here are some pics, courtesy of my daughter and her new camera, showing off the girls having fun in the sun 
on a suggestion from the chicken whisperer, pat foreman, i added some wood ashes to their favorite dust-bath spot and they seem to be really loving it!
also on the happy chicken front, i received an email back from her regarding my questions about our dog (dakota) coexisting peacefully with the chux. and she offered to call me so we could discuss it!
this proves several things:
1- even famous people are sometimes humble enough to give you some of their time;
2- even people who owe you nothing at all, and who have every right to be too busy for you and to completely blow you off can be surprisingly kind;
3- pat foreman is pretty darn cool! ;
4- she believes that there is enough hope with the dog/chicken situation to have a conversation about it. otherwise, i assume she would have just said something like, “yeah. sounds like she is a typical husky. too bad. so sad. get rid of either the dog or the chickens. have a nice life.” so, i remain ever optimistic…
on a separate but related note, i overheard her telling someone at the now famous mother earth news fair that the reviews of her book on amazon.com really do matter and help her out. so, even if you can’t afford to buy her books and you read them from the library, perhaps you could stop by amazon (i’m not sure if this is “kosher” , and i am absolutely NOT encouraging you to do something wrong- so if this is playing the system, please let me know) and give her books some positive feedback. again, here is the link for the one i think is the most relevant for backyard homestead types like me:
as always, i will keep you posted about any advice i get, so stay tuned!
Jun 18, 2012 @ 11:36:35
I kept chickens with dogs for 20 years. I took the chicks into the house and had them run all over the dog who then seemed to understand these were important parts of our lives and they became protective of them…..Kind of like kids, i guess..Visiting dogs were not so inclined!!!!
Jun 18, 2012 @ 17:05:09
do you have to do this when the dog is very young? i’ve heard of this, but only with a puppy…
Jun 18, 2012 @ 21:33:46
aaaaw
Jun 20, 2012 @ 12:05:12
I remember your battle in the news but had no idea that you had started a blog about it. And now you have chickens too? (!!!) BRAVO! Following!
Lynda from the Farmlet
Jun 20, 2012 @ 18:20:13
thank you!!!!!
Jun 20, 2012 @ 18:20:33
hahahaha- thanks
Jun 20, 2012 @ 18:30:20
can i ask how you found the blog after all this time? i’m so curious!
Jun 20, 2012 @ 23:40:30
I can’t tell you the exact path, but I can tell you I was Googling the White House garden plot plans and you perked up to the surface via one of the links. As always happens with news from out of state, I never did hear how it all ended with your city fight. Can you point me to the post regarding how it was resolved? Or is it resolved?
~ Lynda
Jun 20, 2012 @ 23:51:47
hmmmmmmmmmm- i will try to go back and see which post sums up the best, but in short, they dropped all of the charges against me and about a month later my husband got a new job and we moved to seattle. in the very next election, oak park citizens voted out the corrupt out-of-touch mayor and voted in a darling woman who actually cares about the people and what they want out of their city… my lawyer went from a fresh-faced newbie to a garden/land-use specialist with street cred showing that, indeed, sometimes good deeds do generate good karma. we love seattle, and i’m really happy you found the blog- welcome!