“It takes courage to stand ‘n speak; it also takes courage to sit down ‘n listen.” W. Churchill

“ A Snowball in Ol Fair Oaks”

Last weekend was the Fair Oaks Chicken Fest or as I’m wont to say, the Fair Oaks Fowl Festival...Now I understand the economics of celebrating the Fair Oaks Feral Fowl...turistas come to see the diversity of the chickens, to feed them ‘n to show them off to their children cuz we have become such an urban society that most people only know animals thru Disney films...

The diversity of the Fair Oaks Fowl is actually pretty amazing...I’ve seen chickens wand’ring ‘round ‘n about the village that I never knew existed...they come in all colors of the rainbow...with multi-colored topknots ‘n feathered legs that look like pants...they’re small ‘n large 'n ev'ry size inbetween ‘n wander wherever they want, you c'd call them free-range chickens if you're a mind too...cars stop for them, honk their horns as tho’ the chickens’ll pay attention...

We have such diversity mainly becuz people buy exotic chickens for pets, keep them a few months or thereabouts before discovering that chickens ain’t easy to housebreak (never happens) ‘n then they look for someplace to dispose of what was always an inappropriate pet choice....in this part of California, Fair Oaks is that place...the dumping ground for unwanted pets...

A recent addition to the Fair Oaks menagarie was a Silkie (?)...a pure white flightless chicken that neighbor Doug called Snowball...someone dropped Snowball ‘n her partner, a black ‘n white medium-sized rooster with a Rastafarian topknot off at the California House...Snowball lasted almost a week before being torn apart, prob’ly by one of those really cute Raccoons altho’ the deed might’a been done by one of our Wily Coyotes altho’ coyotes are generally neater...I wuzn’t really surprised at the fate of Snowball...

that’s pretty much what happens to pets that get dropped off to fend for themselves...chickens, cats, dogs...tame animals don’t usually last long when left to their own devices...if they’re lucky ‘n last long enuff to gain some ‘street smarts’....if they don’t fall to a predator or starve to death, some of them might last a year or two....’course, the lucky ones get taken in but that’s only a few...

The last week of Snowballs life, she got to live in beautiful downtown Ol Fair Oaks Village...I guess you c’d say, she had a snowballs chance in.....

“Criticism may not be agreeable, but it’s necessary. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.” W. Churchill