The Front Porch Swing

[wyoDreamer]

...

Went to the post office last night to pick up mail, and got a surprise. On the community bulletin board just outside the post office, someone had posted a homemade campaign poster supporting me. It had my photo and it said, "Keep Diane where she belongs......in our corner!" Wow! That was nice to see! And finally, I'm on a wanted poster at the post office!

I wasn't aware that was on your bucket list, Blooie!

Good to see you have such support in the community.

I wish I had nice fingernails. Mine are really soft and brittle, I am always nipping off rips and tears just to try to keep them from ripping down past the quick - ouch! They also split and peel apart very easily, I figure this is what I get for being a fingernail chewer most of my life. I managed to mostly stop the habit in my 30's, but if I get a rip in one and don't get a clipper right away to take care of it, I will have that puppy chewed below the quick and bleeding in no time at all.

 

[subhanalah]

For Kimchi the egg eater, fill some eggs with mustard (do dogs like mustard?) Or ground red pepper or ground white pepper (my dogs got into some ground white pepper I had left on the coffee table, once they got it open and got a good whiff, they wouldn't touch it. Normally stuff like that would be GONE and licked clean!

 

[emmyeagle]

Hello from too hot & too dry New Mexico. We need some of your guys rain. Chickens are not doing much in this heat. Have freezer full of water bottles to keep replacing every couple of hours. Hate going outside in 100+ heat, but the sacrifices we make for our babies. We are new to chickens and loving every minute! Hope everyone has a great day!

 

[Tomtommom]

They've been predicting rain all week.. Not a darn drop. Towns around us are getting it, but none here

 

[LindaB220]

I don't know Laura, fancy nails might hurt your cred as a chicken farmer

Sorry about the chick, never fun to lose one.

Bruce

x2 Ha. I had those done about 30 years ago and couldn't get them off quick enough. Drove me Crazy. I didn't know that they had a solution to get them off so I pulled them off . Everything to the quick . Awful. But off.

 

[bruceha2000]

Bruce, post a barn picture when you get back, please! I love barn pictures.

I was reading back through and had forgotten about this request, sorry wD.

This is the SW corner of the big barn, mid repair. It is roughly 50x70 including the shed. Prior owners ignored the cracked rafter in the original (upper) part, just left the supporting strut in place .... for 11 years. Also ignored the cracked sill about 10' into the barn to the left from that vertical board between the barn and the added shed. The sill at the corner was 18" lower than the sill at the crack. Given the guys had to take some of the "novelty" siding off to jack the corner back up, that corner has been low for decades and decades. The siding was likely put on in the earlier part of the 20th century. The top plate was also cracked and has some wood "sistered" over it for support. The replaced 3 rafters and sections of the sill and top plate, about 2/3 the width of the bent.

People door on the left. The one on the right is screwed closed but I have a chicken door in it that you can just make out. If the weather is bad, I leave the people door closed and only open the chicken door. Keeps the cold winter wind from blowing in.


For scale, here are the guys fixing broken parts. (kinda fuzzy, sorry). To the right is the shed area, the only floor in the barn is the ceiling of the shed. Still a lot of storage space though. The parallel beams either side of the guy on the ladder are temporary supports to keep the barn together while they replaced the section of top plate.





This is the back of the shed (west side). The ramp goes up to a chicken door. Just a piece of plywood hinged on the side to close off the pane that was missing anyway. The "lean to" shade thing has been dropped by the wind. Not a big deal since I had made this enclosure for the girls when they were small. Now they just go wherever they want to find shade. I couldn't keep them in there anyway, they can either fly the fence from the ground or start up the ramp. Mostly they just go in and out the chicken door or the people door (there is another at the far end)



East side of the big barn and just a bit of the NE corner of the little barn. It is in sad shape. We use it for storing firewood, the floor in the upper half is rotted and unsafe.


You can get a general feel for the barns in this picture. The big one is actually 3 bents (timber frame terminology for the area between horizontal beams on the short side) of the original barn and 2 more added later, probably cut off another barn given the lengths of the beams in those 2 bents. Interesting change in building between the two. The original barn has a 5 sided ridge pole, the other part just has the rafters butting against each other at the ridge. In both cases though, the rafters are trees, not milled lumber. The shed on the back (downhill) side was probably added in the earlier part of the 20th century. It is all REAL 2 x 'something' framing, not the 1 1/2" 2x we get now. The small barn is ~ 30' x30' and is sort of a miniature version of the larger barn though the big one doesn't have a second story which I find interesting. I would have expected the original builders of the barn to want extra space up there. Another interesting thing, there is no way to get into the 3rd (north) bent of the original barn (the area between the 2 pair of green diamonds which are on sliding doors) other than climbing over a 4' wall and dropping 6' down (at the front, probably 10' at the back). There is evidence in the framing and original vertical siding under the novelty siding that there was once a door there. The barn repair guy said it would have been used for cows - apparently a LOT smaller in the mid 1800's than they are now given the size of the opening. There is no evidence there was ever a door on the down hill side which is even more weird since the car in the picture is almost at the road. All the pastures are behind the barn (west) or to the right (north). Why WOULDN'T you want a door down there before the shed was put on?? The bent on the south end (left) would have been for hay (loose, not baled), the center bent is the drive bay (pictures of my repairs there were posted some time back). I can't imagine why someone would make an entire 3rd of the barn unreachable and therefore unusable, except for throwing all the junk in there.

We seemed to have struck a balance so far this season between rain and dry days...we've been so terribly dry the past several years that our recent weather has been a blessing! We had some snow really late in the year and when I look out of the windows I still see quite a bit of snow on the mountains, something else that has been lacking for the last years. The mountain snow pack has a great deal to do with moderating our temps here in the Basin (the wind coming down off the mountains is cooler because of it, and the additional moisture in the air helps too) and since everything here has to be irrigated to grow we need that runoff. Then too, it helps with tourism - there's always a car or van pulled off to the side of the road taking pictures of the family in snow in late June!

Talked to Dad on Tuesday. He said he saw NO snow on the mountains around Lake Tahoe on his flight home. Shows just how bad the water problems are in California. Everyone depends on the snow pack. So. Cal pretty much has no water. Not surprising since it is naturally an arid area with deserts and scrub. Most of the water rights up north were bought by people in the south in the early 1900's and it is transported in aqueducts - open for the most part which seems kind of silly since the water can evaporate in the hot sun.

Went to the post office last night to pick up mail, and got a surprise. On the community bulletin board just outside the post office, someone had posted a homemade campaign poster supporting me. It had my photo and it said, "Keep Diane where she belongs......in our corner!" Wow! That was nice to see! And finally, I'm on a wanted poster at the post office!

Glad they didn't say "Keep Diane where she belongs ... in the coop!" or "Wanted, Dead or Alive"!!

Bruce

 

[LindaB220]

I was reading back through and had forgotten about this request, sorry wD.

This is the SW corner of the big barn, mid repair. It is roughly 50x70 including the shed. Prior owners ignored the cracked rafter in the original (upper) part, just left the supporting strut in place .... for 11 years. Also ignored the cracked sill about 10' into the barn to the left from that vertical board between the barn and the added shed. The sill at the corner was 18" lower than the sill at the crack. Given the guys had to take some of the "novelty" siding off to jack the corner back up, that corner has been low for decades and decades. The siding was likely put on in the earlier part of the 20th century. The top plate was also cracked and has some wood "sistered" over it for support. The replaced 3 rafters and sections of the sill and top plate, about 2/3 the width of the bent.

People door on the left. The one on the right is screwed closed but I have a chicken door in it that you can just make out. If the weather is bad, I leave the people door closed and only open the chicken door. Keeps the cold winter wind from blowing in.


For scale, here are the guys fixing broken parts. (kinda fuzzy, sorry). To the right is the shed area, the only floor in the barn is the ceiling of the shed. Still a lot of storage space though. The parallel beams either side of the guy on the ladder are temporary supports to keep the barn together while they replaced the section of top plate.





This is the back of the shed (west side). The ramp goes up to a chicken door. Just a piece of plywood hinged on the side to close off the pane that was missing anyway. The "lean to" shade thing has been dropped by the wind. Not a big deal since I had made this enclosure for the girls when they were small. Now they just go wherever they want to find shade. I couldn't keep them in there anyway, they can either fly the fence from the ground or start up the ramp. Mostly they just go in and out the chicken door or the people door (there is another at the far end)



East side of the big barn and just a bit of the NE corner of the little barn. It is in sad shape. We use it for storing firewood, the floor in the upper half is rotted and unsafe.


You can get a general feel for the barns in this picture. The big one is actually 3 bents (timber frame terminology for the area between horizontal beams on the short side) of the original barn and 2 more added later, probably cut off another barn given the lengths of the beams in those 2 bents. Interesting change in building between the two. The original barn has a 5 sided ridge pole, the other part just has the rafters butting against each other at the ridge. In both cases though, the rafters are trees, not milled lumber. The shed on the back (downhill) side was probably added in the earlier part of the 20th century. It is all REAL 2 x 'something' framing, not the 1 1/2" 2x we get now. The small barn is ~ 30' x30' and is sort of a miniature version of the larger barn though the big one doesn't have a second story which I find interesting. I would have expected the original builders of the barn to want extra space up there. Another interesting thing, there is no way to get into the 3rd (north) bent of the original barn (the area between the 2 pair of green diamonds which are on sliding doors) other than climbing over a 4' wall and dropping 6' down (at the front, probably 10' at the back). There is evidence in the framing and original vertical siding under the novelty siding that there was once a door there. The barn repair guy said it would have been used for cows - apparently a LOT smaller in the mid 1800's than they are now given the size of the opening. There is no evidence there was ever a door on the down hill side which is even more weird since the car in the picture is almost at the road. All the pastures are behind the barn (west) or to the right (north). Why WOULDN'T you want a door down there before the shed was put on?? The bent on the south end (left) would have been for hay (loose, not baled), the center bent is the drive bay (pictures of my repairs there were posted some time back). I can't imagine why someone would make an entire 3rd of the barn unreachable and therefore unusable, except for throwing all the junk in there.





Bruce

Bruce, this is fabulous. What a gift to have.

 

[browncow15]

We seemed to have struck a balance so far this season between rain and dry days...we've been so terribly dry the past several years that our recent weather has been a blessing! We had some snow really late in the year and when I look out of the windows I still see quite a bit of snow on the mountains, something else that has been lacking for the last years. The mountain snow pack has a great deal to do with moderating our temps here in the Basin (the wind coming down off the mountains is cooler because of it, and the additional moisture in the air helps too) and since everything here has to be irrigated to grow we need that runoff. Then too, it helps with tourism - there's always a car or van pulled off to the side of the road taking pictures of the family in snow in late June! I'm glad that you found your egg eater too, Ibejaran, but like everyone else sorry it was Kimchi. I don't know that you'll ever break him of it....nothing teaches a dog faster than self-reward. We had a saying in dog training - "once is tried, twice is learned, three times is forever". If you have a dog who sneaks food off the counter top, the only thing to do is quit putting food up there because you'll rarely break him of the habit totally. You might have some control, but he'll be a countertop opportunist for life. When he grabs that first beef roast off the counter, he gets an instant and lasting reward, which negates any discipline you might hand out. From that first steal, he knows he's going to get into trouble, but because his behavior was so richly rewarded in the past it's hard to ever over-ride that self reward. (not impossible, but very hard) I had to laugh when I was reading about the nails. I have been blessed (or cursed) with nails that grow very quickly and are very strong. When I was young Ma was always making me cut them. She said, "You look like a trollop with those talons!" So I've always tried to keep them long enough to be feminine but short enough to be practical. Tam and I had a whole circle of friends on this cruise and we seemed to congregate on Deck 14, just talking and laughing and getting to know each other. On the first formal night most of them weren't going, but insisted that we come up and show off our dresses. Mary's reaction was so funny! She looked at me and said, "Chicken farmer from small town Wyoming, huh? Better try again, and tell us the truth this time!" She'd never really noticed my hands until she saw them in combination with the dress. Still waiting for egg number one. The boys have a date with freezer camp this weekend. Ken's been working out at a friend's place putting in power to his mini-horse barns. Riley has 8 little barns, each one different. He has a chapel, a saloon, a few houses, a general store, and a doctor's office. It looks like a miniature village. So Ken is there from about 7 am until usually 5 or 6 and he's really tired when he gets back. He usually showers, has supper, then putters around in the yard until he crashes. Not quite fair to expect him to do all of that all day long, then deal with processing chickens when he should be relaxing. We are having a bit of a discussion about whether to skin them or pluck them. I want to pluck them - I like the idea of leaving the skin on to help keep them moist during cooking and to get that golden crispy skin, but he doesn't want to mess with it. Not sure what we'll decide to do yet, but one thing is sure, the boys have to go! Floyd nipped my leg this morning when I went out to clean the poop board and feed and water them. I had a knee jerk reaction - as soon as I felt the bite my foot shot out and made contact with him. It sent him flying and he stayed where he landed, but who knows? Maybe next time he'll come right back at me. By the way, he's the one that Bruce and I thought was a roo early on, formerly known as "Florabelle". Wish we'd been wrong. Went to the post office last night to pick up mail, and got a surprise. On the community bulletin board just outside the post office, someone had posted a homemade campaign poster supporting me. It had my photo and it said, "Keep Diane where she belongs......in our corner!" Wow! That was nice to see! And finally, I'm on a wanted poster at the post office!

We've been good on rain here too. My first ever garden is looking great minus the spots threatening to be taken over by weeds!!! Funny you should mention skinning vs plucking. My MIL helps me process so we did 7 birds a couple of days ago. 6 were Cornish X that were about 8 weeks old the 7th was a 1 year old roo I didn't have need for anymore. Anyway, I decided to try skinning the roo, wrong bird to pick to try!! I knew he would be tougher than the other birds but WOW! Took me forever!! It would have been MUCH easier to pluck him!

 

[TexasLisa]

I had to laugh when I was reading about the nails. I have been blessed (or cursed) with nails that grow very quickly and are very strong. When I was young Ma was always making me cut them. She said, "You look like a trollop with those talons!" So I've always tried to keep them long enough to be feminine but short enough to be practical. Tam and I had a whole circle of friends on this cruise and we seemed to congregate on Deck 14, just talking and laughing and getting to know each other. On the first formal night most of them weren't going, but insisted that we come up and show off our dresses. Mary's reaction was so funny! She looked at me and said, "Chicken farmer from small town Wyoming, huh? Better try again, and tell us the truth this time!" She'd never really noticed my hands until she saw them in combination with the dress.


We are having a bit of a discussion about whether to skin them or pluck them. I want to pluck them - I like the idea of leaving the skin on to help keep them moist during cooking and to get that golden crispy skin, but he doesn't want to mess with it. Not sure what we'll decide to do yet, but one thing is sure, the boys have to go! Floyd nipped my leg this morning when I went out to clean the poop board and feed and water them. I had a knee jerk reaction - as soon as I felt the bite my foot shot out and made contact with him. It sent him flying and he stayed where he landed, but who knows? Maybe next time he'll come right back at me. By the way, he's the one that Bruce and I thought was a roo early on, formerly known as "Florabelle". Wish we'd been wrong. <sigh>

Went to the post office last night to pick up mail, and got a surprise. On the community bulletin board just outside the post office, someone had posted a homemade campaign poster supporting me. It had my photo and it said, "Keep Diane where she belongs......in our corner!" Wow! That was nice to see! And finally, I'm on a wanted poster at the post office!

They have buckets onboard?????

I think you should pluck half of them and skin the other half. Then you can decide which way you like them.

Always knew there was something off about you!!

Hello from too hot & too dry New Mexico. We need some of your guys rain. Chickens are not doing much in this heat. Have freezer full of water bottles to keep replacing every couple of hours. Hate going outside in 100+ heat, but the sacrifices we make for our babies. We are new to chickens and loving every minute! Hope everyone has a great day!

Welcome to The Front Porch. Would you like Sweetened Tea or Unsweetened? We have plenty of goodies over yonder in the corner by the vacant rocking chair. You will notice we have several dogs, cats, and a couple of turtles running around. The beautiful black horse over yonder, is Katee. She belongs to Perchie Girl. Stop by and sit a spell. We love stories and pictures.

Lisa

 

[LindaB220]

We seemed to have struck a balance so far this season between rain and dry days...we've been so terribly dry the past several years that our recent weather has been a blessing! We had some snow really late in the year and when I look out of the windows I still see quite a bit of snow on the mountains, something else that has been lacking for the last years. The mountain snow pack has a great deal to do with moderating our temps here in the Basin (the wind coming down off the mountains is cooler because of it, and the additional moisture in the air helps too) and since everything here has to be irrigated to grow we need that runoff. Then too, it helps with tourism - there's always a car or van pulled off to the side of the road taking pictures of the family in snow in late June!

I'm glad that you found your egg eater too, Ibejaran, but like everyone else sorry it was Kimchi. I don't know that you'll ever break him of it....nothing teaches a dog faster than self-reward. We had a saying in dog training - "once is tried, twice is learned, three times is forever". If you have a dog who sneaks food off the counter top, the only thing to do is quit putting food up there because you'll rarely break him of the habit totally. You might have some control, but he'll be a countertop opportunist for life. When he grabs that first beef roast off the counter, he gets an instant and lasting reward, which negates any discipline you might hand out. From that first steal, he knows he's going to get into trouble, but because his behavior was so richly rewarded in the past it's hard to ever over-ride that self reward. (not impossible, but very hard)

I had to laugh when I was reading about the nails. I have been blessed (or cursed) with nails that grow very quickly and are very strong. When I was young Ma was always making me cut them. She said, "You look like a trollop with those talons!" So I've always tried to keep them long enough to be feminine but short enough to be practical. Tam and I had a whole circle of friends on this cruise and we seemed to congregate on Deck 14, just talking and laughing and getting to know each other. On the first formal night most of them weren't going, but insisted that we come up and show off our dresses. Mary's reaction was so funny! She looked at me and said, "Chicken farmer from small town Wyoming, huh? Better try again, and tell us the truth this time!" She'd never really noticed my hands until she saw them in combination with the dress.

Still waiting for egg number one. The boys have a date with freezer camp this weekend. Ken's been working out at a friend's place putting in power to his mini-horse barns. Riley has 8 little barns, each one different. He has a chapel, a saloon, a few houses, a general store, and a doctor's office. It looks like a miniature village. So Ken is there from about 7 am until usually 5 or 6 and he's really tired when he gets back. He usually showers, has supper, then putters around in the yard until he crashes. Not quite fair to expect him to do all of that all day long, then deal with processing chickens when he should be relaxing.

We are having a bit of a discussion about whether to skin them or pluck them. I want to pluck them - I like the idea of leaving the skin on to help keep them moist during cooking and to get that golden crispy skin, but he doesn't want to mess with it. Not sure what we'll decide to do yet, but one thing is sure, the boys have to go! Floyd nipped my leg this morning when I went out to clean the poop board and feed and water them. I had a knee jerk reaction - as soon as I felt the bite my foot shot out and made contact with him. It sent him flying and he stayed where he landed, but who knows? Maybe next time he'll come right back at me. By the way, he's the one that Bruce and I thought was a roo early on, formerly known as "Florabelle". Wish we'd been wrong. <sigh>

Went to the post office last night to pick up mail, and got a surprise. On the community bulletin board just outside the post office, someone had posted a homemade campaign poster supporting me. It had my photo and it said, "Keep Diane where she belongs......in our corner!" Wow! That was nice to see! And finally, I'm on a wanted poster at the post office!

Yep, finally happened. I always knew that you'd end up on a wanted poster.

About your chickens. Why not do a few of both. See which one you like best. But make sure that you do the plucking . It comes right out after being dunked for 20-30 seconds and swirled around. Test for a feather. Then hang up by the feet and pluck away with both hands. This is of course my observation. The only processing I've done, and I was so disappointed, is the skinning. Make sure your have super sharp knives. BCMaraniac uses a razor with a handle. Works for about 6 birds. Then she puts in a new blade. About $7 for 100 blades. Take pictures. Please.