The Front Porch Swing

[Tumbleweed Farm]

Laughing about the chickens in the coop Blooie--not the tornadoes and praying!

 

[Blooie]

Laughing about the chickens in the coop Blooie--not the tornadoes and praying!

I kinda figured that, so no worries! I tend to run from one topic to another with no rhyme or reason!

 

[lindz8504]

My dad is expecting 5 more little mules he thinks! AND GUESS WHAT!!!!! I may be getting one of them! EEEP!!!!

 

[Beekissed]

So these are my new chickens. The one on the left has only been here an hour and has already established himself as lead bully. He has singled out the smallest EE and will walk up to her and begin pecking on her and she just squats and takes it. I have stayed out with them and won't let her get near my lily. Soo even though I know there's a pecking order I just won't be able to stand this new one hurting mine. I'm fixing to throw her over the fence and let her be coyote food if she's not careful. Any thoughts??

You can police the interactions, particularly at the feeder, and grab the bully by the comb or head and give it a firm shake and then toss her to one side. Or you can get a lightweight stick and "peck" her each time she shows poor manners to another. Ultimately, if these things do not work, I'd cull her....I never keep a bad tempered hen in the flock because it creates such disharmony that it filters down...she pecks someone, they peck someone else, etc. I've got a young hen on my cull list right now for such behaviors...she responded to the training for awhile but I've been seeing her pecking my meaty chicks lately, so either time to retrain or just take her out.

She has pecked me on the hand when I'm dishing out feed, so that was her first training session. Lately she has been nesting late and will not get off the eggs without crying out and pecking at me...and no, she's not broody. She's just a bad egg. Off with her head!

Think I found the right place and im gonna lay out a hammock since I got no porch but plenty of palm trees. Got my suntea brewing on the rooftop and im all set. Thanks Bee for the invite. For those I havent met yet im in a city called Tajoura about 8 miles outside of Tripoli, Libya. Tajoura was named after a African queen named Ura apparently she lost a valuable crown in this area of which "Taj" means crown so its the crown of Ura. We are also known for one of the oldests mosques, oldest cemetery and oldest lighthouses along the coastline. Im trying to homestead and bring ideas of urban gardening and animal care to people here. I love to use everyday life to educate and hope to help shape future youngsters on animal welfare. I blog about my life here but internet here is a luxary and can go anytime so if I disappear im outta units til the 5th of the month. My mothers family is from the south, Georgia mainly so I hang out there too. Pull up a chair. But since its my bedtime way passed actually, im gonna see you all tomorrow.

So nice you could make it! I think you are our first visitor from so far away!

 

[bruceha2000]

I told her to warn me when she comes over again so I can hide all the food. She just laughed.

OMG. I can't think of anything else to say (at least not without violating my Mother's advice)

Wow Apples dont have hard drives? What do they store application or software on?


deb

Dual 5 1/2" floppies??

OK, for REAL - 250G of flash storage, I "only" 218G left. It is an option and you can get 512G or even 768G. You can get hard drives instead if you want them, they are cheaper. Given my needs it was not worth the extra money for the bigger options. Boots from cold in 10 seconds

First PC we owned (1993) had a 500M hard drive. Could get another one ... for $500 ... so we didn't. How the price of storage has changed!

For those I havent met yet im in a city called Tajoura about 8 miles outside of Tripoli, Libya.

How ARE things in Libya? We only get the news when it is bad, as if the whole country is down the toilet.

They were climbing over each other, knocking each other off the roost, even trying to crawl under each other. Wings flapping, beaks flying, feathers floating down - total mayhem! I know they need to figure out who's top hen, but that was crazy!

Sounds familiar

though mine don't have the flying feathers. You would THINK that since they all came in the same box as day olds almost 2 years ago, they would have figured out who gets to sleep where by now. Maybe even go up in "order" since being next to the wall seems preferred. But no, they have to fuss all over, shove birds off to get by or just walk right over them. The Cubalayas (which should be WAY down in the order merely due to their smaller size) will shove under other birds to get closer to where they want to be. We once found Peep under another bird when we were counting beaks to make sure they were all in the coop.

I kinda figured that, so no worries! I tend to run from one topic to another with no rhyme or reason!

Sounds like my wife, except she will whip off to a topic from a day or two back, mid thought. Without context is is hard to know what the heck she is talking about.

My photographic contribution to the porch:


This is my older daughter with 7 of the 10 birds this afternoon. She sits like that and gets chickens walking all over her. I sit like that and I get chickens wiping their beaks on my pants because they don't like to use the napkins

. To be fair, they wipe on her too so I'm nothing special.

Bruce

 

[RoseMarie1]

OMG. I can't think of anything else to say (at least not without violating my Mother's advice)

Dual 5 1/2" floppies??

OK, for REAL - 250G of flash storage, I "only" 218G left. It is an option and you can get 512G or even 768G. You can get hard drives instead if you want them, they are cheaper. Given my needs it was not worth the extra money for the bigger options. Boots from cold in 10 seconds

First PC we owned (1993) had a 500M hard drive. Could get another one ... for $500 ... so we didn't. How the price of storage has changed!

How ARE things in Libya? We only get the news when it is bad, as if the whole country is down the toilet.


Sounds familiar

though mine don't have the flying feathers. You would THINK that since they all came in the same box as day olds almost 2 years ago, they would have figured out who gets to sleep where by now. Maybe even go up in "order" since being next to the wall seems preferred. But no, they have to fuss all over, shove birds off to get by or just walk right over them. The Cubalayas (which should be WAY down in the order merely due to their smaller size) will shove under other birds to get closer to where they want to be. We once found Peep under another bird when we were counting beaks to make sure they were all in the coop.

Sounds like my wife, except she will whip off to a topic from a day or two back, mid thought. Without context is is hard to know what the heck she is talking about.

My photographic contribution to the porch:


This is my older daughter with 7 of the 10 birds this afternoon. She sits like that and gets chickens walking all over her. I sit like that and I get chickens wiping their beaks on my pants because they don't like to use the napkins

. To be fair, they wipe on her too so I'm nothing special.

Bruce

lol that's too cute!!!

 

[Oldmomma]

Good morning all and I do pray that everyone is watched over during storms. Tidbit on me: Hurricane Donna will be in many oldtimers dropping by but my momma was just a young gal staying with her momma and poppa while her husband was stationed in Virginia. Well she says its the only time her family ever had to go to storm cellars and it scared momma so bad i made an early entrance to the world. I was so little that I slept in a dresser drawer and they put me in a size 7 shoebox just so grandpaw could hold me. Before I moved here in 2012, I lived in Colorado right outside of Denver in Aurora. We are where tornadoes begin coming off the Rockies. So I can tell you Im so happy not to have spring season sirens in my ears. Where im at I get dozens of roos, adthans from local mosques, and nightly fireworks to keep me happy now. We are so close to the old Wheelus Airbase the planes that go over my house got their landing gear down.
As for life here well I blog and www.oldmommaskids.blogspot.com is my rants page lol. I really hope that I can get myself together and show people the other side media just looks past. But God keeps me tied up with trials and tribulations lately so read my last few entries to see whats been going on cause my faith has been sorely tested. But I will say that I sat down an wrote a story before my son was even in the ground and that night I invited 6 of the young ladies who had been sent up to keep us company for a sleep over. We ended up buying icecream and got bananas and whipped cream and all my fancy sprinkles and made a jumbo banana split. We ate every bite, then played charades and laughted and thanked God for the blessing that was my son. Few people might have thought I was "tetched in the head" that week but we shed few tears. My son had been called home and I wasnt going to be sad. So in order for me not to ramble to much jackin my jaw well take a peek there. I got a young man who called me last night taking me to go see a house so I been praying that we find one soon so my hubby can finally join us here but I will check stuff when I can. Nice to meet some good people after my involvement during the war online I had to take retirement from many things but I do find comfort in animals and growing things so im trying to take all the western knowhow and help people here have a better life. Dont know yet my purpose here but God answered our prayers and im here. So all anyone can do is follow where he leads. But I can say life here is poorly portrayed on tv and maybe I can through my musings show people real life as I live it. Now I'll take a tall glass of sweet tea and lay back and let another oldtimer speak lol.

 

[TexasLisa]

My dad is expecting 5 more little mules he thinks! AND GUESS WHAT!!!!! I may be getting one of them! EEEP!!!!

Lindz, that is so exciting! Does your Dad do anything special with the minis or does he just raise them for fun?

Lisa

Good morning all and I do pray that everyone is watched over during storms. Tidbit on me: Hurricane Donna will be in many oldtimers dropping by but my momma was just a young gal staying with her momma and poppa while her husband was stationed in Virginia. Well she says its the only time her family ever had to go to storm cellars and it scared momma so bad i made an early entrance to the world. I was so little that I slept in a dresser drawer and they put me in a size 7 shoebox just so grandpaw could hold me. Before I moved here in 2012, I lived in Colorado right outside of Denver in Aurora. We are where tornadoes begin coming off the Rockies. So I can tell you Im so happy not to have spring season sirens in my ears. Where im at I get dozens of roos, adthans from local mosques, and nightly fireworks to keep me happy now. We are so close to the old Wheelus Airbase the planes that go over my house got their landing gear down.
As for life here well I blog and www.oldmommaskids.blogspot.com is my rants page lol. I really hope that I can get myself together and show people the other side media just looks past. But God keeps me tied up with trials and tribulations lately so read my last few entries to see whats been going on cause my faith has been sorely tested. But I will say that I sat down an wrote a story before my son was even in the ground and that night I invited 6 of the young ladies who had been sent up to keep us company for a sleep over. We ended up buying icecream and got bananas and whipped cream and all my fancy sprinkles and made a jumbo banana split. We ate every bite, then played charades and laughted and thanked God for the blessing that was my son. Few people might have thought I was "tetched in the head" that week but we shed few tears. My son had been called home and I wasnt going to be sad. So in order for me not to ramble to much jackin my jaw well take a peek there. I got a young man who called me last night taking me to go see a house so I been praying that we find one soon so my hubby can finally join us here but I will check stuff when I can. Nice to meet some good people after my involvement during the war online I had to take retirement from many things but I do find comfort in animals and growing things so im trying to take all the western knowhow and help people here have a better life. Dont know yet my purpose here but God answered our prayers and im here. So all anyone can do is follow where he leads. But I can say life here is poorly portrayed on tv and maybe I can through my musings show people real life as I live it. Now I'll take a tall glass of sweet tea and lay back and let another oldtimer speak lol.

Good Morning!

I will be praying the house is everything you are looking for. Stay safe!

Lisa

 

[rrrmamma]

Before I moved here in 2012, I lived in Colorado right outside of Denver in Aurora.

Welcome to the porch Oldmomma, I lived in Aurora and Denver from 1969 - 1984. Please tell us more about your life when you can. I'm sure we would enjoy your stories.

 

[Blooie]

If you have an extra minute today our family could sure use some prayers. Got a call from my sister Lori last night - our beloved Linda has taken a serious turn for the worse. She was on her way to dialysis Thursday when she started having trouble breathing. She asked Russ to take her to the Heart Hospital instead of going on to Avera, where her dialysis is done. He whipped around and sped to HH. By the time they got there Linda was blue.

They got her stabilized and did an angiogram, which showed several blockages. Her cardiologist came in and recommended bypass surgery as soon as possible, but he warned that for her it would be risky. He needed to speak with the surgeon further and they would be back in to talk to them. They came last night while Lori and her hubby Steve were there and gave Linda and Russ some horrible stuff to try to sort out. If they do the bypass there's a higher than normal chance of things going wrong, and if they lose her, the surgeon wasn't sure they'd be able to bring her back. And they're not sure if she's healthy enough to even risk it. If they don't do the surgery and stent the blockages, she automatically comes off the kidney transplant list and is looking at lifetime dialysis. The irony is that she isn't strong enough for that either. With stents, her heart wouldn't be able to cope with the extra fluid she always has from her kidney shutdown. I can't imagine laying there scared and in pain, trying to make a decision like that. Our youngest sister Bev has been preparing to donate one of her kidneys to Linda, but it isn't clear now if she'll get that chance.

She had suffered a ruptured abdominal aneurysm Christmas Day, 2012. Russ's fast action when she collapsed saved her life. But in the process of doing the emergency repair, she threw what is called a embolism shower. Her kidneys died from the lack of blood flow. I actually have her images of the aneurysm and her kidneys are bright and clearly visible. In the post-op pictures, they are just pale ghostly things. She suffered two heart attacks while still hospitalized after the aneurysm and had massive blood clots in her upper arms which had to be surgically removed, So she's been on dialysis and dozens of medications since then.

This is our Linda - of tomato toss fame - and none of us can imagine this world without her. She has a catchy giggle - when Linda's laughing you have to laugh too, even in if you aren't in on the joke. I can honestly say that I can't recall her EVER saying or doing an unkind thing. She worked hard on the staff of Neurology Associates for over 20 years, raised 4 amazing kids, and has 12 grandkids. Her latest was their only son's new baby boy, born two weeks ago.

We could use all the prayers we can get. We are taking the car in today to get an oil change. Later this morning I have to walk Jenny and Katiebug through the chicken chores. I wish I had time to get the big feeder done to minimize how often they have to be taken care of. The coop and run are secure enough to leave the pop door open so they don't have to be put inside at night and let out in the morning. If I'd have the bigger feeder and waterers done they would only have to be refilled occasionally. As it is, everyone here is going to have get tossed into the deep end with the chickens. I think we are leaving for Sioux Falls on Monday, unless I get the call I don't want to get and we have to leave early.