Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Kris5902]

Squirrels the greedy little monsters

I had rabbit once that chewed through my phone line

Try Goats… so many charging cables, headphones, and most recently a brinsea charging cable That wasn’t fully Inside the cargo trailer. Ugh

 

[Kris5902]

Fast car tax
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That is truly the most beautiful thing I have seen all day… like fast car taxes, so shiny… now I am not bmgenerally a fan of those low profile tires… but I have to say on her they look quite good (post has been heavily edited to remain family friendly, and I think Kristen deserves a gold star for that! because she has spent too much time dating gear heads and guys that now have custom shops and build hot rods and was
Raised with sailor grandpa’s!)

 

[Kris5902]

Here she is. 2014 Toyota Corolla Matrix.
(I think there’s some room inside for the chooks! View attachment 3179652View attachment 3179653View attachment 3179656View attachment 3179657

Nice solid car! Love them… if it lives up to the standards of the breed you can expect another 20+ years of service out of her!

 

[Kris5902]

That's on top of the 60km posted!!!

We have a huge issue with speeding here and have a law called stunt driving law.

I made a point of telling my story of the three teens who were speeding and hit a train in a pickup when I was a nurse: driver killed instantly, kid in middle broken leg, girl in passenger seat seriously brain injured, she ended up like a 3 month old baby, had to be fed, cleaned couldn't walk talk anything. They were all 16 yrs old.

And told these people I really didn't care if they killed themselves as long as I was no where near them!!!

I don't think they liked me...

Bad Kelly tax
I could hear this squawking and flapping and there was Henny Penny up on my hay - it a good hop up for a wee silkie
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I’ve been up nearly that fast once… with my uncle and it was in a Flat Black bored out Chevy ShortBox truck of all vehicles. Thenwhome
Truch was shaking like it was going to tear apart. On an empty, straight road, up north. It was a brown pants day for me, and I never, ever, want to be anywhere near that speed again! To think of it in an even sparsely populated area… I shudder. I get nervous anywhere over 70kph nowadays. Guess I’m getting old!

 

[Kris5902]

I count myself really lucky that my ladies all troop in on their own.
The only issue is they all have different bed times by group. So it is a long protracted process. It can take two hours from first to last.

Sounds about right for here as well, bedtime starts around 8 and often isn’t fully complete until 10pm…

 

[Kris5902]

Thanks i am still steamed. I know I should let it go but, grrrrrr!

The beginning of the class the instructor asked everyone on a scale of 1 to 10 how good a driver they were -OMG so many said 9, 8.... I laughed when The came to me and I flat out said 'like EVERYONE of you in here I am an average driver'. I gave myself a 5.

That was before I knew they were ALL there on a court order for remedial driver training.


OMG can you imagine the soap box I would have got on for the chick sitting next to me who said she was 9 (she was 100km over in a 50 zone !!!!???). And for all the others !! Holy Dinah!

Everyone if them maybe a 3....

I am an experienced driver I have driven on mining roads, logging roads, in blizzards, snow squalls so blinding I couldn't see but daren't stop incase some moron hit me, freezing rain, fog so thick I was shaking scared... Dealt with -40 to +40 temps. Moose, grizzly bears cows his n the road.... but I am just an average driver nothing special.

Where do get off saying they are an 8 or 9??

Venting tax

Some bedtime drama tonight, Buttercup is being bossy, but finally settled
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And the best drivers know when NOT to drive… because if the weather doesn’t get you all those 8-9 drivers out there in their SUV’s will!

 

[MaryJanet]

I count myself really lucky that my ladies all troop in on their own.
The only issue is they all have different bed times by group. So it is a long protracted process. It can take two hours from first to last.

Bed times at my house are very different: within ten minutes of sunset everyone is roosting for the night.

 

[MaryJanet]

I always had this thought that in the US you have weapons, but here we have cars.
I hate cars, I don't drive, and in the south of France I feel like cars do some kind of bad magic to 75% of people -when they step into the driver's seat they suddenly become their evil self that no one ever sees other wise. They feel allowed to do things that in no other circumstances they would ever, ever do. Many people claim they feel like their car is their space of freedom, I find this so sad and even more sad to see what they make of it.

Tax from June 2020, the girls were still establishing pecking order.
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We were talking about this just last night and thought that when driving, people see other *cars* on the road they don't see other people (in cars) on the road.

Somehow the cars alienate us from each other.

 

[Marie2020]

Get some rest.

I didn't try to make her sick she started throwing up and choking. I thought I lost her but she came around and kept being violently sick so I had too lean her forward or she would have choked to death

She threw up what I didn't know she had eaten about 5 times

I think the grit caused it, it was a good thing and if she can gain strength now I'm winning

I think the grit

 

[bgmathteach]

Sounds about right for here as well, bedtime starts around 8 and often isn’t fully complete until 10pm…

Yup, pretty much the same here, well, except for the duckies. Add another 1/2 hour on for them!. My oldest girls (3-5 y.o.s - ones I haven't processed for one reason or another - basically because I couldn't!) start heading in first (at around 7:30 pm here atm), then my 'route 66 tribe', but that is because their 'coop' is in deep shade and gets dark earlier than the others....they are only 1 year olds.) Then my broody mommas head in with the youngsters; then my 1.5 -2 y. o. girls...then my ducks start *thinking* about going to bed. About a third of the duckies (always including my older girls that are 4 or 5) wander into the coop, then turn around and wander back out. For the next 30 - 60 min some will wander in....turn around saying 'hmm, nope, still some light left, we can party some more!" while the others are still milling around in the run. Always, though, what a ruckus with the ducks! Quack, quack quack, especially when the two groups get separated (i.e. some are in the coop, some out). And trying to herd them into the coop solo is usually quite unsuccessful and literally gets me running in circles! ( around the red coop...no, no, lets hide around the pine tree this time...ooops, mommy, we slithered by the door again and played ring around the broodie coop this time, te, he, he!)

I/we/they start around 7:30 on a non-dark/rainy day, and I finished locking the last coop door at 10:11pm tonight! And that is with using treats to 'call them' into the coop/run complex at the start (they were free ranging this afternoon - as usual when I am home)

At least I CAN use some of this time to clean out a coop (in one of the latter roosting groups), or fill a wheelbarrow with 'spent bedding' from the run as I gradually work on the spring ( , yes, I am still working on the 'spring' clean-out of the run. I work from one section or end to the other...over a period of time....though usually not this late finishing it! ) I do use the deep litter method, but the parts that aren't covered with a roof get too wet and compacted to fully decompose properly...I'll work on getting a pathway in so that doesn't happen so much, but my first order of business is to extend the pen and get a new 10'X3' (approx. 3m X 1m) coop built and create a true duck area in the extension, with an elevated livestock watering tub w/ 'plumbing' in it & crushed stone around/under it. (will make the tub easily drain, as ducks make a mess of their water, will keep the surrounding area well drained so no mud pits nor fly/insect magnets...again, ducks make a mess of/with their water!)

Then new coop will be a true up/down duplex...ducks down, chickens up to give me more coop space in the extended run near the house. This past winter, I used the mobile tractor for a coop...(aka 'the route 66 hut'), which was a pain given the distance from the house, and the need to shovel/snow blow a separate area for them to scratch around it during the winter.

Then, next order of business is to REALLY get on my hubby to roof the 2nd half of the 'safe run' ( was supposed to be done 4 years ago - half was done in the spring when we moved here, the other half was supposed to be done before winter...but life gets in the way!) As that has to be shoveled and it is a pita...plus need more 'covered area' for chickies to play when it is stormy out.

Would LOVE for all of this to be done this year...but that is a pipe dream. Goal: extend at least part of run where new duckie hut/duplex and elevated area for 'drainable duck bath' will go, get that (elevated ares w/drainable bath) in, new duckie duplex built, and a 10'X12' area that encloses both of the above built with in the run..and have that solid roofed. Unfortunately summer is 1/2 over already. fortunately, my summer course ends tomorrow (technically Friday, but I always extend things out through the weekend in my accelerated math courses, as NO ONE ever truly believes me these day when I tell them at the beginning of the summer term how much time they need to plan on per week for this course!), So just a few more days of lots of extra work, then down to just my advising job, so I'll have more time to work on Chicken/duck things!

Okay..I owe lots of taxes. Up front deposit on taxes due:

Hey, Mom is in the 'treat/feed' barn...you going to play your sweet charm this time for treats, or is it my turn?

Hey, we heard you say 'treats' where are they??? We are at the door to the 'treat storage facility', but aren't seeing anything forthcoming!

Yeah, mom..I see you in there...you are holding out on us!

Meanwhile, mom is just trying to get the Wheelbarrow out the barn door, but there always seems to be something (someone!) in the way!