Dropping Shoes and the Chicken Killer

This is from Wedneday but it's taken until today to finish it.

I know I’ve been waiting for the bad news about moving (apart from missing people and places, etc.) and until yesterday, we just didn’t see any.

Then there was yesterday.

First, the weather turned and it is cold and damp. This is no surprise and by itself, would have not phased me in the least. However, Julia and I are now sporting our first Wisconsin colds and are generally grumpier for it. Oh, and we have the beginning of the cold weather morning fight about wearing something on her legs. We’ve been out on the front porch again figuring out just how cold it is and putting on the tights or long johns. And I can’t find long johns for her. EEK!
Then, I went into school yesterday to help out with picture day. Dealing with many, many k-2 kids on picture day is just too cute. I loved every minute – for the very tough boys who would not smile to the little fashion plate girls who wanted every hair in place. I come away from the experience seeing two types of kids – those who have a stake in their fashion statement on any given day and those who don’t even know they changed from pjs to clothes.

So, after all that fun, I came outside to find I got a parking ticket. Seems the regular place I park for 20 minutes every day is subject to street cleaning on Wednesdays, and in Madison they do clean the streets. I was pissed, but they are right.

That’s it for small potatoes.

I intended to spend a lot of time yesterday getting out more job applications and resumes. While I was working in the room, the mail carrier came and I went to bring in the mail. I was so pleased to get a letter from the Board of Law Examiners thinking that I could not add that my membership was moving along. However, when I opened the letter I discovered that my application had been rejected because Wisconsin does not have reciprocity with Indiana. Gosh, do we feel foolish. Both David and I had checked the rules before we moved and I looked at them again when I was filling out the forms. There is, however, a small technically the when Indiana admits Wisconsin lawyers they are provisionally admitted for 5 years. It is a distinction without difference in regards to practicing. So, we might try to fight it. I will keep looking for government job that don’t require admission in Wisconsin, and other things. I had wanted some kind of change but didn’t know that my hand would be so forced.

There might be a bright side to this, or there might be an exception somewhere that we can use.

And then . . .

I was sitting at my desk just after the mail came, wondering just what I should be doing when an irate man stomped (I’m laying it on a little thick here) up out steps holding our Latkah out in front of him as if she was . . . . well, a chicken killer. I went to the door and he told me that Latkah had been in his yard biting his chickens which terrorized his children. He said that if she did this again, he would call the pound.

I was more than stunned and said, "Chickens?" Chickens in Madison? How had Latkah gotten into their coop? Or pen? How could me almost 6 pound dog bite anything? She is not very fast.
So, background – Our fence is up in the backyard but there are some places where she can get out from. Last weekend, David secured all the loose pickets of our neighbor’s fence on one side of our yard and made sure there were no easy places for Latkah to squeeze through. Obviously, she had found another place. I didn’t want her running around the neighborhood, but apart from danger to her as she darts across the street to chase squirrels, I couldn’t see that anyone would be hurt. And she comes home.

So, "Chickens?"

"Yes, chickens." He said. And then I apologized and he said it had gone way beyond an apology. Way beyond an apology, I thought. I didn’t even have an idea that there were chickens in Madison. And I had no idea that Latkah had been in his yard before this. So, how had this gone
"way beyond" an apology?

He said something about biting chickens, and I agreed with him, which now I think is a little funny. And I replied that of course, dogs go after birds – Latkah chases squirrels and any birds she sees. Why not chickens?

And later, a neighbor told me that these are big chickens who are pets, raised for eggs, and run freely in the owner’s yards as well as their neighbor’s yards during the day. So now I have the picture of my puny dog, who still does not have a full coat of fur, attacking these fat chickens, who must weigh as much as she does, with all her might as the chickens scatter throughout a small Madison backyard. The slaughter! The carnage! And all I could offer was an apology.

Still, I just did not feel that bad and I am sure it showed on my face. Any image I could conjure up was pretty funny.

So much for good relations with the neighbors. I want to compose myself – stop giggling – over this and make peace with our chicken farmer.

Chickens?