Michigan

[MikkeyP]

treehouse, my mantra in the winter is "no alligators, no snakes, no hurricaines.., no alligators, no snakes, no hurricaines"..
sometimes it the only thing that gets me through...LOL. DH went to school in Houghton, but he was raised 90 miles south...just above WI border. You can't beat it in the summer. Only 6 months of winter here instead of 9. We used to live in Evanston, WY 7100 feet elevation and definetly 9-10 months of winter.... couldn't wait to get out of there, but you go where the jobs are. It was so different as there were hardly any trees and lots of dust. DH used to collect Christmas trees and tie them to the fence so it would look "more like home". LOL, We love to go to the keewenaw area in the summer. Love that Lake Superior shore.

Wynette, we are about 90 miles west of Escanaba....less than 100 miles to two of the great lakes. L'anse is only 60 miles away too. Our big cities are all about 100 miles away. Green Bay is 140 or so. We love the country up here though.

speaking about fish, DH said it was cheaper and warmer to just buy it in the stores, LOL....darn thing is, you have to watch CAREFULLY to see that any of the fish you buy is a product of USA. If its from china, chile, quatemala...we put it back. We have a fish hatchery about 40 miles away where we get fresh trout in the summer. That's an easy way to fish too. LOL... I used to like taking the kids when they were little.l....the people even clean the fish and put them on ice for you. can't beat it!!! no frost bite either. LOL.

 

[Opa]

Steve, like everyone else I will be praying for you son.

As much as I am starting to dislike winter, the fact that we don't have many snakes to deal with is one advantage to our colder clime. Several years ago my oldest son bought an older house in Louisianna. A couple of months after they bought it I took my work truck and drove down to work on their home. As Joe and I are going over the things that need to be done he tells me the wiring is okay because the previous owner upgraded it. Seems that when Joe and Elizabeth first went to look at it with the owner there wasn't any lights. They started checking things out and discovered there had been a electrical fire in the fuse box; a large snake had crawl into it and shorted everything out. As Joe is telling me how the owner upgraded it the lights flickered. I checked and found a new 200amp service panel with all 30amp breakers and 10 guage wiring going out of it. As I checked further I found that they ran 10 guage wiring up in to the attic and splice into the old unground 14 guage wiring. I opened the junction boxes and found that the plastic was all melted from the wire nuts. I can't believe the house hadn't burnt to the ground.
The house was balloon framed and all of the wiring went from the attic down the walls. The night before I was going to start replacing all of the wiring I was watching the evening news and they told of a woman who lived about 20 miles from Joe who had called an exterminator because of seeing snakes in her house. The exterminator removed over 200 snakes before he was done. There wer snakes of every size and description, many non-poisonous, but many were. They removed rattlesnake, cottonmouth water moccasins, and coral snakes from her house. It seems that due to high water conditions and cold weather the snakes had sought refuge in her house. Needless to say I was more than a little concerned about the job I was about to undertake. Laying on my stomach I would have to reach blindly down into the stud cavities to pull the old wire out and the new in. Occasionally, a lizard would jump onto my arm causing my heart to miss a beat or two. Had I actually grabbed a hold of a snake I'm sure I would have had a roof repair to make as well. So as much as I dislike cold it beats snakes. I think Michigan's cold winters serve us well.

 

[MikkeyP]

Steve, Hope the surgery went well and recovery goes even better! Sounds like you were going to get some good "bonding" time with your grandson.

Opa. I don't blame you for being hesitant about rewiring. I would have headed straight north after hearing that. All we have is a few pine snakes, but nothing SERIOUS like that. The news report would have scared me right off the project for sure. I HATE snakes! Give me a snowball! I can deal with that. 200 snakes in her house!!! gives me the heebie jeebies just thinking 'bout it.

Do snakes generally have a bad smell to them or not? I mean with that many, could you sort tell by smell if they were there in that amount? Did they have to smog /smoke or something to the place in order to remove them all?

 

[Opa]

Snakes definately stink. I've spent alot of time in the Ozarks and have gone into areas that didn't smell quite right, only to discover and bunch of cottonmouth water mocassins.

Hope we hear soon how Steve's son is doing.

 

[Steve]

Thanks everybody for the thoughts, prayers and concerns.

Steve Jr. had his surgery at 1:30 and it took a hour longer than they anticipated.....but it went well and he is awake and doing fine. He is not suppose to work for 2 weeks but he insists he will.....stubborn, I think I know where he gets it from.

I watched Aiden from 10:30 (ish) till 3:00 when I went up to the hospital and then Judy watched him. He was so good today, and was a pure joy. He learned to say "bird" "deer" and it sounded like "grammy" when Judy walked through the door.

After I left......Judy gave him ice cream.

 

[Mom 2em All]

Steve,

Im really glad that the surgery went well with your son- and I love that grandbaby! Mine is coming to visit tomorrow. The little whippersnapper is still small enough that I can stick him on a blanket and he cant get off of it.

I saw a guinea pig today that had MY HAIR!

It was fat like me, and his hair was blonde, curly, and real frizzy like me...I love it. I want one.
Anyone know of guinea pig breeders? This one was at the petstore- and a male. Gotta have a girl. A fuzzy curly haired guinea pig. Im serious- told my husband I was reincarnated into a guinea pig and someone forgot to tell me.

edit- looked like this, but it was blonde:

 

[zephyrcreek]

Hi Everyone!

I am new to the forum and wanted to introduce myself. I am in the Southern Thumb of Michigan, just west of Port Huron and 1 1/2 hours north of Detroit. I grew up on a small farm, and always planned on getting chickens again. My husband and I built a new home a few years ago....and it took a long time to get the house and horses all in order. Now it is finally time for my to bring the poultry and rabbits into the mix. I plan on raising enough meat and eggs for my family, and a little to sell. If anyone lives in this area I would love to hear about feeds. I would like to stay away from the big commercial feeds, and find some more "natural" options.

Ellen

 

[miss_jayne]

Quote:
Welcome! you aren't too far from me and Shelleyb1969! i can definitely point you to the right direction for feed! a local farmer here makes a great feed with no preservatives or added colors. ground within three days of purchase! PM me for details.

Steve, i am so glad your son came through just fine. praise God!

I HAVE CHICKS HATCHING!!!! two are out and a ton pipped and zipped!!! wooo hoooooo!

 

[miss_jayne]

Quote:
ha ha! so then me eating these dried cherries don't really count, right?

it's too hard to fit the camera at the right angle to get a pic, because of the incubating tray's tilt.

there are four out and more going crazy!

 

[miss_jayne]

Quote:
thank you, Sir! dried cherries almost annihilated. and i feel no guilt! ha!

i will attempt to get pics asap.