The Ole Chicken Pen

[Stob]

I've always been told, never forget where you came from, but I did. For me, it was the chicken pen. I hated that thing - I hated letting them out, getting them back on roost, feeding them. I just hated it. Not really because I hated the chickens or the eggs that we ate, I just had other things to do.

Yesterday, I brought my dad home from the hospital for home hospice. I had to carry him onto the porch where he sat for about three hours with the dog and I couldn't hold back the tears. I walked the property on and off for hours.

More than 25 years after leaving home, that stupid chicken pen had me a wreck.



That chicken pen once housed two small pigs- another time, a pack of beagles; but mostly it was dad's chicken pen up until about a year ago. Never foget when a friends dad gave him two 'fighting chickens'. They didn't last long.

I continued to just walk around and then noticed this -


This is what is left of where we used to skin deer. It once had a roof and all sorts of other bits and pieces. I think my brother redid it after I left home but I have skinned probably 250 deer right there.

I later visited the final resting spots of 'two best dogs I ever owned'. Max and Bailey. My daughter and I burred and made the cross of the one in the back near 2002. Dad is a dog lover, always had a dog in the back of the truck and Max and Bailey were always by his side. He treated those two dogs better than he ever treated me.



I finished the day with watching the sun set over the pond that I grew up swimming, fishing, frog gigging, jug hooking and just general foolishness in.


I left home at 19 and never went back other than a visit or two here and there but as I type this, I wish I could go back in time.

'Boy, all you got to do in life is work harder than the man to your left and the man to your right'. And that's what I did but I would love to let those stupid chickens out again.


I will be burring him in the coming days/weeks. A good man right there!

Dont forget where you came from!

 

[gobbleinwoods]

Go ahead and tug at my heart strings.

 

[jcbcpa]

 

[Gav-n-Tn]

Not gonna lie. That post got to me a little bit.

 

[Gbr5pb]

Just wow that’s all I can say

 

[Nicodemus]

Dadgum......

 

[specialk]

good post, i got a pen like that in VA where i grew up....house and little farm too..it was left to my dad when granny passed and now to me when daddy passed.....my niece is living there now but i stay there when i visit....if i didnt have some roots here i'd be back there in a flash.....thanks for the reminder......

 

[northgeorgiasportsman]

That might be the most poignant post ever on Woodys. Condolences, Stob.

 

[notnksnemor]

A great tribute.

Fitting for a eulogy at his send off if that's your tendency.

 

[JustUs4All]

Sorry to hear that your dad is nearing the end of his time. No one can say anything that will make this time easier for you but time heals.

I have a garage over part of the chicken pen but just behind the garage is a very old crepe myrtle that stood by the corner of the chicken house. When I look at that tree I can clearly see the chicken house and my grandmother with an apron full of eggs. I will be gone in a few years and will take those memories with me.
Life and nature are all about renewal and change. Endings come so that there can be new beginnings. I hope that your father's passing will be an easy one and that you will all find peace.

 

[Stob]

So yesterday, I was wide awake at 4am. Cant say that I slept much but I left for the hospital about 6am. My step mother had spent the night with him, so I was headed to relieve her as we awaited for the social worker to give us an update on hospice. I wont get into the details, but he needs professional care.

I get to the hospital and she tells me he has been ornery all night and that she has not slept. I send her home and try to calm him down a bit. He was wide awake so I turned on the westerns for him. At this point, his communication is complete garble which is difficult in itself.

When the doc came in, I already knew that three hospice care facilities had turned him down because he is now on a feeding tube and has stage 4 lung cancer. There was one more place to call so I was anxious to hear what the doc had to say. Yep, last place turned him down as well and basically said, we are discharging him, he is all yours.

Thought to myself, what in the world am I going to do? My step mother cant take care of him and I have to work. Well, they packed him up and I got him into the car to go home. Thousands of thoughts per second at this point- what am I going to do. I have no support structure.

Man paid into the system for 60 years, owned a small business, community volunteer- now I am getting angry. They basically dumped him out of the front door and said, good luck.

 

[kmckinnie]

We had a chicken pen. Great story. Reminiscing the good times and we didn’t even know it.
Prayers for your family.

 

[kmckinnie]

So yesterday, I was wide awake at 4am. Cant say that I slept much but I left for the hospital about 6am. My step mother had spent the night with him, so I was headed to relieve her as we awaited for the social worker to give us an update on hospice. I wont get into the details, but he needs professional care.

I get to the hospital and she tells me he has been ornery all night and that she has not slept. I send her home and try to calm him down a bit. He was wide awake so I turned on the westerns for him. At this point, his communication is complete garble which is difficult in itself.

When the doc came in, I already knew that three hospice care facilities had turned him down because he is now on a feeding tube and has stage 4 lung cancer. There was one more place to call so I was anxious to hear what the doc had to say. Yep, last place turned him down as well and basically said, we are discharging him, he is all yours.

Thought to myself, what in the world am I going to do? My step mother cant take care of him and I have to work. Well, they packed him up and I got him into the car to go home. Thousands of thoughts per second at this point- what am I going to do. I have no support structure.

Man paid into the system for 60 years, owned a small business, community volunteer- now I am getting angry. They basically dumped him out of the front door and said, good luck.

I hate to hear this.....
our world today.

 

[Skeeter XRi]

Thoughts sent up Stob. I had to like post #11 just so I could unlike it.

Unfortunately as time goes on we come to realize the only people we can really count on in times of need are ourselves.

jim

 

[pjciii]

Never get above your raising. Thanks for taking us on that journey. Sorry for the circumstances. Sending prayers

 

[Stob]

So last post and sorry for ear treatment. This is the only social media that I do. I am also a bit of a loner.

I sent my cousin a text and said that if anyone wants to say their goodbyes, now is the time so family started showing up here and there but I stayed outside with my bother drinking beers. Lots of praying and women talk inside. Dad's cancer was not told to us prior to about 5 days ago as my step mom didn't want to worry us.

Anyways, he (brother) told me when he was a teen, when dad went to GA to visit me, he and my cousin Adam would canoe out to an island on the pond and 'absolutely slay the woodies'. I wanted to punch him because they were dad's pets but I laughed.

Lastly, and taking two steps back, on the way back to his house, scared to death, he did something that had me rolling. He was not able to get a word out at this point, just in lala lannd. As we approached the turnoff for his road, I asked him if he knew where he was at and he nodded yes. About that time, a car pulled across the road in front of us and I had to slam on brakes.

It was at that time, he gave them the one finger salute as we rode by.

Cheers dad!

 

[The Original Rooster]

So last post and sorry for ear treatment. This is the only social media that I do. I am also a bit of a loner.

I sent my cousin a text and said that if anyone wants to say their goodbyes, now is the time so family started showing up here and there but I stayed outside with my bother drinking beers. Lots of praying and women talk inside. Dad's cancer was not told to us prior to about 5 days ago as my step mom didn't want to worry us.

Anyways, he (brother) told me when he was a teen, when dad went to GA to visit me, he and my cousin Adam would canoe out to an island on the pond and 'absolutely slay the woodies'. I wanted to punch him because they were dad's pets but I laughed.

Lastly, and taking two steps back, on the way back to his house, scared to death, he did something that had me rolling. He was not able to get a word out at this point, just in lala lannd. As we approached the turnoff for his road, I asked him if he knew where he was at and he nodded yes. About that time, a car pulled across the road in front of us and I had to slam on brakes.

It was at that time, he gave them the one finger salute as we rode by.

Cheers dad!

Still some fight left in him. Got to love that!

 

[basstrkr]

Praying that you and your family are blessed with the comfort of a life well lived.

Chicken Pen Karma: I had to meet a guy In California, Berkley no less, OMG. ,a liberal, likely, of the worse kind. What will we ever talk about. He knew I was coming from Georgia. I pulled up the his house and he met me in the yard. His first words were," Would you like to see my chicken pin." I did, and things went good after that.

 

[fireman32]

I feel for you Stob, and know exactly what you’re going through. I just lost my daddy on December the 29th. As we sat in the hospital with him being in and out of understanding I talked to him about our outdoor adventures. I was able to get him to laugh and relive some great memories one last time. I happen to be an only child and going back to his house that’s now mine just seems strange. So many good times, some rough times and reminders everywhere of what a great daddy he was. Lord if it didn’t hurt to hold his hand when he passed on, but it was time. Focus on the good memories as best you can, you’ve got this.

 

[jaydawg]

Dang Stob, just dang…condolences and much respect….can’t type no more cause of all the “dust” in my eyes…peace for you and the family