Another Day in the Country
Isn’t that awesome!
© Another Day in the Country
I was visiting a new acquaintance the other day and discovered my acquaintance had more fine-feathered friends than I did!
There were guinea, geese, chickens, and peacocks, and some of the geese were curly feathered concoctions that resembled down pillows.
The guinea were noisy, the peacocks were shy, and the chickens paid me no attention, but the geese were right up in our faces, curious as heck.
The minute I saw how many geese there were, I was in awe and asked, “What on earth do you do with all the eggs?”
The lady of the house said she cooks lots of scrambled eggs — shells and all — and feeds them back to their manufacturers.
“What a wonderful idea,” I said, “and why hadn’t I thought of that?”
My ducks have been non-stop layers since early spring. We’re talking an egg every single day.
Luckily, I only have three lady ducks, but counting them up, I’m sure I’ve been the recipient of at least 250 duck eggs since this all began in spring.
And their eggs are much bigger than hen eggs. One can only make so many noodles!
Hens, by contrast, normally lay every other day or so — some less, a few more regularly.
Chickens take breaks. My hens go off duty for two months in the winter. I use up the excess eggs stored over in the refrigerator. About the time I think I’ll have to run to the store to buy a dozen eggs, the girls kick back into gear.
It doesn’t look as if the ducks are going to take a break. I thought they were slowing down as fall approached, but no such luck.
Really, I shouldn’t act as if I’m complaining. But one can eat only so many eggs. I try giving them away. But for some reason people are skitterish about eating duck eggs.
When in any kind of quandary, I just Google my subject: “Ducks tend to be better year-around layers than chickens.”
I’m in awe at all I didn’t know about ducks a year ago! This has been quite the learning experience.
Making scrambled eggs for feathered fowl works pretty slick. I whizzed up two dozen eggs, shells and all, in my trusty Oster and tossed the lot into a big skillet.
The mixture looked so yummy that I was tempted to taste it, but the obvious addition of grit from egg shells stopped me in my tracks.
I found myself wanting to add salt and pepper — maybe a little cheese — but I held out.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” I said to myself. “This is duck food.”
On the subject of food, sometimes while I’m eating breakfast, I read inspirational tidbits on Substack — an Internet platform for writers.
This morning’s offering was on finding awe in everyday life. I needed this reminder.
Gratitude is what I’ve been practicing for quite some time now. Maybe it will do me good to find a new fall focus.
According to the dictionary, awe is connected to fear! The words come from the same original Greek word.
If you’ve grown up in a church setting, you probably remember the admonition to “fear the Lord.” As a child, I remember being confused because I always thought we were supposed to like God and not be scared of Him.
The significance of awe is that we are seeing something we can’t readily explain. We’re not sure how it happens. It’s surprising, majestic, a little scary, amazing, mind boggling. And we respect the power of whatever it is! That’s awe.
Being a somewhat skeptical person, I found myself wondering how often I’ve registered awe in my life.
Wouldn’t I love having this conversation with you? Try it out on your family and friends. Sometimes, we forget how to have conversations — actual conversing and not just reciting gossip or medical issues.
Awe could be as simple as stopping to appreciate that my heart has been beating constantly for more than 85 years non-stop.
Awe is remembering how Jess and I escaped a car accident a couple of weeks ago when someone didn’t see my car, pulled out, and would have T-boned us if in a split second I hadn’t reacted by judging how far away oncoming traffic was and swerving in and out of that lane briefly, saving our lives.
I was in awe that my old Lincoln grandma car didn’t roll over. I was in awe that everyone was unharmed. I was in awe over my reflexes and also that the car, now stopped in our lane, hadn’t hit us.
Awe might be a good description of the election cycle we’ve just lived through. I’ve been in awe — fearful, mind boggled, trying to be respectful, amazed, asking “how did this happen?” — as I watched people choosing sides.
Of course, we are all in awe — a little scared of the power of the people, wondering what the future holds.
Just the fact that we live in a country where we can vote is awesome.
Somewhat in shell shock, I guess that’s what I’m celebrating today — on another day in the country.