the chicken wrangler

It is perhaps one step down from the romanticism and intrigue surrounding the cowboys of the old west, but the chicken wrangler is nonetheless a force to be reckoned with. Dressed in frayed jeans and an old sweatshirt, various barnyard remnants stuck to her shoes, her hair twisted up into a bun (which inconveniently manages to get snagged in the netting covering certain coops, gaaa!), she ventures out just after sundown with her trusty flash light and gingerly picks "the chosen ones" off of their perches, taking care not to disturb the rest of the sleeping flock. It's a thankless job, this chicken wrangling, and one that can only truly be understood by fellow chicken wranglers (they're out there...).

There were twenty-seven birds to wrangle this evening, and I'll be off to auction in the wee hours of the morning. Being "the chosen one" in this case is not an enviable position, but a necessary thing in the chicken world. It means more room for the good ones, the hopefully-soon-to-be-champions who will be shown in the upcoming months...and hopefully kick some booty! :-)

And then after dropping birds off at the auction I will go work in the printmaking studio, where I will print the edition from an etching plate I started several months ago. There is something about the studio that just drains me. Even if I don't do anything strenuous, it's like an energy sponge. So despite my best intentions to come home and work on Standard drawings all afternoon and evening, I am predicting now I will zonk out on the couch for a least a while! But hey, I do have to get up at 5am...

On that note, sleepy time!

(sometimes it occurs to me that keeping a blog really is kind of strange... who on earth reads this stuff? They are addicting though aren't they? And mine's relatively "normal." (yeah, how scary is that if I'm calling my own chicken and art ramblings NORMAL)... I clicked on the "view random blogs" button the other day on the blogger home page...criminy there is some freaky stuff out there...and people say some mighty personal things!!!)