Friday, June 18, 2010

Belated Photos of Rapidly Aging Chickens

Life has been completely nuts lately, and I have failed to provide you with the promised pics of my growing chicky babies. As a small token of atonement, I now offer you some rather outdated pics of my babies and my other babies.


Livy with Daisy~Scarlet with Scout, Day 1



Charlotte, Wilbur, Snowflake, Ruthie, Rocky, Scout & Sky, at about 1 week old (Apparently, Sunny & Daisy were hiding)


Scout, playing King of the Mountain on the waterer. The others soon followed suit and it quickly became the most coveted spot inside the brooder.


When I get my booty in gear and take AND actually upload some newer pics of the chicks, you'll be stunned by how much these little porkers have grown in a month. They're even starting to show some cranky tween-age behavior like squaring off on each other, and constantly tussling for the coveted top spot on the waterer or edge of the brooder. I have my suspicions about 2 or 3 of the more feisty chicks being roosters, but until we know for sure, they'll all continue to share living quarters.

More pics soon - pinky promise.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Pondering Karma & Stuff

Ok. This might be a little off topic for my blog, but since when has that ever stopped me? ;)

Lately I've been trying to sort out my feelings about philanthropy, volunteerism and the whole random-acts-of-kindness thing. The thing that I am wrestling with boils down to this - Is an act of kindness diminished if you take away a sense of fulfillment or pride from it?

My daughter's school has a volunteer luncheon every year, and every year I am invited, but I never go. I feel like going would be like basking in my own glory, which is not how I feel about volunteering at all. I feel like it is my duty as a parent and a citizen to help when and where I can and expect no celebration for it. I know that the girls' teachers are thankful for the help that I give them and the students, so why would I need some big to-do?

The same goes for bringing food to the food bank, donating money to charity, being a "parking meter fairy", etc. I do it because it needs to be done, and because it makes me feel like I'm injecting a secret little pinch of happiness or relief into someone's day. But, in feeling that sense of giddiness over my act or gift, am I actually negating the intended selflessness of the act of giving? Am I doing it for me or for them?