This is Exciting...This is Exciting...This is Exciting

Box o' chicks, front and center (and RoseBud's feet. I tried applying a blanket, being a Good Mom and all, but she kicked it off.)


Just a candlelight shot


Pepper and Banana Boy, only Pepper stepped out to powder herself


Sunshine and Daisy's bed. See the blue blanket? That's where Sunshine is SUPPOSED to be sleeping.


Still-life chicks with hot water bottle in a box


We came home from the AWANA awards night the other night and it had been storming. The power was out.

This presented a small crisis because of the chicks. They are still under a heat lamp 24/7 and should remain at 90-95 degrees. Their thermometer said 67.

Rose Bud, Pepper and Mr. GT immediately went out to remedy that situation. The chicks were all huddled in a small mass in their pool in the dark. Shivering. They (the humans) got a cardboard box and a blanket and put them (the chicks) inside, then covered it (the box) with a towel.

My first order of business was to light a couple of candles in the house. While simultaneously worrying about the chicks and racking my brain for ways to warm them up without electricity, I lit more candles and promised the kids they could all sleep in the sunroom.

Banana Boy flitted about nervously in minor panic mode, as he is prone to do. Sunshine was way beyond tired and was very crabby and naughty. Daisy, also tired, was slightly out-of-sorts as well.

I got the three of them into pajamas and under blankets on the floor. I began to sing to them and stroke Sunshine's head, all the while fielding interruptions for reassurance and still wondering how to keep the chicks warm. At our old house, we had a gas stove, which could be lit with a match in an emergency. Here we have our (stupid) flat-top electric stove which was of no use to us this night.

The 3 chick rescuers came inside to get ready for bed and I questioned the wisdom of keeping the chicks out in their box in the coop. I finally convinced Mr. GT to bring them in the house.

And then I came up with the solution! The hot water bottle and the camp stove! I urged Mr. GT to set the stove up in the garage and boil some water.

The chicks moved into the sun room with us. BB, by now, was more than wound up and kept nervously chattering to himself, "This is so scary. I'm so scared."

I finally said to him, "BB! This is not scary! It's just dark! Look. We are sleeping in the sunroom, Mommy is right here. The chicks are camping in the house with us. THIS is an adventure! THIS is exciting!"

"Ohhhhhh!" he said, lightbulb coming on in his head (if only he could have shared a little of that electricity with the rest of us!)

I finished getting Pepper and Rose Bud settled, and I heard BB whispering to himself under his covers on the other side of the room, "This is exiting! This is exciting! This is exciting!"

Epilogue:
The chicks loved the hot water bottle--two of them even perched on top of it. They settled down nicely in their box.

Spider had to be banished from the sunroom, as he kept sniffing the chick box.

The power finally came back on at 9:45. The chicks, who by now were thirsty, went back out to their regularly-scheduled digs in the chicken coop.

Banana Boy finally fell asleep at almost 10:00pm.