Consolidated Kansas

[checoukan]

This is going to be a very sad day for me. My friend feline, has developed house issues. AKA- peeing, and pooping anywhere in the house. He is 14, and I have decided that I just cannot tolerate having to deal with that mess. So I am taking him to the vet to put down. I feel so cruel, he has been such a good house cat. I wish I had not had him declawed, but since he has no front claws, I will not put him outside. We have been keeping him in the laundry room, and now he has started peeing through the door way of the box. I think he has developed diabetes, cause I cannot keep water in front of him. I cannot see any other way out. Any ideas, I will be taking him in at 10:30

 

[HEChicken]

I had to laugh! This ad was on craigslist in Lawrence in the free section!

I have the meanest, worst tempered rooster in the county, alrhough he does a good job of keeping the hens in line. He is inside a coop, and easy to find (he will come to you). He is about 2 years old, and answers to "Bad Bob".

Cost:
If I have to catch him- $1,000
If you catch him- Free

Don (785) 550-7321

That is hilarious. Thank you for sharing.

Well, an update on my mouse in the house. That mouse WAS dumb enough to get trapped again. In the same trap, no less. This time I was far more careful feeding it and the mouse is no more.

Madge, my turkey hen, made it up onto the horse shelter (12') this morning. She's been eyeing the ducks up there for awhile and wanted to join them but never was able to fly that high. When they flew down, so did she, and she did a great job of landing nicely in the yard. I guess this time had to come sometime....

 

[HEChicken]

This is going to be a very sad day for me. My friend feline, has developed house issues. AKA- peeing, and pooping anywhere in the house. He is 14, and I have decided that I just cannot tolerate having to deal with that mess. So I am taking him to the vet to put down. I feel so cruel, he has been such a good house cat. I wish I had not had him declawed, but since he has no front claws, I will not put him outside. We have been keeping him in the laundry room, and now he has started peeing through the door way of the box. I think he has developed diabetes, cause I cannot keep water in front of him. I cannot see any other way out. Any ideas, I will be taking him in at 10:30

Oh, I'm so sorry but I completely understand - I would not be able to tolerate that either. It does sound like it could be a diabetic issue - cats can certainly develop diabetes just like people do. If it is diabetes, it would take daily treatments and it is a huge commitment in time and money to treat a diabetic pet. I don't think anyone would fault you for putting him to sleep humanely versus going through all of that.

 

[Hawkeye95]

My internet went down yesterday when I was getting ready to post. I copied and saved what I wrote yesterday so it would not "go to waste". Here is yesterday's posting.


OMGosh, I went thru and started to hit multi on several pages and realized I missed like-- tons and tons of pages! I can't multi all of that, so I gave up.

FIRST of all-- Candace, I sure wish I could help you out with tracking down the person. I don't know how they are going to live with themselves, and I can't imagine driving off. I hope God places it on their heart to do the right thing. I hope someone, somewhere has talked to this person, and will tell. Either way, every time I read a post from you I started to tear up and I just can not imagine your pain and grief. What a blessing your boy was to you, and obviously to everyone else who knew him as well. It just breaks my heart that you are having to deal with the injustice of this tragedy.


Danz, love all of the pea pictures, the whites are stunning.

Who had the pictures of the fridge wire for doors? That was pure genius, and it looks amazing! LOVE that brooder.

MaidenWolf, we grew up pretty poor there for a while when my dad was making the transition between Farming and going to school. We went without groceries often. But NOT without food. My dad would hunt rabbits every Sunday to keep our freezer full. My mom could make a dinner out of almost anything. Ramen noodles or macaroni noodles would be combined with eggs, or whatever she had on hand. We did a lot of hunting--serious hunting! (and I'm sure not all of it was legal since we had deer an awful lot, too) LOL We would have deer, rabbit, and always eggs. We did butcher all the older hens and they were put in the freezer. Oh and lots of purple cabbage. Gosh, not sure where my mom got it, or why, but you know the German Bierocks? Well, Bisquik used to be SUPER cheap, and she'd make Bierocks out of any of the above meats I mentioned (game) and then mix it with cabbage and it would go further, and then roll it all up in Bisquick. They were good. Interesting.... but good. She'd also make casseroles out of the craziest things-- she was pretty creative with what she could scrap up. We had to learn NOT to be picky, simply because we had no other options. We ate a LOT of bean soups. I mean.... LOTS of bean soups! LOL I actually still love bean soups. She'd get a left over ham bone with a bit of meat on it from the butcher he'd give her and flavor the soups with it. If you throw in corn, peas and carrots, it can change the flavor and you can make an entire crock pot of it on the cheap. She should make a survival recipe book for this stuff! -- oh and one more thing, an old fashioned hand crank meat grinder was the key to making it go farther. Dad had it screwed into the counter top and they ran all the rabbit and deer meat thru it. I have vivid memories of mom grinding game thru the meat grinder-- good times!

Okay, I have to run, I haven't forgotten everyone, I'm sorry, just ran out of time! I did put xmas lights out on the chicken coop this afternoon! It's a surprise and my DH has NO idea I did it. Should be funny when they blink on tonight. I put them on a timer. I hope that darned timer works. hehehe

Blue looks a great deal like black. Hawkeye and Josie can probably explain better but it has to do with the color of the whole feather, I believe - you almost have to get down to the root of the feather to tell the difference. For example, here is a pic of my blue silkie boy:

And you would need to compare him to the pics of Hawkeye's black roo that she just acquired.

I would love to see a picture of that!

I'll look out some recipes and either post them here or PM them to you.

Oh, that is a good idea to post the public comment we had sent. Here is what I sent:

BLUE is a color that is called out in the SOP. (Standard of Perfection) When you are looking at the genetics-- it is simply black, except it has lost melanizers in breeding with blue or splash, which means the color blue is a dilution of black. Here is the official word: Most common after that is Blue, being the heterozygous form of Splash. This a gray dilution of black that has a nice contrast with the gold and red tints of the chicken's groundcolor, which it does not affect.
Blue tends to be uneven, dark edged or speckled with black and can be darkened by melanizers up to flat black.

Anyway, the rooster that Danz showed is a "Blue Copper Marans"-- that is not the same thing as a BLUE bird. Which is why no one calls it a Blue Marans. So it's really not the same thing, but it does have a blue underbody to it, so the color is in there, but not in the sense of a blue bird. A true blue bird will look dark grey. A blue bird can be so dark as to be confused with black, but the underfluff will always show you the truth of the genetic background. Blues have a very LIGHT grey underfluff. Black birds should have black feathers that go all the way down the feather shaft, and their underfluff will be dark.

This is a BLACK bird This is a BLUE bird (grey)

This is a Lavender bird. Another dilution of blue, but "Self Blue" and they breed true.

Danz's pic...


Is the coloring of the underside that seems blue? It looks bluish gray. He is pretty.


Josie~ There is no way I'm going to pick up my rooster, look at those spurs!!! He's never been mean or aggressive to anyone but I don't want to make him mad. I will look at those pullets though.

Would I be able to see mites on the hen? I can catch her. It's funny though but I've never seen the rooster giving her any attention although he must because I have some white chicks too, although she's not the only white. It's interesting though, the white chicks haven't been as strong. I can get better pics of her tomorrow.

My buff orpingtons are 6-7 weeks, your roo is 4 months, that seems like a reasonable age difference. I will PM you.

The underside is a laced blue, but yes, the grey is Blue. If you examine very closely, you could see mites. They will have white dandruff in the feather shafts and hand around the head/neck and around the vent. I always find them around the vent, I never see them around the head, even though I know they are there.

Dear friends I want to comment on Natalie Nitz’s request for chickens in Overland Park. I have raised chickens in Bonner springs Kansas for over 10 years. I have never had a problem with my neighbors. My Brother raises chickens in Shawnee Kansas. Shawnee requires permits, no roosters and a limit on chicken numbers. Hey in todays economy you get permit money to help in revenue. You also help stimulate the economy in that home owners have one more avenue to support the food table. It’s a new item for farmers markets and it ties right in to green living. Purchases for chicken wire, feed and other chicken related items are taxable dollars for the city. My chickens recycle my compost and turn it into great nutrients for my garden right away. Please do the right thing and find away to help make a greener community for everyone.

Mike Eubanks
Above is what I wrote. it only takes a minute and its time OP starts doing the right thing. if you got a minute or two click on the link and write a note.

LOVE this. I'm so glad everyone is contributing I've tried clicking on the link and it will not open it up! I'm using Google Chrome, and so I figured that was the problem and so I opened up Explorer instead and tried to click on the link and it still would not work!?? WHY!?!?!? I would love to contribute!! So frustrating!!

I love that this is such a chatty group,. I was on the hospital again from Sun night till this afternoon. Dang pain won't stay away. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that the procedure did work and I'm not seeing it yet.
Got a couple questions:

First, Josie - The silkie that you gave me, was she in with roos at all? Most of the eggs that I've cracked from her have definite bulls eyes on them.

And second - Can anyone tell me proper protocol on how to care for a broody hen? The aforementioned silkie has gone broody over a pile of 4 eggs she laid when I was in the hospital. If it's at all possible that they are still fertilized, then I will let her hatch them. If not, I'm sure my chicken friend with no Internet can give me a few eggs. Do ya'll put a small thing of water and food in with them? She's taken up residence in the duck house and won't let anyone in there, except me. She lets me pet her and feel the eggs, but DH puts his hand in there and she tries to peck it off. LOL

Oh no-- it's not sounding good. I sure hope maybe it needs time, but surely it would have worked by now?? Josie gave great instructions. I do put food and water close-- but far enough that she has to GET UP to get to it. After a few days, I'd go ahead and candle them too to be sure they are developing and toss out yucky ones. Do it at night so you can see well with a flashlight. And wait until you can definitely see something-- like 10 days.

I had to laugh! This ad was on craigslist in Lawrence in the free section!

I have the meanest, worst tempered rooster in the county, alrhough he does a good job of keeping the hens in line. He is inside a coop, and easy to find (he will come to you). He is about 2 years old, and answers to "Bad Bob".

Cost:
If I have to catch him- $1,000
If you catch him- Free

Don (785) 550-7321

FUNNY! I bet he comes to you! hehehe

Mike, hopefully we've flooded them with so many comments they will have to give it serious consideration.

Tweety, I'm so sorry that you are still having pain. When did they say it should take effect? When do you go back for a follow up?

Josie~ I am admitting I am sooooo chicken. You can say it. We've had him for a long time, long before I started handling chickens. We've always taken the attitude that if we respected him he would respect us and that has worked for the most part. Yeah, but now look at those spurs and he's not used to being handled. He will come up and eat from my hand through the fence. I talk to him every day, I say Hi Daniel, and if I crow at him he will crow back. Shhh, don't tell anyone, but it's fun. I pick up the new ones, so do the kids, but they don't have spurs yet just little nubs. So I take it keeping them filed down should be part of the routine. Fleas wouldn't surprise me a bit, they were sooooo bad this year. We would just walk outside and they would be everywhere. We don't even have animals in the house and I had to get very aggressive about cleaning everything because they were in here too. I haven't seen any of them scratching. Can I pluck just one feather to look at it under the microscope? I'm not against using medicines but I'd like to try something natural first if she does have mites and recheck. I was able to rid the fleas from the house by natural means. What does the flea spray have in it? How long should she keep her separaated and how long until her feathers grow back? I thought she was just always that way. I feel really badly that she may be inflicted with something and I've just thought it was just her. That ad on craigslist is hilarious!!! That must be one mean rooster.

I saw a judge show kids how to remove spurs from their roosters. It was really easy!! He just held onto the spur and sort of warmed it up in his hand and gently rolled it back and forth in his fingers-- the twisting motion loosens it up. After a while of doing that, they just pop off. There is a little string of blood where the vein was-- but they don't bleed that much at all. The rooster didn't even seem to know his spur had been taken off. You can YouTube it, too.

I've never seen fleas on my chickens, just mites. Sevin Dust is the BEST!!! A while back I did some serious reading into Sevin Dust because of the controversy on "natural" treatment. And BTW-- there is no natural treatment that will get rid of mites. DE will not do it either. But Sevin Dust was created for the poultry industry years ago-- like over 50 years ago... and it's so safe, they have done lots of studies on it and it has shown to have no effects on birds. They even use it on wild birds-- in their nests, etc for controlling mites that kill babies in martin houses, bird houses, etc. I have personally used it on wild baby birds when I had to remove them out of my tractor and it got all the mites off of them in like 3 minutes flat and the babies were fine!

 

[HEChicken]

Josie, thanks for the suggestion on the steroids for my cat. This cat has always been somewhat different. For starters, he is huge. He showed up at my door via a neighbor kid, 7 years ago when he was about 10 weeks old. This little boy stood there holding the kitten and said "I found this kitten but my mom won't let me keep him and I know you like cats so d'ya want 'im?" I already had 2 female cats at the time and really did not want a third cat so I would have told him "no" but DD was there and the rest is history. I knew that night he was going to be a big cat because he had the biggest ears and feet I had ever seen on a kitten. As the months passed, he just kept right on growing, until he was a 25lb cat - all muscle. He stands taller than many dogs, and is really long too. It is hard to pull him onto my lap as he has a hard time getting comfortable because he really is too big to fit. He is pure white (but not deaf) but thinks he is black - he seeks out black things to lie on, presumably thinking he is better camouflaged that way

He is also the most destructive cat I've ever had. He singled-pawedly destroyed 3 couches. Yep, you read that right. And, in the unfinished basement at our old house, he found a way into the rafters and tore out all the insulation as well. And, although litter-box trained, when my kids brought home a new cat, he got so upset he started peeing in a different area of the basement, lending that pungent aroma to the house for months until I finally found and eliminated the new bathroom spot.

I always loved having a cat sleep with me to keep me warm but never could let this cat sleep with me because at 5am every morning, he would get up and start walking on me. Ever had a 25lb cat start walking back and forth across you? No? Well, let me tell you, it is impossible to sleep once that starts. I kept thinking as he got older he'd grow out of it but as recently as May of this year he was still doing it. Even daylight savings didn't seem to phase him - when the clock flipped over to 5:00, the back massage started, no matter what time of year. So it was because of this cat that I started sleeping with my bedroom door closed, but even with that it was hard to get a good night's sleep because when the urge struck him, he would sit outside the door scratching on it. He knew better - the second we opened the door, he was off like a shot to hide in some inaccessible place - nevertheless, the opportunity to wake us and and/or keep us from sleeping was apparently too delicious to pass up, so at random intervals, he would return to continue the torture. And, if we banished him from the house and made him sleep outdoors, he would sit under our bedroom window (how do they know?) and yowl until we let him back in.

Remembering back to my vet tech days, it seems like most of the cats who presented other than for annual shots were for one of two things: abscesses or UTI's. But this cat has continued to be different. He has never had either; instead the reasons we have taken him to the vet have been head-scratchers. A couple of years ago he started doing this thing where he sounded like he was trying to throw up but nothing ever came up. It would last 30-60 seconds and then he'd quit, only to start up again a short time later. Thinking he was trying to hack up a fur ball, I treated him with Laxatone but it didn't help, so I took him to the vet. I had a video on my phone of one of the "attacks", thinking the vet would say "Oh, I know what that is and here's what we're going to do". Instead, the vet really had no clue what was going on. He ultimately decided it was some kind of asthma attack and prescribed both steroids and another med for him, which I can no longer remember but probably have in my records somewhere. I do remember having to give him these two meds daily for a long period of time. There wasn't a dramatic change but over the next few months the frequency of the "asthma attacks" did diminish until now he only has one a couple times a year.

And now he is again afflicted by some odd thing, whether it is really a stroke, or that thrombo-embolism thing you mentioned, or whatever.

So I know with all that we have been through with this cat, you'd wonder why we are still so fond of him? Well, I really can't explain it, but despite the destruction and the sleepless nights and everything else, he has wormed his way into all of our hearts and every one of us is so fond of him that we really do want him to recover from this. I do think it is something in the brain, because in the weeks before the first event, his personality had changed dramatically. He went from being an affectionate cat, to being terrified of us - one at a time. It started with DS, whose feelings were really hurt that the cat seemed afraid of him and kept running away. So DD picked up the cat and carried him to DS so they could renew their friendship, and on seeing DS, the cat had a panic attack and tried desperately to get away from DD. After that, he ran from DD as well. Next was DH and last he started running away from me as well. It was all very perplexing as we couldn't figure out what he was so afraid of. Then he had the first "stroke" and although physically debilitated from it, it overnight fixed the personality issue and he was back to being the affectionate cat we had all known and loved. Now he once again is social, and spends all of his time purring and loving on us. So, when I put the whole sequence of events together, I can't help thinking it is a brain issue - whether a tumor or whatever - and though I hate seeing him stumbling and falling, I am glad that he seems so happy again, after the weeks of fearfulness.

 

[HEChicken]

LOVE this. I'm so glad everyone is contributing I've tried clicking on the link and it will not open it up! I'm using Google Chrome, and so I figured that was the problem and so I opened up Explorer instead and tried to click on the link and it still would not work!?? WHY!?!?!? I would love to contribute!! So frustrating!!

Yeah, I waited and waited for a new page to open up too but it turns out it was launching an email and if all you use is a web-based email, it will never launch anything. If you use something like Outlook, it will launch a new email populated with the email address.

For anyone else having difficulty, here is the email address it launched with: [email protected]

If you open an email and put that address in the "To" field and hit send, it should go to the right place. I did get an email confirmation after I had sent it, saying they had received it.

Hawkeye, thanks for the explanation of blacks and blues - I knew you could explain better than I can.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Tweety-- sorry you are still having issues.

I wish you well soon..

Hawkeye-- I love making dinner out of things that we just pull out of the cabinet. I love to cook from scratch all homemade meals because that is what I was raised on. It is so expensive to cook from scratch versus those cheap processed box tasteless so-and-so's.. Hate it, but sometimes that is all Ican get, so I have to get creative to make it taste somewhat foodlike.. I am going to really work the soil for the garden so we can get all teh veggies and fruits going next spring. We hunt alot too, whatever it takes to put meat on the table and I like game meat alot. Thank you for sharing your story. Hearing everyones stories about what they have endured is uplifting in a way.

 

[cherwill]

This is going to be a very sad day for me. My friend feline, has developed house issues. AKA- peeing, and pooping anywhere in the house. He is 14, and I have decided that I just cannot tolerate having to deal with that mess. So I am taking him to the vet to put down. I feel so cruel, he has been such a good house cat. I wish I had not had him declawed, but since he has no front claws, I will not put him outside. We have been keeping him in the laundry room, and now he has started peeing through the door way of the box. I think he has developed diabetes, cause I cannot keep water in front of him. I cannot see any other way out. Any ideas, I will be taking him in at 10:30

I'm sorry.

I had to laugh! This ad was on craigslist in Lawrence in the free section!

I have the meanest, worst tempered rooster in the county, alrhough he does a good job of keeping the hens in line. He is inside a coop, and easy to find (he will come to you). He is about 2 years old, and answers to "Bad Bob".

Cost:
If I have to catch him- $1,000
If you catch him- Free

Don (785) 550-7321

That's hilarious!

Josie, thanks for the suggestion on the steroids for my cat. This cat has always been somewhat different. For starters, he is huge. He showed up at my door via a neighbor kid, 7 years ago when he was about 10 weeks old. This little boy stood there holding the kitten and said "I found this kitten but my mom won't let me keep him and I know you like cats so d'ya want 'im?" I already had 2 female cats at the time and really did not want a third cat so I would have told him "no" but DD was there and the rest is history. I knew that night he was going to be a big cat because he had the biggest ears and feet I had ever seen on a kitten. As the months passed, he just kept right on growing, until he was a 25lb cat - all muscle. He stands taller than many dogs, and is really long too. It is hard to pull him onto my lap as he has a hard time getting comfortable because he really is too big to fit. He is pure white (but not deaf) but thinks he is black - he seeks out black things to lie on, presumably thinking he is better camouflaged that way

I had a German Shorthaired Pointer many years ago. I also had a recliner with an afghan draped over the back of it. Whenever he did something he knew he'd be in trouble for, the dog would run over and stick his head, and only his head, under the hanging part of the afghan and then stand perfectly still. I know he was certain that if he couldn't see me, I couldn't see him. Animals are so much fun!

 

[HEChicken]

I had a German Shorthaired Pointer many years ago. I also had a recliner with an afghan draped over the back of it. Whenever he did something he knew he'd be in trouble for, the dog would run over and stick his head, and only his head, under the hanging part of the afghan and then stand perfectly still. I know he was certain that if he couldn't see me, I couldn't see him. Animals are so much fun!

That is funny!

 

[Hawkeye95]

This is going to be a very sad day for me. My friend feline, has developed house issues. AKA- peeing, and pooping anywhere in the house. He is 14, and I have decided that I just cannot tolerate having to deal with that mess. So I am taking him to the vet to put down. I feel so cruel, he has been such a good house cat. I wish I had not had him declawed, but since he has no front claws, I will not put him outside. We have been keeping him in the laundry room, and now he has started peeing through the door way of the box. I think he has developed diabetes, cause I cannot keep water in front of him. I cannot see any other way out. Any ideas, I will be taking him in at 10:30

Oh that is so sad, Rosie! I'm very sorry. But I could not go on like that, either. Sounds like he is declining. I had to make a tough decision for my dog a while back. Not easy to do. My thoughts are with you today.

OH! And I have been thinking about your pictures and for some reason, skipped right over the whole thing! Duh! I meant to tell you how much I appreciated the pictures you took of the judging and the rosecombs! I love how your boy was really showing off and your best pullet really does look amazing! There is nothing like actually getting to talk to the masters about breeding and genetics in person! I mean, I think you are pretty darned smart with Rosecombs, but there is always room for more learning. Right now, I've been a sponge at my recent shows-- willing to talk to anyone/everyone and talk 'shop'. Really is an eye opener when you see what wins, WHY they did, and how they got there. One thing I have learned early on is the necessity of bringing in a new bird every other year or so to diversify the lines and bring in a wanted trait, or to help rid some of the traits line breeding can cause. Even though-- there are some very good points to it also.

I think it's just a balancing act, really. Knowing when to and when not to. Since I started out with one breeder's birds for my beginning, I knew right off I was going to need a lot of new blood. I've brought in 3 new roosters this year with fantastic qualities I want to breed for-- in wings, feet, etc. I'm still going to be working in pairs or trios to keep a close eye on what I'm doing and keeping careful records. I ran across someone at Nationals that just throws a rooster in with a bunch of hens and basically hopes for the best. I asked what the thought process was to that-- and if they had specifically hand picked those birds in that pen because of a lacking trait or something they wanted out of that rooster/vice versa. But NOPE!! They just hoped for the best. Now here's the kicker-- they were getting GREAT birds-- and won Grand Champion. But *MY* luck is not like that. I have to be very purposeful in my goals and what I'm doing or I'm going to end up with crap.

So I did take away from this breeder with a lot of great info, for sure... but still not sure I can just throw stuff together and have good luck like that. (wondering how many culls they really end up with!)

Yeah, I waited and waited for a new page to open up too but it turns out it was launching an email and if all you use is a web-based email, it will never launch anything. If you use something like Outlook, it will launch a new email populated with the email address.

For anyone else having difficulty, here is the email address it launched with: [email protected]

If you open an email and put that address in the "To" field and hit send, it should go to the right place. I did get an email confirmation after I had sent it, saying they had received it.

Hawkeye, thanks for the explanation of blacks and blues - I knew you could explain better than I can.

Ahhhhhh!!! OKAY!! Wow, I had no idea! I do not use Outlook, etc. THANK you so much for that info! Going to add my comment! I was thinking it was going to bring up another page and allow me to enter a "post" similar to what we do here.

Oh and yes, I am actually getting better at the genetic codes for BBS too-- I didn't want to go there with that post, but I could give the reasoning behind a Gold based blue & black vs the Silver base and their codes and why they will come out truer colors based on which base you are working with. Which gets kind of crazy-- BECAUSE your splash are better (IMO) if they are Silver based! But you are breeding Splash- Bl/Bl (likely silver base) X Blue- Bl/bl+ (likely gold base) for best colors, and so you are really going to guess what base color is going to win out on your blues and splash and what will pass on. I have both gold and silver based splash. My silver flat out look better and clearer. But it doesn't always make the best sense to breed splash X splash since it can dilute their coloring even more. But it's so FUN!!! I'm enjoying this immensely.

At some point, breeders do end up having all Gold or all Silver bases. My new Blacks are all gold based. I'm told (and everything I've read) agrees that it helps deepen the black. If I were to bring in new blood, I will have to be careful to talk to the breeder about what base color they have so I don't mess up a good thing.

Tweety-- sorry you are still having issues.

I wish you well soon..

Hawkeye-- I love making dinner out of things that we just pull out of the cabinet. I love to cook from scratch all homemade meals because that is what I was raised on. It is so expensive to cook from scratch versus those cheap processed box tasteless so-and-so's.. Hate it, but sometimes that is all Ican get, so I have to get creative to make it taste somewhat foodlike.. I am going to really work the soil for the garden so we can get all teh veggies and fruits going next spring. We hunt alot too, whatever it takes to put meat on the table and I like game meat alot. Thank you for sharing your story. Hearing everyones stories about what they have endured is uplifting in a way.

During that time period (that only lasted about 3 years)---we didn't eat a lot of veggies unless it was coming from the garden. So in the winter months, it was rice, beans, pasta and deer and rabbit. Just keep hunting! I remember freezing my fingers off in the winter helping my dad gut rabbits. Brrrrrr....

I had a German Shorthaired Pointer many years ago. I also had a recliner with an afghan draped over the back of it. Whenever he did something he knew he'd be in trouble for, the dog would run over and stick his head, and only his head, under the hanging part of the afghan and then stand perfectly still. I know he was certain that if he couldn't see me, I couldn't see him. Animals are so much fun!

so funny!! LOL