One of the benefits of living in the country are the revolving, ever-changing, never boring, morning alarms donated by Mother Nature.  The usual suspects made an early appearance in our daily lives, most notably chickens, but also the occasional sheep, cow and horse hanging out in a neighbors yard.

When we first moved from our old, more suburbian village to the our new, edge-of-the-forest village, we had some adjustments to make. The first was our understanding of the chicken truck. The chicken truck became a favorite very soon after our move to Germany. I have adapted very well to German culture, stores are never open, there is a separate store/agency for every form, need-in-life, fast food barely exists, etc. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

I really miss fast food. Not the taste, nope, but the convenience. After a full day of work, chauffeuring kids, sitting in traffic, I frequently have no desire to shop for food & cook. Foods here aren’t as preserved, and I love that! Plus, our fridge is the size of a dorm room fridge. However. It means shopping multiple days a week or stuff goes bad. So I usually shop & cook same day. It gets exhausting and time consuming. Many days I dream of a McDonalds down the street, pizza delivery, or Chinese!  How I miss Chinese! Um, back to the chicken truck.

In the old, more suburbian village we had a chicken truck. The chicken truck came to our village two days a week, and I knew which village it parked in on 3 of the other days. The chicken truck had amazing, free-range, rotisserie chicken. Sometimes rotisserie ribs or ham hocks. Plus fries! Potato salad! And slaw! At least once a week, I didn’t have to cook. I loved the chicken truck.

In our new, edge-of-the-forest village we don’t have a chicken truck. It made me very sad, so when I hear there was a chicken truck I got very, very excited. Until I realized it was a different kind of chicken truck. A live chicken truck. As in, spend 5€ and leave with a bundle of feathers tucked under your arm. Most chickens will lay eggs for several years, though my neighbor keeps hers for a year then eats the chicken and gets new layers. I haven’t bought a chicken off the monthly chicken truck because I can’t bear the thought of having to kill my chicken, or even my chicken dying. I have a hard time losing pets.

You can see the chickens when you drive into our village, down our street, fluttering around our neighbors yards (and sometimes in the streets). I knew I’d be hearing chickens in the early mornings. I expected that. I wasn’t too surprised at the cow alarms, or sheep alarms, or even the whinny of horses. Those I saw parked in front yards, back yards, and the fields a block away. I was surprised the first Spring when our yearly bullfrog took up residence in the pond. I didn’t know he was yearly. I didn’t know he was so loud. I didn’t know he was a morning person. Actually, maybe he’s a she? We do get lots, and I mean thousands, of tadpoles every year.

We’ve now been here four years. The noises of rural life are normal, soothing, expected. Until this week.  This week a new pair moved in. Loud, honking, slightly unpleasant, and so, so loud (did I mention they are loud?). My camera’s getting cleaned, I’m half hoping they are still here next week to catch some good photo’s and half hoping the noisy beasts are gone. My new alarm is not my favorite alarm.