Men are so stubborn... or at least my dad is...

[PDXModChick]

I told and abridged version of this story on someone else's post, but thought I may share it here where it belongs...

About a year ago I decided to move to my great grandfathers homestead. Of course my parents still occupy his home so.. yes, I moved back in with my parents... This was not difficult as I was living in the city and tired of it...

So what does this have to do with chickens?

I was so excited to get back to my roots and have a huge garden and keep chickens...

So as any normal OCD animal lover would do, I searched for every possible issue that could arise. My coworker told me about how one day she had gone out to her coop and they all were lying there dead... like they were scared to death... She had found out they were attacked by weasels... So I looked into the potential and showed my mom and dad pictures...

My mom had told me how one year she had seen a baby one on the side of the road and had taken it to an animal shelter thinking it was a ferret or something... but this was down the road from us and a few years ago...

Anyway, so we looked on the internet and saw pictures and other info on them. My dad of course interjects because by the time I got through all of the info... and was sufficiently frightened to have chickens... he says that we don't have to worry about weasels because they are not found in our area and if they were to then he woudl know about it...

Funny how weasels drive race cars... and work all day long in an office...

I'm not trying to disrespect him... I am just saying... It reminded me of the old days as a child when I would ask why to whatever he said... he would say... "because I said so"....

But anyway... so he is so adimate about the whole thing that I decide to concede... and walk away... thinking... maybe i'll wait til' next year...

Well, my mom and I go up to WILCO to pick up some starts for the garden and there were tubs and tubs of adorable chicks!!! We went home with no chicks that day... but came back next week once I got a nice brooding area set-up... garden sheds are so handy!

Elapse 6 weeks....

My mom comes running to my bedroom shouting " There's one of those rodent things on the front porch... or maybe something like one of the cats got one of those rodent things"

I was of course halfway asleep when she abruptly announced her findings and it took me a minute to get outside to the porch...

It was of course a weasel and my mom of course emailed my dad a pic within moments...

He came home from work an expert on weasels...

I see no relief in sight for my dad... He'll never live it down...

Thank goodness for the kitties!!!

 

[WriterofWords]

Thank goodness for supportive parents.

 

[PDXModChick]

Amen... I am quite lucky to have such wonderful parents... ANd it is so much fun being home again!

 

[Sam The Yam]

Your father will be your greatest ally. Work together, respect each other, and you will treasure the relationship that you have. My father has passed on, but he also was a stubborn man. I learned so much from him and even today as I work on my coop and do what I do for my chickens, I find myself thinking that he would be very proud of me. Thanks for the post.

 

[Sitka]

Men are Stubborn? You can't convince me of that.
I also answer my wife, "I am NOT being defensive! You're defensive!"

 

[PDXModChick]

I should have mentioned that I moved in with my parents because my dad is terminally ill. They need help on the farm and I was the one that could make the move. I forgot also to mention that I was/am excited to spend these precious last moments with my father and getting to know him as a person, not only a father...

I also neglected to mention... I am as or maybe more stubborn than my dad and that would explain the post I made...

I really hope that I did not offend anyone... I guess I am not as good of a writer as I thought because I thought that I was being funny... I missed the fact I could have offended people with the title of the post...

FYI, I sent this to my dad... He laughed... He in not so many words said he is proud to be stubborn... You know its not a negative thing to be stedfast in your ways... He is a true man of his word... but he is also the first to admit when he is wrong...

It's funny the things you learn about yourself when you are eager as a child to move away to the big city... I woke up one day with ahuge headache about eight years ago and was diagnosed with high blood pressure due to stress and a little to do with the processed foods my body was not used to ingesting. But you also realize how precious every moment can be... How lucky we really are to be here...

Please forgive me for any offence I may have caused anyone... If my post gathers any negative comments I will happily pull my story....

Steph

 

[Judy]

I moved in with my retired parents for a few months when I was 27, to escape a difficult and somewhat abusive relationship. This turned into a few years, as I decided to go back to school, and they wanted to help by providing housing/food. It was the best years I had with them. My mother became my best friend, and my father and I developed a real adult/adult relationship. My father died suddenly when I was 29, just before I graduated, but we had spent many, many hours fishing together during those 2+ years.

My mother lived many more years, and remained my best friend. My father was on the stubborn side -- but all 3 of us are/were. We learned to deal with it. My son and I have a similar closeness, maybe even closer, and he is more stubborn than my parents and I ever were! (I am 65 and he is 33.) I am now sharing land and chickens with him and his family, because he hassled me for so many years to do this that I finally gave in.... well, also because he remarried and I am ok with this wife.....

 

[PDXModChick]

Quote:
Thank you Sam... I appreciate your candid remarks along with your nostalgic comments... It sounds like your father was a fine man.... Thank you...

It's funny... I probably should have told the story from when I was a small child... My favorite hen went missing and my parents told me that my father had dropped the chicken coop on her by accident... Truth was.... We were poor and hungry...

This is the same man that went hunting every year so we could have some other meat than chicken or duck...

One year he hung a doe wrong and her meat went bad... He refused to hunt again as he felt he had wasted a life...

All of this and he's 6'4"... a true gentle giant...

A stubborn giant...

 

[Judy]

Quote:
I have a feeling I understand very well where you are coming from.

My mother was born in England, and my father's family would joke about how she was bullheaded, as the English typically are. I think even the jokers knew it had nothing to do with nationality, only personality.

 

[PDXModChick]

Quote:
Sounds like a conversation straight from our household...