Little deaths part 2

(No photo today; you'll have to use your imaginations...)

Well, last Friday I gathered up the eggs in the incubator in the school's lobby. The kids had a day off, and it was Day 28 of the usual 21 days it takes to hatch, so...it was time. Not wanting to just leave them in a bag at the school over the weekend, I took them with me. On the way out the door, I was stopped by the Upper El teacher (upper elementary = 9-12 year olds) who asked for a few of the eggs for a science experiment with them. I gladly gave her 4 eggs.

I went to work at the office, and then took the eggs home, and took the bag out to the compost heaps. I dropped them on to the top of the heap knowing I would bury them the next day on my day off. And sure enough, the next day I was out there with my shovel, and I broke up the eggs. Lo and behold, 4 of the 14 had...well, let's just say they WERE fertile, after all.

And this was borne out (bad pun I know) by the kids' experiments. I think their "work" involved lights and floating in water and I am sure something else very Montessori and hands-on. We are thinking that there must have been inconsistencies in the heating mechanism of the incubator, and that the eggs got chilled by about Day 10.

And the mice? There's a tally on the chalkboard in the kitchen: it stands at a dozen.