A Tragedy Has Befallen Our Compound. This Post is in Memory of an Intrepid Rooster...

I have sad news to report from the world of Our Simple Life.

Sometimes there are events that are beyond our control and we must forge on in the face of sadness and grief...

Last week we lost a valued member of our community.

While he only weighed 9 lbs and had a pea for a brain, but we loved him all the same.

Mr. D, the intrepid rooster, succumbed to an infection after being attacked by an unknown predator. He went quickly over the course of a week. I speculate that an aerial attacker such as a Cooper's hawk may have attacked him, but we shall never know.

Last Monday night Mike came to me and said, "Mr. D is not looking so good. Wyatt went in the chicken coop and told me he was going to pet Mr. D. I knew something was wrong . . ." You see, Mr. D was not a rooster who could be petted unless you wanted a spur in the arm or leg in exchange.

I thought quickly and replied, "I think must have got an infection from something that attacked him last week. It took off a hand full of feathers from his neck. Poor guy. I did not realize he was getting sick. He seemed fine during the week. I bet some bacteria settled into a few small scratches. And they did him in..."

And so it goes. Whatever wanted to kill and eat him earlier in the week, be it hawk or other predator, ended up still killing him in the end. We were all very sad with his passing.

In homage to Mr. D here are some photos of Mr. D doing what he did best.

Guarding the ladies. . .

Attacking Mike with reckless abandon.

Chasing Mike with the ferocity of a rottweiler.

Bingo loved Mr. D too. But for slightly different reasons. I am glad that Mr. D has been immortalized in the pages of Bingo's Big Adventure. His image and spirit will live on within the printed pages of the book.

Here the proud rooster was seen at his best!

Mr. D was a source of reliable entertainment for our kids and we adults alike. Many a blog post was written on behalf of his wonderful, yet ruthless behavior. Roosters can be bastards and Mr. D. was no exception to the rule.

I wrote seven posts on this blog over the past few years about Mr. D. Here are a few references to remind you how much we liked this rooster:

Why we wanted a rooster like Mr. D is HERE.
Mr. D shows off just how big his spurs are HERE.
Mr. D is my prop showing off a rooster inspired apron HERE.
Mr. D shows off his ninja style attacks HERE.
Mr. D in "When Roosters Attack" HERE.
Mr. D protects what is his HERE.
Why I loved Mr. D the most is HERE.

He was an awesome rooster and will be remembered with fondness.

Now for the 2nd half of the story. . .

Last Tuesday Ella began her first day of preschool and we drove off talking about how sad it was that Mr. D had died.

We entered the small building where Mrs. Cindy teaches her little class to cut and glue and color and were greeted with a warm welcome. We began talking and one of the first questions Mrs. Cindy asked was, "How is Mr. D?"

I explained, "Well, I've bad news. Mr. D. died last night. All the kids are pretty sad."

"Oh, that's awful," Mrs. Cindy responded, "But you know, I have his son out side."

My eyes brightened and I looked toward her chicken coop that I could not see through the preschool walls. Mrs. Cindy has a small coop on the north side of the school house. "Really? You hatched a rooster from those eggs we gave you? I can hardly believe it!"

I was thinking to my self "What luck! How fortuitous! Amazing! The son of Mr. D!"

Mrs. Cindy continued, "Yeah, he's starting to crow now too. I kind of need to find him a new home now since my neighbors complain about roosters."

"Oh we'll take him off you hands," I spoke with gratitude and then suggested, "Let's go check him out."

So we eagerly popped out to the chicken coop and low and behold there stood "Junior D." For that is what he had to be called. The posture and shape of Mr. D was incarnate in Junior D's body. It appears that the apple did not fall too far from the tree.

Junior has an orange colored body and is beginning to grow some dark colored tail feathers like his dad's. Making an educated guess based on body color, I think his mom is our Rhode Island red hen, thus the russet colored body feathers are explained.

Introducing . . . Junior D!

We brought him home today and put him in with the ladies. Then the boys, the human boys, had to pick him up because he must be immediately initiated into the hazing program that we have developed...


So with the departure of our beloved Mr. D we were consoled by the newly learned existence of his son, who we were so fortunate to be able to bring into our family.

Let's remember Mr. D with joy and welcome his long lost son with the same enthusiasm!