Consolidated Kansas

[HEChicken]

I would love to get a wood stove one of these days….

It was 3 on our thermometer when I got up this morning. Although I had given the dogs a break and let them spend the night in the garage, I decided to go down and check on everyone first thing and I'm glad I did. Everyone was fine but the heated dog water bowl was unable to keep up with the extreme low temp and had iced over on top. I had to use a boot to smash through it and it was water underneath the ice so I know the thing is working - it just wasn't able to keep the surface of the water unfrozen with it being that cold.

Then I checked on Mama Cochin and chick. I had debated moving them up to the 3-season room but that created issues of its own since the GFCI in that room is now inoperable so I also have no way of providing water up there. In the end, I left them in their pen and was amazed when I took water to them this morning that little chick was not even under Mama. It was running around like it was a balmy fall day, and was excited to see me coming since by now it knows I am the source of water. Immediately I set the waterer down, it started drinking, along with Mama. It wasn't even shivering.

Next I checked on sheep, goats and lambs. I couldn't immediately see the lambs but they started bawling when they heard me. Then they emerged from the dog igloo I have in there for them, and stretched luxuriously, just the way dogs do - one leg at a time out behind them. DH had been concerned about them because they are still so little and I told him I thought they'd be fine and I'm glad to have been right but also glad they knew to go into the igloo and stay warm in there.

 

[chicken danz]

It's so cold out. I just dread having to go out to feed and water today.
I had a few chicks hatch today but not a lot. Most were shipped eggs and they did really poorly. All of my own eggs hatched however. I am only incubating the rare and expensive ones. I sure wish people would learn how to pack eggs properly for viability. Grrr! It makes for expensive birds when they aren't properly handled then you have to worry about keeping them alive for at least 6 months before you have offspring.
I've sure been spending tons of money lately. I need to get under control. I do this every Christmas. I spend way way more than I intend to. It is always the same. I find something that is perfect for one person and end up spending way too much. Then I have to buy more for every one else so it isn't so lop sided. Every year I say it isn't' going to happen but it does. I still have a ton of gifts to buy as well with no clue what to get people.
My downfall this year was that I bought a fireplace/entertainment stand for one of my sons and daughter in laws. It's probably the most expensive gift ever. So now I have to even out amounts for the others. I just felt it was something perfect for them right now. Next year it may not be cause they will be selling their home and buying another elsewhere. They would have probably appreciated a nicer TV first but I think they'll enjoy this more.
I just ordered a roku for us. I hope it works well. I have to credit HEChicken for that. And right after the discussion, I got a letter from Amazon telling me I wasn't taking advantage of my Prime membership by not streaming videos. Now if I can figure out how to make that all happen when it gets here it'll be great. Sure hope we use it!!
I had several frozen topped dog bowls yesterday. I also had one of the cookie tin heater set ups with frozen water. I had changed light bulbs the day before to a larger wattage but it was still frozen so I moved the waterer in the coop last night. I don't intend to leave it there. Just for the time being in hopes the temps go up again.
I still believe if these birds were in a building where I kept the temp right above freezing I would spend less than I do to run all these water bowls and heaters. I guess I can keep dreaming!

 

[chicken danz]

What a day. My lack of patience won out and cost me. I had asked DH to help me move a Japanese dining table to the basement to make more room. He said he wasn't going to do it today after I asked him again. So... I decided I could do it. First I took off the heavy glass top which protects all the inlaid shell and stuff. Then I wrestled the table to the stairs. I got below it and slowly scooted it down the stairs. But about 6 stairs from the bottom it gained momentum. It is very heavy. It pushed me and itself to the basement floor and I landed first....and not on my feet. No major damage other than some scuffed edges to the table. Then I decided to move the glass topper. This WAS a huge and heavy oval custom piece of glass to protect the table. I wrestled it to the top of the stairs and I got this bright idea I would make a sling from a blanket and lower it in front of me. Great idea until it slipped out of the blanket and went crashing down to the floor below. I found out it wasn't safety glass! It would cost a fortune to replace this glass cause it was custom cut to fit the table. The table is hand made so it isn't a perfect oval. Sometimes I just feel so dumb for the things I do.
Instead though I was just angry. I got to thinking about all the things I want done that never happen. So this one time I thought I could do something I knew I didn't have the strength to do. How long would it have taken to get a little help.?

This weather makes me irritable. I need some sunshine badly.
Then I got outside and battled hoses and frozen water again. Half of the heated waterers still had ice in them and a couple were just too frozen for the birds to get water.
I don't know why, but this time of year I always want to start projects I haven't gotten done. It must be holiday stress. Since I have so much to do I want to add more to do. Duh!

 

[sharol]

What a day. My lack of patience won out and cost me. I had asked DH to help me move a Japanese dining table to the basement to make more room. He said he wasn't going to do it today after I asked him again. So... I decided I could do it. First I took off the heavy glass top which protects all the inlaid shell and stuff. Then I wrestled the table to the stairs. I got below it and slowly scooted it down the stairs. But about 6 stairs from the bottom it gained momentum. It is very heavy. It pushed me and itself to the basement floor and I landed first....and not on my feet. No major damage other than some scuffed edges to the table. Then I decided to move the glass topper. This WAS a huge and heavy oval custom piece of glass to protect the table. I wrestled it to the top of the stairs and I got this bright idea I would make a sling from a blanket and lower it in front of me. Great idea until it slipped out of the blanket and went crashing down to the floor below. I found out it wasn't safety glass! It would cost a fortune to replace this glass cause it was custom cut to fit the table. The table is hand made so it isn't a perfect oval. Sometimes I just feel so dumb for the things I do.
Instead though I was just angry. I got to thinking about all the things I want done that never happen. So this one time I thought I could do something I knew I didn't have the strength to do. How long would it have taken to get a little help.?

This weather makes me irritable. I need some sunshine badly.
Then I got outside and battled hoses and frozen water again. Half of the heated waterers still had ice in them and a couple were just too frozen for the birds to get water.
I don't know why, but this time of year I always want to start projects I haven't gotten done. It must be holiday stress. Since I have so much to do I want to add more to do. Duh!

20/20 hindsight. Some of that sort of thing has happened to me, too. Just like you, when I couldn't get someone to help RIGHT NOW and I lost patience. I'm so sorry about your glass table top. I'm just glad you didn't injure yourself in the process.

 

[HEChicken]

I just ordered a roku for us. I hope it works well. I have to credit HEChicken for that. And right after the discussion, I got a letter from Amazon telling me I wasn't taking advantage of my Prime membership by not streaming videos. Now if I can figure out how to make that all happen when it gets here it'll be great. Sure hope we use it!!

I still believe if these birds were in a building where I kept the temp right above freezing I would spend less than I do to run all these water bowls and heaters. I guess I can keep dreaming!

Oh wow! I hope you really enjoy the roku. Ours gets a lot of use. It was DS's gift to the entire family for Christmas either 3 or 4 years ago and I bet there isn't a day it doesn't get used. It makes it really nice to be able to watch our shows on the TV instead of on a computer screen. I didn't order Prime yet because it occurred to me that I could do it for the kids as a Christmas gift, since I am stumped on what to get them this year anyway....(hope they don't read the forum LOL).

What a day. My lack of patience won out and cost me. I had asked DH to help me move a Japanese dining table to the basement to make more room. He said he wasn't going to do it today after I asked him again. So... I decided I could do it. First I took off the heavy glass top which protects all the inlaid shell and stuff. Then I wrestled the table to the stairs. I got below it and slowly scooted it down the stairs. But about 6 stairs from the bottom it gained momentum. It is very heavy. It pushed me and itself to the basement floor and I landed first....and not on my feet. No major damage other than some scuffed edges to the table. Then I decided to move the glass topper. This WAS a huge and heavy oval custom piece of glass to protect the table. I wrestled it to the top of the stairs and I got this bright idea I would make a sling from a blanket and lower it in front of me. Great idea until it slipped out of the blanket and went crashing down to the floor below. I found out it wasn't safety glass! It would cost a fortune to replace this glass cause it was custom cut to fit the table. The table is hand made so it isn't a perfect oval. Sometimes I just feel so dumb for the things I do.
Instead though I was just angry. I got to thinking about all the things I want done that never happen. So this one time I thought I could do something I knew I didn't have the strength to do. How long would it have taken to get a little help.?

Oh no! So sorry about your table. I can only imagine the cost - last year I had to replace a small piece of glass for one of the storm windows on the coop and that wasn't cheap and it was just a regular rectangle.

We hit a high of 23 today which is a pretty good rise from starting at just 3 degrees this morning. And, the sun was out for most of it and the wind wasn't blowing as hard as the last few days so it was a (relatively) nice day. The low is only supposed to be 16 tonight so hopefully the heated waterer can keep up with that.

 

[chicken danz]

We're already at 17 degrees right now so I imagine it's going to be pretty cold. I talked to my daughter who lives in Evergreen, CO today. She said she hasn't been out of the house in 3 days. It got down to -30 and that was actual temperature...not wind chill! It was -20 earlier this morning. And of course they got snow. They always get snow in the mountains. Makes me appreciate the weather here a little more. I was out there a couple years ago in December and it was beautiful but I hated it. I never got warm and it was always snowy and icy. She had a super steep driveway and if you didn't get a running start you would slide down into the ditch. Let me tell you, it's hard to get a running start on snow and ice packed streets.
I tried to keep thinking about that when I was feeding and watering. I wouldn't have chickens if I lived there!!!
HeChicken I just hope I'm smart enough to use the Roku. Sometimes I feel technically challenged for sure. Pretty ridiculous since I went to school to learn a lot of this stuff. I am a hands on person though and reading directions doesn't always make my brain connect the dots. We have a really nice TV and blue ray player that we never use. I thought maybe if we started streaming movies and stuff we might actually watch it. My son told me about the Roku so he may have to get it working for me when he's here for Christmas if I don't get it set up before then.
I think I'm just going to cover the table for now to protect it. I can't see paying for a replacement glass. I love this table but it's really not practical. It's very old and very pretty. I just don't have room for it in the house.
I've had 4 chicks get in the waterer today and get chilled. Why the heck do they do that? It's like follow the leader. Once confused chicks thinks he drinks through his feet and 2 others copy him!

 

[Trish44]

Danz, I'm sorry about your glass table top, that sounds like something I would do when I get aggravated about no help when I want it. I feel your pain about that. I'm just glad you didn't hurt yourself when you fell.

Today was really a pain trying to get water to the birds, it was just too darned cold out there. I took hot water out to add to the bowls & that worked for awhile, then when I went out to put the birds up for the night I was trying to dump the ice out of the bowls so I can take water down when I let them out in the morning & had to really work to get the darned ice out of the rubber bowls. I finally got them all out but one & I just finally left it. I was hurting my foot & my knee trying to knock it out so I gave up. I haven't been letting the goats out of the pen with it being so cold so I have had to give them hay to make up for not being out to browse. I don't think there is that much left up here for them to eat now because they have been eating things lately they wouldn't ordinarily like my honeysuckle vine & the ivy. I may have to get a few more bales of hay since we have already started using it & the critter sitter wasted some of it too, grrrr.

My chicks in the growout pen were mostly sitting clear across the pen from the heat lamp, but there were maybe 3 or 4 sitting by it. If I find none of them are using it eventually I'll just take it out of there & not waste electricity using it, but I will leave it as long as some are sitting by it. I noticed some of my younger kittens were sitting around the heated dog waterer by the side of the house, it must put off enough heat to feel warm for them. They have lots of places to get in & be cozy like under the toppers in the hay in there, yet some of them sit by the front door or the garage door & try to run in every time it opens.

We could stream through out Blu Ray player with Netflix if we were allowed to by our internet provider, but they won't let us. They say it slows everyone down too much for us to do that. We would normally be using it when most people are in bed, so I can't imagine why it would be that big of a deal. These internet providers need to get with the program, streaming it the future of things, so they need to get prepared for it instead of fighting it.

We had our granddaughter here all day & she just wants to stick her nose in the TV all the time she's here because they don't have TV at their house. When she comes here the Disney channel goes on & stays on the whole time she's here. She was bugging us all day to open her birthday gift, but we told her that we were waiting till tomorrow to do that when her sister could be here. She wasn't happy about that & managed to talk grandpa into buying her something else when we went to Walmart, he's such a pushover. She didn't want to stay overnight tonight so we're picking them both up in the morning & having a big lunch & birthday cake & all of that tomorrow.

 

[chicken danz]

Trish my granddaughter is the same way. They don't have TV so she will spend two weeks or so at a time here watching tv way into the night. I am sure they watch a few things on the computer but she has to compete with other family members for that. So other than it being just a lap top and not a very big area to watch she gets out voted. They watch lots of videos. I guess if I find I can watch a lot of stuff with the Roku I could consider getting the dish unhooked. But we have 3 tvs. One in the basement that no one but my granddaughter ever uses. One in the front room; that is the one I would hook the Roku to, and the one in the bedroom that is the one that we actually watch.
When people come here to visit they aren't going to be talking over a tv. It's an inconvenience some times but rarely.
We have some snow on the ground this morning. Not much but enough to make it dusted in white. I looked at the radar and although its predicted here it looks like it is all north and east of here. That's fine with me. Now if the sun would just shine!!
I dread going out to let the birds out. I don't see many of them out in their pens anyway this morning so I guess they can wait at least a little while.

 

[Trish44]

My granddaughter doesn't have internet either, so they rent movies all the time for entertainment, they have done that for years.

We got a dusting of snow here too, we already had a little still there from last time. It was supposed to be 32 today, but now they're saying 31. It looks like in a couple of days it might get above the freezing mark, good for the birds that don't have heated bowls. I don't think we're going to get any sun today or tomorrow.

Well everyone stay warm today. I need to get around & get out & do a few things & then get ready for the girls to get here.

 

[JosieChick]

I doubt the predator would have gotten close if our dog had been outside to do his job. I really dislike this weather. Yuck!


Amelia is absolutely adorable and what a fantastic picture!

Ok, here is one of Ethan's newborn pictures:


...and here are a couple from yesterday....

Geez lady, glad you are ok! This sounds like an ordeal!

What a day. My lack of patience won out and cost me. I had asked DH to help me move a Japanese dining table to the basement to make more room. He said he wasn't going to do it today after I asked him again. So... I decided I could do it. First I took off the heavy glass top which protects all the inlaid shell and stuff. Then I wrestled the table to the stairs. I got below it and slowly scooted it down the stairs. But about 6 stairs from the bottom it gained momentum. It is very heavy. It pushed me and itself to the basement floor and I landed first....and not on my feet. No major damage other than some scuffed edges to the table. Then I decided to move the glass topper. This WAS a huge and heavy oval custom piece of glass to protect the table. I wrestled it to the top of the stairs and I got this bright idea I would make a sling from a blanket and lower it in front of me. Great idea until it slipped out of the blanket and went crashing down to the floor below. I found out it wasn't safety glass! It would cost a fortune to replace this glass cause it was custom cut to fit the table. The table is hand made so it isn't a perfect oval. Sometimes I just feel so dumb for the things I do.
Instead though I was just angry. I got to thinking about all the things I want done that never happen. So this one time I thought I could do something I knew I didn't have the strength to do. How long would it have taken to get a little help.?

This weather makes me irritable. I need some sunshine badly.
Then I got outside and battled hoses and frozen water again. Half of the heated waterers still had ice in them and a couple were just too frozen for the birds to get water.
I don't know why, but this time of year I always want to start projects I haven't gotten done. It must be holiday stress. Since I have so much to do I want to add more to do. Duh!

This whole conversation is making me question tv limits. We obviously don't watch tv with Amelia around now but I wonder if completely doing away with it makes kids obsessed with it when they have the opportunity??

My granddaughter doesn't have internet either, so they rent movies all the time for entertainment, they have done that for years.

We got a dusting of snow here too, we already had a little still there from last time. It was supposed to be 32 today, but now they're saying 31. It looks like in a couple of days it might get above the freezing mark, good for the birds that don't have heated bowls. I don't think we're going to get any sun today or tomorrow.

Well everyone stay warm today. I need to get around & get out & do a few things & then get ready for the girls to get here.

Ummmm, brrrrr!!!!! SO we built this fancy solar box for our horse stock tank that was supposed to keep the water thawed by sun shining into the side and heating up the tank during the day. Well guess what? It doesn't work if there is no stinkin sunshine!!!! Had to go out the other night and haul extension cords down and plug in the electric heater, figure its better to pay for electricity than a horse colic bill!

Our birds seem to be faring just fine in their open air coops with this chilly weather. I haven't noticed anyone being that uncomfortable. I feel badly for one hen that was over mated and had a bald back and "should" have molted this fall (her sister did!) and is still rather bald...she is wearing a fleece saddle but I am sure her own down feathering would be much warmer.

Alright, lots to do today still, we are making the final push to get the house unpacked. I am sick of boxes, they are driving me mad!