The Front Porch Swing

[lovingmyhens]

Don't forget stealing green apples and eating them with salt until we got sick!!  Oh, but we thought we were clever!  Grab a big brown grocery bag - the ones we had always had said, "Shop at Sunshine" - and the old Tupperware salt shaker off the stove top.  Then wait until it was dark and let the mahem begin!!  The apples had to be the right size - too small and there wasn't enough salt in the universe to make them palatable, and sometimes fences would give us a little grief.  

I remember once when Old Man Van der Linde flipped on his porch light and yelled, "You little Ba****ds get the hell out of that tree!"  We all split, but I went the wrong way.  I didn't see the little wire fence he had around his garden, hooked my foot in it, and went down flat on my face in the cabbage!   Oh, I thought I was gonna die...I just knew he was coming after me with a meat cleaver, because that's what all the older kids said he did to apple swipers.  There I lay, all alone, face planted into a smelly cabbage plant, just waiting for death, snot and tears running down my face.  I was too scared to get up and run.  I kept telling my feet to move, but they weren't listening.  Where were my co-conspirators?  How could they let me die like this?  Would my sister tell Ma where I was so she could claim my little body?

Suddenly he was there - right there.  Old Man Van der Linde, the evil child killer of South Dakota.  "Got yerself inta a bind there, didn't ya Diane?"

"Um, yessir, I guess I did."  
"I  should just leave ya there for the cabbage worms to eat."  Worms??  Oh, Lordy, help me!!

Then just as gently as could be, he helped me up.  He wiped my face off with the corner of his t-shirt, extricated my tennis shoe from the fence where it was stuck with my foot no longer inside, and swatted me on my backside.  "Now git yer a** on home!'

He didn't have to tell me twice.  But as I ran off, sneaker in hand, I turned back to him.  "Are you gonna tell my dad?"

He thought for a second and then he said, "Nope."  Oh, whew!!  And he continued, "You are."  

Now I'd like to say that I never swiped another green apple, but I'd be lying.  I did, however, learn to watch for short little fences.  And I did learn that Old Man Van der Linde didn't kill little kids.  Nope, he left that for their fathers!

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Yippee Skippee! The kids just called and they are on their way home from Denver! ...

I just had an inspiration ... I'm going to do one of those "see all posts" searches for you. That way I can get all caught up and not have to pester you with all kinds of questions.

 

[Blooie]

I just had an inspiration ... I'm going to do one of those "see all posts" searches for you. That way I can get all caught up and not have to pester you with all kinds of questions.

Um, good luck with that...I'm kinda all over the place - never stick to a topic for long! It's a very bad habit of mine. LOL So pester away! After all, this is the Front Porch and how else can you carry on a conversation without asking questions back and forth?

 

[lovingmyhens]

Chocolate is not my favorite flavor, but sometimes I CRAVE it. It's always a surprise. 

I've found when I'm craving chocolate, darker, saltier versions are more pleasing. Really gooey cocoa powder all-butter brownies, for example. 

I think I'm going to try this recipe soon: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/05/easy-delicious-and-yes-elegant-pots-de-creme/
It's for Pots de Creme made in the blender with hot coffee, chocolate chips, eggs and a pinch of salt, then refrigerate.

I'll have to break my household ban on chocolate chips for that, but it sounds so easy I have to see if it also tastes good. 

That sounds delicious!!!

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I'm just trying to be consistent. I can't complain about other people making me do their research if I'm too lazy to do my own.

I have 36 dozen chicken eggs and 3 dozen duck eggs in the egg refrigerator tonight. I have a big delivery to make later tonight. It will clean me out of duck eggs, but take only about half of the chicken eggs.

We got almost 90 eggs yesterday. I haven't counted today's yet. The weather has been gorgeous. The eggs were so clean.

Also found a breeding injury on one of my Delawares today -- they are the only three birds I'm "serious" about. A gash down one of the hen's side from his claws. Really hard to see in all her fluff. I've seen this kind of thing before, and this type of injury can easily heal very well and rather quickly. Chickens are amazing. But I had to separate her so it has a chance to close up, and boy is HE upset about it. He is quite the leader, and he only has two hens to fuss over. But he is a BIG boy. If only it weren't one of my breeders. The Delawares do NOT like to be handled.

Maybe if you guys pray for her ... It's just a chicken, but it would be nice if she healed quickly and we could let her out soon to restore flock harmony.

 

[Faerie]

I will pray for your chicken!

I think I would die without chocolate, I eat it every day. My favorite is dark chocolate with sea salt and almonds, The sweet/salty mix is to die for! But I love all dark chocolate.

It is supposed to be nice and warm this weekend, hopefully the chicks will get outside again, and I am going to start on the coop. Hopefully I won't mess up too much. I guess as long as it doesn't fall apart I should be good, right?

Michelle

 

[lindz8504]

Take it inside in a shoebox. Shine a 60 watt bulb on it for a few days. Anything to keep it from being eaten. If you lose it, you lose it. I bought 10 featherdusters to put in my brooder when it's time. Have you got one? The light will keep the feathers warm. Just a thought.

I have them in a tote in my bathroom right now... I may have to go get a couple of cheap featherdusters.....

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I am about ready to peck these little white chicks in the head (ok, not really but UGH!)!!!! They keep pecking just one, until it is bloody! First its butt, then the shoulder parts of its wings, then its neck.... I pretty much slathered the whole chick in Nustock.... I'm not sure what else to do... They have plenty of room in the brooder, so I am not sure why they keep doing it.....Suggestions?

Its been windy and chilly around here. I've heard birds singing, but no peepers yet. I'm praying for the weather to break. This back and forth is driving me and the kids crazy! Come on spring, We MISS YOU!

Have you tried either BluKote (sp?) or Peck No More (Rooster Booster brand)? The dark color disguises the red spots so they aren't as inviting to peck. They sell the Peck No More stuff in the chick section at my farm store, the blukote stuff was over in the horse medicine aisle (I've never tried that ... bought some, then was told it was the wrong kind ... by an idiot ... and haven't had the occasion to double check if that info is true or just idiocy). The Peck No More stuff is thickier, stickier, and maybe a tad less likely to stain you along with the chickens. But everyone else swears by BlueKote ...

 

[Blooie]

I will pray for your chicken!

I think I would die without chocolate, I eat it every day. My favorite is dark chocolate with sea salt and almonds, The sweet/salty mix is to die for! But I love all dark chocolate.

It is supposed to be nice and warm this weekend, hopefully the chicks will get outside again, and I am going to start on the coop. Hopefully I won't mess up too much. I guess as long as it doesn't fall apart I should be good, right?

Michelle

The way I look at it, Michelle, if the chickens don't come knocking on my door carrying picket signs for better quarters then I've done alright with building my coop! <sigh>

 

[Beekissed]

I am about ready to peck these little white chicks in the head (ok, not really but UGH!)!!!! They keep pecking just one, until it is bloody! First its butt, then the shoulder parts of its wings, then its neck.... I pretty much slathered the whole chick in Nustock.... I'm not sure what else to do... They have plenty of room in the brooder, so I am not sure why they keep doing it.....Suggestions?

Its been windy and chilly around here. I've heard birds singing, but no peepers yet. I'm praying for the weather to break. This back and forth is driving me and the kids crazy! Come on spring, We MISS YOU!

Bigger brooder and a shovel full of soil with the grass attached....they will climb it, peck it, fly off of it and also get some valuable minerals from it and have something to do~while getting inoculated to your soils. But..mostly..more space. Give them a cool, darker end of the brooder to get away from the light and something to do besides pick at one another. You can also throw some BOSS into the bedding to give them something to hunt. Place the water a ways from the feed so they have to move back and forth to each.