Chickie On-the-Spot: My Unofficial Fitness Motivator

I'm NOT a pet lover.

Calm down, you animal lovers. I don't hate animals, I just can't have a pet.

We have a cat but she has nothing to do with me because I'm allergic to her. I DON'T own a dog or a parrot (or any kind of bird for that matter) NOT even a fish.

Again, I don't hate animals but I don't like to be around them because I'm scared. I'm afraid of hurting them or worse kill them vice versa. I'm anxious about the expenses that go with owning one. I'm terrified that I might even forget to feed them because I sometimes forget to eat myself. And I'm fearful of not be able to leave the house, travel and enjoy my freedom because I can't just leave them all by themselves.

Or maybe it's just me and my OCD stance.

But I have Chickie. 

And you can consider her as my pet.

Though I still don't pat her and hold her. She, on the other hand, doesn't like to be around me either except on some occasions. So the feeling is mutual.

I like Chickie because she is low maintenance (she doesn't need a bath). She is self-sufficient (she finds her own food and feeds herself). She doesn't need to be walked (she walks herself everywhere in the yard). And the best thing about her is - she supplies us with fresh organic breakfast warm and straight from her butt. You know what I mean.

Anyway, Chickie became Chickie on accident. It was fate that she became my Chickie.

And she has her own life story to tell.

I don't exactly know which one is Chickie here. They are like my Kindergarten Kids, they all look alike.

Chickie is a laying chicken. She is brown. I don't know her breed, so don't ask me (if you know I will appreciate it if you can tell me by writing in the comment). She is one of the six chickens that Hubby bought last summer. We decided to get chickens last summer so we can have organic and free-range eggs for breakfast and for my baked goodies.

Hubby built a little coop where they all go to sleep at night and lay their eggs. In the morning they are free to roam around our yard to snack on bugs and whatnots. They are a happy bunch but I never give each one of them a name. I call them all - chickens.

After a month of having them, one of the chicken got eaten by a raccoon or a fox or a skunk. Who knows? We didn't even catch the suspect. Late in the winter, another one was also found dead and they were down to four. It was sad to lose 2 chicken because we also lost 2 eggs a day. Do the math.

Then, last May, the unthinkable happened. Hubby woke up early and did his chicken routine and found 3 more chickens laying lifeless... inside the coop. I don't want to be graphic how he found them but they were obviously massacred by another wild animal just like the previous two.

Miraculously, one chicken's life was spared, it was Chickie's.

It was indeed a miracle that Chickie's life was spared since she was with her siblings inside the same coop that night. The coop is small and there are compartments (which I call condominium units) where they lay eggs and the door was closed. The only opening obviously was a dug up hole where the suspect crawled into. We didn't know where she was or what was she doing when they were being attacked by the mysterious assassin or assassins.  And until now, that part remains a mystery to us.

So from that morning on, we only have one survivor and that's Chickie. From then on, she is Chickie to us.

I decided to call her Chickie because now, I can.

Since the death of her sisters she was never tucked in at night anymore in the coop because the Hub thought that if another fateful night happened again, she can fight or flight for her dear life and won't get cornered in the coop.

Chickie roams around our yard all day and lays egg anywhere in the yard too. That part became a little tricky though since the Hub needs to find clues where she lays eggs. He has to spy on her to find out where she is hiding our breakfast most of the time.

Chickie is a Diva chicken. She is nosy, bossy and chatty too. She loves hovering around when I'm in the yard especially when I am practicing yoga.

Chickie photobombing me during one of my yoga practice.  

When I'm practicing yoga, she would be chuckling around as if she's judging me when I'm doing some hard or wrong poses. Yes, she is such a judgmental chicken. She would make some loud sound whenever I feel I'm not doing a particular pose right. Eventually, I got used to her being around and judging me.

She would stay close until I'm done with my practice. One day I decided to videotape my yoga practice not realizing that she video bombed me. When I checked my phone to see the video, it was mostly about her because she was the one in front of the camera.

Most of the time that I videotaped my practice to document my progress, I would find her either in the background or photobombing me. Sometimes, it looks like I was the one photobombing her.

One of the things I do to document my yoga progress is to post pictures of me doing yoga poses in IG just like everybody else in the Yoga world.

One day, I decided to post the video where Chickie was video bombing me during my practice in IG and BOOM!!!

It went viral.

YogaClub Box, one of the leading subscription boxes in the world, fell in love with Chickie and asked me if they can feature her in the IG account. Of course, I let them.

I'm a stage mom.

Next thing I know, she became a chicken sensation.

(Click HERE to check out Chickie's IG special feature.)

Now she is more famous than me. Well, I'm not really that famous anyway, to begin with, but I will someday, I can feel it in my gut - I will be famous! Promise!

Chickie is so famous that even my co-workers know her and ask about her most of the time during lunch break. Chickie definitely has the charisma that draws people to her. She is just so much fun to be with. And yes, she is one unique chicken.

Like any typical pet, Chickie waits for me at the driveway when I come home from work. And once she saw my car pulling over in the driveway, she will be chuckling towards my car which scares the crap out of me. I'm always scared that I might run her over or back up on her and crush her to death.

Good thing I learn to be careful. And once I open my car door, she will appear underneath still chuckling as if asking me how my day was. Or asking me to give her some special treats.

But unlike any typical pet, Chickie is technically my unofficial fitness motivator. She is just like a strict fitness coach because she makes sure that I do my thing correctly and snaps on me when I do wrong. And she seems to give me compliments when I was doing a great job by chuckling of course. Trust me, I can tell the difference if she is happy or not with what I'm doing.

I enjoy practicing yoga whenever she is around. And when I feel that she is judging me, I feel that I need to push harder with my routine and strive to do better. When I feel I'm doing good with my routine, Chickie will distance herself and does her business somewhere else but not too far away from me to check me out every now and then.

When she sees me I'm off to go for a run, she would make a sound as if she is cheering me on and proud of me to make such good choice instead of staying all day in front of the computer Facebooking. And when I came back from my 3-mile run, she would be in the driveway waiting for me and would be excitedly chuckling towards me.

Chickie checking my alignment.

Just like some pet owners I know, I talk to Chickie whenever she is around and she responds back. Well, it seems like it. She's a smart chicken though a little stubborn. She is sweet and pushy at times. And she lets me be when she feels I need ME time.

So even if I don't really want to have a pet, I accidentally got one - Chickie. I'm happy to have Chickie as my pet and will not trade her for any pet at all.

And at the end of the day, I'm proud to have her as a pet-with-benefit.

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This is another blog post feature for #ruthiliciousfitnessjourney.

#ruthiliciousfitnessjourney is a series of blog posts about

my PERSONAL journey which is meant to document my healthy choices.