I think the word is constitution, and I think it's something that parents develop over years of raising a child-- I have seen my sister grow up. I was 9 when she was born and we've always been pretty close. Closer still in recent years. I'm her guardian while she's enrolled in college up here and tonight my Fiance and I allowed her to go to a party with her boyfriend.
Came to find out Boyfriend had lied to his parents about where he was going to get out of his house, his parents found out, tracked him down and snagged him. Boyfriend did not tell parents that he had two other people, my sister being one of them, whom he was responsible for their rides home. He didn't even tell his parents that my sister was at this party as he was dragged out to his car and forced to drive home. My sister called me to get a ride home, thank goodness that my sister trusts me enough to call at that moment and not to panic and wait. She didn't know anyone else at the party very well, if at all. I'm not mad at her. I'm mad that this boy couldn't man up and tell his parents that he was responsible for the safety of TWO others whom he had brought to the party, one being my little sister.
I'm not afraid to admit that right after getting off the phone with my sister I got sick and I didn't have a single alcoholic beverage. I've also realized that I've made a very serious parenting decision in my life. When Fiance and I do have kids (and this applies to my sister now that she has her permit) they will always know that they need to take responsibility for anyone they pick up. They need to be sure that anyone they take out has a safe ride home or they will be that ride themselves. I can't imagine being mad enough at my sister to put the lives of two other young people at risk alone in a neighborhood they don't know. I live in East Syracuse, this party was in Camillus, sister grew up in NYC! She doesn't even have local high school friends to fall back on like many other kids her age who grew up in the area would.
In other chicken related news, I put up a tarp to block the wind on the north wall of the chicken fence, I put up some feed bags inside the coop to try to stop drafts, I bought a flock block and picked up a heated water bucket normally intended for horses and dogs. Hopefully this will stay thawed, I'm having a lot of trouble keeping water in a liquid state. I put the bucket four feet away from the coop (in case of fire) and ran the cord along the fence about five feet off the ground and when I can find some more wood and cinder blocks to position around the bucket for ease of drinking I can move the on it's side garden chair. I put a thin cinder block on top of the bucket to make the opening smaller so that the chickens can't sit on the bucket and fall in. Chicks might, but I don't have any chickens small enough.
I have a few girls experiencing frostbite on their combs. I spent part of today one hand covered in bag balm one hand pinning a chicken to my chest trying to coat their combs to save the rest of the large floppy combs and long spikes. My humidity gauge in the coop says 16% during the day unless it's raining/snow melting, then it goes as high as 86% during the day. The eaves on the coop are open on the south side, I don't know what else I can do to prevent more frostbite damage. I'm scooping out as much poop as I can. Sometimes it's hard because it's already frozen to the boards and I have to wait for a thaw to get that stuff and I take what I can get. Any thoughts?
Forestville is about an hour away maybe from me?
