Senate leaders had fun Tuesday with Gov. Sean Parnell's comparison of senators to clucking hens and the Senate's oil tax plan to a hollow egg.

Parnell, in a letter to Senate Finance Committee co-chair Bert Stedman, said a number of senators are proud of the work that's been done on the plan, SB192. But he said that, "like a group of hens in the barnyard clucking together over a new egg that has taken more than a year to lay, the egg is shiny on the outside and empty on the inside."

Stedman's been critical of Parnell's tax-cut plan.

Stedman called Parnell's letter "entertaining." Senate President Gary Stevens said senators are working on the egg, which he says will be "beautiful."