"Louisiana "La-yers" Peeps"

[LadyKotaDoria]

I don't think anyone could have the same nightmare as me.

Thank goodness everything was fine.

that is true. I just gave up my CDL, no more on the road, no reason to get that physical. I have to go up to Winslow in Feb. I have a friend & BYC member that will be having an operation. She will need help for a week or more. I may have to travel with 1 small dog and 11 chickens and ? Chicks. The pure things will go from 40F at night to below freezing and day time temps in the low/mid 30F. They are completely spoiled.

I had raccoons and possums trained when I lived in Fl. I looked for their path ways. Watched them. Then intercepted before my trash cans. I put kitchen scraps. Made a new tail for them to fallow working the grasses down with my feet just a little. At first small piles every 6" around my yard. I put an oil pan at the other end with water and a little larger a mount of food. At first I ran out of scraps. I used small handfuls (1/4 C) of dog food. Each night further apart. Then one small pile at the turning point and one in the middle, the 3rd at the water. Finally only at the water with sometimes bits in between depending on what I had. Even if I didn't put anything out they continues to by pass my trash cans. They never doubled back. I had motion lights that turned on, there was a pattern and time for each one. It became a new routine, creatures of habit.

Having chickens changes everything. There is no peaceful way around it. I am sure they would double back for possibility of chicken or eggs. Once trapped you can not release back into the wild, they will only try to come home again. A 22 works really well, Even a Benjamin Pump in the right hands. Good luck.

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

I could use direction on area's to look at. The further away from water, the hotter it will be, muggy in summer. Right now I found a couple of places on line around Roberts, north of I-20. It is yet early, for now getting an idea of what is passable. The good part of inland a little the better on surviving hurricanes. It is not if but when. Flood area's is another concern. I do not want to buy a house then have to have it lifted 8' in the air. I know how expensive it gets. Not only by sq-ft, but the construction of the house. I did designed a home for some people that tried to left their house on stilts, to find out the structure was Swiss cheese. Dry rot, old termite damage, and pure construction. It was built cheep and fast for post war. When the time comes, I will be putting my house on the market. When it sells I want to be ready to buy ASAP, I will not want to buy something I will not be happy with.

 

[Ron Skekel]

Have you ever been to Louisiana? you can by houses already lifted . In my area I have never flooded but the houses a block away have flooded but only in major hurricanes.I would recomend staying north of I-10. But I would advise you to visit here to see what area you like. What parrish you like. Do you know any one that lives here? You need to do some home work so you will be happy with your move. I'm in St. Tammany Parrish we have alot of bayous, this parrish is north east of lake pontchtrain. I love being close to the water. 30min. drive to ms. coast to gulf of mexico beaches. 15 min. ride to state park fountain Blue its a big nature park that borders the lake. In this area there are alot of things to do. I taught my dogs to track on a weekend seminar at the park. So think about what you want to do here for work or pleasure.When you know those things you'll have a better idea of where to look. We'll be able to help you better. All I can tell you now from what you've said is to stay out of big citys and if you pic a small town check to make sure they allow live stock or buy out of city limits. Pam

 

[Celie]

Thanks. She is really sad and won't let me touch her. She really passive with the other chickens but they aren't picking on her. I cut up some turkey and made sure she ate it to give her more protein. She would just let the others have it so I isolated her and she ate it fine.

Poor baby, have you tried feeding her any Black Oil Sunflower Seeds? BOSS for short. The oils will help her feathers come in faster and prettier, too?

Quote: Yep, my UPS driver asked if I was having bricks shipped a few at a time. LOL My first attempts did not look as nice as yours, but were cured in time for both daughters to get a box, plus a lot of bath fizzies and a wonderful skin cream, I made with a lot of Shea Butter, Coco butter, Olive oil, and Tuskin silk. They both have nice skin, but sometimes get dry elbows this time of the year. A couple days later, they called and said it was better for their dry skin than the $60 Rx the doctor recommended! I guess I will be making another batch, for the doctor and the SIL that had dry rough heels. They said in just a couple of days, their heels were feeling great. They liked the fizzies made in the colors of their favorite football teams, too, so next batch of soap will have flaw-de-dies on them. (I know I spelled that wrong. Hardest thing is waiting for 6 to 8 weeks for the soap to cure! Grand daughter said her Cake soap smelled just like bubblegum and looked so much like cake she felt like taking a bite! I wish I had made larger batches, but since I am still learning, I stuck to smaller 3 to 4 pound batches to learn on. BTW, the Gain fragrance soap I thought was not drying well, I reworked with the same recipe, but left out the fragrance, mixed in the grated soft strong fragrance bar and it set up in no time and smells wonderful. The year's worth of fragrance free I already made, works better than any store bought laundry soap I have ever used and I like the idea that since it only takes a spoonful to do a large load, it doesn't take up much space. But I did miss the smell of Gain, so I will probably be making a few more quart jars with the fragrance, for my towels and linens. Does anyone have any dirty clothes, I can wash? I need more dirty clothes, now! Thanks again for all your help and advice! I love chemistry!
Quote:

Still have about 40 fluffy butts, oh yeah, INSIDE the house!!! I have never had more than 10 or so at a time, WHAT A CHORE!! They are so stinking cute, but will be glad when they can be moved to the outside brooder.

I had about a hundred once. Now there are 11 turkeys, 9 chicks and 5 ducklings in brooders, in the utility room. Hubby announced he is building me a 14 x 11 well insulated and heated brooder house for all my hatchlings and incubators, that's 47 lunular feet of brooders, 30 inches wide. with adjustable partitions and depts., so I can get them out of the house, once I start getting more turkey eggs. He doesn't know they haven't quit laying! I picked up 5 yesterday! HEHEHE

 

[Celie]

Also I think pretty much everyone knows that every house out here is accompanied by at least one large gun and one person not afraid to use it.....

If you only have one gun, you are not far enough into the South or the country. Everybody around here has at least a gun cabinet per person, not counting the little 22 I carry around in case I see a 4 legged critter!

 

[Celie]

Cute dog..

Love soap pics. They look delicious.

Your soaps look great! I love the colors, wish I could smell through my computer!

 

[Celie]

We had a very peaceful afternoon and evening. The kids are feeling kind of run down and are ready for Christmas vacation already. (Me too) Hubby is out of town all weekend once again, so it is a girls weekend. My daughters little Dach/Yorkie mix "Slinkie" took over my lap this afternoon when I sat down to have a bite to eat. He is too cute. My daughter always says that he is the best Christmas present that we have ever given her.

I got an order of new fragrances to try out today in my soaps. And since Big Daddy isn't home to distract me I had some soapy fun. Tonight I tried "Raspberry Lemonade" It smells SOOOO good right out of the bottle. I really hope that it doesn't morph at all. All the reviews are good though. I recently discovered that I really like yogurt as an additive. So this one has Tussah Silk, Shea Butter and Yogurt. Everything went together really smooth. No soapy GREMLINS TONIGHT!!! I hope those gremlins stay hiding where ever they are! I can't wait to cut this one with my new cutter! Which works like a dream, I am so pleased with it!

I have some really cute pictures of my young bantams and Silkies that we took the other day that I need to upload. The funniest thing about these babies is that every single baby has feathers that stick up on top of their head. Even the ones that are only half Silkie. It really is the funniest thing ever and makes them all look so cute. I am particularly loving the Splash Silkie babies. Really, really pretty! Well, to me at least. I am sure they wouldn't be to someone who shows them, but that isn't me. I see some warmer temps in the forecast and I am sure all of the flock will love some warmer weather to enjoy. Although they really haven't seemed TOO bothered by the cooler temperatures so far.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!!

What type of molds are you using? I tried the silicone and it releases very easy, but My extra long bread loaf pan lined with plastic makes a straighter sided bar.
I got a wavy cutter, but I think I like the smoother one better. I was thinking about having hubby make me one with wires to cut all the bars at once, very evenly. What do you guys think?

 

[Celie]

Not the greatest picture, but......I took a quick one the other day for my sis. The cutter has some cosmetic flaws, but works effectively like the cutters that I have seen for sale at about $160.00. This one cost about half that. But making something yourself adds that sense of satisfaction. I just can't get over how easy it is to cut a whole loaf all in one swoop

You should keep the FO for just a little bit at least. I bet you will have someone that will want a floral scented soap. If you don't end up using it I would be happy to bear the burden of taking it off your hands

I hope I don't get like some of my soaping acquaintances. They call themselves FO junkies/wh*res. Lol! I wonder if it will edit if you just type in whore. Hmm.....I may need to get some sleep if I am going to handle these kids by myself tomorrow

Looks great to me! I need one, too, but even $80 sounds a little high! What kind of wire did you use? I was asking Hubby about making one for me, but being a machinist, he will probably make it all out od metal, so that would cost even more. Your groves look about an inch apart, With a hand cutter, the bars are not that evenly cut, so I tend to make them wider, but I don't sell soap. It's a hobby that I can give something I made myself, to my friends and relatives as gifts.
I used to do a lot of crocheting, but with 2 house dogs, a bedspread or tablecloth would pick up too much dog hair, so I turned to soap and lotions.

 

[Celie]

Has anyone heard from Celie? She hasn't been on the thread for a while and I called her and haven't heard back. I really hope she's ok.

Sorry about that, Linda! I do apologize.
As you know, since I was sick, when a few litters were due to be processed, they became older than I process for fryers, so I raised them to 6-7 months old and sold them as breeding stock, ready to mate. I wish I could have found a deal like that when I first started. I posted an ad on Grieg's list and they went fast. Most of the does were already pregnant! My customers called back and were excited about how big the litters were and how good the does were mothering the bunnies.
Well, this one couple, from Slidell, her name is Britney, but I don't remember his, called after having the rabbits for close to a month that they weren't having babies. I told them to bring the rabbit does to me and I would mate them with my 2 proven bucks, maybe the buck, I sold them was a late bloomer and I would give them a young 8 week old doe for their trouble. Well they bring back all 3 rabbits and insist I replace them, because they built this huge barn and was counting in them to start producing sooner for the project they were into. I took the rabbits back and even had to give them one of my original does to do so.
When the man would not go into the rabbit barn, just waited for me to bring out the rabbits. This seemed strange to me but I didn't really didn't think much about it at the time.
Well, the rabbits they brought back were really acting strange and aggressive towards me! Linda, you know I have no aggressive rabbits and handle them all and can even take the bunnies from beneath them while they are in the nests! Both does had a litter within a couple of week, but did not pull any fur and killed the babies as soon as they were born. This really upset me. One rabbit was eating her young! I was so upset! Well a few days after that, Britney called to say they wanted another exchange, because one of the rabbits were acting hostile and the does would not mate with the buck. This was really weird, because one of the does was my breeding stock and 15 months old, had several litters and the buck had already impregnated 2 other does, so he was proven!
After a short discussion with George, on the phone, I had him ask if anyone near them had a pet snake, that could have come near the rabbits, maybe they smelled the snake on him or something? This B$#%^*, told George he had a huge barn where he was raising and selling large snakes, that's why he needed lots of bunnies! I was so upset at this that I prayed that God would intervene and how sorry I was to have not asked enough questions before selling them to these people. I was modified.
Yes, these are meat rabbits and we eat, whatever aren't sold by 12 weeks old. They are calmly held and it takes one bullet to into the head for instant death, so they do not suffer. Snake breeders put live rabbits into the tank for the snake to hunt and after the bunny is scared almost to death, trying to escape, the snake coils around the rabbit crushing it and then swallows it! I still feel so guilty to have an animal treated like this! I treat our animals with compassion and they live a good life, until they are processed and killed very humanly, as quickly as possible. I do not kill any animal by hitting them in the head, and am not trying to judge anyone that does, but I could never hit any domestic animal!
Well, that's not all! As we were dressing Sunday morning to spend a day at my daughters for our yearly, Christmas dinner, with just my daughters and their families, the phone rings and wants a FREE rabbit. As soon as hubby hangs up the phone rings again. We were running late and already had our coats on, so I told him to just let the answer machine take a message. Someone posted an ad on Grieg's list that we have over 40 rabbits we were giving away free, first one here gets them so hurry before they are all gone! Call when you arrive at the gate! They put our complete address, directions to get here, from the interstate exit and out phone number! We arrived home to find our answer machine full, over 50 calls and the phone ringing all night and all day today. People were driving over 50 miles to get their free rabbits and calling from the driveway, at 4am. The ad said that as long as the ad was posted, we still had rabbits, so Hurry before they were all gone and when they were gone, the ad would be removed!
Since I never posted the ad, I could not remove it! It is now 5:15 am and I can't sleep, I am so upset. What if this SOB releases pythons on the property to kill all my free ranging birds? Yes, we do have rattle snakes in the woods, but the king snakes keep them under control. My neighbor has a small child that plays in their yard and also a miniature weenie dog!
Hubby went to the local police chief and told them about the snakes and they said they would pass often and be on the look-out, but without any evidence, what could they do? Finally around 4pm, I finally got someone to answer my email at craigslist and they said they would look into it, but it was up to my local police to take action! I was told by a friend that if I flagged the ad as being SPAM, it would be pulled and it was, but I don't think craigslist will give us the ip address or any information as to who posted the ad!

 

[glebreton]

Thought yall might get a kick out of this pic. This is the spurs I was talking about on my RIR hen. They look better than my roo! I know the pic is just legs, but I have no doubt she is a hen...lays very well. Both legs have distinct spurs. None of my other hens have anything close to this!