One more!

Dear Ones:

My oncologist thought my skin so improved today that I should go ahead with the two lost chest wall treatments. I had one today, so tomorrow is the very last one. For real, for sure, this time!!! It is amazing how much better my skin felt after 8 solid days with no treatments. Conversely, it's also amazing how tight it already feels tonight after the one treatment today.

I finished "One True Thing" by Anna Quinlan. It is also a very good read. She is a gifted writer, though her story lines are serious. I am currently reading a short biography on Winston Churchill. I like biographies. I am always amazed by details of people's lives that I wouldn't learn otherwise. I have Lucille Ball's biography and have had for several months. For a real change of pace, perhaps I'll read that next. Although, Cary and I were at our place in Fanning last night and I brought home "Armageddon" by Leon Uris. It's a rather thick paper back and the print is quite small. If it's interesting into the 2nd or 3rd chapter, maybe I'll stick it out and finish it. When we bought the place over there, the lady who sold it to us left a few things behind including a little hall bookcase with a collection of books. One she left behind that I really liked and want to read again is Mitchener's "The Source".

I don't know if you all can keep up with which chicken is which, so if I repeat information you already know just remember it is in the interest of keeping my chickens identified properly. I had two Samatra hens left when I gave The Sultan and his favorite hen away. One is Freckles, the alpha hen. She has 3 half grown chickens (2 pullets and a little rooster - so far all unnamed). The other Samatra, Francine, had tried to set once before and was run off the nest by The Sultan. About a month ago she began sitting again. Only trouble was, the eggs were not fertilized. Lindy brought me 4 beautiful chocolate brown eggs that I put under her. Of the 4 eggs, only one produced a biddy. That old saying that a hen will scratch just as hard for one biddy as she will for a dozen is really true! Francine clucks and scratches and runs the other chickens away from her biddy. Freckles likes to mess with her, though. She is either very curious about the biddy or has designs on stealing it. That little chick is so bonded with it's mom, though, I don't think Freckles has a chance! Dolly (the Americana) has laid every day since she began about 5 days ago. Her first egg was a beautiful blue but they've become more green as they increase in size. Today, Daisy (our white leghorn) gave us a nice white egg. Now if Freckles would start laying again, we'd be getting 3 eggs a day.

The little half-grown rooster has started training the two little pullets to come to him when he clucks and acts as if he has something to eat. I got a chuckle yesterday when he clucked, Dolly ran over and smacked him as if to say "Now we aren't going to put up with that!" It is interesting to me that the of the two pullets left that Lindy brought me, they both hang together. The 3 half grown chicks hang together. The only brood mates that don't hang together are the Samatras. I expect that's because Freckles is so hard to get along with.

Francine and little Wheatie