The Front Porch Swing

[LBejaran]

Yeah, porch has been quiet.  Glad you're feeling better.  Sorry you lost your roo.  I've been dealing with hawk attacks.  Have lost 2 full sized hens to him.  Have a mama broody with 6 chicks, 2 of them are cockrels.  One with an attitude at only 4 weeks old!  School started today.     Lots of outdoor work to do, need to do some canning, need to process 12 roosters.  Good to hear from you.  

I'm swamped with stuff to do (mostly fixing furniture and trying to sell it while simultaneously trying to find a real job to tide me over until I can get my stuff sold. My garden area never got done last year as even though it was cleared out recently, it's been raining a lot lately so little weeds are sprouting up again.

I desperately need a tiller to tear up the ground and kill those little baby weeds. I have about 10 pallets that I'm planning on using as raised garden beds but I can't put them down until the ground is ready.

I did just find a lady about six hours north of me who is willing to sell me two wheaten cockerels, so I'm gonna try and get them at the end of September when I'm due to make a trip to see my brother at his university.

There just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day to do all the things I need to do but I'm trying to show progress every day.

Fuuny, we all noticed how quiet it is and then we just wandered off until somebody posts.  Teehee.  Got a busy day planned here too.  Today is Kendra's 4th birthday.  I can't believe it already....but it's sort of like she's still going on 2 with her delays.  She has a surprise in store for her when she gets to Gramma's for the day today - big girl panties!  Yep, her meds are controlling her bladder spasms so well that she's almost always dry between catheterizations now, so I figured "why not?"  She already decided that she didn't want to wear diapers anymore.  She's in size 7s which have to be ordered and delivered as medical supplies along with her catheters and the last time Jenny put one on her she ripped it right back off twice and pointed at Katie.  So Jenny tried Pull ups, which she'll tolerate even though they are too tight around her thighs.  It's getting harder and harder to find diapers to fit anyway.

So yesterday when we were buying her birthday present we bought her some big girl panties.  I did a little studying on the Spina Bifida Moms' web site and found that most of the moms there put their kids in big girl (or boy) panties as soon as the Oxybutenin starts preforming well and they stay dry.  But they also buy the thinnest, smallest Always pantie liners and pop those into the panties as an easy peel-out shield.  Well by golly, if it's good enough for their kids it's darn sure good enough for ours.  She's going to be so excited! 

When the kids take her back to Denver in 6 months they'll be setting up her surgeries.  The first is called the Mitrofanoff Procedure and after it's done and healed up she'll be able to cath through an extra little belly button next to the belly button she was born with.  The second is ACE, or Antegrade Colonic Enema, and another opening is made from her tummy into the cecum.  Then her nightly bowel washouts will also be done through her tummy instead of with the usual enema.  They'll do both procedures at the same time, and they are looking at next August for her surgery date.  Kenny won't be able to get off work because he won't be able to give them a solid date when he'll return - kinda hard to ask for time off and tell the boss he has no idea when he'll be back.  So I'll be going down there with Jenny and it looks like it will be the two of us in Denver by ourselves for another month or more.

We just couldn't hook up with Sophia's family, so this is the first time that Sophia and Kendra haven't celebrated their birthdays together since they were born.  They have been getting Sophia ready for her 4th open heart surgery and right now are trying to minimize the time she spends around other kids. As outgoing and gregarious as Little Miss Sophia is that's been a little tough, but if this next surgery goes well there'll be plenty more birthdays ahead of them to celebrate together.

And that's all the news from Oleo Acres!

Happy Birthday to Kendra! So glad she's doing well (and glad she's going to be getting her big girl underpants now! I'll bet she's excited!).

 

[LBejaran]

How's everyone doing? Gotta say, I'm doing pretty well!

Life's been keeping me busy, so I only have time to sit at night when I'm crocheting (or painting, if I have time). I just bought three turkey poults that I hope will lay next year in the spring. If not, well, we might just have some turkeys for Thanksgiving dinner next year, haha!

I'm trying to find some new laying hens since the price of eggs have gone up. It hasn't affected me (obviously) but I have family members who are really wanting to buy eggs from me since the store prices are so high. I can charge $3 a dozen here and still charge less than the store eggs. I do go with the lower costing Dumor brand layer feed but since my birds free range, it does help a bit. and if I don't sell eggs to my family, I'm thinking of just putting up a sign.

Now to just find someone willing to sell me Australorp pullets. I love that breed!!! All my best birds are Australorps or Australorp mixes. I wish I could get my incubator to work, otherwise I'd just hatch my own babies!

I'm thinking of selling all my ducks, though. They don't produce much right now (not sure if the heat is getting to them or if they just need some more time) but they all are small breed birds with loads of personality (and their mothers were really good layers). It would give me the opportunity to buy a huge amount of feed since money is a bit tight right now. But everything is still up in the air.

There is so much to do! I need to start some more sprouts for my garden and make a big coop out of pallets. And before bed, I have to find a pattern for crocheted chicken sweaters (or make my own pattern) to sell to the local bird lovers. I kinda wish I had a couple extra pairs of hands and maybe an extra brain just so I can sleep and work at the same time, haha!

 

[lazy gardener]

Laura, I'm glad all is going well in your corner of the world! I'm building a hawk proof chicken run, and have a ton of "getting ready for winter" work to do.

 

[Blooie]

The extra pair of hands I could use too, but the extra brain would just confuse me even more!

 

[LBejaran]

Laura, I'm glad all is going well in your corner of the world!  I'm building a hawk proof chicken run, and have a ton of "getting ready for winter" work to do.

Things are definitely looking up! I'm really trying to get into a routine (whilst looking for a proper adult job) and I'm trying to see things positively.

Our owl hasn't been back lately but I know it's only a matter of time before she shows up again. I'm hoping that once I finish some projects I need to work on I'll have time to build an extension to our coop. With the three turkey poults I just got, the birds are going to need the extra space!

The extra pair of hands I could use too, but the extra brain would just confuse me even more!  

If I had two separate brains, I fear they would plot against each other to see which is superior. When I was a child, I used to have fights between my hands and I always felt bad for my left hand because she wasn't as strong. Sometimes, I'd get the right hand to throw the fight so she'd win.

I could definitely use the extra hands now, though! I went to an estate sale today and got some wood tabletops for a project and I ended up with a couple half inch splinters in my fingers and palms. I pulled all but one tiny one out. Then I stabbed myself with a staple that was on the back of a picture frame. It tore the skin. Luckily, that was my lefty!

Looks like she can handle a little tumble!

 

[dpenning]

We need to revive this thread, I miss it! There is a thread on my mastiff forum that is full of dog memes. It never fails to make me smile. In a similar thought, here are a couple of pictures I either thought were cute or made me laugh.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I miss this thread also.
I have been so off my game lately, not a morning person and having to be at work at 5 am is getting really tough. On the road at 4:30 is the pits.

 

[Blooie]

Well, I'll contribute! How about pics of Kendra's <gasp, shudder> first haircut?






Before......





After. <sigh>

 

[perchie.girl]

Well, I'll contribute! How about pics of Kendra's <gasp, shudder> first haircut?






Before......





After. <sigh>

Adorbs.... she looks soo grown up... I did the exact same drastic cut for my first at five years old.

deb

 

[Blooie]

When Jenny brought her in the house to show me I burst into tears. I so miss doing her hair every morning.