![\"roosteranddoves300.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/roosteranddoves300.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nWhen I was a boy, say 12 and under, each summer I would visit my Uncle Riley and Aunt Virginia for a couple of\u00a0weeks or so.\u00a0 They lived on the farm my grandfather had put together.\u00a0 It was a couple hundred acres of corn, a few cows, a pig or two, harness-racing horses and chickens,\u00a0Bantams with the Banty roosters and their mile-high attitude and morning curdling cock-a-doodle-doo.\u00a0 These memories have a particular smell, a mixture of gravel dust, hay and cow manure.\u00a0 They also have an increasingly antique feel as they recede further and further from the present day.<\/p>\n
Imagine my surprise when these memories came alive all day, every day while we were on Kauai and all because of Hurrican I’niki.\u00a0 In 1992, just before we first visited Kauai, it was struck by a rare and devastating hurricane.\u00a0 This hurricane eliminated many resorts, including the famous Coco Palms where Elvis shot his movie, Blue Hawai’i.\u00a0 Many homes blew away, trees and plants got pushed over and beaches changed their shapes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I’niki also opened up all of the many chicken coops on the island.\u00a0 Once free, the chickens never again came home to roost, but instead have now made the entire island their home.\u00a0 They are, like the feral pig, wild animals, freed to roam wherever they like in a paradise of bugs and small worms.<\/p>\n
The result is that often throughout the day the sound of a Banty rooster crowing reverberates whether you’re on the beach, in the forests, up a mountain or near a river.\u00a0 The chickens come around pic-nic tables and wait patiently for food.\u00a0 Local children pick up the roosters and carry them like puppies down to the beach.\u00a0 As a result, Uncle Riley and his farm came to mind day after day on the most isolated islands in the world, in the midst of the Pacific Ocean.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now that was unexpected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a09\u00a0 bar rises 30.24\u00a0 1mph NNW windchill 5 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 New Moon \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When I was a boy, say 12 and under, each summer I would visit my Uncle Riley and Aunt Virginia for a couple of\u00a0weeks or so.\u00a0 They lived on the farm my grandfather had put together.\u00a0 It was a … Continue reading An Indiana Farm on Kauai<\/span>