Do we or don't we -- calling for help in a fraught world

Today I was faced with a conundrum. A man was lying in the middle of the sidewalk and was still breathing, but not responding to inquiries. So was he just sleeping? Overdosing? Having a stroke, a heart attack, or other health emergency? Unknown. So what's the problem? If he's just sleeping -- so what? He can carry on. Doing no harm. But if he's in medical distress, just call for help.

Not so fast. The gentleman is African American. I'm an older white lady. What are the consequences? As I'm dithering over what to do, an African American woman walked by and she mentions the man on the sidewalk. So I asked her, "what would you do?" She agreed to call 911, but not stick around because she needed to get off her feet and sit down. Thank you, says I. About 5 minutes later, the gentleman gets up and starts walking the opposite way down the street. Within another 2 minutes, the Sheriff pulls up. I stress we were only worried about his safety; he was doing nothing wrong. I said it seems like he's fine now that he's walking away, but the Sheriff said he'd just check on him to make sure. That conversation, from what could be seen, was short and sweet.

In the world as we know it is, even well-meaning gestures can get out of hand and the consequences can be dire. And even though it seemed to end fine, I'm still not sure about whether it was handled well or not. I didn't actually hear what the Sheriff said. I didn't see how the gentleman reacted to a police car pulling up near him. And I can't know what this man has been through already in his life and his day that would make him suddenly lie down and sleep in the middle of a sidewalk. And sadly I will never know.

And now in NINJA news:

Ninja decided to jump the fence once again and came into the backyard. She completely upended the over one hour of planting succulents I did last night because apparently that was the best place to scratch for tasty bugs out of the ENTIRE backyard full of great places to scratch for tasty bugs that weren't JUST planted with succulents.

I had already begun watering the yard when I realized she had joined the party. I cautiously started at the far end and moved slowly and quietly as possible, all the while getting closer to her area. She was alert but seemed unfazed by the water and my presence. BTW, when I say water the yard, I don't mean turning on sprinklers. No, no no -- I have to stand there with a hose that kinks at every opportunity. This is by choice as I can direct the water very specifically and not waste water, and yet usually results in cursing the hose in multiple colorful expressions that would make a sailor blush. Not tonight though, out of respect for her delicate sensibilities.

Finally I had no choice (other than stopping altogether) but to advance to the area she occupied. She saw me coming, and instead of her usual startled and over-the-top flight response, she simply moseyed over to another area. Shock! OK, proceed with watering. Ninja wandered about and even came within a few feet. Has she realized she's safer here than out with the coyotes? Has she seen the light? Well, no. Not exactly. But it was encouraging.

After watering I put out a small bowl of mealworms for her in a spot she frequented. Then I went and sat down far enough away to keep from startling her, but within a more intimate distance than usual. She discovered the bowl and tucked into it with an enthusiasm I hadn't seen in her. She almost seemed to recognize that it appeared not by magic, but possibly by the person she'd been skirting all evening. She even kept looking at me sitting there and came closer. Closer -- and then she turns and walks away. Fluffs herself up and gives a good shake, Attacks the mealworms again, stares at me, meanders around the patio getting closer, and walks away again. If I weren't soaking wet and getting cold, I would've stayed in my seat to see what she would do as darkness approached, but in the interests of not catching a cold, I finally left the arena. Another chicken victory.

Organizing sandpaper...yes, it's a thing

I know I'm not the first to do this, but as I'm clearing out and cleaning up the garage (which apparently is a never-ending cycle of delight at finding things you thought were long lost and misery that something you did find is no longer working), I came across a box with sandpaper in it. The box was huge and in a difficult place to access, the sandpaper jumbled up, and generally was a mess.

Aha! I knew the solution immediately. Having upended my office/craft space only a couple months prior, there was a small hanging file box that was looking for a purpose. Well it has one now. I labeled each file folder with the type/size of sandpaper and voila! We can find just what we need at a glance.

The takeaway of this project is: if you aren't organized, you're going to buy too many packets of the very one you already have tooooooo many packets of, and not buy enough of the one size you actually need for your current project!

Chickens and coyotes and mama bears, oh my!

At no point when I started this blog did I dream I'd be writing multiple posts about a chicken who is entertaining and infuriating all at the same time. And yet, here we are. The good news -- she has discovered the little bowls I put around for her with her favorite treat -- mealworms. She's not as fond of the gourmet chicken feed, but if she prefers scratching for grubs and other insect delicacies, who am I to judge? Even better news, she is back to laying an egg a day in the nest we discovered a week ago, so at least I feel somewhat rewarded for all the emotional labor I've been expending on her.

Today, however, was the day I've been dreading and worrying about since she came to us. I was happily grooming Sassy (our daily ritual mostly to keep her goopy face as clean as possible and prevent her hair from matting), when I heard Ninja loudly and vehemently protesting. Then I saw a white streak followed by a brown streak. You guessed it, a coyote. I opened the door, stepped out and yelled in my best mama bear voice, "you get out of here!" Fortunately the coyote was more afraid of me than the allure of Ninja in flight, and skedaddled rapidly down the street. 

While I was fairly certain the coyote hadn't laid tooth or paw on Ninja, and I didn't want to stress her further by tracking her down, I did go out after a bit and found her sitting on her nest. Rather than freak her out, I quietly stole away and let her decompress. 

Later in the evening, she was strutting around as usual and avoiding me as usual and acting like the crazy chicken she is -- as usual. If only she would agree to hang in the backyard, there would be no coyote encounters and she could do whatever she wants in relative safety. But no...she has her own thoughts on the matter. 

And now for something completely different....

When not obsessing about Ninja's welfare, I do have other projects. They are not glamorous, but necessary. Cleaning out the garage has been the big project and I think another week (or two), should see it completely whipped into shape. Once I can get to my workbench and  know where all my tools are, more exiting projects like mosaics and garden sculptures can commence. 

Lest you think that the garage is the only dirty job, guess again. I've also tackled painting the back porch overhang. It started with simply wanting to paint the two massive pillars that hold the whole shebang up. They are exposed to extreme sun and rain and were so weathered, peeling, and nasty looking that I could ignore them no longer. Scraping, sanding, washing down and three coats of brilliant white paint later, they looked wonderful. Unfortunately, that meant the rest of the structure looked awful. So, you're right, I couldn't ignore that and I started painting the main cross beam. That has led to now trying to get to the rest. The problem (isn't there always a problem), there are obstacles in way of reaching all the bits that need work. I'm at the point where I'm just going to have to be satisfied with what I can reach and not think too hard about the bits I can't get to--yet. When it's time to tile the back wall, then I'll be able to finish it off.

And to change things up even further, I spend at least two hours a day weeding the garden. Exciting stuff. 

Ninja graciously allowed me in the backyard with her!

No self-respecting chicken keeper would get so excited about having their chicken come into their backyard and happily allow the keeper to get some chores done while she (the chicken) went about her business. Since Ninja has been keeping out of sight in the infamous thicket for the past few days, we thought she had decided that human contact was simply not on and we would never see her up close and personal again.

Given that a couple of days ago there was a horrific car accident right in front of our house and debris even flew into the thicket, we were worried Ninja would depart altogether. Fortunately, we were wrong. Today we got back from our first Costco run since the pandemic hit for real, and lo and behold - there was Ninja, happily scratching up the yard in search of delicacies only a chicken would find edible. While she didn't run over to say hello and welcome home, she didn't squawk, cluck and run away either. She did keep an eye on what we were up to, but basically ignored us lugging in all the goodies we scored during our shopping excursion.

After lunch and  a nap (daily these days), I had to get out to the backyard to continue a dirty project that is not glamorous at all - scraping, sanding and washing down the porch pillars that haven't been painted for at least 15 years and are a flaking, peeling mess. Yes the rest of the porch needs painting too, but being covered it doesn't get the weathering the pillars do. Of course I worried that Ninja would freak out and disappear again (I don't think she's quite forgiven us for raiding her nest and stealing her eggs). But realizing we can't have a chicken dictate our lives, I boldly stepped out into the yard and strode purposely to the garage. She looked up, and proceeded to ignore me. PROGRESS. I fixed up a dog crate with wood shavings and placed it in a protected spot she likes to hang out in and then put out mealworms to entice her over. She took the bait and even considered the dog crate as a potential something or other. You can see the crate to the left.

While I have no illusions she will suddenly allow us to pet her, I hope that if she continues to stay in the backyard as opposed to the thicket, she will eventually come to accept that she is a welcome addition to our family an I can set up even cozier, safer digs for her.

Ninja has done it again....

We've been worried about Ninja because we hadn't seen her out and about for 2 days. At the same time, we have seen multiple coyotes coming into our yard and though they don't seem to tarry long, we all know the outcome if chicken meets coyote. So of course I go into high worry mode and put out delicacies to see if I can tempt Ninja (if she's still around) to come out and show herself. No dice.

It was during a quick conversation that my partner showed me where he saw her last and we went out to see where she could've disappeared. Well, I've said it before and I'll say it again, Ninja is smarter that I am by far. She was laying very still and didn't move even when we approached her. We thought she was injured or dead, so I reached down to grab her when she shot out of her hiding place and flew high up into the Deodar in the thicket. We gasped when we realized what she had been doing. She was sitting on a beautifully carved out nest of 15 eggs. She must've been laying at least 2 eggs per day since she decided to live with us and we were too thick to find out what she was up to. 

Now a broody hen is a great thing except for one MINOR detail. Unless she has a secret boyfriend we haven't seen, or more importantly, heard, her eggs will not hatch into cute little chicks. So I picked up all but 2 of the eggs (to keep in the nest so she would come back was my thinking), and then spent the rest of the day second-guessing myself. I confess I'm finding this chicken to be more stressful than joyful, but I hope to get it right in time and we will all be happy families. 

Yes, even more chicken stories.

Ninja is getting bolder and a lovely neighbor gave me chicken feed until I could figure out a source. He maintains that mealworms are like crack to chickens, and I definitely don't want to encourage addictions in anyone, but I happily started bribing her with her drug of choice. Not that she is in any way prepared to succumb to my charms yet. We are figuring out where her preferred hangouts are so I can make sure she finds feed there, and also so we can check on her multiple times a day. She even deigned to drink from a bowl of water I set out just for her. It's amazing how the littlest things make us dance for joy because the CHICKEN decides she likes something we do for her. Yup -- officially round the bend and I can't even blame Covid-19. So here she is in all her glory:

Now a non-chicken related note -- that tiered pot I spent hours on just to decide the top pot was too big -- yes, I changed it out. And though it looks wilty and sparse right now, there will be dense foliage in a few months. And though the top pot isn't nearly as pretty as the first, it serves the purpose nicely. The pretty pot has been moved to the side yard and will let the geraniums thrive once they catch hold and root. After the marigold debacle, it's nice to have a win.

Congratulations! You are now a chicken mama.

The neighbor who lost Ninja (and yes, the chicken did indeed cross the road) came over last night to see if there was any hope of capturing her. He realized it was a losing battle and bequeathed her to me if I ever managed to tame her. I reluctantly accepted that challenge as I really don't want a chicken. Then, being an animal sucker to the bone, I frantically texted a neighbor I know who has chickens and asked for advice on feeding her; spent an hour on the internet researching, and then spent 15 minutes going through our refrigerator for appropriate foodstuffs and coming up woefully short. I did get the name of the nearest feed supplier and will visit them on the morrow. In the meantime, Ninja is happily digging her way to Australia in search of grubs and other insects, and quite saucily flouncing just out of reach whenever I appear.

Here is why I'm not an "Internet influencer." 

While they make their projects, gardens, travels, and makeup look flawless first time, I admit defeat readily. If you'll remember, I added marigolds to pots to act as a barricade for my little bowling ball Sassy so she wouldn't break her neck coming up the stairs from the backyard. So cheerful, bright and sunny. An excellent addition to the floral ambiance. Yeah, well, not so much:

Ninja the chicken, continued

I found Ninja's people and they had only had her for two days before she made the great escape. They've had as little luck as I have in trying to entice her home. Today, she has been much bolder about hanging about in my yard and I was even able to capture a quick picture through the window. And yes, I have her people's blessing for her new moniker. I tried to think of something cute and all I could think of is how she eludes us so completely - hence - Ninja.

Perhaps it is wishful thinking, but as I puttered around the garden where she hung out, she was alert but seemed more comfortable. She even hopped into our gated, fenced back yard and made herself quite at home. My only fear with that maneuver is that my big bear might try to catch her and the results would not be peachy. Though he rarely goes out on his own anymore, we decided to close the back door. That's the phrase we hear so much these days: out of an abundance of caution. Our cat approves: