The Front Porch Swing

[perchie.girl]

Quote: Grandmas hearing loss is due to the fact that she is 97.... And its just on the high frequencies.... Therefore she can hear men speak but not women.... She didnt want any at all till she finally realized how much she was missing. I had gotten to the point of not trying to talk to her.... She can afford it but she kept saying "..why get em when I am going to be dead in a couple of years any way." I dont EVEN know how to reply to that.... it floors me every time.

We got a deal though a third of the cost at the other place we tried.

deb

 

[sarahsunshine]

The trip was exhausting but a success....

shes got loaner hearing aids to get used to till tomorrow when her new hearing aids get delivered.....

AND we got the replacement placard at the DMV in and out in less than a half hour..... AMAZING accomplishment with this DMV and because the parkinglot is always full we had to walk all the way across it... Me on my crutches and Grandma with her walker..... Needless to say we are having naps later.

deb

WOOHOO!!!!!!

Now the trick is to just have her keep them in! My dear step son (DSS) refuses to wear his other than at school (he is deaf in one ear and high frequency hearing loss in the other), and my grandmother would take hers off whenever she wanted to be left alone!!! Having a comfortable ear mould is the difference between being comfortable with them and not wearing them.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote: The term is Hugelkultur

http://www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur/

but if your soil is alkaline you are right nothing but an isolated bed will combat it. You might build some raised beds with a moisture barrier on the bottom. Let the drainiage go out the sides of the beds. Then you can do any soil they need.


Here I am in High desert but my soil .... well um if you cancall it soil is decomposed granite. VERY little organic material in it. You pour a bucket of water in a hole and it will be gone in two or three minutes. I have been considering hugelkultur for some raised beds here.... But that would require digging and dragging things and .... I lost it at the digging part.... DG is very hard to dig in.

deb

 

[perchie.girl]

Got a chicken question here. I could ask in the forums, but I know you guys would never laugh at me for asking a dumb one, on accounta you know I'd push ya off the railing or off your bucket. Most of the chicks are 4 weeks old. They're really well feathered. They are so cute....and I want them OUT OF MY HOUSE - YESTERDAY!

They don't smell - I clean the brooder every single day. They are so doggone dusty! We live in a 10 x 60 1976 mobile home so we only had one spot to put the brooder - in Ken's office. And I clean the brooder every day mostly because Kendra is here so much and although she's a tough little cookie she does have health issues that I don't want to aggravate. So here's my dilemma - I have the red heat lamp on them, but it's raised pretty high at this point. The coop isn't ready for them, but what I need to know is when can I turn off the brooder light and start acclimating them to a cooler living space so they are ready to go out to the coop? Now I do have the little girls in there - they are less than two weeks old - but when we raised the lamp they still did very well. If they get chilly they just kinda lay together or sneak under Matilda, who seems to be content to have them there. I'd hate to turn off the heat and lose them but the bigger girls just don't seem to need it much. They tend to snooze outside the reach of the heat. I do think they are probably passed the point of smothering or trampling each other if they do get a little chilly. HELP????

The next batch of chicks I will absolutely be using Bee's heating pad technique, but that doesn't do me any good right now.

as long as they have shelter from the wind and maybe even a heat lamp I say Kick them little buzzards out. I did that with my guineas...

deb

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote: These dont require ear molds they have a little teeny tube that sends the sound from the emitter behind her ear down to a little teeeeny bud at the end of the tube Its the diameter of the ear canal. You cant see it unless you know what you are looking at... AND its not adjustable.... no fiddling with dials like on my grandpas. The only way to adjust it is to take it to have the program tweaked. Whcih means plugging it in to the doc's computer adjusting then trying them for a couple of days. The Buds and the tubes are replaceable and should be replaced every few months.

deb

 

[LBejaran]

Random replies here LOL>

deb

Haha, getting off my meds happened awhile back, but I'm still learning how to cope with new stress. The chickens help immensely, actually. It's a bit silly, but I think taking care of them and getting excited about them has kept me sane.
There is a non-Mexican shrimp cocktail? When did that happen? What year is this? What do you know?!

I know good Mexican food when I taste it, so I don't go to many Mexican restaurants outside of my region. Have you ever been to a Taco Cabana? Yeah, don't go there. They LIE. I've gone to "Mexican" restaurants in San Antonio, Dallas and other northern places and few of them can ever make food the way they do down here. When Mexico used to be safe, I'd go with my parents and we'd eat at the food carts. Sweet Baby Jesus, that food was delicious. Those cooks had it down pat and I was prepared to buy seconds and thirds from them, if only I could take it home. People trying to replicate that food can sometimes succeed, but I've tasted lots of not-so-good replicas. Oh, and I despise it when restaurants make tamales wrong. The masa must be seasoned properly, the pork must be seasoned perfectly, and no, chicken is never an acceptable filling for tamales.

By the way, if you ever want a taste of the Rio Grande Valley, order these. I'd order the pork, but my Mom, bless her heart, would order the spicy chicken and cheese.

I'm planning on replacing lots of my sweaters and jackets this year, so I'm going to save them until there is a local drive around here. That, or I'll ask some of the local homeless myself and ask if they'd like them.

I'm no good at making conversation, haha! At most, I'll make funny faces at children and make them giggle. My sister, on the other hand, will chase someone down across a crowded store and yell that their hair looks cool if she feels it necessary. She almost always feels it is necessary. She scared someone once by doing that.

Well, I've only got an hour of work left. I finished everything I was supposed to do and am really just playing secretary at this point. Part of me wishes there was more to do while another part of me is glad today was a slow day. Not stress-free but it was okay. I really am a bit tired, though, so when I go home, I'm gonna tend to the flock and then come back inside to watch my show and a movie before I have to return it. I think I may go to sleep early again today and just relax. Maybe I'll paint an egg.

 

[sarahsunshine]

These dont require ear molds they have a little teeny tube that sends the sound from the emitter behind her ear down to a little teeeeny bud at the end of the tube Its the diameter of the ear canal. You cant see it unless you know what you are looking at... AND its not adjustable.... no fiddling with dials like on my grandpas. The only way to adjust it is to take it to have the program tweaked. Whcih means plugging it in to the doc's computer adjusting then trying them for a couple of days. The Buds and the tubes are replaceable and should be replaced every few months.

deb

Does this mean you can't take them out either?

Oh... I forgot to say that when we were looking for a house, I found out that the island it is on needs more local chicken eggs!!!!

 

[Searsmom]

as long as they have shelter from the wind and maybe even a heat lamp I say Kick them little buzzards out. I did that with my guineas...

deb

LOL

For dust, might try shredded paper instead of straw/wood flakes. I know by the time the 3rd week comes around the dust is really getting to me. Or, try Bee's heating pad - not sure how to keep them from pecking it though. Either way, Deb is right, people come before animals.

 

[Searsmom]

Haha, getting off my meds happened awhile back, but I'm still learning how to cope with new stress. The chickens help immensely, actually. It's a bit silly, but I think taking care of them and getting excited about them has kept me sane.
There is a non-Mexican shrimp cocktail? When did that happen? What year is this? What do you know?!

I know good Mexican food when I taste it, so I don't go to many Mexican restaurants outside of my region. Have you ever been to a Taco Cabana? Yeah, don't go there. They LIE. I've gone to "Mexican" restaurants in San Antonio, Dallas and other northern places and few of them can ever make food the way they do down here. When Mexico used to be safe, I'd go with my parents and we'd eat at the food carts. Sweet Baby Jesus, that food was delicious. Those cooks had it down pat and I was prepared to buy seconds and thirds from them, if only I could take it home. People trying to replicate that food can sometimes succeed, but I've tasted lots of not-so-good replicas. Oh, and I despise it when restaurants make tamales wrong. The masa must be seasoned properly, the pork must be seasoned perfectly, and no, chicken is never an acceptable filling for tamales.

By the way, if you ever want a taste of the Rio Grande Valley, order these. I'd order the pork, but my Mom, bless her heart, would order the spicy chicken and cheese.

I'm planning on replacing lots of my sweaters and jackets this year, so I'm going to save them until there is a local drive around here. That, or I'll ask some of the local homeless myself and ask if they'd like them.

I'm no good at making conversation, haha! At most, I'll make funny faces at children and make them giggle. My sister, on the other hand, will chase someone down across a crowded store and yell that their hair looks cool if she feels it necessary. She almost always feels it is necessary. She scared someone once by doing that.

Well, I've only got an hour of work left. I finished everything I was supposed to do and am really just playing secretary at this point. Part of me wishes there was more to do while another part of me is glad today was a slow day. Not stress-free but it was okay. I really am a bit tired, though, so when I go home, I'm gonna tend to the flock and then come back inside to watch my show and a movie before I have to return it. I think I may go to sleep early again today and just relax. Maybe I'll paint an egg.

Ha! You should try the Mexican food in Tennessee.

We have a Taco Bell....

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote: No they come out easily... but what I am saying is they are virtually invisble to look at in the mirror AND very very light in the ear.... Less intrusive

Gooo Chickens.... I can see an egg farm in the makings.....

deb