6:30 AM and the phone is ringing off the hook. The kids have stolen my bedroom phone so I stumble out of bed and into the kitchen to look for it before it goes to the answer machine. Stumbling over the dog next to the bed and running into a kitchen chair I grab the phone about half a sentence into a message that someone is trying to leave. "Hello".
"Hi Sue? This is Ann from the post office. Your chicks have just arrived. You can come to the back door and ring the bell to get them."
"Oh my god! Really? Ok! Thanks"!
I Stumble back into the bedroom screeching and whispering at the same time for the Man to "Get up!" bashing into walls and trying to find clothes to put on.
"Oh crap! The heat lamps need to be turned on! I'm not ready! We gotta go get them! I gotta get the waterer's filled! Where are my shoes. I have to go turn on the lights so it will warm up!........."
Right about that time I think the man was thinking how he could just shoot me. He went out to the palace and turned on the lights to warm up the brooder box and started the jeep so we could go. He wasn't fooling me. He was excited too.
About that time our youngest teen slid into the kitchen rubbing her eyes and wanting to know who called. She always thinks its for her and it would be a crime if she missed a call. "The chicks are at the post office!" She ran back up the stairs screeching the news yelling at me that they where going to leave for school late today.
The post office is just a few minutes away but HE decided to take the long way around."Where are you going?!!"
"Will you just chill? I'm getting the jeep warm before we get them. Don't get your panties in a bunch".
OK so there was frost on the ground but we finally got there and rang the bell. Like an expectant grandma I snapped pictures while The Man accepted the box from the post mistress. Peeping all the way home I carried the box into the kitchen and into the waiting hands of two excited girls that were dying to get their hands on them. After about 15 minutes of holding and looking for the special chicks they had requested the girls went off to school and I was able to get the little peeps their first drink of water since being hatched.
Very few people know that these little guys are hatched and packed and sent off in the mail without food or water. At the time of hatch chicks absorb the yolk in the egg and that sustains them for up to 3 days. Guess the egg really is the perfect food.
The Man and I spent the rest of the morning adjusting lights, rearranging water fonts and food dishes and just watching our little charges. After lunch we were both ready for a nap. How can something so little be so much work. But instead The Man got busy building the outside runs and I got busy with the on going garden construction.
I went on with my day checking on them every half hour or so until the girls got home. At that point we had built in baby sitters. I find this amusing since one of them is old enough to drive and the other will be taking drivers ed next year. I'm sure it will be short lived.
Did I mention that The Man is a gadget guy? He bought an electronic thermometer with a wireless monitor that you can set a high and low alarm on. If the temp in the brooder box goes below or above a certain temperature a persistent alarm goes off. Hmmmm. Guess we wont be getting much sleep tonight.
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4 comments:
oh what a fun adventure! those chicks look absolutely adorable! Thanks for linking up to TALU!
www.livelafelove.com
Love this! What a funny story!
It reminded me of the time my husband picked up our order of chicks at the post office. He called me at work, ear-splitting peeping in the background, saying "How many chicks did you order???"
The post office gave him our order plus one from a local feed store! We had 200 peeping chicks in the kitchen until we could get it sorted out!
awww chickies! I want some. (Visiting from TALU)
That would have killed me if I worked at the Post Office. I would have wanted to open the box and play with them until you got there. :) [#TALU]
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