And Now.... The Moment We've All Been Waiting For......

I present to you...... Duke the Roo, performing his first public solo:



Is he not the cutest little thing you have ever laid your eyes on? He is so darn proud of himself. I'm proud of him, too. He let out about 15 of those little gems and I caught every one of them on video. But I decided to spare all of you and only show a three second clip for his big debut. By the way - you may notice he is standing all alone in this video. His crowing still scares all the other chicks half to death.

I'll admit, he needs to work on it a little, and he's been practicing his little heart out. Not bad for a little six week old cockerel!

I'm sure you are not nearly as impressed with Duke's new found talent as I am. It reminds me of my first solo in the third grade Glee Club. I sang "All Creatures Great and Small" in front of an auditorium of parents. Certainly the only reason I was chosen to sing a solo is not because of my lovely singing voice. I was the only third grader that would belt out any song I was asked to sing. I was loud. REALLY loud. Our music teacher used me as an example of how to make your voice "carry". And man, did my voice ever carry.

At any rate, when I finished my first solo, the audience wildly applauded. In hindsight, I'm not sure if they enjoyed the song, or were just so darn happy it was finally over. My mother was just beaming. Afterward, she gave me a huge hug and told me several people commented that they had no idea I could sing so well. She was incredibly proud. You would have thought the Angel Gabriel had just come down from heaven above and blessed her with a song from On High. In reality, I'm pretty sure I sounded very much like Duke does right now. But parents have special filters in their ears and eyes, and often don't hear and see things concerning their children quite the way others do.

I think Duke has quite a lovely little crow going on right now. And come to think of it, he does have a Gabriel type quality to his voice......

Bee Free,
Penny