The Front Porch Swing

[Tomtommom]

An elderly woman and her little grandson, whose face was sprinkled with bright freckles, spent the day at the zoo. Lots of children were waiting in line to get their cheeks painted by a local artist who was decorating them with tiger paws.

"You've got so many freckles, there's no place to paint!" a girl in the line said to the little fella.

Embarrassed, the little boy dropped his head. His grandmother knelt down next to him. "I love your freckles. When I was a little girl I always wanted freckles," she said, while tracing her finger across the child's cheek. "Freckles are beautiful."

The boy looked up, "Really?" "Of course," said the grandmother. "Why just name me one thing that's prettier than freckles."

The little boy thought for a moment, peered intensely into his grandma's face, and softly whispered, "Wrinkles."

Awesome job on Kendra's video!

We're busy busy busy here. In-home therapy through the school system has started. Thomas has his well check up in an hour, Milly had hers wednesday. She's doing great, but her iron was low, so we're getting drops for it.

Whisher's chicks are getting big, the ducks look ready to lay soon and the hens are laying up a storm with the longer days and warmer weather.

 

[Alice28]

Awesome job on Kendra's video!


We're busy busy busy here. In-home therapy through the school system has started. Thomas has his well check up in an hour, Milly had hers wednesday. She's doing great, but her iron was low, so we're getting drops for it.


Whisher's chicks are getting big, the ducks look ready to lay soon and the hens are laying up a storm with the longer days and warmer weather.

Yay for therapy starting through school! I bet that makes things easier! Just an FYI on the iron drops, they stain the teeth. My son had really low iron. I mixed the drops with water then put in a dropper, then had him drink water after so the staining wasn't as bad. Then brushed his teeth after too. Now, thank goodness, he can just take vitamins. The flinstone vitamins are the only kid ones I've been able to find with iron, but he likes them and they don't stain his teeth.

 

[tntchix]

An elderly woman and her little grandson, whose face was sprinkled with bright freckles, spent the day at the zoo. Lots of children were waiting in line to get their cheeks painted by a local artist who was decorating them with tiger paws.

"You've got so many freckles, there's no place to paint!" a girl in the line said to the little fella.

Embarrassed, the little boy dropped his head. His grandmother knelt down next to him. "I love your freckles. When I was a little girl I always wanted freckles," she said, while tracing her finger across the child's cheek. "Freckles are beautiful."

The boy looked up, "Really?" "Of course," said the grandmother. "Why just name me one thing that's prettier than freckles."

The little boy thought for a moment, peered intensely into his grandma's face, and softly whispered, "Wrinkles."

Hey, you're supposed to give tissue warnings before you post stuff like this!

i know right?

 

[lazy gardener]

Wrinkles: Reminds me of a precious moment years ago with my daughter: My grand parents had come out to camp for a visit. My daughter rarely got to see them, so it was a special time for us. My daughter stood very close to my grand mother's chair... VERY CLOSE, staring intently at her face as she talked. I thought, how sweet, my little girl just can't get enough of her great grammy! She's making special memories. My daughter kept trying to get her great grammy's attention, but since my grand mother was hard of hearing, and my daughter had a soft voice, I had to intervene: "Grammy, Rachel has something to say to you." My grand mother turned to my daughter with anticipation of the words to come:

Rachel: "Grammy, you have lots of wrinkles on your ears."
Grammy: "Well, yes, I suppose I do."
Rachel: "Well, that's OK. I bet you'll go to heaven anyway!"

 

[tntchix]

awwwwohh so sweet

 

[Blooie]

We find compliments in the best little faces! Once Katie crawled up on my lap and snuggled in.

"Oh, Gramma," she sighed . "Your fat is so soft!"

 

[bruceha2000]

Hi Blooie, it's been a while since I was on. Still having massive computer problems. Ten thousand ads a day. I kid you not. Getting it fixed next week. It should have been done correctly last time but I also wanted to read something and need to added an update on Java. Bing!!!! That's the virus. I'll learn.

You shouldn't get any virus downloading Java updates. Did the thing you wanted to read tell you to update Java and give you a link? I NEVER trust those and go right to the source or someplace known to be safe like CNET. NEVER click on a link in an email unless you know FOR SURE it is safe. Even if it comes from someone you know it could be a virus on their computer spreading itself through their address book.

What is written in the text of the message is ANYTHING the person who made the page/email wants it to be. The actual link isn't shown in the text. Most of the time if you put your mouse over a link the actual URL of the link will show in the lower left of the browser. If it doesn't show (this default can be overridden) DO NOT CLICK!!! Check it to see if it looks legit or suspicious. In fact try it on the link about adblock below. This is the actual line:
<p><a href "https://getadblock.com/">https://getadblock.com/</a></p> (I took out the = between href and "https: so the line would show). Someone trying to trick you into going to a virus page could do something like:
<p><a href "https://IWantAVirusPlease.com/">https://getadblock.com/</a></p>
and YOU would still see "https://getadblock.com" but the line at the bottom left would say: https://IWantAVirusPlease.com


Are they email ads or ads on web pages? If they are on web pages you can get an adblocker. I'm using this one:
https://getadblock.com/

 

[Wisher1000]

That's not as bad as your daughter saying that when she grows up, she hopes her breasts are nice and long, just like her mom's.

 

[bruceha2000]

@bruceha2000 - I was hoping that you would weigh in, I know you have good ideas.

The floor of the barn is concrete, so no need to wire mesh the floor, but it is probably a good idea to do the adjacent stall wall. I picked the corner stall for the chickens so I could limit the amount of wire mesh as much as possible. It is also next to the area that we are going to fence for the chicken run.

I was thinking of making the nest boxes as part of the divider wall that I need to build at the front. I want to try to maximize the light into the coop as much as possible. The people door will also need to be in that area.

Do you think it would work to have the roosts in the back where the roof gets so low? It is only about 4 foot high back there. I was thinking of making a ladder of roosts, kinda like yours, hinged at top so it could be swung up to the ceiling out of the way for cleaning. The lower roosts would be in the back where the ceiling is lowestS

Sounds pretty similar to mine with the original nest box and door on the front wall of the coop. And yes, even with the entire front being open above the 4' walls, it is noticeably darker in there than it is near the front wall of the barn (~6 feet away) except when the sun gets low (that side of the barn faces west) so it is good to keep it fairly open.

So the plan is a 2' high roost a foot from the back wall and a higher roost forward of that? I think that would work. I think I've read 12" headroom but my BIG Black Australorp stands at least that high so I would go with 18" minimum. They don't need it when they are roosting but they do have to get up on the roosts and fuss with all the other chickens for their spot. You would THINK that after 2.5 years of living together they would have it all figured out, but NOooooooo they have to fuss every night.

My girls will stage from the 2' roost but never use it to come down and NEVER sleep on it. It is probably a bad angle for getting off the 4' roostd being 2' lower but only 9" forward. I suspect when they get geriatric I will have to supply an egress method that is easier on them than flapping down. Do remember that they need some "runway" to land. Sometimes I see people's coops here with a high roost only a couple of feet from the coop wall. Not good. I don't think you need to hinge it. I rake my shavings daily with a large leaf rake that is plastic on the business end. It flexes enough that I can work it back and forth like a "Hula hoe" and the forward push "against the natural flow" fluffs the shavings. I need to work over the 2' bar which isn't difficult but if your lower roost is in the back, it won't even be in your way!

 

[lazy gardener]

I forget who was posting advice regarding roost spacing, but I followed her suggestion, and placed the top roost 15" out from the wall, and the second one 15" out from that one, but about a foot lower. Takes up more room... kind of, but keeps the poop from skidding down the wall, or landing on the birds on the lower roost.