Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

I have to laugh when you mention your kids and 4H. My son was in 4H more as a social event than anything. We lived in town so he couldn't raise livestock. He took some top prizes even at the state in flower arranging! Never had a lesson at all or any preplanning. He would walk out to my garden, cut what was available and put it together. The only thing I ever bought was the Oasis to put the flowers in. He just had a great eye for shape and color. Now you have to picture this; he was always big for his age but when he was in high school he was nearly 6'4" and weighed at least 260#. Not your typical flower arranger. He later got into hog judging which seemed more suited to his looks.
He really should have done baking because he always loved to bake. He still does for that matter. He makes all these artisan breads and some fancy deserts all the time.

 

[Hawkeye95]

I have to laugh when you mention your kids and 4H. My son was in 4H more as a social event than anything. We lived in town so he couldn't raise livestock. He took some top prizes even at the state in flower arranging! Never had a lesson at all or any preplanning. He would walk out to my garden, cut what was available and put it together. The only thing I ever bought was the Oasis to put the flowers in. He just had a great eye for shape and color. Now you have to picture this; he was always big for his age but when he was in high school he was nearly 6'4" and weighed at least 260#. Not your typical flower arranger. He later got into hog judging which seemed more suited to his looks.
He really should have done baking because he always loved to bake. He still does for that matter. He makes all these artisan breads and some fancy deserts all the time.

OH wow, that is so neat he had such a talent with flower arranging! Good eye, and probably very creative in a lot of other areas, too, I'm sure! Even living in town, there are still so many things to do-- of course the foods, but the rocketry, photography, art, textiles, and on and on. The animals are pure fun, of course! But when I was in 4-H I was only in poultry and then did everything else under the sun. I was in it for years, so over the course of many years, I got to do a lot of different projects! Photography, rocketry, Fashion, art (drawing and painting) were my favorites other than poultry. I only showed WCB Polish, and that's it, year after year. I did foods and yeast breads, but I never really did all that great. My "consistency" was always off. I would have air holes in my bread. Ah well. It's a good thing your son knows how to bake and do desserts, that can be so fun to present at dinner parties and outings for pot luck. He should have done foods! I want my boys to learn to cook and be able to do all of this stuff. I want them to be a big help for their future wives and not sit around and be bums. I hope they want to garden and have chickens and be a little more self sustainable than the average Joe.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Well, it's a good thing we did a trial run before our mock-judging clinic this Friday! All of the cinnamon ran out of the bread!!? I've made this many times before. I wonder what the heck happened?? Sheesh! I thought I had it pinched down really well. We're going to have to make it again this week before Thursday and figure out what went wrong.

ETA: I googled it and I think I didn't pinch the ends well enough. Someone else mentioned that too, and to be sure to pinch the ends closed really well. Sigh.

 

[chicken danz]

Ha! Ha! Sounds like something is still a little off, Hawkeye!

Just kidding. I'll bet the bread is great even if the cinnamon ran out.
I really wasn't a very good parent as far as encouraging him. I knew nothing about 4H, in fact I remember asking him about it because I thought you had to live in the country to join 4H. It was just something I never knew about as a kid. If I knew then what I know now all of my kids would have been in 4H. My biggest problem was my work schedule which included working all kinds of hours and days. It seems like I could never be home when they needed to be somewhere. My son was best friends with the head of the extension service so that is how he got connected with them. He actually served as president for 2 years. And he became acquainted with his wife who was a few years younger through 4H. She was a little kid that had a crush and she pursued him when he went to college. I am so glad she did. She is such an awesome daughter in law.
I haven't done much of anything this afternoon. It is just too hot. I tried to lay down and nap but my mind wouldn't be quiet. So I'm drinking iced coffee and dreaming on Ebay. I must be extra broke. That is when I want to spend money. I just spent $116 on frontline. When you have as many dogs and cats as I do you go through a bunch of it and it isn't cheap. I buy the biggest size and split it down for the cats and for Cloud. In another couple months I won't be splitting hers either. I have to buy a years worth in order to treat for maybe 3 months maximum.
I was sitting here thinking.... I'll bet KarenS got her pool opened today and she is out there playing in the water!!

 

[Trish44]

Oh Danz, you just gave me an
idea. KarenS, pool party! That must be so awesome to have that pool to jump in when it's so hot! I would love it.

Well we just got back about 30 min ago. It actually took the darned pharmacy an hour in Wellington to fill my 3 simple drugs, ridiculous. We left them there & went to have lunch. I was in search of something I could swallow. We ended up at KFC, there aren't too many choices in Wellington. I ordered their potpie & it was easy to swallow & wasn't actually bad. I do have an ear infection, I figured that. I asked about the strep & she said if I have the antibiotic she gave me will cover it. I also got diflucan for the yeast explosion to come. I can't take antibiotics any more without countering that. Then bless her heart she gave me some pain pills so I can sleep, I haven't been doing much of that lately for the pain & coughing. She said I should be better in 24 hours, I sure hope so.

 

[HEChicken]

Well I have joined the ranks of the insane. I picked up my order of 2000 mealworms to start my farm at the PO this morning. I thought the lady there was going to be sick at the thought of a box of worms!

She was thoroughly grossed out by them crawling on the screen in the box!! I have them all settled in their box of wheat bran with potatoes and old raspberries for a drink.

Where did you find the wheat bran? I have looked everywhere around here and was never able to find it. In Australia we could buy a 1kg bag of it in the cereal aisle of the grocery store for about 44c but here the only time I found it was a tiny little bag in the organic section of Dillons and they wanted about $4 for it - and I would have needed multiple packets for the mealies. No way was that happening. So I've brooded them on oatmeal and right now they are on corn cob pellet bedding but they don't seem crazy about that. I'd still love to find them some wheat bran if I just knew where to look for it.

Sometimes I wish I had a man interpreter so I could speak man so he could understand. He acts like I'm some alien that speaks an alien language when I have no trouble getting other people to understand what I'm saying. It's so aggravating to me & then he wonders why I get angry with him when I have to repeat things over & over & over again until I feel like banging my head on a brick wall.

I'm so sorry you still aren't well - that is MUCH worse than what I had for a couple of days last week. Glad you are going to the doc and will get all fixed up, I hope.

I did laugh out loud at your man interpreter bit though - oh my, wouldn't that be something?

Yeah, I'm still pretty stoked about my new saddle. It's a light weight barrel, like my other one was. In fact, you can see (a little bit) my old saddle in my avatar. It's still a very nice saddle too. But I'm wanting to get back into doing more trail rides and all of my tack is just getting old. So I bought myself the new saddle and then I got this really cute zebra saddle bags. They are much bigger and insulated than my old ones. I had the regular leather bags before and my lunch would always be hot by the time we stopped. Horses really heat up on a ride. I've already used it a few times and my lunch stayed cool. It's not often I splurge for "me". Usually I'm buying stuff for the house or the kids. Pretty much always. Anyway, my new saddle has rough out on the fenders and I'm not used to that. But so far, I've found I like it-- makes you "stick". Just worried about all the water crossings I do and how it's going to discolor them. Figure worst case, I'll buy some new fenders (smooth) in the same design/color and just replace them when the time comes.

Love the zebra saddle bags! Mine are just plain black. Your saddle looks great too. I am considering getting an Aussie stock saddle for trail rides. Right now I have a Wintec barrel style saddle and I love how comfortable and lightweight it is and it fits my horse great and looks good on him (or so people keep telling me). But DD rides English, which is fine when we just go out to our barn for a ride but when we trail ride she has no where to put water bottles and equipment so I have to carry hers for her. I was thinking I might get the stock saddle for trail rides and let her use my Wintec. Her little mare is older, and I don't want to put too much weight on her for an all-day ride. I had planned to go to EquiFest this year and saddle-shop but when the day came something came up and I wasn't able to get there. Maybe next year....

Well, I basically finished my coop today. I still have to trim the windows and doors but the rest is done.

And, the layers, who only arrived here after 11pm last night, quickly figured out what the nest boxes are for. I walked in mid-morning to find four of the six occupied. By mid-afternoon there were 8 eggs in the boxes, distributed between multiple boxes. Yay!!! I anticipate this might be the last day they lay for awhile to get over the stress of moving but am glad to know they so quickly figured out WHERE to do it.

 

[Hawkeye95]

HEchicken, There is a saddle shop you could visit in Andover.. or is it Augusta? I don't remember the name of it either! LOL But I went there and tried out saddles before I bought this one. They didn't carry Blue River saddles and I was determined to have a pink seated saddle with suede. No ostrich or smooth leather. They could build me a saddle, but the color looked more red than pink. So I started hunting around and found that Chick Saddlery had this saddle for the best price... but THEN I found a hole in the wall dealer up in Michigan, I think? And they sold it to me for $50 less! I spent nearly two years searching for a saddle and reading reviews. I couldn't afford the really fancy ones, but figured I could do a middle of the road one. Pretty much all the reviews were good, but people always forget to take into account if it's a full or semi quarter bars tree-- they need to keep in mind how that fits their horse. So I think some of the reviews reflect that-- I noticed that on ALL the saddles I looked at. People just buy a saddle and don't think about the tree. Anyway, this one rides really comfortable and I've already killed myself on it with an all day ride that had me nearly crying to get back to camp! LOL! The saddle was fine, I wasn't ready to be out all day. I was prepared for it, but as usual (lots of snacks), the group of girls I go with-- we always get a bit lost or go further than we think we do. OR rather... it's more like this-- we'll take a trail and think that it comes back around and we'll be back at the main trail in like 30 mins and instead, it's 2 hours later and we're thinking oh crap! If you ever go riding with me, prepare for the worst. hehehehe!! I've learned to take lots of food and water with me now in case we're out late. By then, I'm practically laying over the neck of my horse in exhaustion giving him his head back home. I'm getting better at Kanopolis Lake, but every time I go to Big Hill, we get lost. And I mean LOST. It's kind of fun, though. Until the sun is really getting low, then panic does start to edge out a bit.

I've seen those Aussie trail saddles! I think Chick's has them too. One of my friends rides in one, but hers has a horn so she can put her horn bags over it. I throw my camera strap over my horn.

If we're going to do something stupid, might as well document it.

BTW--- HEchicken-- if you go out to Pawnee or on a trail ride, let me know! I can haul and get where ever so long as my DH is free to wach kiddos.

Trish, I'm surprised they didn't swab you! I still think you have strep. Glad you are on antibiotics! Hope they kick this fast. I LOVE potpie, that sounds heavenly!! That's something I could eat at lot of.

Danz, that is so neat that your son and DIL met at 4-H! Awwww!! So funny you are ebay hunting while you're broke. I do that too! I add everything to my "watch list" and then watch it slip away knowing I can't buy it. Ah well. ha!

 

[chicken danz]

Trish I am sure Karen would graciously say OKay but it isn't fair that she has to host this bunch again! Besides, I for one wouldn't be seen in a swimsuit in public!

I am wanting to get my own pool up, not an in ground like Karen's but I used the space the old one was for bird pens. Now I have no idea where on earth it will go. I don't know why I buy stuff and then never get it used. I took down the old pool and trashed it so I could put up this one. It has seen it's better life any way.
Maybe someday. I promised my granddaughter the next time she came to stay I would the pool up. That was August nearly 2 years ago. Whoops!
I was just talking to her Mom about getting her here this summer. I would have to do something if she came. She lives in Colorado and hates Kansas heat.
Yeah hawkeye I go in and delete my watch list every now and then. Sometimes I wonder why I had even added things. I get these crazy notions. I just got reminded to go on there today when I saw Cloud scratching. And of course then I got to looking at other things.

 

[HEChicken]

HEchicken, There is a saddle shop you could visit in Andover.. or is it Augusta? I don't remember the name of it either!

BTW--- HEchicken-- if you go out to Pawnee or on a trail ride, let me know! I can haul and get where ever so long as my DH is free to wach kiddos.

Is it Hong Leather or something like that? I've heard ladies at my barn talking about it but I've never been there. I think they described it as being between Andover and Augusta so I bet that is it. I do need to go by there and check it out!

Will do on the trail ride - I haven't done any trail riding so far this year - we've just been so busy with the move. The ladies from my barn went on a ride the same day there was the meet-up at Karen's but I couldn't go on it for the same reason I couldn't go to the meet-up. Pawnee Prairie is such a pretty place to ride, isn't it? We do usually try and go there once or twice a year because it isn't too far to haul.

 

[medawinks]

Glad to hear that you are on the mend Trish! Potpie is my favorite comfort food

HEChicken- glad you finished your coop and that your chickens have made themselves at home. You are set!!

I will have to keep studying my dwarf fruit tree purchase. I think buying two of each is doable, but I want to make sure that solves the pollination problem before I just have pretty little trees. Thanks for the heads up on that!!

Karen, we are all nuts here- checking to see if Bloom laid an egg.... When they all start laying it is going to be better than the Easter bunny!!. I keep looking at little egg baskets online wondering if I should buy one in anticipation Several are getting little wattles and their faces are tinged with dark pink. I guess that is a good sign.

My so was very intrigued with the mealworms. We ordered 2000 on eBay and many of them arrived dead..... But we have them in an old 10 gall aquarium in non medicated chick feed, per the instructions we found. So far they seem to be multiplying. We have new beetles anyhow If it weren't for the fact that thse birds live them so much and that my son is so interested in them- they would creep me out enough to just buy the freeze dried ones! Holding the live ones is still way out of my comfort zone!

Danz, I bet your DIL greatly appreciates you having supported your son in his love of baking and flowers! I sure would have appreciated any type of help at all in the house from my ex! All he did was make messes that he expected me to clean up....

We are off to the neighborhood pool. It has so darn many rules and this year it got even stricter, but my kids love it so I keep on paying dues. I am glad that I don't have to clean that though