Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

You all need some of my cats, mice don't have a chance here. I know we would be overrun with mice if we didn't have so many cats. My feed is in the garage & I even have a garage cat to keep mice out of there. Actually my cat Cocoa has taken up residence in the garage & doesn't want to come out now, so she is the guardian of the garage, lol. She has gotten a little feisty & chases the other cats out when they get in there.

Danz I'm sorry about the health care problem, I think there are going to be more & more of those kinds of things coming up for people, things that nobody even thought of in the beginning. I agree with you in the imigrant thing, it's disgusting. We have the Mexicans here that come up from Mexico to work in the meat packing plant in Ark City. I don't think they're citizens but they come up here to work. They don't speak English for the most part & expect everyone to cater to them. Don't get me started on that.

It's already 49 here & the high is supposed to be 51, so we're already close. I need to get out there soon & get some things done while it's decent out. I plan to move my Cream Legbar chicks out there today to the growout pen, they're just really too big for the brooder now & I will have new chicks hopefully hatching soon too so I will need the room for them.

 

[ashncarson]

So.when do you all take down your Christmas stuff ? I'll probably wait till the kids go back to school, where did the time go, seems like the tree just went up a week ago.

We went ahead and took our tree down 2 days ago....it was nice to do so! The christmas lights stoped last night, and my husband is hoping to get some of that cleaned up today!

 

[chicken danz]

I really should clarify. I don't have a problem with people moving to this country legally. If they want to live here they can go through the proper channels and do so within the bounds of the law. Sneaking over the border and living off public assistance however, isn't what I consider right. I have a BIL and a nephew both born in Germany and they came here the legal way. So I have no problem with that. I have many friends who came from other countries and I love them and appreciate their contributions. I have learned many things from them and feel they can contribute greatly to our somewhat spoiled society.
What enrages me is when programs are designed for those people who aren't legally here and live off our tax dollars; if they work- they work for cash and don't pay income tax. I still pay taxes every year on my retirement money. Money I earned and paid into for years but still have to pay taxes on again. But yet when I need help I can't qualify because I do have a legal income. 'Nuf said. I just wanted to be sure everyone understood I don't begrudge any one who is here legally.
I got tired of trying to make do and tore my vacuum sweeper apart for the second time. I cleaned all the points cause it wouldn't keep running and made sure all connections were tight. It is running great now. I've been using a shop vac for a couple months cause the thing wouldn't run. I don't have carpet but use a vacuum to keep from stirring up dust when I sweep. I had looked at replacing it but they are so high it's insane. I own a couple of uprights but they don't work well for what I do. I like the canister vacs for cleaning. Sometimes I am really thankful I've learned to do things on my own. Even a couple of my sons just hire someone to fix things or end up buying new stuff.
I need to get out and get busy caring for the birds. It's up to 44 now but the wind is really blowing hard. Anyone else ready for spring!!
I know what you mean Cherwill. I went a couple years without putting up a tree. But I found I was wanting to celebrate Christmas after it was over. It did help to get a tree up this year.
I have so much Christmas stuff I keep thinking I'll start selling it so my kids aren't stuck dealing with it when I die. Actually getting around to it is something I haven't managed yet.

 

[Trish44]

cherwill I hope you get your toilet problem fixed, that's always a mess. I had a septic tank when I lived outside of Derby & we had to use a snake to clean out the lines about every year because tree roots would get in there from the Elms in the backyard. It was an old septic tank so finally before I sold it I got special permission from the County to put in a lagoon instead. I lived for 23 years with that darned septic tank & then the people who bought the house when I sold it got the new lagoon. You're supposed to have 5 acres to have a lagoon, but I only had 3 1/2, but I was able to show them I could place it far enough away from the house & the property line, just barely to make them happy. I told them about the septic problems & they came out & measured it all out & gave the OK for the lagoon. When the guy came to put in the lagoon & the new lines he had to smash the old septic tank & really made a mess of things in my garden. I just had to leave it that way because it was too much of a mess for me to deal with when I was leaving it.

 

[HEChicken]

Oh goodness Cherwill, getting the toilet running properly does not sound like fun.

Danz, I agree about the mice getting used to traps. When I initially got these, I did catch some mice in them but then they sat there for months and never caught a thing. We had mice in the house this summer and tried these, snap traps and two other types of trap as well. The bait would get taken but we never caught a thing! It was so frustrating.

We now have a house cat so I'm less worried about the house. Our outside cat was hanging around the coop a lot at night and hopefully catching some, but if they were in the coop and he was outside of it, he wouldn't have had much of a chance to get them. Likewise, I have a lot of chickens who are great mouse-catchers but the mice mostly come out at night when they are roosting.

Since its been a long time since a trap was down there, I decided yesterday to set these traps and voila - caught 8 in one night! So I think the current generation is less savvy about them having not seen them before. Now I plan to wait awhile before setting them again and maybe then I'll catch some more.

 

[Trish44]

Happy New Year everybody!

 

[michelleml]

Happy new years may this year bring happiness, love, and good health.

 

[HEChicken]

Happy New Year everyone! Am I alone in hoping 2014 will be a better year than 2013? When I look back it kind of seems like 2013 was just a blah year. Animals died that shouldn't have. Summer wasn't long and hot like it usually is (I didn't mind not having the extreme heat but there were days in July that were just plain cold!), we had a late spring with snow still falling in late April/early May, followed by a very early frost that killed off the few veggie plants that had managed to grow in the short space of time between freezes, and then it feels like we had already had two months of winter before winter even officially started.

So - here's hoping that 2014 will be the year of mild winters, warm-but-not-too-hot-summer, long and beautiful spring and fall, the birth and survival of many happy birds and other animals, and a wonderfully successful year gardening. And if its not too much, here's hoping for good health for all the PEOPLE in our lives as well.

 

[chicken danz]

Happy New Years everyone. I honestly forgot it was New Years Eve. I was bored and fell asleep with the TV on. I missed some messages that were sent last evening but I guess they thought I would sit up all night. I was supposed to have some birds picked up today but now can't get hold of them. If I hear back from this guy and he is still coming that means I am going to have to catch some birds because they are already out and free ranging. I just hope if he is coming he calls soon cause it will be easier to catch them when it's not so cold.
The cold front didn't make it here quite as early as predicted, but now the temperature has fallen 4 degrees in the past hour. I guess it is moving in. It's also really cloudy so I suppose we'll get the predicted snow as well. Have I mentioned I hate cold weather!!!

I suppose I'll start taking down decorations today. I have a couple of lighted trees outside and those might wait a day or two until it warms up some.

 

[ashncarson]

Happy New year! Today is my daughters's 11th birthday so I am working on making cupcakes for the party!

I want to thank you all for your help the past 6 months on teaching me more about chickens and how to care for them! I look forward to hopefully getting eggs soon, 2 of my girls are 25 weeks tomorrow, with a 3rd close behind that!