Snow Community News • By Shirley Taylor

What a wonderful weekend was had by all. The weather was fairly nice. You can see fruit trees blooming although sad that we know it will freeze at least twice more before that blue bird really does visit the bird feeder on a regular basic. Speaking of birds, we visited family this last weekend and discovered a famous rooster that made Wikopedia. Mike the Headless Chicken (April 20, 1945 – March 17, 1947)[1] was a Wyandotte chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off. After the loss of his head, Mike achieved national fame until his death in March 1947. In Fruita, Colorado, an annual “Mike the Headless Chicken Day” is held every May. On September 10, 1945, farmer Lloyd Olsen of Fruita, Colorado, was planning to eat supper with his motherin-law and was sent out to the yard by his wife to bring back a chicken. Olsen chose a five-anda-half-month-old Wyandotte chicken named Mike. The axe removed the bulk of the head, but missed the jugular vein, leaving one ear and most of the brain stem intact. Once his fame had been established, Mike began a career of touring sideshows in the company of such other anomalies as a two-headed baby. He was also photographed for dozens of magazines and papers, and was featured in Time and Life magazines. Mike was put on display to the public for an admission cost of 25 cents (equivalent to $3 in 2021). At the height of his popularity, the chicken’s owner earned $4,500 per month (equivalent to $54,600 in 2021);] Mike was valued at $10,000 (equivalent to $121,400 in 2021).

Despite Olsen’s attempt to behead Mike, the chicken was still able to balance on a perch and walk clumsily. He attempted to preen, peck for food, and crow, though with limited success; his “crowing” consisted of a gurgling sound made in his throat. When Mike did not die, Olsen instead decided to care for the bird. He fed it a mixture of milk and water via an eyedropper and gave it small grains of corn and worms. In March 1947, at a motel in Phoenix, Arizona on a stopover while traveling back from tour, Mike started choking in the middle of the night. He had managed to get a kernel of corn in his throat. The Olsens had inadvertently left their feeding and cleaning syringes at the sideshow the day before, and so were unable to save Mike. Olsen claimed that he had sold the bird off, resulting in stories of Mike still touring the country as late as 1949. Other sources say that the chicken’s severed trachea could not properly take in enough air to be able to breathe, and he therefore choked to death in the motel. It was determined that the axe had missed the jugular vein[7] and a clot had prevented Mike from bleeding to death. Although most of his head was severed, most of his brain stem and one ear were left on his body. Since basic functions (breathing, heart rate, etc.) as well as most of a chicken’s reflex actions are controlled by the brain stem, Mike was able to remain quite healthy. This is a good example of central motor generators enabling basic homeostatic functions to be carried out in the absence of higher brain centers. In addition, birds possess a secondary balance organ in the pelvic region, the lumbosacral organ, which controls walking locomotion virtually independently from the vestibular organ involved in flight. This has been used to explain how a headless chicken can walk and balance, despite the destruction of much of the cranial vestibular system. Mike the Headless Chicken is now a cultural institution in Fruita, Colorado, with an annual “Mike the Headless Chicken Day”, the third weekend of May, starting in 1999. Events held include the “5K Run Like a Headless Chicken Race”, egg toss, “Pin the Head on the Chicken”, the “Chicken Cluck-Off”, and “Chicken Bingo”, in which chicken droppings on a numbered grid choose the numbers. Every year on June 2nd and 3rd in Fruita, Colorado there is a Mike the headless rooster festival. There is also a statue of Mike in downtown Fruita on display.

Mike the Headless Chicken was an inspiration for the poultry-themed comedy punk band The Radioactive Chicken Heads, serving as the subject of their 2008 song “Headless Mike”, for which a music video was filmed. The band also features a Headless Mike puppet which is frequently used in their live shows. It really makes you wonder if that is where the chicken dance came from. Most fun party’s have at least ,most of the attendees dancing and gesturing along to the Chicken Dance, but have never heard of anyone losing their head over all the twisting and wing flapping of the song. All this was verified, can you imagine someone searching online for a headless chicken. Many strange things will appear all over your information inquiries. Funny looking back I don’t remember what was being talked about around the kitchen table to even bring the subject of headless chicken enter the conversation. It might have been that we were eating chicken nuggets at the time. My family is fun, can’t wait to visit everyone again. Who knows what conversation will come up over the dinner table.

The temporary halt that was put on the recycled cans has been lifted. A big thanks goes out to my neighbor Sharon Denton for letting me know the update of the recycle facility. The recycle location within the H2O plant is open again. They are happily received your recyclables now. Tuesday through Friday, 8 until 4. They are closed for lunch. Please keep your loved ones in your prayers always. Time is just a fleeting thing. Thanks to everyone that has been helping keep the land around the community building nice and clean. Also, the Finley Community normally has a lunch on each Friday at noon. Days Finley are not open or only doing take outs will be posted on their Facebook page. Anyone wanting to add to the article please turn them in before Friday at 5 p.m. Additions can be emailed to me at: freylake123@yahoo.com or call me at 580-208-0870, Have a blessed week.