The thoughts of a book-loving, home schooling wife and mother who wants to be available to serve her Savior in her family, home, church, and wherever He chooses to send her.
Archaeologists recently discovered the tomb of King Cluckenhamen and his featherless family. Armed guards were placed near the tomb to protect the valuables from theft until they could be removed to the famous Royal Chicken Gallery.
We have just been informed that a dastardly deed has taken place: The guards were ambushed; gagged, bound and blindfolded; and placed in a makeshift chicken wire prison. The tomb was ransacked and the Royal Chickens and their valuables were all stolen.
The Chicken Constables released this video from the surveillance camera in hopes of learning the identity of these fowl, feather-thieving fiends:
If you have any information about these sinister poultry pilferers, dubbed The Heinous Rooster Heisters by the police, please contact your local chicken constable immediately.
If The Heinous Rooster Heisters are reading this, it would behoove you to turn yourselves and the Royal Chicken Mummies with their valuables in without further delay. You will not be able to hide for long!
June 2, 2007 (I lost count of the weeks, but it's been a looonng time)
I am happy to say that the Chicken Mummy Saga has officially come to an end! Today, the kids wrapped the now-mummified chickens and placed them in their sarcophagi.
This week, we used:
* 1 inexpensive plastic drop cloth
* 1/2 roll of gauze per chicken (2 total - we should have gotten more)
* fake plastic jewels to decorate the chickens
* large googly eyes for each chicken (because I'm weird and thought it would be funny)
* 1 shoe box per chicken
* spray paint
1. We took the chicken out of the bag, wiped the salt out of the cavity and rubbed it off the outside of the chicken into a garbage can.
2. We covered the table with a drop cloth and the kids wrapped and decorated their mummies.
3. The kids went outside, spray-painted their shoe boxes, and let them dry.
4. They put their chicken mummies in the boxes and....put them back on the refrigerator!
Since this has turned into such a prolonged adventure, I decided to make a separate category for it. Click on Chicken Mummy Saga to read them all (if you really want to).
Did I ever give you the link for the directions for this? Here it is: Mummy Tombs: Animal Mummy Recipes. I know you really want to try this after reading about my adventure, don't you???
I almost forgot! My loving and patient husband posted the pics of the Chicken Mummy Saga here. BTW, don't quote me, but I think it's only been 9 months, not 12.
I am getting really excited about the chicken mummies again now that we are on our fifth salt change. The birds are getting quite dry and I think this might be the last time we have to change the salt. I also thought up a really great finale to the "Year of the Chicken Mummies." I won't unveil that yet, though - you'll have to wait for the exciting conclusion to our adventure!
We began to a chant of "We hate chicken mummies!" Then Kathryn proceeded to compose some chicken mummy theme music on the piano that sounded like it came out of an Abbott & Costello movie.
This week, we used:
* 1 inexpensive plastic drop cloth (should have thought of this before)
* 1 pair of disposable gloves per person
* 2 gallon Zip-Loc bags per chicken
* 1 container of salt per chicken
1. We took the chicken out of the bag, wiped the salt out of the cavity and rubbed it off the outside of the chicken into a garbage can that was placed in the middle of a large, inexpensive plastic drop cloth.
2. We put the chicken in a new bag, filled the cavity of chicken with salt, and poured the rest of the container of salt around the outside of the chicken.
3. We zipped the bag closed, squeezing out as much air as possible, added another outer freezer bag to help keep the smell contained, and moved the salt around to evenly distribute it.
4. We put the chickens back on top of our refrigerator.
The chickens are drying out nicely. This is our fifth and hopefully final salt change.
No, CM in the title doesn't mean "Charlotte Mason;" it means "Chicken Mummy." Before I continue, I have a few rhetorical questions:
1. Why did I let each child do his/her own chicken?
2. What are we supposed to be learning?
3. Whose idea was this anyway?
4. Am I doomed to have mummifying chickens on the top of my refrigerator forever?
5. Kristie, are yours done yet? If not, do you wanna race? (this one isn't rhetorical)
If you are interested in the history of this project, you can find Part 1 here and Part 2 here.
Okay, now that I'm done with that, I'll get on with:
February 23, 2007 (almost Week 24 - Am I really admitting to this?)
The scene opens to a beautiful, sunny winter afternoon. Mom is almost done preparing a late lunch when she suddenly has a great idea: "Guess what we're going to do today?"
Jordan (excited): "Make a Flash website!" Kathryn (not excited): "Chicken Mummies"
Groaning from all... then, "I'm last!" "No, I'll be last."
This week, we used:
* 1 pair of disposable gloves per person
* 2 gallon Zip-Loc bags per chicken
* 1 container of salt per chicken
1. We took the chicken out of the bag, wiped the salt out of the cavity and rubbed it off the outside of the chicken into the garbage. No paper towels needed at this point, but the chickens still aren't done.
2. We put the chicken in a new bag, filled the cavity of chicken with salt, and poured the rest of the container of salt around the outside of the chicken.
3. We zipped the bag closed, squeezing out as much air as possible, added another outer freezer bag to help keep the smell contained, and moved the salt around to evenly distribute it.
4. We put the chickens on top of our refrigerator until next week (?).
The smell isn't quite gone and some of the salt is still a little moist. This is our fourth salt change.
If you want to read about the beginning of this adventure, you can go here.
Our Continuing Chicken Mummy Experience...
January 19, 2007 (almost Week 19)
This week, we used:
* 1 pair of disposable gloves per person
* 1-2 paper towels per chicken
* 2 gallon Zip-Loc bags per chicken
* 1 container of salt per chicken
1. We took the chicken out of the bag, wiped the salt out of the cavity and rubbed it off the outside of the chicken into the garbage.
2. We put the chicken in a new bag, filled the cavity of chicken with salt, and poured the rest of the container of salt around the outside of the chicken.
3. We zipped the bag closed, squeezing out as much air as possible, added another outer freezer bag to help keep the smell contained, and moved the salt around to evenly distribute it.
4. We put the chickens on top of our refrigerator until next week (grimace).
The smell wasn't too bad this week, but it isn't quite gone and the chickens are still a little moist. This is our third salt change, so I'm expecting to have to do at least a couple more.
My friend told me that her chicken mummy instructions said to rub the bird with alcohol after washing it the first week. I thought that was a great idea, although it was too late for us to implement it.
A Journal of Our Extremely Prolonged Chicken Mummy Experience
When I began writing this post (on 10/9/06), we were on our third and final week of Ancient Egypt using Tapestry of Grace Year 1. We started the process of chicken mummification on Saturday, September 16, using a combination of the recipes at Mummy Tombs. If you read my last post, then you know I haven't kept up well on this project at all! I will journal our chicken mummy adventure so far in this post and add another post when it is finished.
Caution: If you have a weak stomach (or you are planning on having chicken for dinner tonight), you might want to stop reading here!
Supplies:
* the cheapest, smallest whole fryer(s) (yes, our kids are each doing one) you can find (we got ours at Aldie Foods for $0.49/lb)
* 1 container of salt per chicken per week, about 5-6 containers per chicken - Wal-Mart has them for $0.33
* old or cheap sweet-smelling spices (I had some really old ground cloves, cinnamon, all spice, etc.) Meijer is selling a large value brand container for under $1 now. Also try the Dollar Store, Wal-Mart, or K-Mart
* Gallon Zip-Loc bags, about 10-12 per chicken - we triple bagged the chickens using (2) 1-gallon freezer bags and (1) 1-gallon storage bag per chicken each week
* disposable gloves, 6 pairs per child
* tons of paper towels
* gauze strips or white cloth cut into strips
September 16, 2006 (Week 1) We used:
* 1 small whole fryer per child
* 2 gallon Zip-Loc bags per chicken
* 1 containers of salt per chicken
* 1-2 containers of sweet-smelling spices (for 4 chickens)
* 1 pair of disposable gloves per person (including mom)
* a lot of paper towels
1. We washed the chicken (wearing gloves) and dried it thoroughly inside and out with paper towels. This took quite a while, but it is extremely important to dry the chicken.
2. We put about 1/4 of a container of salt into the bottom of a freezer bag (pre-labeled with the name of the chicken king or queen) and put the chicken inside the bag large cavity side up.
3. We thoroughly covered the chicken inside and out with sweet-smelling spices (we used some old cinnamon, ground allspice, and ground cloves). One mostly-full bottle of each of the spices mixed together did 4 chickens with enough left over to do the 4 chickens again the following week.
4. We filled the cavity of chicken with salt and poured the rest of the container of salt around the outside of the chicken.
5. We zipped the bag closed, squeezing out as much air as possible, added another outer freezer bag to help keep the smell contained, and moved the salt around to evenly distribute it.
6. We put the chickens on top of our refrigerator until next week.
September 24, 2006 (Week 2)
The bags were full of fluid when we pulled them down from the refrigerator. However, we could only smell the spices, so I highly recommend using them. We didn't smell the chickens at all until we took them down. We took them outside to do the salt change. Once open, the smell wasn't pleasant, but it wasn't as bad as I expected. We did this the day we take out our garbage.
This week, we used:
* 1 pair of disposable gloves per person (including mom)
* lots of paper towels
*3 gallon-size Zip-Loc bags per chicken
* approx. 3/4 container of salt per chicken
* approx. 1-2 containers of sweet-smelling spice (for 4 chickens)
1. We took the chicken out of the bag, leaving the fluid in the bag, re-zipping it, and throwing it in the garbage.
2. We removed as much salt and moisture as possible from the chicken, wiping it down well with paper towels over a garbage can.
3. We repeated steps 2-6 from Week 1, except we used a little less salt because we didn't have 4 full containers and we added an extra gallon Zip-Loc bag for each chicken.
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Eleven weeks later...
Okay, here's the embarrassing part: We were extremely busy and I didn't get back to the chickens for a long, long, long, long time. Note to self: Even if the project isn't going to exactly go with your unit, do it when you have the time!!! We decided to brave it and do the "unbagging" yesterday. Here are the results:
December 10, 2006 (Week .......... 13)
This week, we used:
* 1 pair of disposable gloves per person (including mom and dad)
* lots of paper towels
* 2 gallon Zip-Loc bags per chicken
* approx. 3/4 container of salt per chicken
1. Kathryn bravely offered to go first. With great trepidation, I took her bag down from the fridge. Whew! No smell from the outside of the bag - good thing I triple bagged them! My wonderful, patient, supportive husband helped out this time.
2. We opened the bags and pulled out the chicken. It smelled pretty bad, but it could have been much worse. At first, I thought the chicken was growing mold, but on further inspection my husband said it was just salt and spice. There wasn't any visible fluid, but the chicken was still moist and not fully mummified.
3. We painstakingly removed the salt from the cavity over a garbage can and wiped off the salt from the outside. We didn't use paper towels this time (I forgot); just our gloved hands.
4. We repeated steps 4-6 from Week 1. We only used salt and 2 bags per chicken this time. The spices still smelled spicy, and the chickens were much drier, so I don't think the smell will be that bad.
We are planning on changing the salt again Sunday, so look for Part 2 sometime next week.
The thoughts of a book-loving, home schooling wife and mother who wants to be available to serve her Savior in her family, home, church, and wherever He chooses to send her.
Stumble It!
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