Fettucini Alfredo

Our other silkie. She may turn out to be a rooster.

Dandelion

Our first silkie chick. She is so very sweet.

My favorite Coco dies

I found Coco dead today in the coop. She was one of our original chickens, adopted from Lori, and by far, our friendliest. I thought about getting her a job as a greeter at Wal-Mart, she was that outgoing. I will miss her.

In the spotlight

Nina Totenberg takes center stage.

Gluten Free

We found out that we're going gluten free. My daughter has celiac and I got tested today. Should know more next week.

So, any open boxes of cereal containing gluten (most) were brought out to the chickens.

They are snubbing it big time. Fiber One and Shredded Wheat are just not their thing, I guess. They're naturally gluten free.

The squirrels seem to be, too. This photo was taken today; the cereal was brought out two days ago.

The chicks are here, reporting live from Roseville, MN

This just in: The chicks have arrived in Roseville, MN, greeted by much fanfare. They are settling in nicely.

Left to right: Nina Totenberg, Sylvia Pogiolli and Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson.

Three chicks, arriving Thursday

Three chicks will be arriving Thursday at Egg Plant. One will be a buff orpington, one silver laced wyandotte and one araucana. I'm thinking of naming this batch after NPR correspondents -- Nina Totenberg, Sylvia Pogiolli and Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson. But of course, I have to meet them in person to see if the names fit.

I've put together flash cards for my husband so that he knows which chicken is which. He never refers to them. If I give them these full names, he might just check out all together.