Phyllis

Earlier on Facebook, I promised I'd upload some photos of Phyllis.  Here he is!

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Phyllis showed up at the Village, specifically right around the store, sometime last year.  He was almost fully grown when I started seeing him, so I am guessing he was a "dump."  Which sounds terrible, but really, the chicks all around Country Village are well cared for.  They get lots of attention, have lots of friends, and there are plenty of things to eat and places to sleep.

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Phyllis generally stayed near our store and next door at Keepsake Cottage fabrics, but over time he became more comfortable with the place and he now makes regular daily rounds about the place.  I typically see him down at the Tea shop in the mornings, just inches from their door, crowing his brains out if they aren't open when he thinks they should be open.  He ends his day with us, waltzing right into the shop at almost the same exact time every day.  We do give him chicken feed, but he did this long before we ever fed him, so I think he just likes the attention.

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I've never tried to touch him (and don't plan to), but he is comfortable enough just inches away from me, or the other gals at the store for that matter.  He probably recognizes us at this point, and knows we're safe.  At night, he sleeps on a high branch in a tree right above the hot dog stand.  Every night, in the exact same spot.  He's a very regular rooster.

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Each spot in the village seems to have their own name for him, but near the beginning the Keepsake gals started calling him Phyllis, due to his silly hairdo, so much like Phyllis Diller's.  Yes, he's a boy, but it still fits.

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Well, so that's Phyllis.  Feel free to come visit him sometime!  But come see me too please. 🙂

Another Outing

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We're getting good at these outings!  Yesterday was gorgeous, but pretty freezing. 

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The sun was lovely and toasty, but the wind messed it up and chilled anything and everything that was exposed to it. 

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We got out of the car and walked anyway, and I took photos until my fingers couldn't turn the focus or push the buttons anymore. 

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Ben, like most children, seemed impervious to the cold.  I remember being like that.  What happened?!

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Sweet, chubby, baby hands.

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Teeny, tiny flowers.

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Pretty weeds, safe and happy in their native habitat…

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Dew….

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(…bee doo bee doo…)

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We had great timing that day.  Just shortly into our walk, what do you suppose came to greet us?

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A train, of course.

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We looked…

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…and looked… 

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…and looked some more…

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…until we could look no longer.  There were a great many wonderful things to see that day.  Looking through a camera lens is sort of like looking through the eyes of a child.  Things look different, more interesting, new and pretty. 

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Simple dead (or sleeping?) sticks.

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This, oddly, was my favorite.

It was another good day.  I asked Ben for a big smile:

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Riverside Park

Lately we've taken to chasing trains, which involves taking the long way home every time we're out, and sometimes when we weren't out at all.  Today was one of those days.  Chris is becoming quite familiar with all the various train yards around the Everett / Snohomish area, and it is a great treat for Ben (and usually us) to pack in the car, turn on some Loreena, and go train hunting.

In taking the long way to Molback's today, we happened by this teeny tiny hole-in-the-wall park, which really consisted simply of a few benches, some sidewalk, and a garbage can.  The two great things going for it that thus made it stop-the-car-and-get-out worthy were the multitude of delicious smelling flowering plants and a fantastic view of a bustling industrial yard of cranes and other large machinery.

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It was only about a 7 minute stop, but very lovely indeed.

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