Birds

I would like to begin this post by telling you how much I despise birds. I consider them "Rodents with Wings". There is nothing that creaps me out more than birds. And, being "blessed" by a couple fly by birds only makes me hate them more. That was, up until Friday, when my hatred reached a new level.

I have never expressed my opinion of the flying creatures to my boys. I want them to enjoy and appreciate all that is around them. So, when Julie invited us to go to the Carolina Raptor Center, I cringed, but agreed. It was actually quite wonderful. We walked a beautiful path and saw all sorts of CAGED birds including Hawks and Bald Eagles.

The visit was a hit, all 5 boys enjoyed themselves and so did the moms!

After the Raptor Center, we ventured right down the road to Latta Plantation. With it's farm, homes and beautiful rolling fields, we figured it would be a great place to have our picnic and continue our commune with nature.

The kids visited with the horse, cow and sheep.

Then, we found a beautiful spot under a great big tree for our lunch.

That's when it happened. It all started innocently enough. One of the workers started walking towards us making chicken calls. He actually called over a Rooster named Texas that was over by the coop. The Rooster came all the way over to our blanket and started eating our Cheerios

and peanut butter sandwiches. Crazy, but we all thought it was funny and the boys were fascinated. The worker and Rooster left our blanket (going their separate directions) and as we packed up our picnic, Patrick began to follow the Rooster...

He was about 15 feet away from him, when I asked Patrick to come back to us. Patrick turned to come back and the Rooster attacked. His wings expanded, his feet and claws went up and he launched himself onto Patrick's back. I got to Patrick as quickly as I could and got the bird off of him. Patrick sustained a bite and some scrapes from the Rooster. Not only was Patrick traumatized, but Poor Finnegan was beyond upset. He witnessed his brother get attacked and kept screaming "Help Patrick".

The wounds are healing. Every night we check for chickens under the bed before sleep.

And, while I will never forget that bird attacking my son, I will always remember the car ride home -

Patrick wiping the tears away in the back seat turned to me and said,

"Thank you for rescuing me from the bad chicken, mommy".

And, it was then, that a Rooster broke my heart.