Consolidated Kansas

[Frizzled Pink]

Josie I'll bet she continues to run the show for another 21 years or so too!!!

Well I went back out to work and experienced every kind of weather there is I think other than warm, sunny, and dry. We've had sleet, snow, wet /dry mix. Sleet hitting so hard it felt like hail, blinding snow you name it. But the temperature sat at 33 degrees ever since about 10AM this morning so rather than accumulate it has melted and actually reduced some of the snow that was already here. Here lies the rub..It is snowing again, the wind is blowing hard, and the temp is dropping and is below freezing now. All of that moisture earlier will definitely be ice soon. The snow is whipping around in circles.
I don't know how much longer I can do this with the snow and stuff on the ground. I hurt from end to end. I am really worried about loosing power with the wind blowing like it is and the moisture accumulated. I already had one tripped breaker today. I worry about my birds in the brooder the most. They aren't all real young but they are still small and need some heat above cold temps.
I just keep learning more. I had some chick starter in a rubbermaid bin with the lid closed on it. I thought it was dry enough it would be fine. Well I brought in a bunch of it yesterday to mix in my FF feed I have for the chicks in the house. Later I found some clumps in the feed in the bin that had some mold growth. I being a real dumba.. thought maybe the ACV in the FF would kill any mold spores. Well I managed to loose 5 chicks in 24 hours.

Luckily they were chicks I hatched that weren't super expensive. Maybe worth $3 -$5 each. So I tossed my entire bucket of FF for the chicks and started over. I put it out where I used to feed wild birds. It became a very popular place today. I'd say most of it would be just fine but little chicks just don't tolerate mold at all.
At least the wild birds are getting some food today.
I'm still in the air about the cars. I was going to call one of the dealers and talk to them about how low I could get the price but one of them I was looking at sold today. Dang it. It was my favorite.
I don't go a lot of places but when I do 9 out of 10 times I will be hauling a bird or some feed. Driving the pickup just isn't practical when you consider gas prices. And only one of the pickups is 4-wheel drive. It is a huge truck that gets like 10 mpg and I can't hardly even crawl into it. If I lived in town I wouldn't worry about the AWD but I am out here where the roads get drifted shut and the old clay gets slick like ice when it rains on the road. With an AWD car at least I could go pick up DH a couple times when he got stuck in a snow drift on his way home.
My dad's car is a taurus and it's a nice one with lots of bells and whistles and I think it is a 2008. And it is very low mileage. My dad was a mechanic for years so he's a stickler for maintenance. It has one dent that didn't get fixed. I think he hit the garage or something. It was actually my Mom's car but my dad sold his truck and kept her car after she passed. He's now decided he doesn't feel very safe driving.
I guess I am stuck between practical and not. How on earth would I ever know how much I am going to need the extra room and the 4WD.

So sorry about the chicks

 

[Trish44]

Danz, I think if you don't get what you need with the car you will be sorry later & then you will be stuck.I would think you could get a better deal now than in peak car selling season.

 

[chicken danz]

Trish I am afraid of that too. I guess the big question is whether buying something I know will be super dependable trumps something a stranger owned. I wish I could buy both!!!
So am I not getting updates or is everyone buried in or sleeping in today? I really worry about the weather. This snow is so heavy and packing on the trees and power lines. I keep checking the lights on my brooder worrying about loosing power out there. I have several houses that run from a line out in the barn. The old wiring that goes out there isn't the strongest. I could have a bunch of frozen water if that one would break. Not to mention the danger of fire.
Several of my window screens are packed with snow so I can't see out of them. It's driving me nuts.
I started checking out pattern pieces last night. I decided rather than do something like clean house that makes perfect sense, I might finally get some sewing done for my granddaughter. I don't like having the stuff out cause I don't have a place to leave it out but I have a feeling I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time outside working today. So maybe I'll get something done.

 

[Hawkeye95]

You will love your boots from Beans! Everyone in Maine has them and they are really nice! My mom had a pair and she wore them for 15 years before they started to fall apart.
I would love to have a greenhouse someday. I love the smell of warm potting soil, mmmm, wish it was spring.
I am so glad I have a cross over. I use and abuse it to death. I can fold the back seat down and put just about anything I need in it and the last few days I have been quite appreciate of AWD!!! I would be wary of anything with really high mileage though. I bought a chevy blazer years ago and all that thing did was break down. The engine finally blew one day on the highway and the garage that looked at it said they had never seen a small engine die the way it had. They said it broke like a dump truck would have and thought it was probably used to haul something far too heavy for it routinely. SO I won't ever do that again. I would say buy the car and save your pennies for when you can get something that won't leave you stranded or with ridiculous bills every time you go in for service.
Hahahaha! You are too funny, double bag them!
So the snow has arrived. I need to go lock up the geese. They are having a grand time out in this but I don't want them running loose when its storming.

The baby must be running out of room in there because she has been doing lots of rolling around! Very bizarre feeling to have a tiny body rolling and pitching inside your abdomen! She keeps me up at night until I find a position she is happy with and settles down! Guess we know who is running this show.

I don't think I've ever ordered from LL Bean before, but I happened upon a consumer reports talking about the best rainboots. Their number 1 boot was the LL Bean Wellies and so I just headed over there and ordered them. I had already spent 3 days at that point researching boots and the reviews were just ify on most boots. People said boots leaked or that they had issues of falling apart and just on and on. I was becoming really frustrated-- now I did find a pair that had excellent reveiws and it was called the "muck boot" but they wanted $130+ for them. The Beans had like 90 reviews and everyone loved them. So yeah.. really hoping I love them and they don't leak!

I also really, really want a greenhouse. I had my DH nearly talked into one last year. But with all the uncertainity right now, a lot of ideas will have to be tabled. That is terrible about your old Blazer. I'm also really leary with anything with high miles. I just don't think it's a risk I would ever want to take. From now on-- LOW miles! Doesn't have to be new, even though I love new! ha! Just wait until your Baby Pink is born! You think she's running the show now. It'll be her schedule for a few years more-- between the baby stage and sleepless nights to Preschool and then any activities like Dance or whatever it might be. Of course, it's all worth it. Kids are great!

Josie I'll bet she continues to run the show for another 21 years or so too!!!

Well I went back out to work and experienced every kind of weather there is I think other than warm, sunny, and dry. We've had sleet, snow, wet /dry mix. Sleet hitting so hard it felt like hail, blinding snow you name it. But the temperature sat at 33 degrees ever since about 10AM this morning so rather than accumulate it has melted and actually reduced some of the snow that was already here. Here lies the rub..It is snowing again, the wind is blowing hard, and the temp is dropping and is below freezing now. All of that moisture earlier will definitely be ice soon. The snow is whipping around in circles.
I don't know how much longer I can do this with the snow and stuff on the ground. I hurt from end to end. I am really worried about loosing power with the wind blowing like it is and the moisture accumulated. I already had one tripped breaker today. I worry about my birds in the brooder the most. They aren't all real young but they are still small and need some heat above cold temps.
I just keep learning more. I had some chick starter in a rubbermaid bin with the lid closed on it. I thought it was dry enough it would be fine. Well I brought in a bunch of it yesterday to mix in my FF feed I have for the chicks in the house. Later I found some clumps in the feed in the bin that had some mold growth. I being a real dumba.. thought maybe the ACV in the FF would kill any mold spores. Well I managed to loose 5 chicks in 24 hours.

Luckily they were chicks I hatched that weren't super expensive. Maybe worth $3 -$5 each. So I tossed my entire bucket of FF for the chicks and started over. I put it out where I used to feed wild birds. It became a very popular place today. I'd say most of it would be just fine but little chicks just don't tolerate mold at all.
At least the wild birds are getting some food today.
I'm still in the air about the cars. I was going to call one of the dealers and talk to them about how low I could get the price but one of them I was looking at sold today. Dang it. It was my favorite.
I don't go a lot of places but when I do 9 out of 10 times I will be hauling a bird or some feed. Driving the pickup just isn't practical when you consider gas prices. And only one of the pickups is 4-wheel drive. It is a huge truck that gets like 10 mpg and I can't hardly even crawl into it. If I lived in town I wouldn't worry about the AWD but I am out here where the roads get drifted shut and the old clay gets slick like ice when it rains on the road. With an AWD car at least I could go pick up DH a couple times when he got stuck in a snow drift on his way home.
My dad's car is a taurus and it's a nice one with lots of bells and whistles and I think it is a 2008. And it is very low mileage. My dad was a mechanic for years so he's a stickler for maintenance. It has one dent that didn't get fixed. I think he hit the garage or something. It was actually my Mom's car but my dad sold his truck and kept her car after she passed. He's now decided he doesn't feel very safe driving.
I guess I am stuck between practical and not. How on earth would I ever know how much I am going to need the extra room and the 4WD.

I hope you don't lose power!! We didn't get much more snow, but we did end up with another snow day. I'm looking outside and just guessing we got another 5-6 inches?? I will have to check the weather to see what they officially report. I'm really sorry about the chicks! I don't think I would have realized it would do that either. I'm glad it didn't kill any of the pricey babies! I would be crying if I did that to shipped chicks that I had hatched out. I'm getting ready to order some eggs... when it warms up. I've been in contact with my breeder and she said the pen I'm wanting eggs out of is looking fertile. She is doing several test hatches (just around 40 eggs) to see how the chicks turn out before she sells me any. She had to use a new grow-out cockerel because her rooster (that is proven for great results--type, toes, etc) died this winter. I just hope his offspring look like the other's because she had amazing birds! I'll still be gambling since neither of us will know the grow out results until the end of the year.

I don't know what to do about the car vs SUV? I'm assuming you are talking about getting an SUV?? If you really need an SUV, then maybe you can keep looking. Have you checked out of State? We ended up having DH fly out to Minnesota to buy/pick up my new minivan because of the low mileage and great condition of it. We just could not find anything locally. I'm not saying you need to go that far, but you could check Oklahoma and Nebraska??


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So we are having another snow day. I don't know if it's really needed, but then again, I'm not sure I could back out of the garage this morning, either. The cement apron will have to be shoveled again and my DH will likely need to run the blade over the rest of the drive. OH Danz! I never did say about our blade... My DH doesn't lower it all the way to the ground or it just digs everything up. Our tractor has a fairly decent hydraulic system and he just lowers it a little above the ground and then uses it.

 

[chicken danz]

Hawkeye where did you find your list to search from? I have bought from out of state before, in fact my outback came from Pennsylvania but I used Ebay to look. I don't mind looking at what people have in surrounding states. I just need a place to start looking. I am just stabbing in the dark looking here and there. If they don't offer a carfax I just forget it.
We're still getting snow and of course lots of wind. I have no idea how much we've gotten cause so much melted as it came down. It is still right below freezing so it's a wet snow that is sticking to every thing. At least it isn't piling up real high like the last one.
If I were you I'd be planning to make a load of hot chocolate today. Something about that just keeps a person warm.
I have Muck boots and hate their weight but wouldn't be without them. They are dry and warm. I can pretty much work out in the cold for several hours and never get my feet cold or wet. The big draw back is how heavy they are. At first I hated them because of that but after the first trip out in winter weather they stay right by my back door.


Oh the weather outside is frightful
And my joints don't feel delightful
Since it's gotten so gosh darned cold
I feel old, I feel old, I feel old!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Hawkeye where did you find your list to search from? I have bought from out of state before, in fact my outback came from Pennsylvania but I used Ebay to look. I don't mind looking at what people have in surrounding states. I just need a place to start looking. I am just stabbing in the dark looking here and there. If they don't offer a carfax I just forget it.
We're still getting snow and of course lots of wind. I have no idea how much we've gotten cause so much melted as it came down. It is still right below freezing so it's a wet snow that is sticking to every thing. At least it isn't piling up real high like the last one.
If I were you I'd be planning to make a load of hot chocolate today. Something about that just keeps a person warm.
I have Muck boots and hate their weight but wouldn't be without them. They are dry and warm. I can pretty much work out in the cold for several hours and never get my feet cold or wet. The big draw back is how heavy they are. At first I hated them because of that but after the first trip out in winter weather they stay right by my back door.


Oh the weather outside is frightful
And my joints don't feel delightful
Since it's gotten so gosh darned cold
I feel old, I feel old, I feel old!

We had about 5 sites we checked morning and night since things can change fast. I'll see if I can remember a few of them. They are "car" search engines that you put in your info on what kind of vehicle you want, and then you can search by distance. We eventually got to the point where we turned that feature off, because we were not finding anything within driving distance so we decided we would fly. NOW... that is just because I was looking for an exact replica of my minivan that I wrecked. If you aren't being that specific, I'm sure you'll find something a lot closer to you! But I was also being picky on the color. If it was red, blue, green, or anything but white or black I didn't want it. I know most people just don't really care, so that really hindered us and my DH wanted to KILL me when he found cars that were CLOSE to us, but I refused to buy them based on color! LOL

cars.com
carmax.com
autotrader.com
carsdirect.com
carsforsale.com

Oh-- and I also signed up for email alerts with all of these places. That way, if I forget to check back in, they have my specifics and will email any new vehicles that come up and meet your criteria. It's easy to unsubscribe once you've found your vehicle.


I read about the heavy muck boots! But that wasn't my problem. My problem was that the pair I liked was $160!! They look really nice, though. I just wanted to spend a bit less than that! ha!! But everyone said that they were perfect for Alaska and apparently, those are the boots of choice up there, too. They had these really cool pink ones that I was drooling over! But I just couldn't get around that price. NOW... if I lived in Alaska, yeah, I would have done it without a second thought. But as often as I need a rainboot/snowboot.. I can't justify that.

 

[chicken danz]

Thanks. I have looked at a couple of those places but didn't find a lot. I'll do some different searches.
Hawkeye I wear my muck boots in winter whether it is wet or not. They keep my feet warmer than anything else. Yeah they are pricey. I just got normal black ones to save money and found them on sale so that helped...not a lot but still better than the price you found. I would have liked pink as well but then once they get covered in mud and poo I guess that didn't really matter much.

 

[checoukan]

Ok, Danz, now you have that "JINGLE" going thru my head!!

Guess I needed something going thru my head!! We had a snow day to Hawkeye, I don't think it was really called for, but I'm in transportation, and we are low dogs on the totem pole!!

We got about about and 1/1/2 of rain yesterday, water was running in the creeks, and draws, then is stopped. Started snowing after I went to bed, and we may have got 4 inches or so, but it is melting, so dont really know for sure. That is what it looked like on the ground when I got up this morning.

I have pictures of the new babies on my phone, I will get them transfered to the computor later, and upload them. They sure are sweet right now.

Ivy I think wants one of the babies, hmmmm, guess I will have to give in to her wants, course she OWES me right now since they were not able to make it down this past weekend, and we went over and took care of things over there.

Well guess I will go do my chores and find something to do. May just have to take a nap!

Stay warm, and dont' get to cold.!

 

[lizzyGSR]

I am so fed up with my internet. It has been down nearly constantly the last few days. I finally got hold of someone while ago and they have decided I have a defective device. So they are sending me a new one to see if it works any better. If that doesn't help they are sending me a different brand. Meantime however I just have to jump in here and try to get stuff looked at and sent when I can get a signal. It is not convenient when I have things I need to take care of.

I totally understand your situation with the internet. My internet has been completely down for over a week (since February 15th). The technician is a long way away (in the Topeka area, and I'm in extreme northwest KS about 30 minutes from both NE and CO lines). He won't be able to come until 3/4. Did I mention that I'm a software engineer and work from home and depend heavily on my internet? I have HughesNet and have so far been very UNIMPRESSED with their customer service. Their prices are high compared to other ISP options, but HughesNet and other satellite providers are my only options because we live in a deep valley and therefore have no cell phone service and don't have line-of-sight to the point-to-point internet spots that the local ISP provides for us country folk. We are far enough out of town that we don't have any sort of cable internet... the line stops several miles south of us and would be a very pretty penny to extend out to our area (we're talking I could buy my farm 2-3 times over for the price it would take to extend the cable).

So for now, I'm stuck with HughesNet. I'm seriously hoping that there will be another option by the time our 2 year contract is up with HughesNet.

Edited to add: I should probably mention that HughesNet's service is OK when it is working. The speeds are considerably better during the day when there aren't a lot of people on the internet than they are in the evening after everyone comes home from work/school. I have been able to work within the confines of the download limit and slower internet speeds (compared to high speed internet) for the most part but do wish I had other options available. Thankfully, my employer is very understanding of my internet options and has been very helpful/understanding with this most recent outage.

Hawkeye where did you find your list to search from? I have bought from out of state before, in fact my outback came from Pennsylvania but I used Ebay to look. I don't mind looking at what people have in surrounding states. I just need a place to start looking. I am just stabbing in the dark looking here and there. If they don't offer a carfax I just forget it.
We're still getting snow and of course lots of wind. I have no idea how much we've gotten cause so much melted as it came down. It is still right below freezing so it's a wet snow that is sticking to every thing. At least it isn't piling up real high like the last one.

My husband and I just bought a pickup. My husband works for the national weather service and getting snowed in is not an excuse to not come to work. They'll send the sheriff out after him if he gets snowed in, and I'm sure the sheriff wouldn't appreciate that. Anyway, we just bought a 4-wheel drive pickup. We found ours on craigslist. We also looked at nextechclassifieds.com.

How much snow did you all get total? We got 11" from the first snow storm and only 1/2" from the 2nd storm. We were actually hoping for more because it has been SO DRY and we really could use the moisture. Plus, we just got a 4-wheel drive (just in time) so we were confident we wouldn't be snowed in... My birds haven't seemed to mind the weather too much, though they do sit down a lot more (probably to keep their feet warm). They haven't been spending much time in the duck house (they don't usually) so it must not be too cold for them.... My biggest concern has actually been my horses. Our barn is a 3 sided pole barn that faces East. We had an easterly wind for a good part of the first storm as well, which rendered our barn completely useless. They stood behind the barn and got wet but were at least out of the wind. My horses are both older (14 and 22) so I was worried about how the cold would affect them. They handled it okay, but I was worried about them. This summer, I hope to add a 4th wall to the horse side of the barn and add a tack room to it as well. That should make next winter a lot easier on the horses.

 

[chicken danz]

Wish we would have gotten rain yesterday. It would have reduced some of this snow that was on the ground already.
I did manage to get the sun screen down on all but the pheasant/guinea pens. It is one long piece and I hooked it with washers and screws so it was going to be awful to get down. At least it is under the netting instead of over it like the others, so if it breaks it shouldn't break the netting.
Congrats on your new kids. I really don't mind missing out on kidding. It seemed like my goats always had kids in whether just like this. I would sit out in the barn cold and wet and trying to dry off the babies and keep them warm. They always got muddy cause it was a dirt floor. I did have one set of twins in warm weather and she had them outside instead of inside. It was nice to just sit and watch and know they were doing fine. Nothin's cuter than a baby goat though!!! I love their little springs!! I swear they have pogo sticks not legs!
Well DH just called and said they lost off site power to the plant. That isn't good. Way too close. I am so afraid we'll loose power. I don't want to loose any babies or eggs. With this north wind it won't take long to cool down the house either.
It's still snowing and accumulating on the trees and power lines too.
Guess I should go get busy for a while.