I have a habit of removing my wedding ring. Once upon a time, I couldn't. That ring was eventually cut off my finger, oh maybe 10 years ago now. It was replaced with a wedding band that fit. That ring eventually fell off my finger. So I put it away and weatherdude gave me a very beautiful ring. Which I take on and off because I can. I lost it once. I've tried to teach myself to put it away when there's water retention or it bothers me, as it does from time to time. If I put lotion on, I'm supposed to put it in my pocket. I distinctly remember taking it off yesterday and thinking 'I don't have a pocket.' And of course forgot it was off. And now it's not on my finger. I don't learn very well, do I?

On the other hand (where there's no ring), it's fascinating to see exactly what Walkabout can learn. We were gone for 10 hours yesterday, E and I. She did not put herself back in the run. We came home after 8pm, hours after dark. I found her, not hovering at the fence, but just outside the barn door. Very easy to locate. Interesting. She was, unfortunately for her, trying to roost on the ground. Or waiting for the gods to come and help her. I turned on the lights in the barn and that was enough to get her to come inside. Opening the door to the coop, she followed me inside it and safely home, unlike the previous night. This leads to a thought. If I leave the barn lights on when we're gone, will she go into the barn and roost until I can get home and put her to bed? Because as it gets dark, all the girls gravitate to their coop where the lights are left on. They are up on the roost when we go down at dark. Walkabout learned something when I led her through the barn to her coop the past two days. Being a chicken, it's probably not a very strong thought yet.

But she might be smarter than to take her wedding ring off and then forget she had it in her lap and discover the loss 12 hours later. Just how much can a chicken learn, esp. an insane one?

And readers wonder why we don't curtail her flights.

Frog Out