Texas

[bnjrob]

So... my 17 pound box of eggs is AWOL...
*sighs* USPS strikes again


9505510379283098427438
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Priority Mail

Dispatched to Sort Facility

April 08, 2013, 4:45 pm

GRIDLEY, IL 61744

Expected Delivery By:
April 10, 2013
USPS Tracking / Delivery Confirmation

• ​
• ​
• ​
• Acceptance​
• April 08, 2013, 11:51 am​
• GRIDLEY, IL 61744
  ​

their little "hide details" button is possessed when I try to post to the forum.. go figure...

Sad, sad, sad! I just saw a facebook post this morning from a seed company that said the post office has lost so many pkgs that they were polling customers to see if the customers would pay higher shipping costs for fedex or ups so they could drop the post office shipping.

What I hate is that out here, the post office is more reliable than anyone else. FedEx and UPS don't like to come out here so they will leave stuff at their facilities in Dallas, or keep it on the truck for days at a time until sometime decides they are going to drive all the way out here. And there isn't any local fedex or ups office closer than about 30 miles from us.

Maybe the Pony Express should make a comeback. I also hear the Wells Fargo freight lines were pretty reliable in their day too.

 

[yinepu]

Quote:
yup.. when we would clean out the freezers the chickens got everything that was freezer burnt (except for my Mother's darn goldfish "Bigstuff".. but that's a whole 'nother story)...

 

[bnjrob]

Oh my gawd, guys....I wish we had been able to get a photo last night. But, we always "tuck the girls in" at night. Just as the sun is setting, we're outside with a drink, chatting, etc which the chickens do the Chicken March to bed. Last night, we were caught up in canning the leftover chili and hadn't realized it was sunset. We hear a *tap tap tap pause taptap tap pause taptaptapTAP* on the glass of our dining room window. Mike looks up and busts out laughing, so Jeff and I ask what and Mike points to the window. The Girls (Miney, Mo and Meeney) are up on the window sill eyeing us like, "Dude, are we going to bed or WHAT?" As we watched, Mo (my fave, btw) cocked her head and then began to tap on the window again. So, out we went and put them to bed. It was hilarious.

 

[bnjrob]

yup.. when we would clean out the freezers the chickens got everything that was freezer burnt (except for my Mother's darn goldfish "Bigstuff".. but that's a whole 'nother story)...

You know you just can't post interesting little tidbits and leave everyone hanging for long....

 

[yinepu]

Quote:

Priority Mail

Dispatched to Sort Facility

April 08, 2013, 4:45 pm

GRIDLEY, IL 61744

Expected Delivery By:
April 10, 2013
USPS Tracking / Delivery Confirmation

• ​
• ​
• ​
• Acceptance​
• April 08, 2013, 11:51 am​
• GRIDLEY, IL 61744
  ​

their little "hide details" button is possessed when I try to post to the forum.. go figure...

Sad, sad, sad! I just saw a facebook post this morning from a seed company that said the post office has lost so many pkgs that they were polling customers to see if the customers would pay higher shipping costs for fedex or ups so they could drop the post office shipping.

What I hate is that out here, the post office is more reliable than anyone else. FedEx and UPS don't like to come out here so they will leave stuff at their facilities in Dallas, or keep it on the truck for days at a time until sometime decides they are going to drive all the way out here. And there isn't any local fedex or ups office closer than about 30 miles from us.

Maybe the Pony Express should make a comeback. I also hear the Wells Fargo freight lines were pretty reliable in their day too.

fedex and ups have a hard time finding us.. the regular drivers finally got it down..but anytime we get someone new it's the same routine.. phone calls.. tie balloons to the mailbox, the fence and the gate.. stand out by the highway to flag them down.. *sighs*

 

[bnjrob]

fedex and ups have a hard time finding us.. the regular drivers finally got it down..but anytime we get someone new it's the same routine.. phone calls.. tie balloons to the mailbox, the fence and the gate.. stand out by the highway to flag them down.. *sighs*

Yep - know that. Which is really ignorant since they have GPS now.

Had a UPS driver flat out tell me that we were last on the list for deliveries because of our location and not being a retail business. Gotta love that customer service. Not.

 

[GFamily]

You can feed them just about anything from the time they are born. They are omnivores, not vegetarians. If you feed them ONLY chick feed, then you don't need to supplement with any grit. You only need grit if they are going to eat other things.

Remember, prior to the 20th century, there was no such thing as manufactured chick feed. Only wealthier people who were poultry fanciers did things like special feeding (of grains/fruits/etc) or incubated eggs and raised chicks without a hen's help. Momma hens have their chicks eating all kinds of bugs, plants, etc. from day one.

Prior to manufactured feed, people did feed whole grains obtained from the feed store to chickens. If they could afford it. More often, homestead chickens had to scrounge their food - bugs, mice, snakes, spiders, ant, grasses, seeds, etc. The lady of the house, or the children, would feed chickens food scraps from the house that were too small to save, couldn't be saved due to no electricity, were too mushy or damaged for people to want to eat, etc. They gave their chickens everything they weren't going to use themselves, including meat and even dairy scraps such as soured milk, sweet milk, butter milk from churning butter, whey, as well as the routine fruits/veggies.

Don't be afraid to throw things to the chickens. Usually when they won't eat it, it's because they just haven't figured out that it is edible and you have to keep re-introducing things to them - like when teaching a baby to eat new foods. Once they get outside and have opportunity to start foraging, it usually takes them less time to decide to try something new. You can clean out the refrigerator and feed them things you might throw away as long as stuff isn't moldy. Ours will eat bruised fruit/veggies but they also eat things like leftover soups, casseroles, etc. They love leftover navy bean & turkey ham soup! I know people that say their chickens love to eat old hot peppers that they were going to trash. Be creative. You can treat your chickens, clean out your fridge, and carry on an old homestead tradition all at the same time.

I was thinking "back in the day they didn't even have chick feed...they just had whatever was outside." Thanks very much for the information!

 

[yinepu]

Quote:

back in the day.... (lol)

the department stores around us would have little events.. during easter it was the dyed chicks and ducklings.. during summer sales they would set up a 'fishing hole" for the kids. For a nickel you would get 5 chances to "fish".. they would set up a kiddie pool with water and well stocked with cheapie goldfish.. then hand you a small aquarium net. Every chance to "fish" was one swipe with the net.. so long as the net was in the water you could go after as many fish as you wanted. Usually one scoop would result in 3 to 5 goldfish if you were skilled at it.. so walking out of there with 15 to 25 goldfish for 5 cents was pretty much the normal thing. Well.. my mother took me and one of my brothers to the store.. saw the "fishing hole" and decided to let us have a go at it.. (I think we split the nickle)
we came home with a bag full of goldfish and dumped them into a brand new tank (no water adjustments... just plopped them in)

A few died within the next few days.. several hung on for months.. one goldfish in particular lasted several years.. a big ol male veiltail (yeah.. nice fish.. they didn't dump old feeder goldfish off on us back then). My mother laid claim to this particular fish and named him "Bigstuff".. when he finally died he was well over a foot long just in his body length.. the veil tail was extra

Well.. my mother was ALMOST as weird as I am.. so she decided that "Bigstuff" needed to be preserved in all his glory... in other words.. taxidermy

At the time my father was making a whopping 3 to 4K a year .. gas was 24 cents a gallon.. and bread was the outrageous price of 25 cents a loaf.. so with my father's paycheck.. having 7 kids and raising our own chickens.. we managed to make ends meet.. however those ends didn't cover the price of some guy stuffing a dead goldfish with sawdust

So "Bigstuff was ceremoniously wrapped in wax paper.. then tinfoil.. and was laid to rest in the freezer next to my sister's frozen prom corsages and a bit of someone's frozen dried up wedding cake.

Every year (several times a year) came the ritual of "cleaning out the freezer" where bits and pieces of food .. freezer burnt or well past the "dang is it still good enough to eat?" date .. would be sacrificed to the flock of chickens who seemed to know it was that time of the year again by the gleam in their beady little eyes...
So as we were cleaning .. sooner or later one of us would lay our grubby little mitts on the still wrapped (but somewhat damaged by this point) corpse of "Bigstuff".. then the yelling conversation would start...
"hey Mom... "
"yeah?"
"what do you want me to do with Bigstuff...?"
"HE'S FINE!!!"
"but... mom... his tail is chipped......"
"put him back.. HE'S FINE!!!"
"but.. MOOOOM..... he's got freezer burn.. can the chickens or cats have him?"
"PUT HIM BACK!.. "HE'S FINE!!!"

so back he would go...

then the next time it would go on again..

"hey Mom... "
"yeah?"
"what do you want me to do with Bigstuff...?"
"HE'S FINE!!!"
"but... mom... his tail is BROKEN OFF......"
"put him back.. HE'S FINE!!!"
"but.. MOOOOM..... he's got freezer burn.. his eyes are all sunk in ... and he's in 17 pieces.. can the chickens or cats have him?"
"NO.. I TOLD YOU PUT HIM BACK!.. "HE'S FINE!!!"

Eventually the tin foil was in tatters.. "Bigstuff" had lost big pieces of his tail and his fins in previous freezer cleanings.. but he still resided in the freezer for the day when his little defrosted zombie fish body would meet with the great taxidermist .. who in my mother's mind.. would magically bring him back into pristine pre-death condition...
I graduated from High School.. "Bigstuff" still resided in the freezer...
I got married and divorced.. moved back to the house to find him still holding his place of honor in the freezer..
my youngest brother got married.. had two kids.. and we would still hear my mother yell "HE'S FINE" whenever "Bigstuff" was mentioned...
The freezer died.. and was replaced.. "Bigstuff" made the move to the new freezer

to this day I have no idea why the fascination with that darn fish..

 

[Kilsharion]

Sad, sad, sad! I just saw a facebook post this morning from a seed company that said the post office has lost so many pkgs that they were polling customers to see if the customers would pay higher shipping costs for fedex or ups so they could drop the post office shipping.

What I hate is that out here, the post office is more reliable than anyone else. FedEx and UPS don't like to come out here so they will leave stuff at their facilities in Dallas, or keep it on the truck for days at a time until sometime decides they are going to drive all the way out here. And there isn't any local fedex or ups office closer than about 30 miles from us.

Maybe the Pony Express should make a comeback. I also hear the Wells Fargo freight lines were pretty reliable in their day too.

I've actually been contemplating opening a "poultry taxi" service for Texas, since I can make it across the state in a day and I love to drive. But, the fees I'd have to charge to be able to keep paying for my house, etc would be astronomical.

 

[TexasLisa]

True statement. Though, I must have some of the most spoiled poultry on the planet because I'm finding there are things that they don't care for (re: the blueberries my Rascals won't go near). It's very interesting to see that they actually do have preferences, and it's not all the same for every bird. I am still growing into actually seeing them as individual birds. Growing up, there were so many around all the time that you just kind of saw them like one hive mind with individual body parts. It's great getting to see their individual personalities coming out.

Oh my gawd, guys....I wish we had been able to get a photo last night. But, we always "tuck the girls in" at night. Just as the sun is setting, we're outside with a drink, chatting, etc which the chickens do the Chicken March to bed. Last night, we were caught up in canning the leftover chili and hadn't realized it was sunset. We hear a *tap tap tap pause taptap tap pause taptaptapTAP* on the glass of our dining room window. Mike looks up and busts out laughing, so Jeff and I ask what and Mike points to the window. The Girls (Miney, Mo and Meeney) are up on the window sill eyeing us like, "Dude, are we going to bed or WHAT?" As we watched, Mo (my fave, btw) cocked her head and then began to tap on the window again. So, out we went and put them to bed. It was hilarious.

back in the day.... (lol)

the department stores around us would have little events.. during easter it was the dyed chicks and ducklings.. during summer sales they would set up a 'fishing hole" for the kids. For a nickel you would get 5 chances to "fish".. they would set up a kiddie pool with water and well stocked with cheapie goldfish.. then hand you a small aquarium net. Every chance to "fish" was one swipe with the net.. so long as the net was in the water you could go after as many fish as you wanted. Usually one scoop would result in 3 to 5 goldfish if you were skilled at it.. so walking out of there with 15 to 25 goldfish for 5 cents was pretty much the normal thing. Well.. my mother took me and one of my brothers to the store.. saw the "fishing hole" and decided to let us have a go at it.. (I think we split the nickle)
we came home with a bag full of goldfish and dumped them into a brand new tank (no water adjustments... just plopped them in)

A few died within the next few days.. several hung on for months.. one goldfish in particular lasted several years.. a big ol male veiltail (yeah.. nice fish.. they didn't dump old feeder goldfish off on us back then). My mother laid claim to this particular fish and named him "Bigstuff".. when he finally died he was well over a foot long just in his body length.. the veil tail was extra

Well.. my mother was ALMOST as weird as I am.. so she decided that "Bigstuff" needed to be preserved in all his glory... in other words.. taxidermy

At the time my father was making a whopping 3 to 4K a year .. gas was 24 cents a gallon.. and bread was the outrageous price of 25 cents a loaf.. so with my father's paycheck.. having 7 kids and raising our own chickens.. we managed to make ends meet.. however those ends didn't cover the price of some guy stuffing a dead goldfish with sawdust

So "Bigstuff was ceremoniously wrapped in wax paper.. then tinfoil.. and was laid to rest in the freezer next to my sister's frozen prom corsages and a bit of someone's frozen dried up wedding cake.

Every year (several times a year) came the ritual of "cleaning out the freezer" where bits and pieces of food .. freezer burnt or well past the "dang is it still good enough to eat?" date .. would be sacrificed to the flock of chickens who seemed to know it was that time of the year again by the gleam in their beady little eyes...
So as we were cleaning .. sooner or later one of us would lay our grubby little mitts on the still wrapped (but somewhat damaged by this point) corpse of "Bigstuff".. then the yelling conversation would start...
"hey Mom... "
"yeah?"
"what do you want me to do with Bigstuff...?"
"HE'S FINE!!!"
"but... mom... his tail is chipped......"
"put him back.. HE'S FINE!!!"
"but.. MOOOOM..... he's got freezer burn.. can the chickens or cats have him?"
"PUT HIM BACK!.. "HE'S FINE!!!"

so back he would go...

then the next time it would go on again..

"hey Mom... "
"yeah?"
"what do you want me to do with Bigstuff...?"
"HE'S FINE!!!"
"but... mom... his tail is BROKEN OFF......"
"put him back.. HE'S FINE!!!"
"but.. MOOOOM..... he's got freezer burn.. his eyes are all sunk in ... and he's in 17 pieces.. can the chickens or cats have him?"
"NO.. I TOLD YOU PUT HIM BACK!.. "HE'S FINE!!!"

Eventually the tin foil was in tatters.. "Bigstuff" had lost big pieces of his tail and his fins in previous freezer cleanings.. but he still resided in the freezer for the day when his little defrosted zombie fish body would meet with the great taxidermist .. who in my mother's mind.. would magically bring him back into pristine pre-death condition...
I graduated from High School.. "Bigstuff" still resided in the freezer...
I got married and divorced.. moved back to the house to find him still holding his place of honor in the freezer..
my youngest brother got married.. had two kids.. and we would still hear my mother yell "HE'S FINE" whenever "Bigstuff" was mentioned...
The freezer died.. and was replaced.. "Bigstuff" made the move to the new freezer

to this day I have no idea why the fascination with that darn fish..

Kilsharion and Yinepu!!!!

Lisa