Yes, I said feral chickens

I have lived next door to Ray for 28 years. I have made him my uncle of sorts. He is rugged man who has worked hard as a carpenter all his life. I would consider him a man's man; big, strong, and possessing no fear of man nor beast. Although he has never even raised his voice to me, I would never dream of saying or doing anything disrespectful toward him. Number one, I love him, and number two, I feel quite sure he would wallop me good! However, there is one thing about Ray I only recently found out. He has a soft spot of chickens. I have caught him making sure the eggs are safe, throwing out feed in the winter, and such things. Let me make one thing clear, they are not HIS chickens.

We have a growing number of Mexicans in our neighborhood. Mexicans like chickens, but much like their American brethren, they let their pet population get out of control. Admittedly, I have never heard of a spay/neuter clinic for chickens, but it's only 2008. Another interesting observation is that American chickens and Mexican chickens act different (which reminds me, cats in Peurto Rico don't answer to "kitty, kitty"-I was shocked. Guess I figured all cats spoke Kitty). Mexican chickens seem to be more evolved. The roosters peacefully coexist, they can fly, and perch in trees. No joke, I see if every day-and they don't seem the least bit interested in assimilating. But I digress.

Last Monday, Ray displayed his chicken affection in an act of valor I shall not soon forget. As I walked out to get in my car, I noticed that Zeus, Ray's grandson's, Lil Russel (I need to stop calling him that as he is 23), Pit Bull Terrier was loose. No biggie, he was just sniffing around acting all dogie like. About that time, Ray stepped around the side of the house, and that's when all H-E-double hockey sticks broke out. As Ray stepped around the side of the house, Zeus spotted the chickens and takes off after them. So Ray takes off after Zeus. Get a VISUAL here. Ray is chasing Zeus, Zeus is chasing chickens, and about 45 chickens in various stages of life, are clucking in panic, running, flying into trees, flying into my fence, jumping, doing circles in some apparent ploy to confuse Zeus. This does not just end in a few seconds--nope, this convoy made several trips around the house. As a matter of fact, as I pulled out of my drive, one of the lead chickens had this ridiculous looking conga line headed out back.

I have to be honest...I was rooting for Zeus.