Friday, June 27, 2008

Our Incomparable Hildegarde

It isn't the rooster's early rising that makes him unpopular, but his continual talking about it. One year when we were raising chickens, one of them broke a leg. Dad put a splint on it and we put the hen in an empty birdcage. We called her a bick, as she was a chick living like a bird. Sometimes she sounded like she was trying to sing. She probably thought she was a canary! Our family agreed that her name should be Hildegarde - after a well-known singer of that era.
At that time, the Auburn Grange was sponsoring a contest to find the best-dressed chicken - I mean really dressed - in clothing. Mother made little white lace-trimmed pantaloons and a ruffled petticoat for our Hildegarde. Her outfit also included a red and white dress, a fancy bonnet and even a small purse which hung jauntily from the chicken's wing. Each item was lovingly cut out and sewn together by the patient hands of my mother.
When a photographer came to take Hildegarde's picture in her beautiful outfit, she stood very still atop a table and posed like a professional model. The picture appeared in the local paper, the Citizen-Advertiser - as our Incomparable Hildegarde had taken first prize!

2 comments:

Hazzard said...

Am I to assume that women who enter beauty pagents, started being refered to as chicks because of this Hildegarde incident?

Unknown said...

Hello Ginny,Your blog is very nice,Lori gave me the site. Her dad has one of my bassets (Gilly)
Im just thrilled that he went to a good home . I too enjoy writing and Im in the process of writing a book regarding my past right now.Im checking into this College for extra help,pretty sure im going to do it, my grandparents would be proud IM sure. My grandmas name was Genevieve, how pretty is that? Im 44 yrs,old and feel I should have done this sooner but ...its now that i have more actually to tell...sure you understand too.:) Some say oh, nobody cares,and some say well, everybody has a story to tell,I say yes, but what makes the difference is those who write and those who dont ,right?? My e-mail address is Jweaver2915@aol.com feel free to write me anytime ! my web-site Im working on right now is WWW.thebassethoundranch.com also im with Breeders.net ( my zip code )is 14105/If you check it out can you let me know what you think of itso far,im still adding more pictures and pages, just takes time.:)Have a GREAT Day !!!!
Janice Weaver.