There are some rules to collecting eggs.  Rules might be a strong word, I suppose that you could say “guidelines”, but really, rules are rules in my book no matter how you sugar coat it.  One of the “rules” for collecting eggs here at the farm is to always, always, collect eggs with a bucket.  The idea of using pockets, hands, etc. is completely unheard of and even frowned upon.  

Now as we all know … I am a huge keeper of the rules … sometimes!  So tonight when I went to do some chores … put Ms. Bessie in for the night, water the steers, put the chickens to bed and collect eggs, I sorta forgot the bucket for the eggs.  I stopped in the driveway half way between the chicken coop and the front porch where 3 empty buckets were waiting to be used and I thought and thought.  “Should I walk all the way back up there?” … See, sometimes a new farm girl just has to take some risks which means of course that I chose to collect eggs without the bucket.  With thoughts of “How many could there be anyway?”, I walked away from the buckets in the porch and towards the waiting eggs empty handed.

Well, it turns out that there was a dozen … twelve eggs … 12 eggs to collect with no bucket and quite a trek back to the house.  What would you do?  I did what any good farm girl would do and I shoved them all in my sweatshirt pockets and knew that I would have to walk very very slowly.  Now a dozen is a lot but nothing that I haven’t done before … shhh!

I made it back to the house with out a scratch … or should I say a crack.  Whew.  I am getting pretty good.  I haven’t always been so good though … I have been known to break at least one if not two in said pockets.  There is a reason for the rules of course. 

fyi … this will be the only time that I take a picture of my stomach for you. :)

 

I tend to keep my moments of “risk taking with the eggs” to myself since Loren is a great keeper of the rules.  Do you think that it is easier to follow the rules when you make them up?  I am just sayin’.  

Since the only time that I collect eggs is when Loren is at work, or at least out of sight, I am rarely caught not using the said buckets.  However, awhile back there was a time when I was caught.  It went something like this. 

Loren … “Are you using a bucket to collect eggs everyday?”

Me … “Everyday?, ummm, well … not everyday … but mostly everyday.  Why do you ask?” (thinking … how the heck did he know? )

Loren … “I found an egg out at the mailbox the other day.”

Me … (knowing that there was no way out of it)  … “Huh?, was it broken?”

Loren … “no.”

Me … (with a charming smile because I knew I was in trouble) … “Well then no harm done huh?”

I don’t recall the end of the conversation but I know that I didn’t get a lecture.  I think that I probably deserved one and I am almost sure that Loren had one ready because really, the mailbox is a heck of a long way from the chicken coop and as we all are now well aware … not using a bucket is breaking the egg collecting rules.  But seriously, what is the chance that I would drop an egg and not notice?!  Good grief.  Oh well.  I thought it was funny and I think that deep down Loren did too.  Even though it was funny I gotta say that I haven’t gone to get the mail while sporting pockets full of eggs since then … lesson learned I guess. 

I often wonder if Loren ever thought it would be such great fun to train a new farm girl?