The Old Folks Home

[superchemicalgirl]

DiDi, I can see you getting cold. With that tiny little frame and body, no wonder you get chilly. It is getting chilly here isn't it? I have to wear a zip up sweatshirt out there in the mornings..and I am not, skinny anymore. All of this extra cute chubby isn't helping any though, I am still cold! Did I say cute? lol....
Well, I just heard, that turkeys are kind of dumb. Really? That's too bad. Some are so unique looking..ahem..as in, I've not ever like the looks of their faces, but, those pretty tails all flared out are beautiful. Just males..I do know that much about turkeys.

Ok, me without roosters, has not done any kind of culling for food. So...SCG..when I saw you had said you had taken care of a crossbeak today, I was ready to ask, how do you take care of that?? I thought that was a permanent thing! LOL..then I reread where you started out saying, I took care of 7 roosters! I get it. I'm not always that slow..but sometimes.

My girl turkeys flare a bit, too, but they don't puff up like a tom.

I'm sorry to give you a bad image of crossbeak. I took care of him by taking him out of the tractor, snuggling him (getting mite eggs on myself), then taking him to BF while I was sobbing. BF told me to go talk to the goats. So I did and when I came back crossbeak was gone.

You really ought to think about roosters... it's hard work but it's totally worth it.

At the risk of offending ... we got 4 half-banty whole birds, 1 whole large bird and 2 large birds cut up into parts. The necks and backs got roasted and now they're in 2 crockpots for stock and the bone meat for stew meat. We'll have a bunch of good meals out of this.

 

[dsqard]

Arielle, I wish I could take some of the feathered friends too but if we move I think I am going to have a hard enough time finding a place we can rent that will allow 5 horses and three dogs. We figure we will have to rent until this place sells and houses in this neighborhood are not moving fast. Moving the people, dogs and horses will be enough.
Cynthia, I agree. Since DH and I went on the diet earlier this year, I have a lot less "insulation"

to keep me warm. I wouldn't exactly call my frame small though.

SCG you are making me wish I had processed my roos myself now.

(frowny for me not for you) Oh well, it is what it is.
Next weekend I get to drive to NM to pick up DS. He is going to move in with us to get himself hopefully back on the right path. He has been floundering a bit since he quit school with only about six months to go. Sometimes you can yell advice in their ears and they still don't get it until they go through it. I am keeping

that he means what he says about being ready to get his "junk" together. (I really want to use a stronger word there but I am being good

) Yes SCG, kids can be great at times but they can be awfully frustrating too. I love him to death but with him it has always had to be the hard way first. I can totally understand why people choose not to have children.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Would your son go to Virginia with you?

I know that you love them, and I know they're frustrating, but it's something you can't undo once you've done it. I'm just not willing to take that chance.

Thanks for posting the boot website. I had gone to Beans a few months ago but the place was teeming with people, and that gets me really squirrely. I pretty much got out of there as quickly as possible with only a mild crowd induced panic attack (luckily it's not too far of a drive) of course without boots. I got a pair online that is waterproof and approved for temps as low as -148F. Now, there's no way I'll ever be outside at even half that cold, but the way my feet feel after being out in the snow, I figured I needed all the help I could get.

Don't worry about not processing your roos, it was an all day affair to do those 7, including set up and clean up. I'm bushed, my hands feel like iguana skin, and I've got odd cuts and scrapes that I don't recall how I got them. Yes, worth it, but with your luck you'd sell the house immediately and not have time to enjoy the chickens. Those 7 should last me until I start hatching again. Speaking of which, when will Mahonri's New Years Hatch thread start?

 

[Arielle]

I was looking for last years hatch along thread. I didn't participate, but thought it would be a good read.

SCG-- you will have sweaty feet in those boots!! DO you have wool socks?? Definitely a plus with wet feet. THe big bird sure looks meaty!

Kids, yes they are a challenge. Apparently my brother felt the need to keep this to himself and he had some 10-15 years of child rearing to tell me before my first was born.; if he had informed me I would have passed on having kids. Doing it well and right demands self sacrifice. THey have definitely pulled me down a different road. Made me a better person, and forced me to keep learning new things. Like how to draw a dinosaur! LOL

We have many friends without kids. Two married couples. ANd a friend that never married--working, busy, happy without the need to date. Works at a zoo--children's education.

 

[Cynthia12]

My girl turkeys flare a bit, too, but they don't puff up like a tom.

I'm sorry to give you a bad image of crossbeak. I took care of him by taking him out of the tractor, snuggling him (getting mite eggs on myself), then taking him to BF while I was sobbing. BF told me to go talk to the goats. So I did and when I came back crossbeak was gone.

You really ought to think about roosters... it's hard work but it's totally worth it.

At the risk of offending ... we got 4 half-banty whole birds, 1 whole large bird and 2 large birds cut up into parts. The necks and backs got roasted and now they're in 2 crockpots for stock and the bone meat for stew meat. We'll have a bunch of good meals out of this.

This looks great! I had to show my husband. We can't have roosters! I wouldn't mind having that in my freezer! Wow. Nice. Beautiful dish there too!

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Kids, yes they are a challenge. Apparently my brother felt the need to keep this to himself and he had some 10-15 years of child rearing to tell me before my first was born.; if he had informed me I would have passed on having kids. Doing it well and right demands self sacrifice. THey have definitely pulled me down a different road. Made me a better person, and forced me to keep learning new things. Like how to draw a dinosaur! LOL

I think you're one of the few people that admit that you would have passed. I respect you very much for that. I think for some reason to say that is taboo in our society, and that's too bad. Or maybe people just don't put all the effort into it, so for them, having kids is easy, I don't know. But I do think people need to have more frank conversations about what things entail before embarking on them. I'm not saying raising kids is rocket science, but it's not something you just decide to do on a whim. Like I said earlier, you really can't undo it. Or, I guess you can. Like BFs mom who is raising her daughters kids because the daughter felt doing drugs was more important than her kids.

The smell of the chicken stock in the crockpots woke me this morning. It smells wonderful in here.

 

[dsqard]

SCG it is hard to raise kids and some of them (like my son) just have a young soul and have to find out things the hard way. I also agree there are people who should have thought longer and harder about having children before having them. My brother is a good example. He has children with two different women. He never married either of them. He is a good dad and is involved in their lives but I never could understand why you would want to have children with a person you didn't consider good enough to marry. Even though he is a good dad, I don't understand why he decided to have kids. I don't understand why you would make parenting so much harder by starting out with legal battles.

I hope you are right though, I hope this house does sell fast if we do move. I am absolutely not counting on that though. I know we got incredibly lucky last time and my life is not usually that lucky. Yes, DS will move with us if we do go to VA. He is actually kind of excited about it because he would be much closer to his cousins in RI and his sister in NY.

 

[Arielle]

I have a friend who doesn't have kids and we talk about it. Oddly, she understands raising kids better than 95% of parents, at least those I've met. SHe also shares that other women share with her my same attitude.

THis would be my test before having kids: I would like to see adults over 25 pass a written test and train a dog to a specific level before they can raise kids. Better than only allowing each family to have only one, IMO, seeing the problems that developed in CHina.

ANd just for clarity, those that choose not to have kids, that is just fine. Some people may say that is being selfish--I so don't agree with that at all. THere are a multitude of reasons why people dont have kids. I for one was too busy working to want to fit a child into the schedule mostly in that I wanted my kids to have a parent at home. THey sure get sick a lot during the early school years and need to stay home. I finally figured out working parents send their kids to school sick, even tossing cookies and a fever. Had THAT confirmed when subbing.



SCG--how did you get the meat so clean of the tiny feathers and the wing feathers that you complained about?

 

[7 Biddies]

My daughter will turn 40 in January, and has decided against having kids; her lifestyle (world travel) just isn't conducive to raising kids. She fought with the decision because so many people told her she was being selfish. But, I told her that I respected her for making that decision, especially when faced with so much opposition from others.

Working with kids as I do, I wish more people would forego having them; kids need so much and so few are willing to give them what they need most - unconditional love, structure, consistency, and the willingness to make the hard decisions and do what's right for *them*, whether it feels good to mom/dad or not.

I also see too many "grandparent wannabe's" pressuring their children to reproduce so they can have grandbabies to play with and "spoil". Talk about SELFISH!!

I am one of those who, knowing what I know now, if I had to make the choice all over again, I'm not sure I would have them. I was a "fence sitter" when I was making the decision way back when, but took the plunge because I was afraid I'd regret it later if I didn't. But, I'll be the first to admit it was anything but easy. Besides, I wouldn't bring children into our current society and political climate; it's not fair to them. The world isn't what it was when we were growing up.

 

[7 Biddies]

By-the-way: In what way is not having children "selfish"?? I have yet to figure that one out. Can anyone explain it to me?