The Old Folks Home

[ronott1]

Hey there vehve ... I am delurking to add, you forgot "push out Zzzzzzzzzzzzz's"

I still love this thread and read all the posts but kind of gave up posting because I was always so far behind the conversation. Think of me as 'the quiet one'; you know what they say about the 'quiet ones'

Lurk mode re-engaged

PS. Safe travels ozexpat!

Lurkers are welcome to post....

 

[Teila]

Tee hee ronott1 .. love the animation!

Thank you; TOFH has always made me feel welcome and I would love to contribute more but as I mentioned, the time difference basically means I am rehashing something that has already been filed away and moved onto the next topic.

It's all good, I still get a good laugh and my monitor gets it's daily spluttered coffee allowance

 

[The Yakima Kid]

The ACA is not going away. It needs some revision and tweeking for sure.

I cannot see the subsidies go away under a Democrat lead govt.

As a responsible tax payer it is my responsibility to help subsidise your health care. Thats what being a good citizen is all about. Caring for others.

We used to care for the people in our village. If someone was sick, we would help them out. cook and clean for them. Watch their kids. We subsidised them. Nowdays we deal with money instead of time or goods.

Taxes and subsidies are not evil. Wasting the taxes and subsidies are.

BTW a pregancy thats termed means an abortion - I know you did not mean that.

Taxes and subsidies can be very evil. We now our on our third and fourth generations of people who have never finished high school - even the schools that Oz has pointed out are inadequate - have never held a job, etc. This is not a matter of ethnicity - there are substantial and growing percentages of all ethnicities living that lifestyle.

We have former friends down the street. Their daughter became pregnant by her boyfriend of something like five years. She worked at Starbucks as a barrista.

Her boyfriend's immediate reaction was to propose marriage.

She and her parents held a family meeting and decided that she shouldn't "rush into marriage" although apparently rushing into the delivery room is just jolly.

It was noted that she could be "independent" with family assistance programs.

We ended our friendship with them after one too many rants about how their poor, deprived, darling daughter couldn't afford to do this or that because welfare was such a "stingy" program.

While taking a course for technical certification, I enrolled at a local community college where I could take the class for about $200, as opposed to a training center where it would cost several thousand dollars for a boot camp.

It was amazing how many students in their late teens, early twenties had multiple children by various partners.

The young women see themselves as "independent" while receiving MediCal, EBT food stamps, etc.

The young men see the matter as one of "her body, her problem."

And I really don't like paying for it.

It is normal for those whose occupations receive subsidies to find them a very good idea - health care, Solyndra, Tesla, etc.

It is also normal for those whose jobs are shipped overseas and whose wages are reduced by permissive immigration policies that permit the recruitment to fill non-existent STEM field shortages to feel that subsidies are absurd.

 

[tnspursfan09]

You can be an honorary grandma to Maddy, diva. Right now she has just the one (me) and her two fairy godmothers. We all got new tablets today so that we can Skype with Maddy while she's in the hospital.

 

[tnspursfan09]

My younglings like to stay up late to chase the fireflies.

 

[vehve]

G'day Teila, it's fine replying to something from last night a bit late, but we had one lurker a few weeks back who was replying to posts on page 6 or something. I think that two years is a bit long to keep a conversation going about the same subject.

How are things in the land of kangaroos, koalas and upsidedowness?

 

[chickadoodles]

Off to the gate

stay safe

 

[Teila]

G'day Teila, it's fine replying to something from last night a bit late, but we had one lurker a few weeks back who was replying to posts on page 6 or something. I think that two years is a bit long to keep a conversation going about the same subject.

How are things in the land of kangaroos, koalas and upsidedowness?

Yep, vehve, I saw the two year old replies ... trust me, I have enough trouble with 2 days, I am not contemplating taking a 2 year trip back in time

Things are going pretty well down under ... summer is just around the corner and the jumpers and woolly socks are nearly about ready for packing up until next time .. bring out the shorts and T-shirts!

Not sure if the reference to upsidedowness was due to our location or that pesky Silkie with the faulty time chip! The good news on that front is that the time chip appears to have reset itself and she is now laying during normal business hours and in the right place

Like, SCG, bed time is still causing me some angst; to the point that tonight I just threw my hands up in the air and walked off muttering and cursing something along the lines of "Fine, I don't care, sleep where the 'bleep' you want!" to which end, I have two sleeping on top of a 'divider' and three piled on top of each other in one nest box! Two perfectly good roosts and two nest boxes are empty! I have tried everything; I've remodelled, I've moved them, I've coaxed them. This has gone on for months, I spend many nights out there with a torch trying to get them to sleep where I believe is the best place but no more! Pfffft!

If they want to fight, peck, bicker and squabble, go for it!

Funnily enough, I just posted this bed time effort in the Aussie Room as they were talking about funny things their pets do .....

Note: this is only funny because no-one got hurt. I will try and explain ....

Cilla, rather chubby Pekin Cochin, always positions herself on the edge of the nest box as a launch platform to the roost which she now struggles to get to. Last night, Dusty, Bantam Langshan, is standing in the same nest box.

Cilla jumps on edge of nest box > nest box overbalances > Dusty gets 'thrown' out onto the 'balcony' and Cilla ends up underneath with straw and nest box over her.

Worried for her safety, I quickly got her out from under and then seeing that no harm was done, aside from a dented pride, I couldn't stop laughing! She was OK; I put the nest box back as it should be and she used it as a launch spot again.

Yet more modifications have since been made to accommodate Cilla's vertically challenged physique. I am not too worried that she is a little overweight as she is due to go broody any day now, if past experience is any indication; so she will at least have some reserves

 

[vehve]

Yeah, I read about that, sounds pretty funny.

Glad to hear you managed to reset her.

How much roost space do you have per bird? Our birds seem to think that they need a half meter per bird at the moment, although I'm sure that will change once winter comes. You could also think about putting in a ramp for Cilla.

 

[Teila]

Yeah, I read about that, sounds pretty funny.

Glad to hear you managed to reset her.

How much roost space do you have per bird? Our birds seem to think that they need a half meter per bird at the moment, although I'm sure that will change once winter comes. You could also think about putting in a ramp for Cilla.

Hhhm, it is a long story vehve; probably too long and boring

I will try and explain but totally understand if you give up and find something more interesting to do

Mine do not want half a metre each, they all want to be right on top of each other!

Cilla, the matriarch who has always slept on top of the divider and will not be budged no matter how hard I try, has now taught her latest hatch, Blondie, to do the same thing so there is now no more room up there. There is another roost, same height but no-one is interested. There is also a silkie-friendly roost for Tina but she prefers to 'balance' on the edge of or in the nest box. LuLu who is Tina's adopted baby but only a couple of months younger than Tina has been trying to sleep on a roost but she wants to sleep with Cilla and Blondie and there is no room so she gives up and sleeps with Tina. Dusty, the bantam langshan, has never roosted and again, will not be swayed, so she usually sleeps in her favourite nest box but now, Tina and LuLu have decided to give up their nest box and share with Dusty!

I can't take away the 'divider' as it is structural to the coop. They have a pretty big coop for 5 x bantams and lots of spare space everywhere but they want to camp out in one corner!

I did consider a ramp for Cilla but as she is expected to go broody soon she will go into 'lock-down' in her own little section so that the eggs do not get trampled at bed time and joy of joys, more reshuffling required.

When the coop is sectioned for a broody, the divider is taken out of the equation so then I will have Blondie 'upset'. Hopefully, with no other options, she might start sleeping on one of the other roosts and LuLu will be able to join her.

This is probably all my fault in that my coop may not be the best design but as I do not have the finances for another and cannot remodel it any more than I have done already.

On the other hand, I could blame chicken math

All was fine when I just had two, but then chicken math set in, expansions were required and that is when the problem started

Cilla is the matriarch and one of the original two so she has no interest in the expansion whatsoever and everyone appears to be taking her lead and squishing up.

One option I am considering is dividing the broody section at night time, even though I do not have a broody. As mentioned, this will take away the divider and everyone will have no choice but to sleep in the expansion but then I am going to have 5 very irate gals, one of whom has slept in the same spot for 15 of her 19 months of age.

I have read on many threads that 'they adjust and get used to it' but I am not so sure. As I have said, for months I have moved them and every night they go back to the same spot and we start again. Maybe I do just need to take that option out of the equation.