind me of Uncle Jerry telling me those were alien space ships. 

 I love rain gages because I remember helping my great grandfather put one up out by the clothes line. He died when I was 4 so that is the only memory I have of him.  And saltine crackers with peanut butter and white milk glass chickens with peppermint candy make me smile because I think of Grandma when I see or eat those.

I spent years collecting the glasses we had when I was little because everytime I drank out of them they made me happy.  I have so many things like that. I remember wrestling on the floor with my dad and the girl scout Jamboree with my mom. I remember when we moved to Quanah and my pretty pink rufflie flowery bedspread with my metal bed.  And telling Doug to go tell mom he was scared so I could sleep on his bunkbed cause I didn't want to seem like a baby and say I was.  I can close my eyes and tell you where everyone sat around Mamaw's table when we were all there.

In a lot of ways I have tried to recreate that with my own family.  Like my obsession with the green glasses I want to keep pieces of that childhood with me.   I am sure that is where my chickens and my garden come from.  I spent so much time every summer with Mamaw helping with the garden and the chickens.   Along with all that recreating there where I few things I said I wouldn't do.  I said NO pigs. I don't like pigs. No collections of things from the past piled in corners and covered with blankets. If I don't have room for it it needs a new home.

And straight up, under no circumstances, absolutely NO CHICKENS IN THE BATHUB!  One of the things I loved most about Mamaw's house was her clawfoot bathtub.  I loved to fill that thing up and soak! I can remember going to Mamaw's house it the spring and the tub was full of chicks. We would have to clean out the tub before I could use it.  When I decided to get chickens I said no chicks I only want layers because I don't want to deal with babies. I don't want chicks in my bathtub. Well I went to Tractor Supply yesterday and they had chicks. I caved. They are cute. The chirp and peep. It is adorable. I bought some. Couldn't help it. We got home and had to find a place for them to live until they are big enough to go outside in the pen.

What are we going to do with them?  We can't leave them in the tiny little box they came in while we construct a place. We can't just put them out in something they would be cat food. What can we do? "Put them in the bathtub", I said.  Oh My! Full circle I guess.

So here are the babies in there nice cozy plastic tub.   They are cute and the kids are loving having them.  The new plan with the cute little ones has been like a balm making us all feel better after losing all the others. I am happy to report they only spent about an hour or so in the bathtub.

They are so cute. If you look you can see a couple of them have marks on them. The marks are drops of food coloring so the kids can tell the ones they picked apart from the others.

We had to take the plastic tub we put them in and slide it into the dog crate so the cats couldn't get the chicks. Although the peeping drove the cats crazy at first they are just ignoring it now.