Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

josie, I know Candace at Bar 6 Diamond Ranch where I got my GPs from has fiber goats. She has a web site so if you do a search you can find it & email her. She can tell you all about the goats she raises. I know she sells the fiber, but I don't know all that much about it all, she could tell you more. I'm sorry about Amelia's teething problems, that's tough on the young ones. I actually got a pair of bantam cochins I hatched trying to get mille fleur, but I think only the rooster is going to be that coloring, the pullet is just buff. I may get some chicks from someone later on. I usually don't like bantams at all, but these things are the cutest little things & they don't know they're not the same size as the other chicks.

danz, I hope your barn cats work out for you & you can get rid of some of the varmints that have been plaguing you. If you can find somewhere raised high enough your dogs can't get up there like I have on top of my rabbit hutch, that's a great place to feed cats. They can jump up there but the dogs can't. Mine go running for the hutch when they see me coming with their food. Even the kittens learn pretty fast where to go to eat & learn to climb up there pretty young.

All the talk about garden stuff makes me want to have one, but till we get our fence up & get these goats & sheep confined in their pasture it does no good to even think about it. I have one tomato plant that I planted & we'll see if I get tomatoes before it freezes or the goats decide to eat it again. Maybe next year when they're all out away from the house I can figure out where I want to put my garden & fence off an area to keep the chickens out. The one I had before was just too big for me with my arthritis & all so I really need smaller raised beds. Figuring out where to put them on this hilly ground though is a real challenge. I just don't have many places that are level around here. I would love to do some of those I've seen in the garden catalog that are in containers, but even with that you would have to keep the chickens out of them, they would fly right up & scratch out all of the plants & dirt just like they do everywhere else. I love my chickens, but boy are they destructive on plants.

I'm always hoping nobody shows up here when I'm out doing chores outside because I have my work clothes on that aren't the most presentable & I'm always sweaty & dirty anyway after not long at all. I end up with mud down my legs & I'm a mess. I always ask people to give me notice if they're coming, but I have had people show up once in awhile unannounced & they get what they get when they do that.

 

[chicken danz]

I used to be so vain about my looks. I had to have my hair fixed and some mascara on before anyone saw me. Now I don't even try. If people are coming I make sure I wear a little more than normal just to not give the wrong impression. The right impression is that my chickens don't care how much old bubbly fat I have hanging out. My goal is to keep cool. LOL Actually I have two huge bags of shorts I plan to donate because they are too short. Even out here I realize I am not so appealing in short shorts.
Funny thing is, I remember going to North Carolina to visit my Mom and Dad and she was exactly my age now. I was horrified at the short shorts she put on to mow the lawn. I kind of try to remember that as a reminder of what I shouldn't do any more. It sure doesn't seem like it's been that many years ago. I'd give anything to see my Mom in short shorts or anything again.
I spent my afternoon yesterday trying to clean some inside and the house is still trashed. I have gotten so far behind. Everytime I do that I swear I am going to stick with it little by little but I never do. And each time I spend time inside the birds and outdoor projects pile up.
It's going to be really hot the next day or two. I need to make sure the birds all have ample water and places to keep cool. I need to get that shade cloth put back up on the grow out pens.
I did a little more cleaning up of some of the brush yesterday in the driveway so you could almost drive in it now. DH was trying to pull some more limbs out of the tree last night but they are either balanced on other limbs or hanging by a thread waiting for the next wind to come along. It's going to take forever to get all the other stuff picked up that has blown around here.
I got my two new cats yesterday. They act very timid in their new surroundings but seem very sweet. I sure hope they are good mousers. My younger house cat and the mother are not getting along at all. I supposed they will end up having a regular cat fight before they accept each other.
The male kitten is just the sweetest thing ever. He is very pretty. He is a light buff with white feet and markings. Since he had never been outside before he has a long ways to go before he becomes a mouser.

 

[tweetybaby2005]

I'm not one who cares about how I or others look but I do try to dress more decent if I know someone is coming.

Speaking of mouser, I was just talking to my coworker this morning because she was going to bring me a bucket of caterpillars for my chickens. She said they are in the cat litter bucket. I told her there is a lot more mice activities lately due to the neighbor plowing/haying north of us. She has plenty of feral cats but just can't catch them. I wonder if having a couple of good mouser will take care of my mice problems or at least keep them at bay. How to you make sure they stay put once you get them? Won't they run away or do you have to confine them until they are used to the environment? I am thinking of getting a couple of them to see if it helps.

It is going to be a hot one today and tomorrow but apparently the arctic vortex is coming back next week and bring back the much cooler weather. I'm so looking forward to it. I am looking forward to Fall already.

Stay cool everyone! Drink plenty of water while you are doing chores.

 

[tweetybaby2005]

Sharol and Danz... I told DH on how to keep potatoes from your suggestions. This gives us an excuse to get rid of some boxes in the basement and build something to store the potatoes. I cooked some of them last night with the stew meat and they were creamy and to die for. I'm thinking of making mashed potatoes this weekend with them. With so many of them sitting there, I need to look up some good potato recipes and try them out!

 

[cherwill]

I remember one year I had them stored that way in the basement on the floor in a stack, and my cat peed all over them.

I would have forgiven my pets, too.

Clothing... yup... I wear stained (thanks to blue kote) and clothes that can no longer be worn going something to tend to the chickens. I'm messy and clumsy so new clothes don't stay new very long for me either.

I'm clumsy and messy in and out of the house. I wear an apron when I'm cooking and I still manage to get unremovable grease stains on my shirts.

Speaking of eggplants... my previous eggplants that I planted outside a week before I left for the trip didn't all make it. I think out of the bunch, only 2 made it and they are on the smallish side. I'm sad because I love eggplants. They taste really good in curry.

I'm sorry about your eggplants. I've often thought they were unkillable because ours have survived so many weather and bug setbacks. I guess they CAN be killed, after all. I love all kinds of things in curry, but eggplant is one of the nicest vegetables to add.

All the talk about garden stuff makes me want to have one, but till we get our fence up & get these goats & sheep confined in their pasture it does no good to even think about it. I have one tomato plant that I planted & we'll see if I get tomatoes before it freezes or the goats decide to eat it again. Maybe next year when they're all out away from the house I can figure out where I want to put my garden & fence off an area to keep the chickens out. The one I had before was just too big for me with my arthritis & all so I really need smaller raised beds. Figuring out where to put them on this hilly ground though is a real challenge. I just don't have many places that are level around here. I would love to do some of those I've seen in the garden catalog that are in containers, but even with that you would have to keep the chickens out of them, they would fly right up & scratch out all of the plants & dirt just like they do everywhere else. I love my chickens, but boy are they destructive on plants.

Yeah, I think goats and sheep might be a little hard on the garden!

I plant my tomatoes at the community garden because my Weim eats them if they're planted at home.

Sharol and Danz... I told DH on how to keep potatoes from your suggestions. This gives us an excuse to get rid of some boxes in the basement and build something to store the potatoes. I cooked some of them last night with the stew meat and they were creamy and to die for. I'm thinking of making mashed potatoes this weekend with them. With so many of them sitting there, I need to look up some good potato recipes and try them out!

Mashed potatoes sound good; maybe I'll have to make some, too. The first potatoes we dug up, I cooked that night. The skins came off just from washing them. I didn't know the skins were so tender on a freshly dug potato. We usually leave the skins on, but this time they came off on their own!

 

[Trish44]

I'm not one who cares about how I or others look but I do try to dress more decent if I know someone is coming.

Speaking of mouser, I was just talking to my coworker this morning because she was going to bring me a bucket of caterpillars for my chickens. She said they are in the cat litter bucket. I told her there is a lot more mice activities lately due to the neighbor plowing/haying north of us. She has plenty of feral cats but just can't catch them. I wonder if having a couple of good mouser will take care of my mice problems or at least keep them at bay. How to you make sure they stay put once you get them? Won't they run away or do you have to confine them until they are used to the environment? I am thinking of getting a couple of them to see if it helps.

It is going to be a hot one today and tomorrow but apparently the arctic vortex is coming back next week and bring back the much cooler weather. I'm so looking forward to it. I am looking forward to Fall already.

Stay cool everyone! Drink plenty of water while you are doing chores.

You would have to confine the cats for awhile if you got adult ones especially till they figured out where home is. If you get kittens it wouldn't be so much of an issue once they got settled. That's why I have so many cats outside here because we have mice & even rats next door where the people made a trash dump over there. They were the nastiest people ever. Now that we're working on the fence down there I have walked along & seen where they have just come out their door & walked over to our fence & thrown trash over there probably for years. I've been picking it up & throwing it back over there, it's not my trash, we take care of ours. There hasn't been anyone living there for years now & the old trailer is trashed & the travel trailer they abandoned is as well. People stripped them & it has rained in them both, there is mouse & rat droppings & nests in both of them, they need to be set on fire & burned to the ground. I don't think there is anyway to get rid of them now, you couldn't pull them out of there. There is a guy looking at the property, but he is Mexican & we're not sure he can speak English that well. The owner of the property is not someone who has a good reputation in this town & is known to lie to people, she is a slick one. I have been waiting on the guy to come back, his truck is still there, so I can try to tell him there is no water there unless he buys back in because the owner didn't pay the water bill when the renters left. There also is no legal septic system or lagoon there, it's state law you have to have that. It's just a trash heap over there, they just dumped trash on the hill for years & the owner won't clean it up. I hate having to even look at the place, I'm glad we have a lot of trees.

 

[chicken danz]

Well not a good day here. I was walking down the back steps. DH had a rope over the garage hooked to the tractor on one side and a big tree limb he was pulling out of the tree on the other. Instead of watching my step I was looking at the limb and missed the step which turned my foot sideways and I fell. I couldn't get up and there was so much pain I was instantly sick to my stomach. I crawled up the back steps and laid on the floor in the house until he got me the walker so I could get to the bedroom. I got to feeling sick on the way and spent 15 minutes in the bathroom, then went to lay down.
Typical me I couldn't just lay there so I hung onto furniture and got up when I got over the cold sweats. I called the doctors office and that is where I spent the next 4 hours or so. No broken bones thank heavens but I have a bad sprain and was put in an air boot and given a pair of crutches. I can't handle the crutches. I crash and burn on them. I have a lot to learn. I am supposed to stay off my foot for 5 days and I can't think of anyway I will ever get my birds taken care of.
Sunday we were having our summer get together as a family with my kids and their kids. We were going to the Topeka zoo. I checked to see if my sister still had Dad's wheelchair and she donated it to the fire department. People can use them as needed for free. Guess what? They are all out. So I may have to miss seeing my family and spending the day together. I sure don't want them coming here or I would try to clean and that isn't possible right now. I feel like crying...oh poor me. Couldn't be worse timing. It would also be the first time my two youngest granddaughters got to be together. I sure hope I can come up with a wheelchair somewhere.
Now to just worry about making sure the birds are okay for a few days. I've had major surgery and still cared for them so surely I'll figure out something.

 

[Ralph Moyer]

Danz, check with the VFW. They usually have wheelchairs to loan.

 

[chicken danz]

Unfortunately Ralph, we don't have a VFW here. It's such a rural area. There is a medical supply place in town but they would charge big bucks to rent a chair. And unless the doctor ordered it insurance won't pay. I only need it for one day. I guess if I have to I'll just skip the zoo and meat the kids for lunch. That would be such a let down.

 

[lizzyGSR]

Unfortunately Ralph, we don't have a VFW here. It's such a rural area. There is a medical supply place in town but they would charge big bucks to rent a chair. And unless the doctor ordered it insurance won't pay. I only need it for one day. I guess if I have to I'll just skip the zoo and meat the kids for lunch. That would be such a let down.

Have you checked your local pharmacy?