The Front Porch Swing

[wyoDreamer]

We would have preferred the switch in a different location also, but there were wall issues that we didn't want to get into - cast iron pipes, tree trunks holding up the house, etc. The GFCI was installed even before the wall switch went in.

I don't use the disposal much at all, we are on septic and I would rather compost the vegetable scraps than send them down the drain. I occasionally run egg shells or ice through the disposal to clean it out or citrus peels to freshen the kitchen, but that is about it.

 

[LBejaran]

Ooh, everyone is so busy! I've just barely had time to pop in recently, unfortunately. Mostly good things have been happening lately, but things are also stressful, so I've been turning to my birds lately. I finally have geese! Two beautiful Tufted Roman geese (a nice pair) that I raised from goslings are some of the newest additions. I also managed to get a lovely blue double-bearded silkie (who just started laying eggs) and have hatched two successful clutches of duck eggs in my Little Giant incubator. I have about ten goose eggs in the incubator now (Chinese/African mixes), two silkie eggs, and a dozen or so game eggs that a friend asked if I could hatch for her. My mom and I are about order some Sebastopol eggs (because she loves the look of them) and I'm looking for some d'uccle eggs to hatch. I'm thinking of raising them so I can actually specialize in a breed for once.

I guess it's needless to say that I've been busy, too?

Business stuff is going slow, mostly because I've been working on graphic stuff for my cousin. I'm hoping to send a couple chairs out in the next couple weeks to sell. I did buy a very nice chaise to reupholster from a church sale recently. For $25, I think the quality far surpasses the purchase price.

I need to catch up on what's going on. I'm so lost but I see there was some home renovation going on. Good job keeping busy!

 

[Blooie]

IB!! So good to see you!

 

[LBejaran]

Hey, Blooie! When are you gonna start calling me Laura? I think I've been around long enough, haha!

It's been so long since I've been on properly. I think I posted in one place recently, just to mess with my new "brother" because I've been taking better care of his new chicken than he has. Who knew that adopting my sister's boyfriend would end with me introducing the guy to Backyard Chickens? Yup, life has gotten interesting!

 

[Blooie]

Ohh, LAURA, sounds like it's time for an iced tea, platter of 'nanner bread, and a good long talk! You have a lot to tell us!

Let's see, I don't know for sure where you are as far as being updated goes, so I'll just let you know what's going on here and if you've alredy heard it you can ignore me! Little Diane and Dustin were married in September. Beautiful wedding and Kendra was the cutest little flower girl ever! Oh, and she's learning to use a walker. She's starting to talk a bit. Katie is doing great - still the best chicken sitter on the planet. Evan just turned 10 and he's too "manly" now to ooh and ahh over the chickens, but he still does a great job with them. Ken's recovering from his latest bout with acute pancreatitis. I just raised a batch of chicks out in the coop using nothing more than a wire frame, a heating pad, and a towel, and they are doing awesome even though we've been down in the 20s at night. They are now emancipated and in with the Bigs, and a new batch of Littles are scheduled to arrive in the morning and take over the older chicks' pen.

All's been pretty quiet at Oleo Acres!

 

[LBejaran]

I could use a nice, tall glass of tea. We're gonna need it after this long talk!

Congratulations to Diane, Dustin and little Kendra! I think I saw a picture of her in her new walker somewhere within these pages. Little boys always pretend to be too tough to like chickens, but then if you peek around without their knowing, they always have their hands around the cutest babies. That's how I found out my older brother (24 years old) actually enjoyed holding newly hatched chicks. He's always trying to be so sneaky, haha! I hope Ken is feeling better!

Congratulations on the babies! I currently have three pullets outside that are either laying or nearly ready to lay. I managed to keep them alive through the horror that is my sister's dog. He's been a menace to all the birds. I think he killed and ate about five birds total. If the chickens are ever out, he's locked away. I also have 12 ducklings (5 weeks old) outside and 11 (4 day old) ducklings inside. We had an owl come in and take my muscovy hen and my sister's Swedish hen, so we hatched out their babies. We had intended to let them hatch the eggs themselves, but they were taken within a week. All the birds are cooped now and I ended up selling/giving away about 20 birds within a month's time to ease up on the stress for my younger birds. It was awful, but it had to be done. I didn't want my babies to get sick.

As for the "new brother" bit, my sister got herself a boyfriend last December. They were doing well and after awhile, Mom and I met him--and APPROVED! He's a great kid. Came with a bit of baggage, though. Turns out a lot was wrong at home and, because of the not-so-good situation and the verbal/physical abuse, we brought him home and he'll be staying here. Could you believe that we actually reconnected him with his mother? It's so crazy! When we took him to San Antonio to see her for the first time in ages, we learned so much. His father had essentially isolated him from her for ages. And, to bring a little more joy to the trip, on the way back we stopped at my favorite little ranch to pick up some birds (I buy birds up there and bring them back here to sell. I'm a business lady!). He ended up seeing this cute little polish bantam hen and a gorgeous duck, so we got them for him. He was so excited that he joined Backyard Chickens and haunts the mobile app when he's not busy.

Kinda wish he would take care of them more, but he's still in high school (he and my sister are both 17) and he works about 20 hours a week. They aren't really much work, either way. I just need to build myself a bantam tractor so they won't be stuck in the kennel. It's kinda boring in there.

I'm a bit busy lately, mostly with creating some shirt designs for my cousin. I'm also painting chairs for a couple clients and trying to find the appropriate tiffany blue velvet for that chaise. I've also been working on a couple other ideas. I actually just found a good-sized plank of wood outside that had loads of termite damage. I cleaned it up, checked for anymore termites, and sanded it down. I'm thinking of burning the edges and sealing it with polyurethane before attaching some ceramic knobs. I imagine it'd be a very nice set of hooks for the kitchen or bathroom.

On a personal note, I'm feeling just a bit too stressed lately. Being stuck around people too often and not having alone time (my sister gave her room to her boyfriend, so she's staying in my room until we can turn the garage into a loft space for him) has made me incredibly irritable and I'm feeling very exhausted. The caretaker in me feels like we have to take care of him and feed him and make sure he's well. The independent introvert in me is so done with this $#IT and I've been releasing so much sass.

Because of this, I've been spending loads of time outside and I'm just too anxious to function at times. I'm thinking it's time for me to revisit the doc and get back onto anxiety meds. I took them for about a year in college to handle the classes and obligations and the new environment, but I got off when I thought I could handle it. After the situation last year with me needing to come back home from Austin, I think I should have gotten back on but I held off. I need a boost to get myself back into the game so I can actually feel relatively stable. Because of the stress throughout the day, I've been reverting to my night owl ways.

That's not it but it's quite a bit, I'd say. I'm sure there's more, haha!

 

[wyoDreamer]

@lbejaran it nice to see you back on here, I was hoping everything was OK and you were just busy. It is nice of your family to give the boy a place to call home.
I am sorry that you are getting so stressed out, I fully understand the need for private and alone time.
Is this boy helping to set up the garage? Maybe this would be a place better suited for you - a place to relax and take care of yourself.

 

[Tomtommom]

'Busy' doesn't begin to cover it

My brain still thinks it's Wednesday... going, going, goooone.

 

[LBejaran]

@lbejaran it nice to see you back on here, I was hoping everything was OK and you were just busy. It is nice of your family to give the boy a place to call home.
I am sorry that you are getting so stressed out, I fully understand the need for private and alone time.
Is this boy helping to set up the garage? Maybe this would be a place better suited for you - a place to relax and take care of yourself.

It's been a roller coaster. Having a teenage sister like Nivia is hard enough, but with this boy added into the mixture, I feel like I always need to be on guard. I like the guy, but she's my sister. I trust them, but they can't be alone in the house. If he acts like a teenage boy sometimes (a little rude or just insensitive), I gotta call him out and tell him to show a little respect. I think Mom respects the brutal honesty. She's never had to deal with a teenage boy like Nathan, a boy whose emotional outlet is humor. For her boys, one would have panic attacks and the other would shut down and asked her to scratch his head. This kid needs to be active and funny and he sometimes acts a little nutty. I'm old enough to understand what he's doing and young enough to call him out for being an idiot. I think he actually enjoys the banter, though, so he respects me when I tells him to settle down. That helps a whole lot.

I just wish that Nivia would understand that I need space. She sleeps in my room. She brings Nathan into my room (with the door open) and they just sit there and talk. I don't like that. I've never brought a boy into my life, let alone my room. Then Mom goes in there and just sits with them to chat and I have to walk away and pretend that my room isn't the sacred temple where I rest my head every night. I used to be able to work out, do yoga, crochet, paint, draw, read and dream in my room. Now I sleep in there and occasionally have stress nightmares about my birds dying.

Unfortunately, Mom and I are setting up the garage when we have time on the weekends. Since Nathan is still going to school and working whenever he's not in class, he mostly just comes home to sleep. Personally, I don't blame him. Mom would sleep all weekend if we let her. I wouldn't mind setting up the garage for myself, but I just thought the kid would appreciate having a restroom of his own and a place to put his stuff. If we were to move around and put me in the garage, I imagine we could do the same thing, though. Nivia would finally have her own room again and Nathan could move into my room. It was a boy's room at one point, after all.

That garage is jam-packed full of nonsense, though. I need to have myself a garage sale. I know I've got several things to sell. I'm having a little trouble letting go, though, because we bought a bunch of chairs to resell for this business, but I'm stuck working on the ones I excel at that can bring more money per chair. Here is a design I'm working on for a pair of chairs.
Wouldn't you know that I'm working all alone lately? With mom otherwise occupied with having another son, I'm kinda left scrambling. I can work alone on painting projects, but reupholstering chairs is a little different. I need a second pair of eyes and sometimes a second pair of hands. And I need the fabric and foam, because that's kinda important. I purchase the stuff from estate sales, so mom is supposed to buy the stuff to fix it. That hasn't been happening lately. I'm probably going to have to order the fabric online. It might be easier for her.

I'm sorry, I unloaded again. I guess it might take awhile for that to wear off. Too much built up after so long, haha!

 

[Blooie]

I'm sorry, I unloaded again. I guess it might take awhile for that to wear off. Too much built up after so long, haha!

Um, isn't that what the Porch is partly for? Where do you think that old expression, "C'mon in and take a load off....." came from? Oh, I know, it's supposed to mean sit down and take the load off your feet, but here we are in another dimension and we get to make up our own words and expressions!