The Front Porch Swing

[heartsizedfarm]

That sounds like a phrase from St Exupery's Little Prince.

Antoine de St Exupery.

 

[heartsizedfarm]

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly.
What is essential is invisible to the eye."

 

[rrrmamma]

My granddaughter Madi seems to be settling in well. We spent the time after supper in the gazebo just chatting about things, talking about my husband's time on submarines. Which led to history discussions about things they don't even cover in school anymore. We talked about WWII and the internment camps for the Japanese. She still had her I-phone buzzing every 30 seconds, but really participated in the conversation. The puppy was running in and out and just getting into mischief . A really nice evening. She is a smart girl and I think just needs to be recognized as an individual. She wants a hammock so tomorrow we will try to find her one. Doug told her about a pretty meadow near the house and she thinks that is where she wants it. We also have a small camping trailer that we bought last year and she wants to fix it up. It is on our upper property and I think she can get cell service there. She is going to clean it and we will run electricity for her. Her sister is coming on the 13th for 2 weeks so we are scheduling some fun stuff for the two of them. If I can keep her parents at bay a little bit I think she will do a lot of maturing. She is sweet and helpful, but I am waiting for the other shoe to drop. This is not the kid her mother described. I expected much defiance and tears. None so far. God has blessed me with this opportunity and I will give it my best.

 

[heartsizedfarm]

My granddaughter Madi seems to be settling in well. We spent the time after supper in the gazebo just chatting about things, talking about my husband's time on submarines. Which led to history discussions about things they don't even cover in school anymore. We talked about WWII and the internment camps for the Japanese. She still had her I-phone buzzing every 30 seconds, but really participated in the conversation. The puppy was running in and out and just getting into mischief . A really nice evening. She is a smart girl and I think just needs to be recognized as an individual. She wants a hammock so tomorrow we will try to find her one. Doug told her about a pretty meadow near the house and she thinks that is where she wants it. We also have a small camping trailer that we bought last year and she wants to fix it up. It is on our upper property and I think she can get cell service there. She is going to clean it and we will run electricity for her. Her sister is coming on the 13th for 2 weeks so we are scheduling some fun stuff for the two of them. If I can keep her parents at bay a little bit I think she will do a lot of maturing. She is sweet and helpful, but I am waiting for the other shoe to drop. This is not the kid her mother described. I expected much defiance and tears. None so far. God has blessed me with this opportunity and I will give it my best.

Sometimes it just takes someone who doesn't have the history, someone who can give her the opportunity to be entirely new, to reinvent herself.

 

[Beekissed]

 

[Blooie]

Sometimes it just takes someone who doesn't have the history, someone who can give her the opportunity to be entirely new, to reinvent herself.

....and to be what she always wanted to be but couldn't because she couldn't find a way out of the hole she'd dug! Good for all of you!!!

I'm prolly in trouble again, but this time I won't apologize and I won't back down. It's in a forum about "chickens aren't allowed but I'm keeping them anyway" or some such thing. Bee, you'll know - you posted there earlier.

Quiet night here....for some reason I'm feeling the peace washing all over me. I'm drinking it in like a desert survivor and thanking the Good Lord for all I have.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Blooie ... I popped over to that thread and saw what you wrote and thought it was excellent. I'm sure there are people that buy specific homes because of the ordinances in the neighborhood/town. I respect their right to live in an environment that meets their needs.

That said, I think rules against chickens are mostly silly and misinformed.

And now that that is said, my hens can be SO noisy sometimes. They are going through a phase where they get super noisy around dawn. That's happening SO early right now. Ugh.

 

[Blooie]

Blooie ... I popped over to that thread and saw what you wrote and thought it was excellent. I'm sure there are people that buy specific homes because of the ordinances in the neighborhood/town. I respect their right to live in an environment that meets their needs.

That said, I think rules against chickens are mostly silly and misinformed.

And now that that is said, my hens can be SO noisy sometimes. They are going through a phase where they get super noisy around dawn. That's happening SO early right now. Ugh.

Thanks, Leslie. The irony of passing the animal ordinance was that at the time I only owned Molly, the goofy English Setter. I was one of the people who wanted to totally ban animals in town. We are surrounded by horses and steers, with chickens (and roosters - LOTS of roosters) down the street and sheep behind us. I got a little tired of smelling barnyard instead of my lilacs, and having horseflies join me on the deck. I also got tired of driving around town and seeing four horses on a section of a lot smaller than the footprint of my one car garage and chickens kept in ramshackle messes made of faded, decaying OSB while the birds ran all over town. What changed my mind? The willingness of people to care about their neighbors. Most of the "culprits" had no idea their animals were even causing problems, simply because they'd always had them. When their grandparents owned the property, then their parents the animal were there too....so they grew up without thinking about it. As newer houses were built and new people moved in, a problem which had been ignored couldn't be ignored anymore.

When we started having the public meetings, a lot of eyes were opened, including mine. I came to realize that one of the things that made Cowley so special was the freedom to live the way those brave pioneers who built this town had always lived. I watched Little Diane get a ride home from school on the back of Elizabeth's horse. I loved watching the 4-H kids, so responsible and proud, fitting their steers or lambs for fair and training them. So I listened. I learned. I came to realize that taking away a lifestyle from others doesn't give you power, it just makes you feel bad for taking a little bit of history from an amazing town. And most importantly I learned that if you give people a chance to find common ground, they can almost always compromise.

I agree that laws against chickens are mostly silly and uniformed. But the right answer is to be a beacon - an example of proper care, cleaning, and respect for people who don't want chickens in their neighborhoods. That's how to get those laws changed. They'll never change in every single community...it would be naive to even think that. It's a fact that people who don't own them outnumber the rest of us by far, and for almost (and I stress ALMOST) every law on the books, there's a person or a situation that called for something to be done to alleviate a conflict. Our job as chicken owners is to teach, inform, and change the mindset that says we are all slobs who aren't doing a good job.

 

[perchie.girl]

On the subject of ordinances. San diego city propper had a NO chickens ordinance up till about two years ago. Now a new law has passed you can have I believe up to five....

Up till then people who lived in San Diego County which includes quite a few small high density towns were left to decide for themselves. Each town had the right to say Yay or Nay. but for the most part If you had property large enough to provide housing for your chickens that allowed the chickens to be housed no closer than fifty feet from any home. This included your neighbor. You were good to go.

The ordinance then was four chickens per person living in the house. Or something like that... and no roosters.

So The City of San Diego did this blanket ordinance that covered areas that had no ordinance for chickens... Again the fifty foot limitation. No roosters.

But in the process they ruled that those people who lived in rural areas where Roosters dont matter you are only allowed two. The exception is in areas where I live its limited to acreage. I am allowed five roosters. It put a few breeders out of business. One fellow who had had breeding program for sixty years had to shut down. He was in his eighties it put him out of business.

Their reasoning? To eliminate people who were raising for cock fighting. You should have seen the adds for Roosters on Craigslist after that. Course the cock fighting is done in Mexico so they had originally slipped under the radar specifying that these birds were ornamental pets only.

I know the topic is taboo here so I wont say any more on it. Except there is an obvious difference in the way they are raised versus the way Joe chicken farmer raises for showing or breeding quality of eggs. So San Diego threw out the baby with the bath water and kept the tub....

I am glad they finally allowed chickens. I am certain people who are allowed to have roosters will continue as long as no one complains. It still makes quite a few law breakers now.

deb

 

[enola]

Bee, I have a quilt just like that one! Grandchildren look just like little angels sleeping on it!