OTP: The Rooster

Area: FidoNet MEMORIES
Msg#: 18822
Date: 05-15-07 10:54
From: Art Tait
To: All
Subj: The Rooster



During the Great Depression, my folks lost our house on the than outskirts of Detroit. We moved in with my mother's folks on a small farm just outside the small village of Mottville, Michigan.

Since there was a nice solid chicken house, my Dad and Granddad decided that raising a few chickens might be the thing to do. Not only would we have eggs for our own use but the A&P in Constantine would buy any surplus that we might have, issuing a chit good for groceries. Kroger's did not to that and in later years I talked to many oldsters who refused to shop at Krogers for that reason.

But I digress.........

A couple hundred White Rocks were ordered and in due time the mailman pulled up to the backdoor with several boxes of chicks.

As the chickens grew, the roosters were converted into Sunday dinners, and the hens finally started to lay. A few roosters survived, I suspect to keep the hens happy.

White Rocks are big chickens but one rooster was huge! He spent as much time patrolling the area as he did in the chicken yard. In time he came to think of himself as 'KING' of all he surveyed.

One afternoon, I was messing around in the front yard when I heard frightening screams coming from the back of the house. I rushed around the house to see what all the commotion was about and what a sight!

That rooster had decided that my brother, some seven younger than I am, didn't belong in the yard and was chasing him out!

For a little kid, my brother was taking strides that would put an adult to shame. At each leap he was squalling "Helllllllllp," hit the ground and again "Hellllp." I just couldn't help myself. I lay down and rolled on the ground laughing like crazy. About that time my mother came out to see what was going on. She didn't take kindly to my response to my brother's plight and proceeded to make her point with the broom she carried.

A few days later, when my mother was gathering the eggs, that rooster tried to chase her from the hen house. A stray board happened to be handy and when Mother got finished with him, he lay under the roost for several days and we thought sure he was all but dead. Apparently, roosters aren't overly bright because when he had healed he tried that same stunt again!

My grandmother was an expert at making chicken pot pie and that rooster landed on the table for Sunday dinner.

Those pot pies always fascinated me. Gram would fill a pan with chicken, potatoes, a few vegetables and then put an upside down glass in the middle and than a layer of biscuits covered the top. As things cooked away, the juices were somehow sucked up into the glass and it was an honor to be allowed to tip it over for the gravy.

There are a number of Amish in my area and I often see chickens out scratching around. It never fails to bring `The Rooster' to mind.


.... Could you continue your petty bickering? I find it most intriguing.
___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12

You just had to bring up the subject of chickens and roosters, didn't you!
;-) My own experiences which I try not to dwell on, but thanks to you the
memories are at the forefront again lol! Memory as a little girl on my
grandparents farm: time to butcher and prepare some hens for eating. Nice
scene; my Grandpa and uncles would put the chickens' heads on the butcher
block. One swipe of the hatchet and off go the heads. Then, the worst
part - all these chickens running around the yard without heads (reflex
action, I guess). Oh, Lord, I can see it all again ;-)

Then, my rooster story: I had a friend who had a spunky rooster. They also
had a horse, which they asked if I would watch and feed and water while they
were gone a few days. The horse was just fine; but I was very uneasy about
the J"attack rooster" and would try to keep my eyes on him every minute.
But, that sucker got me one day when I was carrying a pail of water to the
horse stall. My back was to the rooster, and within seconds, I felt a very
sharp pain in my calf area, and when I screeched and turned around, the
rooster was strutting away, and he had put a hole in my slacks and drew
blood. If I had a gun or even knew how to use one, I'd have shot him right
then and there. So much for your sharing the rooster experience! Nanny
"Califchief" <califchief@fidotel.com> wrote in message
news:1179300399.11.0@fidotel.com...
> Area: FidoNet MEMORIES
> Msg#: 18822
> Date: 05-15-07 10:54
> From: Art Tait
> To: All
> Subj: The Rooster
>
>
>
> During the Great Depression, my folks lost our house on the than outskirts
> of Detroit. We moved in with my mother's folks on a small farm just
> outside the small village of Mottville, Michigan.
>
> Since there was a nice solid chicken house, my Dad and Granddad decided
> that raising a few chickens might be the thing to do. Not only would we
> have eggs for our own use but the A&P in Constantine would buy any surplus
> that we might have, issuing a chit good for groceries. Kroger's did not
> to that and in later years I talked to many oldsters who refused to shop
> at Krogers for that reason.
>
> But I digress.........
>
> A couple hundred White Rocks were ordered and in due time the mailman
> pulled up to the backdoor with several boxes of chicks.
>
> As the chickens grew, the roosters were converted into Sunday dinners, and
> the hens finally started to lay. A few roosters survived, I suspect to
> keep the hens happy.
>
> White Rocks are big chickens but one rooster was huge! He spent as much
> time patrolling the area as he did in the chicken yard. In time he came to
> think of himself as 'KING' of all he surveyed.
>
> One afternoon, I was messing around in the front yard when I heard
> frightening screams coming from the back of the house. I rushed around the
> house to see what all the commotion was about and what a sight!
>
> That rooster had decided that my brother, some seven younger than I am,
> didn't belong in the yard and was chasing him out!
>
> For a little kid, my brother was taking strides that would put an adult to
> shame. At each leap he was squalling "Helllllllllp," hit the ground and
> again "Hellllp." I just couldn't help myself. I lay down and rolled on
> the ground laughing like crazy. About that time my mother came out to see
> what was going on. She didn't take kindly to my response to my brother's
> plight and proceeded to make her point with the broom she carried.
>
> A few days later, when my mother was gathering the eggs, that rooster
> tried to chase her from the hen house. A stray board happened to be handy
> and when Mother got finished with him, he lay under the roost for several
> days and we thought sure he was all but dead. Apparently, roosters
> aren't overly bright because when he had healed he tried that same stunt
> again!
>
> My grandmother was an expert at making chicken pot pie and that rooster
> landed on the table for Sunday dinner.
>
> Those pot pies always fascinated me. Gram would fill a pan with chicken,
> potatoes, a few vegetables and then put an upside down glass in the middle
> and than a layer of biscuits covered the top. As things cooked away, the
> juices were somehow sucked up into the glass and it was an honor to be
> allowed to tip it over for the gravy.
>
> There are a number of Amish in my area and I often see chickens out
> scratching around. It never fails to bring `The Rooster' to mind.
>
>
> ... Could you continue your petty bickering? I find it most intriguing.
> ___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12

"nanny" <gloria006@woh.rr.com> wrote in message
news:464bd5c2$0$4649$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...
> You just had to bring up the subject of chickens and roosters, didn't you!
> ;-) My own experiences which I try not to dwell on, but thanks to you the
> memories are at the forefront again lol! Memory as a little girl on my
> grandparents farm: time to butcher and prepare some hens for eating.
> Nice scene; my Grandpa and uncles would put the chickens' heads on the
> butcher block. One swipe of the hatchet and off go the heads. Then, the
> worst part - all these chickens running around the yard without heads
> (reflex action, I guess). Oh, Lord, I can see it all again ;-)
>
> Then, my rooster story: I had a friend who had a spunky rooster. They
> also had a horse, which they asked if I would watch and feed and water
> while they were gone a few days. The horse was just fine; but I was very
> uneasy about the J"attack rooster" and would try to keep my eyes on him
> every minute. But, that sucker got me one day when I was carrying a pail
> of water to the horse stall. My back was to the rooster, and within
> seconds, I felt a very sharp pain in my calf area, and when I screeched
> and turned around, the rooster was strutting away, and he had put a hole
> in my slacks and drew blood. If I had a gun or even knew how to use one,
> I'd have shot him right then and there. So much for your sharing the
> rooster experience! Nanny

LOL,,,, Much like the full grown goose on my wife's homeplace. My wife and
her father were the only people that got a free pass with it and it bit my
MIL one too many times and became Sunday dinner. That was OK with me
because it got me several times which seemed to be funny to everyone.
Harv (just another city boy)

On 5/17/07 6:23 AM, in article FHY2i.399$H24.20@newssvr17.news.prodigy.net,
"Harvey R. Stone" <hrstone@swbell.net> wrote:

> LOL,,,, Much like the full grown goose on my wife's homeplace. My wife and
> her father were the only people that got a free pass with it and it bit my
> MIL one too many times and became Sunday dinner. That was OK with me
> because it got me several times which seemed to be funny to everyone.
> Harv (just another city boy)

How did it taste?

Bill
-- Fermez le Bush--about two years to go.

"Salmon Egg" <salmonegg@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:C2722522.78472%salmonegg@sbcglobal.net...
> On 5/17/07 6:23 AM, in article
> FHY2i.399$H24.20@newssvr17.news.prodigy.net,
> "Harvey R. Stone" <hrstone@swbell.net> wrote:
>
>> LOL,,,, Much like the full grown goose on my wife's homeplace. My wife
>> and
>> her father were the only people that got a free pass with it and it bit
>> my
>> MIL one too many times and became Sunday dinner. That was OK with me
>> because it got me several times which seemed to be funny to everyone.
>> Harv (just another city boy)
>
> How did it taste?
>
> Bill

Really good,,,, much more to eat that day. My FIL usually would find a
chicken that could not take another step and had not laid an egg for a month
was Sunday dinner.
Harv

Yikes, Harv. A moose? At least the rooster that attacked me was closer to
my size ;-) Nanny
"Harvey R. Stone" <hrstone@swbell.net> wrote in message
news:FHY2i.399$H24.20@newssvr17.news.prodigy.net.. .
>
> "nanny" <gloria006@woh.rr.com> wrote in message
> news:464bd5c2$0$4649$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...
>> You just had to bring up the subject of chickens and roosters, didn't
>> you! ;-) My own experiences which I try not to dwell on, but thanks to
>> you the memories are at the forefront again lol! Memory as a little girl
>> on my grandparents farm: time to butcher and prepare some hens for
>> eating. Nice scene; my Grandpa and uncles would put the chickens' heads
>> on the butcher block. One swipe of the hatchet and off go the heads.
>> Then, the worst part - all these chickens running around the yard without
>> heads (reflex action, I guess). Oh, Lord, I can see it all again ;-)
>>
>> Then, my rooster story: I had a friend who had a spunky rooster. They
>> also had a horse, which they asked if I would watch and feed and water
>> while they were gone a few days. The horse was just fine; but I was very
>> uneasy about the J"attack rooster" and would try to keep my eyes on him
>> every minute. But, that sucker got me one day when I was carrying a pail
>> of water to the horse stall. My back was to the rooster, and within
>> seconds, I felt a very sharp pain in my calf area, and when I screeched
>> and turned around, the rooster was strutting away, and he had put a hole
>> in my slacks and drew blood. If I had a gun or even knew how to use one,
>> I'd have shot him right then and there. So much for your sharing the
>> rooster experience! Nanny
>
> LOL,,,, Much like the full grown goose on my wife's homeplace. My wife
> and her father were the only people that got a free pass with it and it
> bit my MIL one too many times and became Sunday dinner. That was OK with
> me because it got me several times which seemed to be funny to everyone.
> Harv (just another city boy)
>
>

"nanny" <gloria006@woh.rr.com> wrote in message
news:464f5e07$0$12421$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...
> Yikes, Harv. A moose? At least the rooster that attacked me was closer
> to my size ;-) Nanny

LOLOLOL Goose,,,goose,,,, There are not any moose in Texas ya know. That
goose brought the blood when he nipped you by the way but my MIL knew how to
solve that problem..... Cook em.. LOL
Harv

LOLOLO (laughing also)! You seem like a credible person, so when you wrote
that a "moose" attacked your MIL, I thought it a little strange, but
believed you! This is so funny! After all, how would someone survive an
attack from a moose, even in Texas? LOLOLOLO Nanny
"Harvey R. Stone" <hrstone@swbell.net> wrote in message
news:tYV3i.1090$u56.930@newssvr22.news.prodigy.net ...
>
> "nanny" <gloria006@woh.rr.com> wrote in message
> news:464f5e07$0$12421$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...
>> Yikes, Harv. A moose? At least the rooster that attacked me was closer
>> to my size ;-) Nanny
>
> LOLOLOL Goose,,,goose,,,, There are not any moose in Texas ya know.
> That goose brought the blood when he nipped you by the way but my MIL knew
> how to solve that problem..... Cook em.. LOL
> Harv
>