Suzie Chicken has passed away this morning.

To all of my wonderful readers.

You have seen Suzie Chicken's picture in so many of my post over the years.

This morning she was in distress, not moving, and was having a very hard time breathing.

On a Sunday morning finding a vet that is open for emergency chicken care is not easy.

On the long drive from Costa Mesa to Fullerton Suzie was struggling with each breath.

Then suddenly she squawked loudly and struggled to get out of my arms and then her head went limp and she was gone.

The vet found that her lungs were filled with mucus.

Apparently when she could no longer get air she suffocated. What a painful way to pass away.

In the bird kingdom, birds never show when they are sick or in distress because healthy birds will attack them and kill them. So it is hard to see when they need us until it is too late.

Last night she was lethargic and my wife noticed. So we figured to take her to a vet in the morning.

I awoke this morning to my wife talking on the phone to a vet at 6 AM.

Diana was distraught because her baby was not opening her eyes and had labored breathing.

In my groggy not awake yet mind I knew that this might be "it."

All of us pet lovers know that we out live our pets and that the "day" will eventually come when we will suffer their loss from our lives.

Well actually if all goes well Tommy T Jones, the parrot. will out live us and have to live with my son's family one day.

Here is my Facebook tribute as it were to Suzie for the moment:

https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=David%20Sloane

Suzie Chicken

Watch Suzie Chicken in Family  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Typical night at Surfer51's home.

Suzie Chicken, Big Kitty, and Donnie Boy.

Suzie was given to us by Erik Janson. She is a very sentient being and always comes in at night to hang with me.

Big kitty was abandoned by a family who had the nerve to "declaw" him!

And Donny is a miracle.

The LA County in California had him in the pound.

 Three times he escaped the gas chamber because no one would adopt him.

Apparently he would comfort other animals who were very nervous, licking and grooming them and calming them down.

The workers noticed this so one of them would hide him when his allotted time for the gas chamber would come up.

Three times he escaped!

And of course there is this vibrantly exceptional blogger who loves life and has what amounts to a farm of rescued animals...

7 Cats, two other cats have passed on, one poisoned and one killed by the neighbors pit bull, currently 3 dogs, three other dogs have passed on of old age, 7 birds one who is a broken winged bird who will never fly, his brother was killed by the neighbors pit bull, one chicken, two full grown red eared slider turtles, one skunk, one raccoon, one ferule black cat, and  host of squirrels who visit off and on.

And we would have it no other way.

Susie My Wonderful Chicken and some video nonsense

Watch Suzie Chicken in Family | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

UK Students Protest Biometric Control

The UK's Newcastle University is instituting a finger-print based attendance system. From the linked article: "University students may have to scan their fingerprints in future — to prove they are not bunking off lectures. ... Newcastle Free Education Network has organised protests against the plans, claiming the scanners would 'turn universities into border checkpoints' and 'reduce university to the attendance of lectures alone.'" The system is supposed to bring the university "in line with the UK Border Agency (UKBA) and clamp down on illegal immigrants."

P.S.
My dog Billy and chicken Suzie are good friends. Here they both are waiting patiently to be let in my front door. Life is good.