~ Retired and Starting My Future In The Foothills ~

[wolftracks]

I'm having a had time with my posts in here lately,so I don't get to play with the smilies and once I submit my paragraphs all run together. ahh well.

I thought a while back I had seen you post that Vodka was your drink of choice. LOL I'm glad you mentioned Grizzly Flats. I have gotten so many listing from that area. That's a place I have to pass, darn it.

You seem to love light the way I always have. I've been collecting and planning for 2 years now and think this summer I'll finally have something done and some of the lighting added. I'm taking it with me when I leave here, but I just want to enjoy it while I'm here. I've also collected wine bottle holders that I'm going to use to make candle holders out there. There seemed to be enough rocks in my backyard that I'd be able to use them for at least one area, but they seem to have grown legs and wondered away. That or a 6 yr old and her cohorts filled a wagon and carried them off, but they didn't think they took that many or made the trip down the street that many times. At least they left the dirt for me.

You've done a beautiful job. I just love coming on here and seeing all the progress. I'm disappointed that you aren't on as often, but I'm so happy that the reason is because you are enjoying yourself.

 

[Casey3043]

Linda, I absolutely love reading about your place and your pets. I check this thread daily for new stories and pictures! I've been retired 6 years and it still gives me joy to get up and let the chickens out and think about my "unstructured" day. That's a day when I don't have to be anywhere at any specific time. I have done a lot of home improvement projects and really enjoy that. I just finished tiling my hall bathroom, and I think that will be my last big project. I had so much trouble getting down on my knees, and then I couldn't get up again! And afterward, I hurt for days.

I was going to suggest that you have another electric outlet put in for your AC. If the crawl space is accessible, it's no trick for an electrician to add one. Or maybe you could just buy an extension cord in a "decorator color" as they say on TV.

I never could figure out what a "decorator color" is. I mean, don't they have the same colors that the rest of us have? Now that I think about it, maybe an orange cord would do the trick.

 

[gryeyes]

Oh, today was a GOOD day!

I witnessed Maximilian's first attempts at wooing his brood-mate Rupert (who is a pullet). It was so cute! Silkies look like they're wearing loose, Asian-style trousers, anyway, so they're adorable simply wandering the yard. (These are my first Silkies - never wanted any before, very glad I changed my mind.) They were walking side by side when suddenly Max took a wider step with his left leg, which made him turn inward to the right just a tad, almost bumping into Rupert. She slowed (from an already leisurely stroll) and he took that opportunity to "dip" very briefly in front of her.

My little Silkie boy's first "Can We Dance?" moment!

Rupert came to a full stop. Max proceeded to "tid-bit" her with a fresh leaf he just happened to find right there. She accepted it. He flapped his wings but did not crow. Nor did he make any attempt to mount his lady friend. They proceeded strolling further across the yard, "Mrp, mrp"-ing quietly to each other.

They roost together on a short section of a bit of spare lumber discards, a chunk of 4 X 4 laying lengthwise on the concrete "step" from the higher section of yard to the driveway. It's perpendicular to the front side of the main coop. On one side they're over a foot above the ground and on the other side they're barely five inches to the soil. They always perch facing the "shorter" drop. Max's feathers are mottled black with very few light streaks, while Rupert is "partridge" colored. Sometimes I can't even see them there when they're napping during the day -- they just blend into the dark wood and dark paint on the front of the coop. They're invisible at night. (It is purely coincidental there's a "Nite Eyes" unit attached to the exterior coop wall a short distance above this unconventional roost.)

The couple buying fertile eggs for their broody banty met me at Bradshaw Feed as arranged and I made sure to tell them about BYC. When I gathered eggs this morning, yesterday's bounty was still in the nests, so amongst the haul were six eggs from my bantam girls. Including one green one. I'd already explained to them on the phone about large fowl roosters also covering bantam hens, so any chicks which hatch could easily be larger than bantam-sized, and would most certainly be just about anything. It's a free-for-all in my flock, depending upon the skill of the rooster(s) and the willingness of the hen(s). "Chickens by Accidental Design" would be a good way to categorize chicks hatched from my flock's eggs. I wished 'em good luck, asking if they would keep my number to call me at hatch time. I'd sure like to know how many hatched (or not).

I was handed a ten dollar bill. Before I could say anything about not having change for them, the gal said, "We want to give you a little extra, because you've been so nice and you came so far to help us help our hen." Well, 10 bucks is quite "a little extra" for a $1.50 charge. I thought that was extremely nice of them.

I bought two bags o' feed, chatted with Amy for a few minutes, then headed further into Sacramento. Besides the egg thing and the feed pick-up, I also needed to buy some new chonies and a pair or two of flip-flops. On my wistful wanderings through the Yard & Garden department, I found an apricot tree, on Clearance. Half off price. A really NICE apricot tree. It came home with me. AND I remembered to get flip-flops and new chonies. (At nearly 59, I am still haunted by my mother's admonition to ALWAYS wear clean undies in good repair, just in case I am involved in an accident. Can't have medics seeing disreputable underthings. Disreputable because ... well... you know: sad, tired elastic gives up eventually. Cotton grows thin. It was time to get new stuff.)

I must admit I was drawn by the "No Wedgies!" promise on the package. Isn't Haines marketing clever?

I have not worn flip-flops for decades. I'm just tired of all the loose dirt and bits of flotsam and jetsam which sneak into my Crocs. My feet are comfortable in them, but they get so filthy. Oh, and, well, y'see, I want to get a different tan on the tops of my feet. I have large DOTS of darker skin, actual circles, where the sun reached my feet through the patterns of holes in the Crocs! How silly is that?!? Hence the desire to wear flip-flops this summer.

I don't paint my nails, so I am not anticipating any extra toe-pecking tomorrow. I'll let y'all know how it goes.

 

[wolftracks]

I hate flip flops but I wear them. I've yet to find a pair of decent sandals since the 80's. I have the flip flop tan. I just can't bring myself to buy sandals I won't like and if I get mad at a flip flop I can trash it and not feel bad. I bought my chonies last week. I remember that saying too, but the one that I remember better came from Bill Cosby. He said "you're drive down the highway at 80 miles and our and a Mac truck swerves across the line and is coming at you head on. First ya say it, then you do it." But elastic is very important. Hence the new ones.


Got another listing notice today in Grizzly Flats and thought about you. Figures. Had an acre and a 3 bedroom house on it. Another was an acre and a cabin, no plumbing. I ain't roughen it at my age. I check for clean porta potties when I'm camping.


Silkies sure are silly little birds aren't they? I've started to get rid of my 3 I don't know how many times, but I watch them and just can't do ti.

Sounds like you may have made some new friends. Even strangers know what a sweetheart you are. And as for that little tree...........I love apricots! Oh and I know how to make a liqueur out of them.

 

[Kansaseq]

Linda, you had me scratching my head there for a minute, trying to figure out what the heck chonies are. I've never heard them called that before.We always just called them 'underwear' , even though I'm a girl.

Your place is really looking wonderful. How many more improvements do you have planned? Any chance of getting a video tour : ) (smiley's not working for some reason!).

 

[wolftracks]

Quote:
Spanish term for panties

 

[Kansaseq]

Quote:
OH! Thanks , Wolftracks.

 

[gryeyes]

Spanish term for panties

Yah, we Californians pick up that Spanish and pepper our conversations with it just willy-nilly. Mas o menos.

My plan for today is to disassemble my incubator table and store the four incubators. I can use that table for my big jigsaw puzzle board. Then my living room coffee table will be less cluttered and maybe I can keep it more closely resembling something from Home & Garden magazines. Riiiiight.

But it's a nice plan.

There's something just wonderful about spending time on the deck with my first cups of coffee, puffing on an e-cig whilst watching the flock. A hummingbird buzzed me this morning - apparently I was too close to the feeder *I* put up for them.



The tomato plants in the "off the ground" planters are doing SO well. They're kinda jumbled together in this photo because John needed space for ladders against the house wall while he was putting up the new wood on the eaves. Two of his ladders and my shorter one make it a bit of an obstacle course in the garden area.



And here's a honeysuckle I planted a few days ago. I want it to spread out over the back fence.



It's getting easier to tell Edna from Edith as their tail feathers grow. Edith has more white on hers.

.

Here's another photo of Edna, just because.



If I had my act together, I would hook up the four security cameras John and I placed a couple of months ago. Oh, and maybe even install the new printer for my computer, which has been sitting here for quite some time, too. But I still have to get to the A/C unit in the stack of stuff shoved against a corner to move it into the living room window before the temperatures hit the 90s again. I think I'm going to have to bring the hand-truck inside to move it from the office into the living room, though. When I bought and used the window unit last summer, I opened the box on the daybed under the window where I put it. Just the initial lugging into the house, nicely contained in its box. Not the same situation now. <*sigh*>

However, Sister #1 is taking her chick out into the periwinkle in the "gully" area and it's just too cute to ignore. It's not like I have to get these other tasks done before I go to work tomorrow..... because I am retired. Mwaaahaaaahaaaaa!

 

[1muttsfan]

Sounds like you are getting all settled in. just remember that a house is Never really done

Most be BYC ESP, just bought some new undies myself - they were too colorful to pass up.

 

[HHandbasket]

You will have more room for the printer once you get the incubators stored, though. One step at a time.