Laurie's Eggs

Hurray! The chickens are finally laying. I thought we'd bought some duds but just last week I heard that loud bawking that told me one thing. Eggs! After nearly two years of changing their water and litter weekly, lugging fifty pound sacks of lay crumbles out to the coop, and patching the holes in the chicken wire to keep out skunks and other predators we were finally rewarded.
This made me think of the long process of trying to get a book published.
Right now I'm sending out The Pharaohs' Cry to a new coop of agents. How long before I get that golden egg? How many pounds of feed will I have to buy or holes will I have to patch?

As my daughter teaches me daily, it is not the egg at the end that gives us the joy. She raised those hens from the time they were fluffy chicks, cuddling their downy feathers and adjusting the heat lamp to keep them warm. She was the one that put them out into the coop to fight their way amongst the pecking order of the hens. And it was she who laughed as they held their own in the yard.
Yeah it's not the egg at the end. We only end up eating it anyhow. It's the tending to and loving the chickens in your coop while you have them.