Homeless

I saw this old girl hanging around a streetcorner in downtown Wetaskiwin, looking for a home. She's elderly and has a bit of rust, though not as much as you might expect for someone of her vintage.

She's got an undignified grease pencil scrawl on her window that says FOR SALE and then a phone number. Inside is a certificate that says, among other things, "as is". If you are familiar with these cars, you'll know that the accoutrements of transmission and locomotion look very unfamiliar to the contemporary driver.


She's not roomy. Her bench seat would barely accomodate two adults. There is no back seat. She's a nice size for city driving, though I'm not sure you would want to be hauling groceries in her since there is little space for freight. Certainly a cozy drive and a wonderful conveyance for a first date. She may even break down conveniently, allowing the driver some time alone with his lady friend. (ah, but which lady friend.... the car or the date?)

Her eyes aren't quite aligned, here she looks like she's just got out of bed so to speak. She might be a bit cranky at first, and only the current owner knows whether or not she runs. Her knees look a bit arthritic, and notice that she does not have wipers. I think she has a visor though, and her windows are all intact, which is more than I can say for my car which is one stone away from losing its windshield.

On the farm, things are moving slowly into spring. Frost is still coming out of the ground. My back waterer thawed out May 1 which is typical, but if you dig into the earth, you'll still find frost at about 3 feet below the surface. I'm planning to plant raised beds this year, but I haven't been able to build them yet since the weather has been too windy whenever I've had time set aside. Fortunately I have some seed started indoors already so I don't feel as if I'm losing too much time.
Now that the chickens (the old hens and rooster) go out every day, I let them out first thing and then lock up the coop to keep the chicks indoors. The chicks are growing quickly: they are only a week old and are already attempting to fly -- one managed to escape the warmth of the box and stagger around the coop proper for a few hours. Their peeping has inspired one of the old hens (they are called biddies, hence the expression when applied to old gossips) to set on a nest and hatch some of her own eggs!

I saw this partridge hanging around the coop yesterday, seemingly entranced by the rooster's seductive yodelling, and the muffled sound of the indoor chicks.

My field guide says it is a Chukar (Alectoris chukar) of the pheasant family. Named for the sound it makes, a low harsh cackling chuk-karr "often repeated for long periods". The sexes look alike, so I don't know if it's a hen or a cock.

According to the field guide, this is not its range, southern BC being its assumed northernmost range. It is a partridge introduced from the "Mediterranean" dry belt of Eurasia. It evades predators by running really fast (we witnessed this when our littlest cat Molly attempted to bag it) uphill and then flying down. It must be able to elude predators if it has travelled this far north, through the treacherous land of coyotes and foxes.

The field guide adds: "its loud calls and colorful coveys enliven desolate country." Je suis desolee.