Yankee Doodle and the Giant Purple Chicken

My kids used to have their own version of Yankee Doodle that started with Yankee Doodle went to town riding on a chicken… and ended up with finger lickin’ that never failed to make me laugh out loud. The more I laughed the louder they sang. I still smile when I think of it now, some thirty years later. When I heard about some older kids more recently that went for a joyride on a 9 foot, 600 pound, purple aluminum chicken it reminded me of my own rather irreverent boys so I decided to blog about it. Here goes. Three guys, ages 18 to 21, teamed up to hook the purple chicken statue to their pickup truck and take it for a drag. Two rode in the truck and one mounted the bird for a ride (Yeehaw!). After the ride they unhooked and abandoned the chicken, but detectives caught up to them and charged them with the theft the very next day. The ride took place at 6 AM on a weekday in an area with witnesses so it couldn't have been too difficult to figure out who the rustlers were. The chicken statue, valued at $2,300 was returned to its 71 year old owner with a lacerated leg, cracked claw, and some scraped paint. The owner took the incident in stride remarking that he was once a young man and the damage to the chicken was mostly cosmetic. I hope the charges are dropped but if not, I hope the ride was worth it.