Christmas greetings from Death Wish Chicken

[Korderekid]

As you may expect, at this time of year, even death wish, seems to be quite keen to at least make it through to New Year especially as she now has friends.

The weather in recent weeks has been quite awful. There have been a few bright intervals but these have been outnumbered by day after day of high winds and torrential rain.

The garden, which is now home to three chickens, has turned into a quagmire. Death wish and her two new friends frequently have to be rescued from the mud. None of them are showing any signs of wanting to be free range chickens. At the slightest hint of rain, they rush to roost in the garage, where they are joined by two dogs from the neighbourhood who also hate rain, three of our cats and a spider the size of a small dinner plate. We had hoped the chickens would dispose of the spider, they eat scorpions after all, but it is too big even for them. The cats also turn tail whenever the spider pops out from its hiding place just above the light switch.

The two new chickens, called big knickers and baggy pants are quite beautiful. They have wonderfully feathered legs which makes them look as though they are wearing the same voluminous pantaloons as most of our female Turkish neighbours.

They were a gift from an elderly gentleman who lives in Saribelen. He has long, bright orange hair and an even longer bright orange beard and he can usually be seen in Kalkan around the old school car park area feeding all the stray animals.

Mehmet often requires a lift back to his home in Saribelen and in return for transportation he will give us fresh eggs, bunches of herbs, plants or firewood. Two weeks ago he arrived at our house with two sacks. One contained firewood, the other was moving.

We were a little nervous about the moving sack. Rumour has it that Mehmet has the power to charm snakes, but we needn't have worried.

Mehmets pride and joy is a cooker with a proper oven. Quite a rarity in most village houses where it is not t at all unusual to cook on an open fire. He doesn't cook in his oven but he does use it to keep any baby creature that needs care and attention warm. So it has been a nursery for kittens, injured birds, puppies, even an elderly tortoise with a broken leg and of course, as you would expect, he has hatched an egg or two in there.

Unfortunately two of the chickens which were hatched in the oven refused to leave it, even though they are now too big to fit in comfortably. So after several unsuccessful attempts to persuade them to leave, he has evicted them, put them in a sack and given them to us.

Our nearest neighbours came to wish us Mutlu paskalyalar  (Happy Easter) yesterday. They might have confused their festivals but they brought us wonderful gifts, a very large bag of cow manure for the compost and a very large jar of fresh olives with herbs. This has been a very good year for olives, they are bursting with oil and these are succulent and delicious. In return we gave them a 1 kg bar of Cadburys milk chocolate, to which they are completely addicted.

They were very complimentary about big knickers and baggy pants but did wonder if chickens from the 'country' would be able to settle with us, finding life here just a little too hectic. Saribelen is about 8 km away but is considered to be out in the wilds by Kordere residents.

Unfortunately the two newcomers have been a bad influence on death wish. They are used to living in a house and see no reason to change their ways. They have trained death wish to follow them into the house every time we leave the door open and all three of them like to sit in the kitchen on the draining board. They have also taken a liking to cat food and swoop down from their perch on the draining board to steal the food out of the cats bowls.
 
They are attracted to all open doors. If a cupboard door is left open they are in there. Searching amongst the intents to see if there is anything worth eating.

We were beginning to think that this was an unsolvable problem until we came up with the perfect solution. On December 25 we will leave the oven for open, put a small fish f cat food inside and leave the rest to fate

Christmas dinner for us this year? Three chicken roast.

So perhaps for the last time, Death Wish hopes all his fans on Enjoy Kalkan have a very Happy Christmas.

KK


Linkback: https://www.enjoykalkan.com/forum/index.php?topic=10602.0

[Kalkan Magic]

Thanks for yet another great post KK as always. But please spare poor DWC and pals - maybe a nut roast this year instead? 

[AllanChris]

Best most entertaining post for many months.

[amber]

Something to really make me smile,what a great post!
Mehmet is certainly a very unusual man with a very big heart! Luckily my gift from him was eggs not baggy pants or big knickers!!

[onelove]

Just love it, what a fab post. Thanks KK.

[maryjane]

Now, you know you do not mean it re DWC and her mates   Give them a big hug (not too big , and NOT round the neck) from me, and a very Happy Christmas to you and your family.   

[kalkanbelle]

Nooooooo we don't want DW to have her wish come true!  Let's hope her and her new friends are still getting up to mischief in 2013 as I am loving all the tales about them and KK's fascinating incite into what it's really like to live in a rural Turkish community.  Although it sounds as though it's not all as idyllic as we would like to imagine what with the terrible weather and power cuts and other hardships it is so lovely to hear about the simple things like community spirit, caring neighbours and the lovley Mehmet who obviously so loves the animals and wildlife - bless him.  Please keep your stories coming KK as they are putting a lot of warmth into these cold winter months.  Happy Christmas and I hope DW and her chums haven't found the oven door open

[itstime]

Have often seen who I now know is Mehmet around Kalkan and wondered who he was :-)

Please spare the chickens we all need to keep reading about their hilarious antics. A merry Christmas to you and yours KK and every good wish for the new year, hope it's a good one :-)

[samson]

  just met "death wish chicken" mum and dad tonight  in  kaya restaurant. please be reassured that they are having christmas dinner out and that "death wish"will live to see another day or maybe 2013 !

[Korderekid]

Until last night, we hadn't realised that Death Wish was such a celebrity with a growing band of fans. We were in Kaya and were just a little puzzled to see the very attractive lady sitting near us sporting a pair of feathered wings. As Kalkan is such a friendly place, we soon got talking and what did we talk about? Death Wish of course. We didn't like to mention the wings, perhaps she was an angel having a night off but seeing our puzzled faces she assured us they were being worn in homage to Death Wish.  I have to admit that she is considerably better looking than poor death wish but we appreciate the thought.

Death Wish is starting to look far less scrawny since I realised she had to be fed. I thought free range chickens fed themselves on juicy worms or succulent weeds, she had after all eaten all our neighbours young seedlings, which was why she was banished in the first place.

But after a few days with us she was looking rather forlorn and a friend asked me what I was feeding her. I was mortified to think i had been inadvertently starving her. So now we buy chicken food in Akbel market on a Sunday and Death Wish and friends are growing plumper by the day.

The bread man came this morning, bringing with him a parcel which had been sent from Ankara. It  had our names on it and 'Kalkan' as the only address. It had been put on the overnight bus from Ankara and delivered to Fethiye. There it was put on a local bus to Kalkan and dropped off at the bus station. It was sent from the bus station to the petrol ofisi, because it was correctly assumed that sooner or later we would go there for petrol. The bread man dropping off his first delivery at the garage spotted it and offered to bring it up for us when he did his Kordere round, so now, 12 hours after it was put on a bus in Ankara it has safely completed a 500mile journey with the help of many unknown people and we are delighted with the very large box of chocolates from Ankara's most famous chocolatier.

Sending parcels or deliveries in the care of complete strangers is the norm here. We live in a society where trust is very high. When out in quite remote villages we are sometimes stopped by total strangers and asked if we can take something to a destination further along the route. We have carried a carton of cigarettes, a bag of cement, a bathroom sink and any number of boxes of fruit and vegetables.

We are often called by the kebab seller whose van is a permanent fixture at the beginning of the Bezirgan road . He tells us that somebody has left with him a delivery for us. In this way we have collected the extra bathroom tiles we needed when we realised we had ordered too few from a shop in Fethiye, letters, a coat left on a bus and once, one of our cats which had unknown to us, hitched a lift in the back of a pick up truck which had been at our house and not been spotted until the driver stopped at the kebab seller for a snack.

So at this time of year, when we watch with growing amazement on UK TV the growing commercial frenzy which Christmas seems to have become and see that shops all around Britain are opening at midnight on Christmas Eve for those 'last minute essentials' we reflect on these simple things which brought us here in the first place. Being part of a caring community, living in an environment where you are judged by what you do, not how much money you have, trusting in the kindness of strangers, working together for a common goal. This seems to be a far truer reflection of the 'spirit of Christmas' .

We will of course give Death Wish an extra large helping of chicken food today and keep the oven door firmly closed.

So from all of us here in Kordere, have a happy, stressful day and think of us as we walk along the beach at Patara in the brilliant sunshine.

KK

[Korderekid]

I was of course intending to wish all EK readers a stress free day, not a stressful one. A Freudian slip I think as I imagined the frenzy going on .
Anyway, stress free is what I hope for for you all.

KK

[DRBD]

FABULOUS - thanks & SEASONS GREETINGS to you & the chucks

[Kalkan Magic]

You are so right KK re the spirit of Christmas being lost in commercial society. We can't wait to get to Kalkan and sample it for ourselves on Thursday. Best wishes. KM

[Charlie]

Thanks KK - hope you, DW, her friends and all your animals had a fab Christmas Day. 
Looking forward to reading your posts in 2013 

[Korderekid]

Thanks Charlie. Go easy on all that wonderful French cheese and wine. Hope you all have a very happy New Year.

Love from us all

KK

[kalkan4eva]

love love love your posts, KK.
DWC and friends could easily become an internet sensation
Having had a minor meltdown after leaving my final shop/to do list in Costa Coffee on Sunday, letting BH loose in the food shops, sans list, on Christmas Eve (he did his best to ensure enough food was bought in Marks and Spencer to see off their early profit warning....) and two days of solid entertaining friends and family in our home...I yearn for the wonderful simplicity that you appear to have in your lives. I haven't even got the energy to tackle sale shopping today...and it is by far my favourite pastime over the festive season
My new year's resolution is to slow down....yours should be to keep up your fabulous blog....please..?

[Charlie]

Thank you KK - will raise a glass or two to you all at midnight.  Have a wonderful evening and much health and happiness for 2013 - we will miss you and Kalkan for the New Year celebrations.  xx

[Lizilu20]

kk I just can't get enough of your posts. They are keeping me going through this miserable English winter, I love reading about your life and observations, please keep them coming and a very happy New year to you all .

[mosthappyinthesun]

I know this is an 'old' thread, but I just wanted to say how much enjoyment I've had reading all your posts KK...... We come out every year and stay in a friends villa and this forum makes me enjoy coming to Kalkan even more, (if that was at all possible!!) as I get to hear a liitle piece of what goes on after the holidaymakers have left, thankyou SO much for your heart-warming tales of life there xxx

[samson]

 :)yes it was nice to see the old post. especially as it was me in kaya sporting the wings on christmas eve. think the compliments made my year. wonder how death wish is now? hear he moved on!