Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Kris5902]

I ran across a recipe for lilac lemonade one time. Now if I could only remember where!

Sounds yummy… there was a local donut maker that met all of the WFM “natural” requirements with… Lavender Donuts! They were oddly delicious, and I was addicted. We only carried them for a year and a half or so..

 

[Kris5902]

Same here. I suspect that prior to putting the house on the market, the previous owners went through and had someone spray ALL the grass. I've been spreading dandelion seeds at every opportunity: walking into the library to get the kids, oooh there's dandelion pods, grab some! If they'd killed off the invasive weeds: leafy spurge, etc, and left the dandelion alone, I'd have been delighted. As it is, I'm spreading dandelion seeds in the lawn and anywhere I see the invasive stuff, hoping the dandies wI'll help choke out/slow the spread of the nasty ones. Sadly, St. John's Wort is considered invasive here, so unless I can find it growing naturalized (like maybe at an old farmstead) and transplant, I'm out of luck there. I'd like a witch hazel too, but haven't pursued that yet. Still trying to get an elderberry established (0-6 planted over 2 years so far). If the raspberries and strawberries from last year make it (at least some of them), then will try again next year. No luck on the choke cherries either....last year was a rotten year for growing pretty much anything....except the yellow roses from the great grandparents place (the ones that bush up in heaps and got mown by previous owner, finally regrown enough to be a bloom extravaganza) Gardening here is always a challenge.

Tax: close encounters of the pet kind.View attachment 3031963

Arduinna is picky, her dandelions need to be “just right” for eating. Jimmy is a pig. It’s a good thing we have a lot of dandelions here or there would be none left for the poor bees! “Jimmy! what’s that?” Is his dandelion attack phrase on walks… he prefers the blooms but will also occasionally eat the leaves

 

[Kris5902]

You are going to have to go 'dandelion fluff' hunting so you can seed a few more in your yard. Have to do it at night so the girls don't see, and cover the seed for a week for it to sprout first...so it has half a chance!!!!

Start them indoors? In little pots and transplant outside when they are big enough to hold their oven against the little velociraptors?

 

[featherhead007]

Mugshot Monday pic of the day (so far)
View attachment 3031972

This is her hovering “Star Wars speeder” look!

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

For those of you who believe in the power of prayers please pray for my grandmother. We talked to her on the phone around 8 last night and she was is a great mood. Around 9:30 she called and said she thought we needed to come down as she'd gotten dizzy, had fallen twice and her sugar was almost 400. Me and mom get there and she is still on the floor in front of her couch. We get her up and check her sugar and it was indeed 384. She was a little weak on her left side but she has mobility issues that have been progressively getting worse over the last few years so it was not a huge red flag just yet, especially with her sugar that high. We stayed and me and mom got on another cleaning spree while trying to get her sugar down and it was just not happening. About 3:30 this morning we noticed she started slurring some of her words slightly and the left side of her mouth was starting to droop. She refused at that point to let us take her to the hospital when she had enough strength left to make it to the car. At 5:30 this morning her left side pretty much gave out which is when under protest we called 911. MRI confirmed she has had a stroke, but there is not blood clots or hemorrhaging on the brain. The doctor said if she had to have a stroke it was the best one to have if there is such a thing. They also discovered that besides the congestive heart failure that she has been in for about 10 years she now also has atrial fibrillation. Finally got home about 20 minutes ago and going to crash for a few hours and then head back to the hospital.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

While it would make it a little heavier, would you consider putting a wood frame under it? There are small u clamps for plumbing that you could use to fasten the bottom to 2X4s. It would make it much more stable for moving, and would also allow you to add wheels to one end so would be easier to move.

Ooh I like that idea, but would have to work out how to deal with the legs. They stick down about 4inches below that bottom horizontal tube.
DH was telling me it would be quicker & easier to move if it were on skids.

It is light, yet the nice width prevents me from picking up both sides at once. So I go back and forth moving each side, flexing it (prob not so great for it). I asked DH how I could make a lifter, picturing a square assembly of PVC tubes that I would hook under the middle horizontal tubes, lifting the whole thing straight up with no pulling-in force, while I stood in the middle of it. He said the PVC would not be strong enough.

 

[RoyalChick]

A mugshot for Monday. Maggie had done grooming herself, and she was done grooming Diana, so she started to groom me.
She looks like she got a tiny bit of frostbite too on one tip. But that is a bit odd because I examined them all for signs right after the Dotty frostbite issue.
Strange.
Anyway, as you can tell she is her usual self and not bothered by it.

 

[BY Bob]

Pinnon Hatch Farms https://pinnonhatch.com/poultry-sup...hicken-pen-fencing/poultry-protection-netting
But the size and type I ordered, and about the same price, seems easier to find on Ebay (same manufacturer - same seller - Pinnon Hatch) https://www.ebay.com/itm/280937025834
Whatever you get should be knotted and strong, and probably polyethylene.

If you can find and afford it, the square knotted is easier to deal with than the diagonal knotted. When loose it drapes like a blanket and keeps an even shape. The diagonal wants to squinch together length-wise. The square knotted "holes" keep a square shape, and it all keeps a fairly straight edge when strung from corner to corner, so for sports netting it is easy and fast. The diagonal type holes naturally want to be in a diamond shape, so when strung only by the corners it looks like a rectangle with squinched middle - you have to pull the edges out to make the holes square and the edge straight.

Since for bird security one would have to secure all along the edge anyway, I'm not sure the extra cost (seriously more $), is worth it. I got the diagonal knotted as my first purchase to try, and spent a week cursing it, it is designed to catch things, and it will, even you. Then, you can stretch it out by the corners and the middle will be half the width. I eventually put it on a clothesline, to make a canopy with it, but as we know the hawk went around through a gap between the fencing and the netting. I knew then I had to make all sides and corners impenetrable with no gaps.

I found it best to tie it up with rags every 5 -10 feet, like a long bundle, and working from one end to the other. Having loose netting around, it catches on EVERYTHING, every little weed or stick gets caught up in it. So now that I know how to work with it I would get it again. Maybe 25x25 pieces, 50 feet is heavy to deal with. I cut it, but it is difficult to cut straight.

There is a great video online about choosing and how to work with both types, I will post it if I can find it, it is very explanatory. Basically running a rope along the edge, then securing the rope as you go, or working along one edge, securing every 2 feet at least, is how many people do it.

Thanks for all the great knowledge.

 

[RoyalChick]

For those of you who believe in the power of prayers please pray for my grandmother. We talked to her on the phone around 8 last night and she was is a great mood. Around 9:30 she called and said she thought we needed to come down as she'd gotten dizzy, had fallen twice and her sugar was almost 400. Me and mom get there and she is still on the floor in front of her couch. We get her up and check her sugar and it was indeed 384. She was a little weak on her left side but she has mobility issues that have been progressively getting worse over the last few years so it was not a huge red flag just yet, especially with her sugar that high. We stayed and me and mom got on another cleaning spree while trying to get her sugar down and it was just not happening. About 3:30 this morning we noticed she started slurring some of her words slightly and the left side of her mouth was starting to droop. She refused at that point to let us take her to the hospital when she had enough strength left to make it to the car. At 5:30 this morning her left side pretty much gave out which is when under protest we called 911. MRI confirmed she has had a stroke, but there is not blood clots or hemorrhaging on the brain. The doctor said if she had to have a stroke it was the best one to have if there is such a thing. They also discovered that besides the congestive heart failure that she has been in for about 10 years she now also has atrial fibrillation. Finally got home about 20 minutes ago and going to crash for a few hours and then head back to the hospital.

Oh so sorry to hear that. She sounds good and stubborn so I am optimistic that will see her through this.
Hoping for the best and thinking of you both.

 

[Kris5902]

For those of you who believe in the power of prayers please pray for my grandmother. We talked to her on the phone around 8 last night and she was is a great mood. Around 9:30 she called and said she thought we needed to come down as she'd gotten dizzy, had fallen twice and her sugar was almost 400. Me and mom get there and she is still on the floor in front of her couch. We get her up and check her sugar and it was indeed 384. She was a little weak on her left side but she has mobility issues that have been progressively getting worse over the last few years so it was not a huge red flag just yet, especially with her sugar that high. We stayed and me and mom got on another cleaning spree while trying to get her sugar down and it was just not happening. About 3:30 this morning we noticed she started slurring some of her words slightly and the left side of her mouth was starting to droop. She refused at that point to let us take her to the hospital when she had enough strength left to make it to the car. At 5:30 this morning her left side pretty much gave out which is when under protest we called 911. MRI confirmed she has had a stroke, but there is not blood clots or hemorrhaging on the brain. The doctor said if she had to have a stroke it was the best one to have if there is such a thing. They also discovered that besides the congestive heart failure that she has been in for about 10 years she now also has atrial fibrillation. Finally got home about 20 minutes ago and going to crash for a few hours and then head back to the hospital.

You and your grandma are in our prayers here. Take care of yourself as well, so you can be there for her.