The Front Porch Swing

[luvblues7]

Anyway, there is good news!

I went to the feed store yesterday and picked up 3 more Ameraucana pullets when I noticed they had turkeys and guineas. Oh, the conflict I felt!

Mom just told the guy helping us to put three keets in the box. Now I have six more babies in the coop!

I fixed up the coop with 2 heat lamps, elevated waterers and plenty of shavings. Two of the sides are already covered, so I took an old plastic chest and used it to block the uncovered wire wall. I also utilized some old lattice and staggered it over the wire. It's temporary, but the chicks are totally fine.

Oh, you'll see the occasional quail mixed in. They needed better shelter and they teach the chicks to scratch better. It's a bit wet and cold outside right now, so the extra heat helps too!

I would love to have some turkeys. We have wild ones that come up to the barn and eat the feed the horses waste but I want some tame ones. OH HONNNNEEEEY....how about some turkeys? I can feel a new turkey habitat coming to my house. hehehe.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote: I am trying to talk mom into letting me have the picture albums and scan them so we can have a digital copy. This way I can do my touch up magic on the old pictures and preseerve the color that is left. EAsy Peasy to Identify them in the process. Then they will all go onto a CD for safe keeping. then she can have her albums back.

Here is an example of what I have done with Some of my Dads family pictures.




This was a little ablum I scanned whole pages at a time didnt even have to take them out.... Then I copied each picture into its own file. I like scanning the whole album page because we write dates and names in the margins on occasion.

deb

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:
LJ, we are soooooo alike!

I'm a huge fan of ergonomics and try to incorporate that into all chores, especially animal chores, and also in trips to town, at work (as a nurse I find it imperative to waste no motion and keep things running like a well oiled machine whenever possible because rarely in nursing does anything go as planned).

And I too find decorations....heavy..on my mind and body. They make my mind shrink away from a room and it's like noise to me. If things aren't smooth, well proportioned, harmonious in color or shape, it tends to make me tune out the home so I don't have to think of all the busy-ness on the walls and shelves. I think clutter works like that for me too. I have designated clutter spots that are allowed to mount up...a particular drawer, a decorative basket or bowl on a dresser or counter that contains all those items you have in your hand and don't have time to find a place for, or even one workbench that is a catch all....as long as all the other surfaces are open and clean for business. When those clutter spots get just ridiculous, then I have to sort and designate a spot...or toss.

Raising three boys by myself took a lot of the OCD out of me and I had to learn to just shut the door on their spaces and just choose my battles about communal living areas...and it was a constant siege.

Fortunately, I had one that was a little OCD himself and could sometimes help me keep order.

 

[perchie.girl]

I'm more of a procedural freak than a clutter freak. I like procedures to be a efficient as possible, and I'm a stickler for designing "quality" into a procedure. I'm always on the lookout for a "better" way to do things, and love the zing of an inspiration about that.

I can't deal with a lot of unexplained clutter very well, like "decorations." Decorations make me itchy, like literally. But I will leave "work" things "out" that I use all the time rather than adding two steps to a procedure (put something away, get it back out again). I have a large-ish house, so I have "zones" for various activities, and I like to "batch" projects as I find the hardest part about any job is STARTING it ... so I design procedures so you don't have to start things any more than necessary, and then I try to turn those procedures into habits so I don't have to think about it first to motivate myself ... it becomes automatic.

When I've lived in smaller spaces I have found it more "efficient" to always put everything away, so I didn't have to start every project by clearing a spot to work. That is always a depressing step to me.

When some other people come to visit this house they can't stand to see dishes drying beside the sink. Air-drying saves effort AND it's more sanitary. So I air dry. But oh how the sight of that pushes some people over the edge!

When I "moved home" there was absolutely no place to put anything down. That made starting the de-cluttering SO difficult. I'd pick something up because I couldn't stand to look at it/move around it any more, then have no place to put it except maybe the garbage. But my mom died very shortly after I moved home, and Dad went through a phase of freaking out about anything going into the garbage, so I spent years being exceptionally sneaky about even that.

I got very creative finding places to "donate" anything that might be useful as Dad seemed to be able to cope with that. And I boxed up a lot of stuff that wasn't good enough to donate. Since then, I've been going through boxes ... slowly ... as I/we feel strong enough to face that.

I sent ONE box to my sister to deal with, and she had a total meltdown over it. Going through family stuff can be extremely difficult, emotionally. I often find myself completely overwhelmed by a particular batch of stuff, and that feeling can really block my progress.

Luckily, there are PLENTY of things to do in a day, so I can just put the ongoing de-cluttering on the back burner for a bit until I get an inspiration about how to deal with that specific "mess." Once inspired I can move pretty fast. Without inspiration, a simple task can never end. For me, the planning is not only enjoyable, it is essential.

Now that I've got some basic areas cleared out I'm "comfortable" with the pace of my progress through the house. But I'm sure motivated to keep my own stuff to a bare minimum.

Oooh I never heard it put that way...."decorations make me itchy" I like it. I would rather leave them up than mess with them.

I soo want an over the sink drying rack.... The wooden kind that you can just leave the dishes there untill you need them for the next meal.

With mom I have to make sure she doesnt "See" what I am trying to dispose of.... Because she will say "are you throwing that out?" Look discusted with me and take it for herself.... Never mind its the wrong size... Then a year or so later she will bring a bag of stuff to me and say "You left some of your stuff at my house" and Yep.... There would be that stuff I tried to throw away in the first place. Sigh She turned 80 today... I need to call her and wish her happy birthday.... We had the celebration yesterday.

I actually think keeping a big house clean would be easier.... just due to that whole zone effect. When I am in creative mode I am like an explosion of stuff and bits of this and thats and OMg I have to make those.... I dabble in Clay, metal, wood, paint, jewelry making, weaving, beading, leather, Pen and Ink, Origami..... You name it. Sometimes several projects at a time. But thats at home not here.
sigh

 

[ocap]

Wow you were in my neck of the woods.
About 15 minutes away.

We lived in Madison County for nine years, now back near family.

 

[Triple Willow]

@Deb... Happy Birthday to your mom.

I wish I could do all those things that you mention ...I wish I could do ONE of those things you mention! LOL

 

[lindz8504]

I am doing a happy dance!!!!!!! The new coop is finished and open for business! It is a beautiful day, and the girls are already checking out the nest boxes! The girls are enjoying scratching around in the new leaves and laying in the sun soaking in the rays!

 

[Searsmom]

Oops, forgot the hug. Here you go!

Your husband sounds like me. I know it has got to be frustrating to put up with somebody like us.

Well, it's teaching me patience, which is a good thing!

She would use the same tinfoil many times before it got thrown out. Same goes for anything cloth.... Great Grandma made clothing out of old flour sacks....
deb

My mom and dad still do that, sadly dad is slowly fading and they're both in their 80's, I'm not looking forward to the next few years. I found a memory book online a few years ago and have been going back and forth with mom - she mails me a card with a "ditty" she's put on about her, favorite things, etc. and I fill out my portion and mail it back and it goes in it's own scrap books - this is mainly for my youngest who is 5 so she will have an idea who her grandmother is.

I am trying to talk mom into letting me have the picture albums and scan them so we can have a digital copy.
deb

That is a great idea! We've started doing that with some of mom's pictures but there are just sooooo many. Going back 150 years. And of course we have to make 5 copies, one for each of the siblings. It's no where near complete.

On a happier note - I've posted this on another thread, but am getting antsy. The breeder called and my 3 Marans are hatching! YAY! So I'm going to pick them up either tomorrow or the next day, depending on when her hatch is complete. I've an hour and a half drive back from her farm and I've got a 5" X 8" box with holes punched all around the top to put them in. I've also got hand warmers (up to 145 degrees F) and toe warmers (up to 107 degrees F) which one would be better for them? I'll be wrapping the warmers in socks, so the chicks won't be in direct contact with them. But I don't know if they'll need the extra heat to help warm the box or if I should just depend on them huddling up with the socks. I know, I'm being OCD about this, but I think that's how I've not lost a chick when I've been their only mama.

 

[Searsmom]

I am doing a happy dance!!!!!!! The new coop is finished and open for business! It is a beautiful day, and the girls are already checking out the nest boxes! The girls are enjoying scratching around in the new leaves and laying in the sun soaking in the rays!

That looks awesome! And incredibly roomy!

 

[Beekissed]

I am doing a happy dance!!!!!!! The new coop is finished and open for business! It is a beautiful day, and the girls are already checking out the nest boxes! The girls are enjoying scratching around in the new leaves and laying in the sun soaking in the rays!

I love, love, love the new coop!! Those nest boxes are darling and your hubby did a great job with the natural roosting for those and the actual roosts. I like using saplings and branches for coops too. The chickens look so content in their new coop! Congrats!!!