The Front Porch Swing

[LBejaran]

Is anyone planning on hatching chicks this year? Personally, I'm not sure if I am up to hatching mass amounts of babies again. If I do, it'll likely have to be a special breed of bird I can easily keep safe and sound. That being said, I am going to heat up the incubator at least once if I can find Red Golden Pheasant eggs.

I'm having trouble finding anyone who will be selling Red Golden Pheasant hatching eggs in the spring. I need to bribe my great uncle with pheasant babies so he'll let my mother and I into his house. I don't want to think badly of him (I've never personally met him) but we are fairly certain he isn't going to live much longer because of his heavy drinking and smoking. Mom needs to get into the house because it is the last existing link to her grandmother, a woman who helped raise her in Mexico.

One of the great things about him is that anything he touches will grow. Whether it be his numerous garden plants or his single Red Golden Pheasant, he's got a miraculous ability that enables him to keep things alive and doing well. If I can get him a couple babies, I'm certain he'll let Mom into the house and let her just feel the atmosphere. If we can create a connection with him, we can at least make sure that he's doing okay.

Anyone else have family like that? It seems like there are great big portions of my family that have segregated themselves and prefer the solitude. Then again, as an introvert, I really have no room to talk, haha!

 

[Amberjem]

 

[dpenning]

Way to go, keep it up!

Thanks!

That is awesome..... I bet you can really feel the difference in energy level....

deb

I'm getting there. That liver cyst really knocked me down. I'm just now to the point where I can't feel it when i take a deep breath. Went back to yoga tonight for the first time in 2 months and I'm back to square one but at least i'm starting again!

 

[tntchix]

Good morning, it's a balmy 1 F on my side of the porch today - windchills tonight down into the -20's. ugh.

Dog is inside now and man does she stink. Going to try a dry dog shampoo and see if it helps. The kitten has no idea what to do with this gigantic creature that has taken over her domain

and eats her food too.

Still staring at my Christmas boxes, I guess the stuff isn't going to jump in there by itself huh? Dang.

 

[vehve]

Tnt, do you have some sort of conditioner? If you do, I'd start with something heavy like pine soap to wash the dog, then do the doggy shampoo and then doggy conditioner. And maybe feed some olive oil or something for a while to build up more oils for the coat. But pine soap is what we've used when the dogs have uncovered the neighbors badly buried outhouse products out at the cottage or something similar.

 

[tntchix]

Felix, I'm going to do a dry shampoo as she is a bear to work with using water, but I may have to resort to that. Yes, I have lots of conditioner but no pine soap. She eats coconut oil off a spoon every morning with her breakfast but it's been so dry and cold and windy here - she finally convinced herself that it's too cold even for her to be outside. Can you say stubborn as a mule?
Good news, the girls haven't left the run in a few days to free range and the barn cats are hibernating in their warm condo in the barn so no poop breath at least.

 

[perchie.girl]

Felix, I'm going to do a dry shampoo as she is a bear to work with using water, but I may have to resort to that. Yes, I have lots of conditioner but no pine soap. She eats coconut oil off a spoon every morning with her breakfast but it's been so dry and cold and windy here - she finally convinced herself that it's too cold even for her to be outside. Can you say stubborn as a mule?
Good news, the girls haven't left the run in a few days to free range and the barn cats are hibernating in their warm condo in the barn so no poop breath at least.

i use Simple Green for nasty dirt removal. Its biodegradeable and very strong... It will make em have dandruff a little. then wash with a regular soap to get the simple green off. There are a few places here in town that have do it yourself doggie washes.... Just a bathtub set on a platform so you dont have to lean over....

then rings on the walls with dog leads attached. Even an attendant that will help you lift the dog up if they are "uncooperative".

But that Simple green is good stuff.... when I have to bathe Katee its the ONLY thing that allows the water through her coat to the skin. She has incredible waterproofing.

deb

 

[bruceha2000]

This is a weight loss update for those who were interested. And a bit of a brag cuz I feel really good about this.

I just had my six month post op visit and am pleased to say I am no longer obese, just overweight. I am down 55 lbs and 33" combined for the areas I measured. I was hoping to have arrived at my goal weight by now but had a setback in November when I developed a 13 centimeter cyst on my liver. Most painful thing I have experienced but it is gone now so I am back on plan. They drew blood work to make sure I'm getting all the vitamins I need (I'm. Not) so I'll get the results of that next week and I know I'm not drinking enough water so I need to work on that.

So far the only real bummer side effect has been hair loss over the last three months but that seems to be slowing down now. Hopefully when I up the vitamins based on blood work it will stop completely.

20-25 more pounds to go to hit goal.

Dawn

Keep at it Dawn! Hopefully with time the "inability to put more in" will turn into "no desire to do so anyway" making it your "regular life" rather than a challenge.

Congratulations! I'm behind on what exactly you've been doing but getting healthy is always something to celebrate. I am sorry that you've had some painful things to deal with, but you seem to be doing really well otherwise and that makes me incredibly happy.

Vitamins, vitamins, vitamins! Ugh, I'm still avoiding my iron pills even though I'm anemic. They do not make me feel that great. But they keep the migraines away, so I need to take them. A little discomfort is better than a little discomfort.

Way to go! I'm so happy for you!

Hi Laura! When you going to come north and help me fix up the barn?

You do seem, as always, to be a very busy girl. Sorry your brother is such a twit. Seems some people are just that way no matter that they grew up in the same house with the same parents as the "less entitled" siblings.

With regard to iron and pills, couldn't you find something here
http://www.redcrossblood.org/learn-about-blood/health-and-wellness/iron-rich-foods
to eat instead of pills? I'm guessing eating iron rich foods doesn't come with the "complications" of downing iron pills.

And I think you meant to say "A little discomfort is better than a HUGE AMOUNT OF PAIN!."

I've adopted a system where whenever I'm craving a snack, I rummage around the kitchen for a bit, wondering what to have, and then I have a cup of tea instead.

That, my friend, is the definition of will power!

 

[Amberjem]

 

[LBejaran]

Hi Laura! When you going to come north and help me fix up the barn?

You do seem, as always, to be a very busy girl. Sorry your brother is such a twit. Seems some people are just that way no matter that they grew up in the same house with the same parents as the "less entitled" siblings.

With regard to iron and pills, couldn't you find something here
http://www.redcrossblood.org/learn-about-blood/health-and-wellness/iron-rich-foods
to eat instead of pills? I'm guessing eating iron rich foods doesn't come with the "complications" of downing iron pills.

And I think you meant to say "A little discomfort is better than a HUGE AMOUNT OF PAIN!."

I'm sure I'll get a chance once Mom stops looking for a large farming property again. We really couldn't afford it if she found one, but she gets into a zone sometimes that makes her really want to own a large piece of land with a tiny house. Though, I did just get my ducklings in this morning, so I'm a little distracted by their adorable little fuzzy faces, haha!

He's fine most of the time, but I suppose I got used to him not being here. Now that he is here, he just sits in the kitchen on his laptop and watches videos. So much for him not being able to handle the mess. The good thing is that this next semester, his books will be paid for by the school's Elite Group, an organization that supports students that have a 4.0 GPA. That really reduced everyone's stress. We were renting the books last semester but even that was pretty expensive.

Oops, I must have missed that! Yup, I mean "HUGE AMOUNT OF PAIN". I handle pain fairly well (my reaction time to injuries is legendary, haha) but I have a feeling those migraines would have been debilitating if they were any worse. Heck, they nearly stopped me from feeding the birds a couple times. Couldn't let that happen, hehe! I will look into those iron-rich foods, though. I'm hoping to grow plenty of greens this year. Now that I've been keeping all the birds in our run/coop, they actually eat the weeds that I toss in there. I just pluck a couple up and toss them in the coop. They will be stripped clean in about thirty minutes. It's been helping me get through weeding with just a few minutes a day.