Empty Egg

It was the first egg I picked up out of the carton, so I did not at first realize how light it was in absence of immediate comparison. I cracked it on the edge of my glass bowl and bits of shell shattered onto the counter.  This was unusual, and confusing. The inner seal had not yet been penetrated, so I curiously shook the egg. It wasn't empty, that I was sure of. But there didn't seem to be the usual movement inside which would indicate aqueous matter.  Upon closer inspection, the egg's shell was entirely intact besides the damage I had done moments before.  

Inside, the membrane which usually holds the outer shell mostly together (protecting your scrambled eggs and muffins from stray bits of shell most of the time) had hardened into what seemed like a second layer of shell: an egg within an egg. The top half of the shell was completely dry inside. The bottom half contained a solid yolk, hardened as if it had been boiled, as you can see below. 

We get our eggs from my dad's chickens. I have no idea what was wrong with this one. Surely it never would have passed inspection coming out of a giant egg factory. And then we would have enjoyed Gary's delicious skillet potato breakfast scramble just as much--but without this mildly interesting incident which serves as my excuse for a blog post today.