The Evolution of Atlas: A Breeding (and Chat) Thread

[oldhenlikesdogs]

That may be a "shed" to you but it looks like a barn to me! They're doing a really nice job!

Thank you. We actually have a barn, but the back foundation was crumbling and the top was falling down too when we moved here. My husband took the top down and we rebuilt a smaller roof on the good foundation. The bad back half became a garden area.

I guess around here sheds are either smaller or made of tin, and barns are wood with a foundation, but terminology is changing and materials. Some cow barns are now made of plastic.


Our barn with my shed to the right. I guess my shed is as big as the barn, so maybe I need to call it the chicken barn now.



The back foundation area.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Yep, her shed is bigger than my so-called barn! I want real barns like on my grandfather's farm, seen in these old photos. He had several, plus equipment sheds, well house, smoke house, etc, etc. Lots of buildings on old farms. This one where my horse is had a hay loft where we always looked for the new kittens, same one as in the second picture.
View attachment 1149828 View attachment 1149829
This one was the cattle barn. To the right was the pig shed and pen. View attachment 1149830


And I found a picture of my pony and one of her foals. Those are about the only real memories I have of my childhood, ponies and playing outside in the neighborhood with older kids. This wasn't at the farm, but in our suburban backyard. Oooh, see the nosy neighbor! I never noticed that.
View attachment 1149833

One of her last foals before Dad sold her. Gosh, my dad built that blue horse trailer in the background. When they were little, we'd take the foals in the back of the sedan, just took out the back seat and rolled down the window, LOL.

View attachment 1149834

What wonderful pictures and memories. I was obsessed with pinto ponies too. My neighbor had a few. I spent quite a few summers on the backs of those ponies.

You had a mule too. Looks like a wonderful slice of heaven you grew up in, and look how adorable you were.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I always love seeing that garden area by your barn.

 

[Leahs Mom]

We finally pulled all the bell peppers (about a half bushel) that I've neglected to attend to before now due to busyness.

We stuffed all of them last night (I just do seasoned ground meat and cheese...if we want grains we could do them on the side) and all are in the freezer ready to pull out for a handy meal.

That's such a relief as I was afraid they were going to go to waste from lack of time for them.

Now...
On a project for work (new website to build) so I'm working on that this afternoon.

 

[speckledhen]

What wonderful pictures and memories. I was obsessed with pinto ponies too. My neighbor had a few. I spent quite a few summers on the backs of those ponies.

You had a mule too. Looks like a wonderful slice of heaven you grew up in, and look how adorable you were.

That was one of my grandfather's mules, a pair, one black and one red. He called them, oddly enough, Black and Red, LOL. He plowed with them, used the gee and haw terms for right and left. And he grew out meat chickens for someone, no idea who, plus the normal flock he kept for their own use. I loved my ponies. I remember the foal's names: The red and white was Sugarbaby. The other one pictured when I was a teen was Glory (born on Memorial Day). And there was Cricket and Domino, too. How I remember, I have no idea.

 

[speckledhen]

Lisa, your home is so wonderful.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Lisa, your home is so wonderful.

Thank you.

I don't think anyone lucky enough to have horses as a kid forgets their names.

 

[speckledhen]

My latest video, which may rub some the wrong way, but hey, not the first time and will not be the last. But, bonus! You get to watch my pretty older girls rather than my own ugly mug! LOL

 

[kitkat5505]

My latest video, which may rub some the wrong way, but hey, not the first time and will not be the last. But, bonus! You get to watch my pretty older girls rather than my own ugly mug! LOL

Great video! I feel the same way. The greedy people are the ones who don't prepare and then expect everyone to take care of them in a crisis. I have enough food and water I could feed my family of 10 for a couple weeks if I had to in an emergency and longer if we ration things more. My goal is to have enough of my food storage that I could feed my family for a year if necessary. There are some basic necessities like flour that I need to stock up on again because I have gotten low and that's my goal the next time I go shopping is to get some more of those items. My fear in emergency is less the emergency itself and more about the greedy people who would try to take things from my family that they need.

 

[speckledhen]

@kitkat5505 I still can't get over your family wanting money from your family of ten! That just bugs the heck out of me.

It's funny how people perceive you, too. RANT ALERT! LOL. There were rumors floating among the family that we paid $250K for this house. Where that came from, I have no clue. We paid $89,900. It was a estate. It appraised for over $100K at the time, now worth much more than that after 15 years plus a complete renovation and extreme property improvement, but still, not worth $250K even now (though, from the places I've seen for sale around me for $200K, maybe it's worth more than I think, lol).

So, what part of we live on military pension alone did they miss? You don't get rich in the Air Force. And the pension is low. Even as a disabled vet, my husband gets NOTHING extra added to it, only a small portion deducted from it and paid directly from the VA is non-taxable. Big whoop, right? We also put two sons through college. Where is this money we supposedly have? My father-in-law left nothing to his children. My father had no will and his hoochie-mama green-card wife got 1/3 of the value of the house profit after expenses, nothing else other than a small part of his IRA that paid for only part of my steel barn; half of what I got for his house replaced my 20 year old Lumina with the used Nissan Rogue. A chunk of the rest will go to dental work for both of us.

So, again, where is the money they think we have? Out of what we do have, we pay for life insurance, which is higher as DH gets older, dental insurance, car insurance and now we'll be paying not just TriCare medical insurance for me, but Medicare for him starting in February, plus feed and vet 40 chickens and a cat. And yes, we sort of have to eat, too. And I still manage to have emergency cash (food & supplies, too) and no debt other than the piddly remainder of the mortgage, which I wish I could pay. Thankfully, property taxes are dropping this year so I will start throwing more at the principal of the mortgage. But, I don't have DirecTV/Dish or an iPhone, rarely go out to eat at a sit-down place, though we occasionally cruise through Checkers to get a $2 chicken sandwich or burger on the fly (ooh, so guilty!), we don't go to movies or pay concerts EVER, etc. Yeah, poor, poor us. Such a horrible, boring life, right? But, again, where is all that cash they think we have buried in the backyard somewhere or you, Kara, with 8 kids to support? Or how do they think we can support them like they are our dependents in a SHTF scenario which could be long-term? Maybe that's it, they just don't think, period. SMH.