I have a habit of writing in notebooks from the back page moving forwards. It's usually just jottings.
So, sitting waiting for the BBKA meeting to start with my "chicken notes" (now renamed "chicken & bee notes") providing much happy nostalgia, I flipped to the back to see what sort of things I had scribbled there.
Names.
Specifically, potential chicken names.
There on the very first line were the names I had originally chosen: Esme, Gytha, Magrat, Agnes. I can't see those names now (even when I am reading Terry Pratchett) without chuckling. Those names are what caused my husband's hen hostility to reach boiling point, so much so that he actually had an outburst in a restaurant.
We had been having lunch out with DS1 (S) and his wife (T). T was asking me about the upcoming chickens, and we were talking about names. I told her that I had finally decided on the names, and I reeled off "Esme, Gytha, Magrat and Agnes". DH choked and snapped at me "When did it get to FOUR??" I explained about the names, and the breeds (I was going to have a Cochin at the time) and that the Cochin would obviously be Agnes, because she fitted Terry Pratchett's description of Agnes. And I couldn't go from Gytha to Agnes, I needed to have a Magrat as well.
But then I realised that DH wasn't joking. He was very, very, unhappy. He didn't want chickens at all. He had given up trying to prevent me from getting them, and had accepted the logic behind 3 was better than 2.
Anyway. The upshot was that I didn't get 4 chickens, I got 3. And I couldn't bring myself to use those names.
The reason the memory makes me chuckle, is that we now have 8 Garden Girls, and two flocks of 4 each at the Allotment. The Allotmenteers are really my DH's chickens. And he's now really into chickens.
The rest of the names on the pages were all in 3s.
"Broody Bunch" : Jan, Marcia and Cindy
"Upstairs Downstairs": Rose Ruby Daisy
"TV": Mary, Mungo, Midge; and "George, Zippy, Bungle"
"Old Lady Names": none written in, just a comment "very common for hens"
A few groups were highlighted by a cloud, indicating they had made it through to serious consideration
"Chicken names" Pollo, Gallina, Kip (i.e. "chicken" in other languages)
"Firefly": Yo, Saff, Bridge (Yolanda, Saffron, Bridget, the aliases of Mal's "wife") I also had Inara, Kaylee and Zoe written down, but crossed out.
"Goodies": Tim, Bill, Graeme
Then, over the page, in a really BIG cloud
Delilah, Lydia, Scarlett
And those were the names I chose for my first three Girls. All that work on triptychs, and I decided to go for unrelated names!
The reason was that linked names are fine while everyone is OK. But as time goes on and you end up with survivors, the linked names can sound a bit daft without their counterparts.
Over the page, I had numerous miscellaneous names scribbled on, obviously at different times as the names came to me. Some of the names (example: Jasmine, Daisy) I chose for later hens.
And re-reading some of the other names, I wish I'd remembered these notes when naming other hens. I've got some great names on there. I'll keep them for my next hens. Whenever they may be.
