Just Do It. Clean Up Later

Chapter 2



It started like this.



The phone rang. It was 6:30 in the morning one blizzardy day in late April. Don’t remember the year.



The postmaster of our small post office said “Come get your chicks!” I could hear loud peeping in the background before he hung up.



I put snowpants, jackets and boots on my two small children who were about 4 and 2, too young to be left with Dave while he finished the morning milking. So we walked outside and to the truck in the driving snow, heads down, faces buried in our scarves.



Once they were in the truck I cleaned off the snow and threw two bags of lime in the truck bed to help with traction. The 3/4 ton truck could slide all over unless there was enough weight in the back. We drove straight into the wind towards town in the middle of the road hoping I’d miss the ditches on either side There was no other traffic around so I couldn’t follow the previous tracks.



When I pulled into the post office driveway I realized it would be a tight fit in the truck with the children and the chicks.  Before I opened the door to get the chicks I had the two little ones sit on the floor.



As soon as I opened my truck door the wind pushed it out of my hands and the post office door opened. The postmaster stood there with two large boxes in his hands. He thrust them at me, let go of them and slammed his door. The boxes, about 24” by 18” by 5”, were relatively not so heavy and easy to slide onto the seat. I jumped back into the truck and and struggled to pull the door shut. The wind blew all the hot air out of the truck and the panic was beginning to build quietly.



I drove home with the chicks on the seat, peeping, the kids hot and hungry on the floor and me praying I would be able to stop if I could see anything. Without incident I pulled into the farm yard and parked the truck as close to the house as I could. I left the truck running and the heat on.



Then I ran the children into the house, undressed them and fed them breakfast. While they ate, I drank my coffee and faced the fact.



I had no good place for these 100 day old chicks to go.