Urban Rooster

Rooster today, feather-duster tomorrow
Russian Proverb

About a week ago I was sleeping in. As anyone with small children can attest sleeping in happens rarely so it's a rather memorable occasion. I rolled over and readjusted the blankets when, from a distant space, my sleepy mind thought it heard a rooster proclaim the dawn. We live in the heart of Lincoln so our house is not on the outskirts of town. My bedroom window doesn't jut up against a feed lot or anything so, at thought of a rooster caw waking me up I giggled, buried my head under the covers, and went back to sleep.

This morning I was not in such good humor as I heard the rooster caw (again) at 6:30 a.m. I laid there listening to another three or four caws, and finally nudged my husband...

"Babe, do we have a rooster living in our neighborhood?"

"Mmmmm-huh,"groaned Brent, who was still drooling into his pillow, "two doors down."

I didn't know whether to die of laughter or stew in indignation. I chose the latter and looked up the animal control regs. Whenever I'm on an angry tirade I love the internet because, somewhere there is a justification for my anger and its just a few clicks of a button away. After about twenty minutes of searching I found Chapter 6 Section 04.040 of the Lincoln Municipal Code Pigeons, Small Animal and Fowl Permit Requirements. I blinked at the screen in disbelief. Long story short: my neighbor can house as many as three roosters on his tiny square mid-town lot. I re-assessed the rage v. laughter responses to the situation. I live next to an urban rooster and I, when I'm not trying to sleep, think its pretty funny.

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Happy New Year! As Brent, Naomi and I rang in 2008 we made several new year's resolutions. Many of them are already broken but among the still feasible bunch I wanted to write more often and to keep in closer contact with my friends and family.