Consolidated Kansas

[Ivywoods]

Oh, Hawkeye! Just as we thought! At least there is the chance you will get transferred to OKC. HEY! That's a BIG chicken area. There are lots of people down there that show and have excellent quality chickens.

My DH wants to know if you are going to cut the coop off at the ground and take it with you. I believe I would.

(Where's that smiley with a chain saw?)

 

[chicken danz]

Hawkeye, I actually see that as better news because at least you now have time to prepare for the move and maybe let your son finish his school year here. That also gives Jon a chance to look elsewhere for employment while he is waiting to hear what they decide on him. I am so sorry though because it's a pretty sure thing a move in gonna happen. One thing about moving to Oklahoma; There's a lot of big business down there because taxes are so much cheaper. Several major companies moved there while I was there just for that reason. That helps make jobs more secure.
I still consider OKC my home even after all these years since leaving it. I loved that place, the people , the climate. I wouldn't mind moving back there as long as I could still have a farm home.
I don't know if Boeing will do what Halliburton did, but they laid off the people who didn't own homes and didn't have children first. So if Boeing is trying to be considerate of family situations you might be able to stick around a little longer.

 

[Dancing]

I love my 80 acres but I'll tell you...there are times I wish my hubby would get transferred so we could move. I've been military most of my life in one form or another (child, wife, soldier) and got pretty used to moving all the time. I like that I'm "settled" but....a new start, new sights to see, chance for new household goodies, new friends, new opportunities. There are some very real benefits to moving. Best to keep a positive outlook to it all. I know it has to be scary but it can be exciting too if you let it.

 

[chicken danz]

As you age I think you have more desire to stay in one place. I haven't moved all that many times in my life and I certainly wouldn't want to again unless I could step up to better home with more outbuildings and more acres. I came from a Navy family but my Dad never moved the family. He was on the ship most of the time and came home ever so often to make another sibling. I was the last one. He had left the navy and stayed in the states before my brother was born.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Yes, I grew up moving too. I also grew up in a military family. We moved 15 times and I went to 11 different schools before I hit highschool. Honestly, I'm sick of it. I had no problems fitting in well and making new friends. But I always envisioned living in one place and finally having roots. I have a church we love, girl friends that have taken YEARS to build good relationships with-- and now we have a group of about 8 of us that are BEST friends, and that is no joke. Not to mention, our vets that let us just drop in and pick up meds, syringes and vaccinations so that I can take them home and shoot my horses up -- with not having to come in. I love our Dr's, and I've been through 8 different cardiologists before finally finding the one I really, really like and treats me like a person, not a number. I have a ferriar I've used for years and years, and he's been thru it with my horses, he comes out every 6 weeks without fail. It's not just a 'place' or a job. So yes, I've moved and I know it will be alright, but I'm not going to kid myself here-- it's going to take years and years again to set up those kinds of relationships again with new friends, vets, church, Dr's and on and on... I'm still pretty sick at the thought, but definitely going to have a positive attitude about it. But please forgive me if I'm a little depressed at leaving all my family here (which they help with babysitting), girlfriends and relationships here that I love.

And the kicker is-- we don't really even have it that bad. We're not really worried about being out of a job entirely. Just moving. There are going to be hundreds of people who will be laid off.

I'm going to look into chopping off my chicken coop. It's so darned cute, and I'd hate to start over again. But I guess we'll see what happens. I might make it 'negotiable' and if the new people don't want it or care, I'm going to figure out a way to take it!

My dad has a flatbed trailer-- don't know if it will fit, but I'd imagine we could figure out a way?? Even if its a bit of a wide load???

Danz, I doubt that they are going to put much consideration about which families to move or lay off first. They are so big, that it's going to be about numbers; years served, retention values, and pay scales. At this point, I guess it doesn't matter if we move sooner rather than later. Although it would be easier to move in the spring or summer. Probably easier to try to sell the house in the spring or summer, too.

 

[chicken danz]

I still doctor in my old hometown and go to the dentist there too. It's 160 miles round trip but it's so hard to find new ones to take their place. I know that would be out of the question for you, Hawkeye. I keep thinking I should just switch but it isn't that easy. Same when I left OKC. I loved my doctor. He and his wife were very good friends of ours and we had kids the same age. They were awesome people. My vet let me work with him and help with surgeries so needless to say he taught me a lot about how to do things myself, as well as selling me what I needed to do it.
I know you'll do fine because you are an outgoing person. But it still has to be very difficult to leave your "circle" after being settled this long. If it were me the hardest would be leaving your house. I know you have made it your home and it is where you brought your babies home to. I am still missing my big old house after being gone from it for 4 years. It's because of the memories. I had to cry when I signed the papers to sell it. I will cry again when I sign the final ones.

 

[Trish44]

Hawkeye, I know you're sick about moving as I know we all would be if we weren't planning to, I know I would. It's so hard to have to start over with everything like you say & with your family here too, that will be the hardest. If it were me I would wait until spring when it will be easier to sell the house if you can wait. I had heard that the housing market is improving & it must be because I've been seeing new housing going up in Mulvane & Derby recently. That would be the pits to leave your darling little coop, you put so much work into that. I would want to cut it off & take it with me one way or the other if it was me. You can always put it back in the ground somewhere else with a little work. At least you have the dog run you can take apart & take with you. It can be used for awhile where you end up until you could build something else.

My new Ameraucana rooster kicked the crap out of my Big Red rooster this morning & he's got the war wounds now to prove it. That new guy just came in & took over the place & he's strutting around outside crowing like crazy today. Big Red doesn't know what to think of the guy. My DH came back from the gym & said they were out there throwing insults at each other. The other two roosters seem to want to stay out of the way. The Speckled Sussex rooster has stayed with some of the hens in the backyard all day just to stay out of the way. I'm now going to have to figure out how to put up a pen for the Ameraucanas sooner than I had planned if the roosters are going to fight. I had not had any problem with any of them fighting until this new one came in. I noticed the BC Marans rooster must have gotten in the middle this morning also because he had some wounds on his comb too. He usually is very laid back & stays out of everybody's way, but there must have been a heck of a fight early this morning before we got up because there was blood on the inside plastic on the run door & inside the coop on the walls. They knocked one of the nest boxes loose & I had to go out & fix that this afternoon & they knocked the timer out of the power strip by the door so they must have been going at it pretty good. I'm surprised the pups weren't barking their heads off & waking us up or even the inside dogs.

 

[Trish44]

Danz, I can identify with crying about leaving your home. I just read what you wrote about that & when I sold my house in Derby after living there for 23 years I shed a lot of tears. I loved living there, but it just seemed to make more sense for us to move to a bigger, newer house with more acreage & it was so much closer to DH's job. He would have driven from there if I had said I didn't want to leave, but I saw it as a new beginning when we got married & a new adventure. It has been that I guess, but something has always been missing here for me. I have made this my home, but I don't have the attachment to it that I had there. I raised my son there & a lot of things happened over the years in that house. I watched my husband die from cancer there & his dad also, so there were good & bad memories there. I just have never really acclimated here, the people are so different here & if you're not originally from here you're always an outsider no matter how long you live here. It's clickish & they don't let you in easily & I'm not the only one that has said that. I have talked to others who have been transplanted here & they say the same thing. It's a very backwards town & they don't want anything to change here & that's why there are virtually no new businesses that get to come here. We won't get any new Lowe's or Sam's Club or anything like that here, unlike Derby that is getting every new restaurant & business you can think of. That's why I go back there every chance I get because they have it all there. If I had the chance to move back there tomorrow if I could get a place with land & buildings for my chickens & all I would go. This place has some positive things about it & some negative. We have made improvements to the house so that the next person is going to get a much better deal than we did, but it's just hard to figure out where to build any new structures because of the hills here. Our yard has very few places where you could say it's level ground, it's sloping on most all of it until you get further down on the front 5 acres. It's great for making rock gardens, I have a lot of those because I have lots of rocks here to use, but I'm having a hard time finding anything level to build on. I will have to level the area I want to build my breeder coop on, which means hauling dirt from somewhere & putting it where I need it. That will most likely fall on me because DH hates that kind of work as much as building.

 

[Clairedazzle]

Hello, I am still new to the BYC, but I just discovered the Kansas forum!!! Hello all, I am in Lawrence. I have 3 Ameraucana hens(2 with beards and one without) and a Cuckoo Maran. I adore my chickens! haha.

 

[chicken danz]

Welcome Clairedazzle! WE are always thrilled to get new people here. There are a few others that live in the Lawrence area. Chooks is there and she knows so much. You will have to meet her.