Sunday, August 26, 2007

Mrs Dimwhitty and the Log Cabin


This fine bird is the last of a flock of Rhode Island Red fowls that my parents owned. Dad nicknamed her 'Mrs Dimwhitty'. I don't know where he got that name from. Maybe it was a character in a book, or a play perhaps? Mrs Dimwhitty had full pecking and scavenging rights wherever she chose to wander. She was also rather partial to big, fat white Witchetty Grubs which were often found in logs of wood waiting to be cut for firewood. The grubs were actually found when the wood was being chopped, so it was necessary to make sure that Mrs Dimwhitty's neck was not on the chopping block as well.


Richard boarded on the farm next to ours and would often come over at the weekends and wander down to the woodheap and spend a couple of hours cutting wood so that Mum and Dad didn't have to do it. He cut and stacked the wood as though building a house, and we used to joke that if we couldn't get a school with a residence to move into after we got married, well, we'd just live in the 'log cabin' at the woodheap. Fortunately, it didn't come down to that, and we did have somewhere to live.


I think Mrs Dimwhitty earned her keep laying as many eggs as she could during her reign as Queen Chicken. Mum was quite fond of her. So much so that 2 and a half years after our wedding, we cut the top tier of our wedding cake (a rich fruit cake) on the occasion of Shelly's Christening, only to find that I hadn't sealed the cake properly and it had fermented. Mum took the cake down past the woodheap, dug and hole and buried it. She explained that she didn't want Mrs Dimwhitty to find it in the compost and eat it in case it made her drunk!Posted by Picasa

13 comments:

Kerri said...

What a nice surprise to see you've posted again Alice! I hope we get to read lots of these farm tales and see the lovely old photos.
I'm sure Richard's wood chopping scored big points with your parents...and with you :) He rarely seems to be idle.
I'll bet Mrs. Dimwhitty never imagined herself as a blog star! She sounds like the perfect mother hen. Pretty chook she is :)

Jellyhead said...

Mrs Dimwhitty looks like a lovely chook, but I'm afraid I'm far more intrigued my hearing that your hubby boarded at a neighbours place before you and he married. Is that how you met? And were you friends before you started 'dating'? (nosey little bugger, aren't I? Feel free to ignore everything I just said! OR, you could write a post on it...tee hee!)

Anonymous said...

What a great character Mrs Dimwhitty sounds - her name is fabulous. Your dad picked a great name. I have really enjoyed hearing this farmyard tale. Thanks for sharing more stories with us. Sara from farmingfriends

meggie said...

I really enjoyed the story of Mrs Dimwhitty, & also the cake!
And Richard was a great treasure to come & chop the wood for your parents. It seems he is still a treasure by they way he plays with the grandchildren.

SnowWhite said...

Hi Alice, thanks for putting up with my randome posts and comments, just been too busy here, Need to jump in shelly's suit case and go for a holiday lol. will get more pics up soon. and how did you know my nick name Mrs Dimwhitty lol this week especially lol
xx
shona

Aiyana said...

Great story. When I was a kid, we named all the chickens. Not that they responded to their names, but we had fun!

Joni said...

I think your father had a fantastic sense of humor!

Pam said...

What a lovely story - and what beautiful grandchildren! Also what amazingly good weather. It looks like summer - it's supposed to be summer here in Scotland, but frankly it's not been terribly impressive. Ah well, I don't really mind since I'm back to work...

Pear tree cottage! said...

Alice that is such a lovely country story, to think a chook called Mrs Dimwhitty - somehow it just sounds so right!

I loved the bit about your mum getting rid of the wedding cake incase the chook got drunk :) put a smile on my face!!

I so very much enjoyed the pictures of the grandchildren and yes an instant flower garden I have seen a few of them.

loved visitng you today my friend.
Lee-ann

Anonymous said...

I love the name.

I used to have a rooster whom I was forced to keep as a result of my six-year-old's failed egg hatching experiment at school. We kept him until he attacked one of our tenants.

Roosters are a bit scarier than hens.

HORIZON said...

Mrs. Dimwitty drunk- no there's a thought! Nice post Alice- l enjoyed the read and could just picture your hubby cutting the wood.
:) xx

Anonymous said...

What a great story. I am sure you have more stories that you can share even if the photo's are running out. Keep on blogging

Anonymous said...

Do you have a picture of the TREE the one we all loved
RC