Mahonri's 3rd Annual, BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!

[Razadia]

Well, the horse situation is taken care of. An old friend of mine from Junior High messaged me on facebook hours ago asking if I knew where she could find a horse she could work with. I pointed her to that add and she fell in love. I hate to say this, but she has more money than sense, but I know he'll be taken care of. She wants me to go on trail rides with her, but I had to explain to her that my horse has been through enough in his life and he's pretty much retired. If he'll stand for it I'll try to get a pic of StarBuck (my mustang) tomorrow. He's 20 and he doesn't look it. Like with my friend, he and I have a very special story of how I came to own him, but I'll save that for tomorrow too. I'm off to bed a very happy person. I saved a life in a way and that's what I set out to do. Plus I made an old friend really happy. She says she owes me one, but she and I both know I'll never call her on it.

 

[Mahonri]

Quote:

and it's only 7.78 acres and undeveloped.... oh, there is Strawberry Water rights for irrigation and city water for culinary use if I want to pay to hook up to it and there is a power line on the east end, but hooking up to that costs... and it's like ESKIMO country from November thru March and I can no longer handle the cold.

 

[notinoz2007]

when i sat down 2 hours ago i was 700 posts behind!!
read so much, want to comment on it all but cant remember most
amazing beautiful creations, wow to hawk wrestling, sorry to laree for passing friend, love the celeb look alikes. sorry to hear about PO mess ups and lost chicks

i am sad for the starving horses in OK (and probably elsewhere, so sad) something about undies. MN calling often, i've missed you guys.
hopefully i can stay caught up now.

my adventure: today i set 35 (aloha) eggs at my friends kindergarten class. i had a short lesson about fertility, bloom, fresh vs store bought, yolk color, size and variety. the kids had so many great questions, i was truly amazed at how much they wanted to know. the teacher got them jr scientist journals to write in daily about their "hatching adventure" and they draw pictures to go along, i am so loving this opportunity. i go back in one week to candle with the class.

 

[Sueg4332]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...g-candling-pics-progression-though-incubation


very good pictures of candling

 

[MrsMoonCat]

when i sat down 2 hours ago i was 700 posts behind!!
read so much, want to comment on it all but cant remember most
amazing beautiful creations, wow to hawk wrestling, sorry to laree for passing friend, love the celeb look alikes. sorry to hear about PO mess ups and lost chicks

i am sad for the starving horses in OK (and probably elsewhere, so sad) something about undies. MN calling often, i've missed you guys.
hopefully i can stay caught up now.

Me too! I couldn't believe how far behind I got while entertaining my inlaws the last two days. You are a very busy bunch on here. I've been reading and reading and reading for several hours. Goodnight all, my eyes hurt

 

[notinoz2007]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...g-candling-pics-progression-though-incubation


very good pictures of candling

thanks for posting that, i had forgotten about it and those are great pictures for young kids to understand!!

 

[SunnyDawn]

Quote:

I thought this too when they were young. The truth is it is natural for them to leave and the teenage years are a natural part of life that helps you prepare for that stage. You can't hang on to them forever. The parent that tries ends up making the child miserable. Your children can't be your everything. That is too much pressure for any child. Our job is to raise them to be responsible adults that can take good care of themselves and get along well on their own. We shouldn't be too upset when that is exactly what happens.

Oh and my kids were still great at 13. My oldest started acting out at 16 and the others were even later than that. In fact the youngest really barely acted out at all and even he didn't understand why. I had to explain to him that the biological changes as we head into adulthood cause mood swings and that it is a normal part of growing up and moving on. As hard as it is on us they don't need to feel guilty for going through a very normal process. Not that I didn't lose my patience now and then with certain behaviors. I just vented to other adults that understood what I was going through.

BTW this is not something you need to worry about at this stage of your life anyway. Just love 'em! It'll all work out in the end the way it was meant to.


Sunny Dawn, I love my kids and had them late in life when I thought I would be the most able to bring up children that would contribute positively to our failing society.

My kids can live with me forever. However, as they do now, they must contribute. Bringing in firewood, or gathering eggs, or putting away the birds for the night. Need a little more work on picking up their room and washing dishes!! LOL They often help each other. When one is ready for school, he is to help the other get ready. Teamwork it! I fear the day I won't be here and they will only have each other to depend on. I want them to be friends who help each other, and laugh and play together. In Europe the kids grow up, go to work, and still live at home. I don't see how, in the economy to come, how they can live on their own. If we can pull together, we can help each other. But I'm trying to teach them sharing and responsibility now.

Certainly helps to vent to understanding adults. My mother spewed her junk on me--very unhealthy. I let the kids be kids and, as needed, friends help me sort thru a difficult moment. I live in an area were children rarely play outside. My kids have acres to cruise, together, and loads of exciting adventures to fuel their imaginations. THey take what they learn on PBS and TV and add it to their adventure. We are on a large peice of land, most people here live on a postage stamp. I'm saving that for retirement! LOL Kids need to be able to run and play after a demanding day at school.

I have great kids. My reward will be the day they say they had a great mom.

Oh yes!!! That is the best! Even my most difficult child (and we are good enough friends now we can laugh about her antics) has told me that I was her rock growing up!!! I swear to you, it made me choke up (OK you don't know me so you don't know how extremely rare it is for me to tear up). It was an amazing thing to hear her say!

Course hearing that you are the bestest Grandma of them all doesn't hurt my ego AT ALL either!!! Hahaha Not a story I will share with the other grandparents though!

Sounds like our parenting styles are similar. My kids were expected to be contributing members of the family too. Even with my first DD's strong personality no one can ever accuse her of being lazy. She is a hard worker and is right there pitching in when you need a hand. All of the kids do. I wanted to raise strong moral children and that is exactly what I got so if I complain it's just complaining that maybe I did it too well! LOL

Your kids think it already but when they do tell you how great a job you did you will know it was all worth it! I felt the same as you do on the extended family thing but my kids are also independant beings and they learned to be part of the society they were raised in as well. My only point was that even though I dreaded the empty nest thing (and also hoped it would not ever happen) that when the time came nature gave me the tools to deal with that too. And there have been some definite benefits to it as well.

I hope you don't think of us empty nesters that are enjoying our freedoms as being callous. I'm sure not a one of us was intending to send any such message. I do feel like, as important as it was to give so much to parenting when my kids were kids, I also don't feel bad about enjoying this stage of my life either (for as long as it lasts). Life is too short to stress about the unknown or to wallow in the past. Even I am surprised by how much DH and I are enjoying this time.

My only point earlier was that being an empty nester is not the end I thought it would be. Different yes. But lovely just the same. I am also not saying you will ever need to adjust to this lifestyle. Just as you say. Your children may never leave. But we rarely know exactly what life will bring and it rarely unfolds exactly as we would like it to.

Anyway, not sure why I'm feeling a little like I need to defend those of us that are enjoying life sans children. I doubt that was what you were trying to convey. But you are doing exactly what you should be doing at this stage of your life and you are doing it well! I also feel like I am doing exactly what I am supposed to be doing at this stage of my life and I am doing it well. To me that means enjoying the gift of life in whatever stage of metamorphosis it's currently in. And so I am. Immensely.

 

[SunnyDawn]

Well, the horse situation is taken care of. An old friend of mine from Junior High messaged me on facebook hours ago asking if I knew where she could find a horse she could work with. I pointed her to that add and she fell in love. I hate to say this, but she has more money than sense, but I know he'll be taken care of. She wants me to go on trail rides with her, but I had to explain to her that my horse has been through enough in his life and he's pretty much retired. If he'll stand for it I'll try to get a pic of StarBuck (my mustang) tomorrow. He's 20 and he doesn't look it. Like with my friend, he and I have a very special story of how I came to own him, but I'll save that for tomorrow too. I'm off to bed a very happy person. I saved a life in a way and that's what I set out to do. Plus I made an old friend really happy. She says she owes me one, but she and I both know I'll never call her on it.

Oh I love a story with a happy ending! How cool!

Quote:
and it's only 7.78 acres and undeveloped.... oh, there is Strawberry Water rights for irrigation and city water for culinary use if I want to pay to hook up to it and there is a power line on the east end, but hooking up to that costs... and it's like ESKIMO country from November thru March and I can no longer handle the cold.



Around here undeveloped property is going for $14,500 for 10 acres and electricity is very close. Folks still aren't buying! Bare land is getting cheaper and cheaper these days.

 

[SunnyDawn]

Oh I just remembered. Someone had asked about my starting Cantaloupe and Pumpkins inside this year and I meant to explain that when I had more time but got distracted and forgot.

My plan, which may not be successful (this will be an experiment), is to build a cold-frame with "heat sinks" in the corners that will warm up the plants enough to give them their early start. My season is even shorter up here in Red Rock than it was down in Reno proper so finding a way to get an early start is important to me. Plus I would like to extend my harvest time so I can enjoy fresh produce even longer.

I'm going to build a few raised beds this weekend with bales of straw (which I can wet and cover with plastic to produce composting heat later if needed). I will line them with plastic, punch holes in the bottom, fill them halfway with our cruddy DG soil, put a couple inches of chicken manure mixed with shavings on top of this and then fill the rest of the way with cheap potting soil. In the corners I plan to place jugs of water, painted black or covered with black garbage bags, as solar collectors. Depending on how big my cold frames are I may place a collector in the middle too. Then the whole thing will be covered with either polycarbonate sheets or with a clear fiberglass composite material.

There are some fantastic ideas like this on the net but I got this particular design from Mother Earth News - Wiser Living Series (Spring 2012). I decided I better figure out a different method for getting an early start to my gardening since with my back I just can't be hauling pots or buckets in and out of the house like I tried to do when we first moved here. And waiting for Hubby to get home to do it when it's starting to snow at 11am just doesn't cut it either. A friend said they had their last "hard" freeze up here on June 26th last year!!! It killed all of her tomato plants which she had in large heat collecting buckets so that would not be enough protection out here for sure.

The frames will be BIG! Big enough to leave the pumpkins and cantaloupes in for the remainder of the season. Unless it's freezing the panels will be left off. It is easier to put them back on than to haul buckets or pots in and out of the house for months! The seedlings I just planted should germinate in 5-10 days and then they will go right outside to the cold frame since these types of plants need lots of sun and get "leggy" quite fast if left inside. The plants can just spill over the sides of the bales as they get bigger.

Hope this explains my silly notion of planting squash and melons inside. I'm pretty tired so I hope it made sense. Hope the person that asked me about it reads this post...

Anyway goodnight all! Sleep tight!

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Gooood morning, hatchers!