A Quick Trip to Arizona

Wednesday, February 11, 2026

Last Friday I had a meeting with Rob in Arizona. Since I was in AZ I was excited to spend time with my kids and grandkids. My meeting Friday morning was at 9:30, Kira had an appointment and Ben was working so it wasn’t until after noon that I got to do fun stuff. Kira and I arrived back at her house at roughly the same time and then we went and bought stuff for her chickens that she was planning on picking up that evening.

Around noon Justin got off work and he and I went to this big warehouse selling left over inventory they get from varous warehouses. The Home Depot is one of the places they get stuff from. They accept trade dollars there, so I checked out the inventory to see if they had anything I’d need. I ended up buying an office chair, a hand held tile saw and a garden hose storage roller. After Justin and I got home we then headed over to one of Kira’s neighbours and picked up three newly hatched chicks.

The chicks were a hit with everyone but Justin. He is not feeling the love for all the animals that the rest of us feel. Although he is not a fan, he tolerates them well. Let me introduce you to the latest family members.

This is nugget. I love the name, but somehow I doubt she will ever become a chicken nugget.

This is Hey Hey. She has a distinctive red face.

And then there is Helen. She is completely yellow and looks just like the chicks you expect at Easter time.

It was quite surprising to see just how protective of the chicks Loki was. He wouldn’t let the cats come near the cage.

Friday night I headed over to Bens to spend an hour or two with his kids before they all headed off to bed.

Saturday morning I had a relaxed breakfast and then I went with Kira to a little farmers market near her house. It was pretty cool. There is family with a few acres and they sell all kind of produce. They’ve invited some of their neighbors to join with them so they have a decent variety of stuff you can buy. They sell rabbits, honey, one guy makes his own knives and all kinds of cool stuff. I bought some granola and goat cheese. I then hit the road. It was a fun weekend.

--------------------trivia--------------------

The oldest, most reliable evidence for domesticated chickens comes from Neolithic sites in central Thailand, specifically Ban Non Wat, dating to 1650–1250 BC. The ancestor to todays chickens is the Red Jungle Fowl.

More importantly, the chicken nugget was invented in 1963 and made popular by McDonalds in the 1980's

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