Mike The Headless Chicken

I really wish I was kidding about this one.

Let's go back to September 10th, 1945 in the very small rural town of Fruita, Colorado.  Lloyd Olsen's wife, Clara, sends him out to kill a chicken for dinner.   Lloyd fells the axe on the chicken's neck.  The head comes off and the chicken, oblivious to the loss of his head, keeps right on going about his bird business.  When Lloyd found him alive and well, sans head, the next morning, he decided to let the bird live and fed him with an eye dropper to keep him going.  

They named him Mike and Mike became so famous that for the remaining 18 months of his headless life, he hit celebrity status; he even wound up in both Time and Life Magazine.

 

That celebrity status became legend and now there is an annual Mike the Headless Chicken festival in Fruita, during the third weekend of May.  The festival features a lawn mower race, chicken dance contest, eating contests, chicken games (like pin the head on the chicken and an egg toss), 5k run, a car show and a 'Good Egg' award, among several other interests.   

If you would like to know more about it, he has his own website:

Mike's website.

Alternate titles for this post:
the afterlife of a chicken
it just wouldn't die
and in other news... chicken defies death

axe me again

life after death

stranger than fiction

Let's Do It ~ Let's Fall In Love!

Birds do it, bees do it

Even educated fleas do it

Let's do it, let's fall in love

In Spain, the best upper sets do it

Lithuanians and Letts do it

Let's do it, let's fall in love

 

The Dutch in old Amsterdam do it

Not to mention the Fins

Folks in Siam do it - think of Siamese twins

Some Argentines, without means, do it

People say in Boston even beans do it

Let's do it, let's fall in love

Romantic sponges, they say, do it

Oysters down in oyster bay do it

Let's do it, let's fall in love

Cold Cape Cod clams,
'gainst their wish, do it

Even lazy jellyfish, do it

Let's do it, let's fall in love

The Dragonflies in the reeds do it

Sentimental centipedes do it

Let's do it, let's fall in love

Mosquitos, heaven forbid, do it

So does every katydid do it

Let's do it, let's fall in love

The most refined lady bugs do it,

When a gentleman calls

Moths in your rugs do it

What's the use of moth balls? 

Electric eels I might add do it

Though it shocks em I know

Why ask if shad do it - Waiter bring me "shad roe"

  

In shallow shoals English soles do it

Goldfish in the privacy of bowls do it

Let's do it, let's fall in love

In old Japan, all the Japs do it

Up in Lapland little Laps do it

Let's do it, let's fall in love

The chimpanzees in zoos do it

Some courageous kangaroos do it

Let's do it, let's fall in love

I'm sure giraffes on the sly do it

Even eagles as they fly do it

Let's do it, let's fall in love

The world admits

bears in pits do it

Even Pekingeses at the Ritz do it 

Let's do it, let's fall in love

Let's do it, let's fall in love!

Let's do it... Let's fall in love!

Wordless Wednesday

My Brother's Keeper

Matthew and Marcus Mauceri are twin brothers. 

Matthew Mauceri (age 40) was flying in to Clearwater, Florida on Tuesday morning to attend his court trial, in which he is charged with scheming to defraud. 

Apparently he hasn't figured out yet that scheming to defraud is illegal, because he perpetuated yet another instance of it when he schemed to defraud the court he was supposed to be attending for scheming to defraud. 

I'll expound.

He realized en route that he would not make his trial on time and asked his twin brother to go to court for him in his stead ~ and by 'in his stead' I mean literally pretending to be him.   

Matthew's own attorney (who'd defended both men previously ~ note, repeat offenders) realized that things were 'one juror short of a full jury', and tipped the judge off.  Marcus swore under oath that he was Matthew, then the judge had a fingerprint test done on Marcus and the truth was discovered.

Marcus is now serving 179 days for criminal contempt of court and his brother Matthew (who finally showed up) now has charges of failure to appear and contempt of court to answer for in addition to his trial for scheming to defraud.

Albert Einstein has been quoted as saying that 'the definition of insanity is repeating the same action over and over again, expecting different results'. 

Forest Gump was quoted as saying 'Stupid is as stupid does'.

I'm going with Forest on this one.

Wordless Wednesday