The Farmers Alarm Clock

Something to Crow About- 24 x 36 Acrylic

I remember my son Jason's 2nd grade class hatched chicken eggs in their classroom via an incubator.  That was a very special experience and if the parents agreed, then your student could bring home a baby chick.  I never had chickens as a child so I had to quickly education myself on what was expected of me as the new owner of a tiny chick.

We bought the scratch food and made a little enclosure.  We were so happy to watch our tiny feathered pet begin to grow.  That bliss lasted a couple months until one early morning I was laying in bed and heard a completely foreign sound coming from my back yard.  It sounded something like a very sorry example of crowing and it hit me that this wasn't the egg laying hen I hoped for but rather my chick was soon going to become a huge neighborhood annoyance.  Since we weren't really zoned for livestock, there was only one thing I could do.  We packed up the adolescent bird and drove to the local feed store.  We traded him for a nice looking hen to the relief of all my neighbor's.

With my recent focus on painting country scenes for the series that I call "Down Country Roads" I would be amiss if I hadn't turned my artistic skills to the staple of all farmers and homesteaders for hundreds of years.....The Chicken.  

I've finished a couple of pieces in the past few months that featured this feathered farm fowl and I had a great time painting and drawing them.  Last week I decided to write a poem that I'm calling "The Farmers Alarm Clock" and I thought it would be a good time to share it with my blog readers.  

I've actually been writing a number of poems this past month.  I think I've reached 8 or 9 in my folder I carry around.  I'm seriously thinking about turning it all into a book in the next year.  I even was thinking of titling the book..."Grandmas Too Silly by 1/2", but that is a bit premature I think since I have such a learning curve facing me.  Either way, I am really enjoying coming up with funny little verses to accompany many of my drawings.  After all my artist statement makes it pretty clear:  I'm an artist who loves Jesus-Trying to tell the story of His creation with some paint and canvas.  "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.  Colossians 3:23"

A Farmers Alarm Clock

By

Julie Townsend

Don’t cover up your sleepy head

It’s time to throw off your covers and get out of that bed

I guess I’m going to have to crow extra loud

All your animals are forming a crowd

Waiting for you to serve them their morning meal

I know you can hear those pigs starting to squeal

It’s time to open up your eyeballs

Milk those cows and clean those stalls

Everyone is waiting so don’t you delay

No matter that it’s cold and you’re cozy where you lay

You have to feed the world you know

So grab your rake and pick up your hoe

Plow that field and bale that hay

The sun is coming up and you’ve got to start your day

This has been our routine down through the years

Don’t tell me you’re using that pillow to cover your ears!

For I’m the farmers best alarm clock

And it’s time for you to pull your work boot over that sock

Give a goodbye kiss to your wife

It’s tough I know but this is your life

Grab some coffee and run out that door

But first you have to put your feet on the floor.

If you liked that little rhyme then you might want to see more of my fine literary works you can check out my Sketchbook Gallery on my website because I have added a number of poems there.  While you are there, feel free take a few minutes to look at all my work.  I won't mind a bit if you snoop around.

Have a blessed day!