Surviving Minnesota!

[duluthralphie]

I know this could be in the dumb question category, but what do you do with preying mantis?

( I fully believe there is such a thing as a dumb question, I taught at the university for a few years and have heard many dumb questions, most asked by dumb people..So I am asking the above with my hand raised about 2 inches so no one knows I asked it.......

 

[duluthralphie]

EJB, I have 5 healthy white sports out of the hatcher and into the brooder incubator for a couple hours... I have one white sport in the hatcher, it is sitting in the shell and has not left it yet. I call it "Chick on a half shell".

I would like to count it as number 6, but I do not dare until it gets out of the shell. I have about a dozen normal CLB's So I did about 33% white sports this hatch. I am happy!...



Now I have to decide what to do with the eggs I have, to hatch or not....




Judy has said I can go get these if I want.. I have not gotten an email back from the person yet,,

http://fortcollins.craigslist.org/grd/5672057395.html

I am a little afraid to go get them as I think Judy could be setting a trap for me and if I go get them I will walk right into her evil scheme....

 

[Minniechickmama]

Praying mantis, sir Ralphie, are beneficial insects that will keep your garden clean of those ruinous aphids and other insects that will lay ruin to your garden. VERY good to have around as well as real lady bugs, not those Asian Lady Beetles the government imported to 'take care of the aphids on soybeans' that they lost control of because they have no known predator to keep them in check.

 

[Cluckies]

Cluckies,, She sounds like my brother! I only have 6 FB friends, I never look at any of their stuff. The only reason I have it is to see pictures of my Grandkids and play candy crush. I "de-friended" ages ago when my "friends" with very liberal slants decided FB was a place to proof how stupid they were by spewing their political positions in ways that made absolutely no sense and not being able to make a cogent argument in support of....

Life is better without worrying about non-thinking people...... BTW I think my brother is not talking to me......as you can see I am so broken up over it.... It took offense to my telling him "a Liberal is someone that wants to take guns which are legal from people, while allowing people to have drugs which are illegal".... Or maybe it was when I said I was going to call the INS and inform them he has an illegal alien housekeeper.... He is a rich professor, his wife is a Lawyer, they can afford to be liberal unlike his poor older brother.......

Drop facebook or do some heavy defriending, you can add me if you play candy crush and will give me extra lives.....

BTW I seem to use BYC as my FB,,You poor people are subject to my ramblings and photos... Someday I am going to try and write less..


Erli... My rain gauge has measurable water in it!! We got just under a half inch! Unless someone put water in it to make me think it words! You need to visit Menards and get a rain gauge! I don't think we had any wind. Are hollyhocks a perennial? I want some. My Grandma use to have them, I seem to find myself wanting a lot of stuff she had..








Quote: I would say that harvest would have done me in! lol
That turkey poult, how cute!

@duluthralphie yes the hollyhocks are a perennial, love them.

DH is on his way to Menards I told him to get a rain gauge, hope he remembers.

I got home a few minutes ago from a friends, she called to say her praying mantis were hatching so I jumped in the car and went. Her driveway is about a mile or so through the woods and I had to stop for a couple downed trees, one was small enough that I was able to get it off the road myself the other was larger but close enough to walk the rest of the way then her hubby got the chain saw.
She sent me home with a jar of the mantis about 20, I released them in the garden. I have some mantis egg pods but mine haven't hatched yet, all hers have ...



They are so small, hope they grow fast.

How do you keep your chickens from eating these guys?

 

[duluthralphie]

Praying mantis, sir Ralphie, are beneficial insects that will keep your garden clean of those ruinous aphids and other insects that will lay ruin to your garden. VERY good to have around as well as real lady bugs, not those Asian Lady Beetles the government imported to 'take care of the aphids on soybeans' that they lost control of because they have no known predator to keep them in check.

I did not know this!


Well, I have learned my thing for today!!


BTW the Sir Ralphie threw me for a loop.... I have a good friend that has a daughter with autism, she is very shy and in her early 40's now. I have gotten her to open up to me and she will actually sit and listen to her Dad and I talk. She answers the phone to me and I give her a rash about announcing me to her Dad as Sir Ralphie....She laughs and does it every time...

How do you keep your chickens from eating these guys?

\
That would have been my next dumb question.... I assume I could train the chickens to not eat them, but what about the guineas? They break the rules for the fun of it...

 

[Cebarmlds]

Yep the praying mantis eat others bugs! hoping they will eat the bad bugs and not the good ones! My garden is in a field a little bit a ways from the house and the chickens don't go out there, or very rarely- it doesn't have much of any where for them to get away from aerial predator's and it's hot so they stay closer to the house where there are lots of trees. I never got the praying mantis before and if I'd have known how long they took to hatch I would have had them shipped sooner.




ETA: my garden is also fenced~

 

[Siggie]

Good morning all....

 

[Siggie]

I ferment. I love it because the chickens go nuts for it.

Mine too! how long have you been fermenting and have you ever had any problems with botulism or aflatoxins?

It has been a tough facebook day for me. My sister is a raving liberal who is constantly bad mouthing Christians and Conservatives and anybody who doesn't agree with her agenda. All her posts are hate filled and divisive, judgmental and hurtful. She is the most closed minded person except for what she thinks is right. I've been trying to decide if I should delete my facebook account as I get upset many times on there because of her. I hid her years ago, but we have alot of the same people as "friends" (family) as she is my sister of course, so we get into it on other peoples posts, because she will always post the opposite of whatever I say. For instance, the latest thing was about the shooting in falcon heights. It was on somebody elses post who the day of the shooting said she wished cops would quit killing black people. I of course said we should wait before judging on these kinds of things until all the investigation is complete. My sister chimes in about the cop being trigger happy, blah, blah, blah. I said we should settle down and wait for all the investigation to be complete before making judgements. It went on and on for her. Dog with a bone. it got ugly.

The thing is, I like seeing my other family and friends stuff, children's accomplishments, vacations, fun stuff. Plus invitations to stuff, ect... But, I don't think I can stay on there. I asked her to quit with her BS, she won't. she is hard headed, hard hearted, stubborn and always right. My husband had a FB account for about 2 weeks a few years ago but he deleted his account because of her toxic posts.

Any suggestions?

I may just not go on facebook for a few weeks and see if it is a big loss or not, i'm thinking it probably wouldn't be a big loss... I may end up being much happier without all the BS.

It has gotten to the point that today I told her f you in a fb message that got terribly nasty. frankly, I don't even want to go to any family functions if she is there, neither does my husband, she is toxic. We have to always just sit there and not say anything and listen to her spew her nastiness. I don't know why some people just go so far overboard with their BS, to the point where they are breaking up families. Sorry for my rant. I'm just very upset and really can't talk to anybody in my family but my DH about this, and I consider all of you good friends (family)

.

I feel for you, I think we all have that "one" person in our family like this. my daughter is the same way. I just want to scream sometimes. She puts her whole life on FB??? Why!?? I am a private person and do not like ANYONE in my personal space unless I invite them (whether it is physical space or virtual space) I do not understand why anyone would want everyone knowing their most intimate thoughts or their political/social ideals. I chalk it up to her needing social recognition for whatever it is she is spouting. Her way is always the right way and she is constantly tooting her own horn so to speak. Since moving north I find I don not need FB...I have slowly moved away from it. I "troll" now.... I read all the posts but never post. I am like Ralphie...it's just a way to get my "grandkid" pics!!
Don't get me wrong, I love my daughter dearly and I am very proud (she is a Master Sgt. in the Airforce) but sometimes, I just wish she would shut up!

I am just waiting because I know she will mellow with age ..... Someday you will be friends with your sister again because she will age and mellow out. We all do.

@duluthralphie yes the hollyhocks are a perennial, love them.

DH is on his way to Menards I told him to get a rain gauge, hope he remembers.

I got home a few minutes ago from a friends, she called to say her praying mantis were hatching so I jumped in the car and went. Her driveway is about a mile or so through the woods and I had to stop for a couple downed trees, one was small enough that I was able to get it off the road myself the other was larger but close enough to walk the rest of the way then her hubby got the chain saw.
She sent me home with a jar of the mantis about 20, I released them in the garden. I have some mantis egg pods but mine haven't hatched yet, all hers have ...



They are so small, hope they grow fast.

A little creepy...but very cool. They are GREAT bugs to have around.

 

[ejb3810]

Ralphie, those incubators would put you in the business in a big way. It will take a few chick sales to pay for one, but they say you only go around once so make the most of it.
Do you think that Judy is setting you up for a kitchen remodel or some other expensive item?

The weather is a bit unsettled this morning and not fit for man or bird out there.

 

[Siggie]

...at the risk of sounding creepy/weird.... "hey Ralphie, nice cherry!"