The Old Folks Home

[chickisoup]

Hi everyone!

Alaskan - great job! Don't you just love how "in" we suddenly are with our "repurposing"??? My dad ( and grandad) would be laughing at the city "Idiots" as he would call them, suddenly discovering this amazing way to save the planet by " recycling and repurposing" , how brilliant!!! In my family it's called "common sense and making do". Any family homestead I knew had a "hole out back" somewhere, often just a spot in the woods or "hollow" behind the barn where anything that had worn out from it's original purpose or just not used anymore would go to wait for it's next reincarnation, often going thru several. In this hidden store house would be anything from old pots and pans to construction materials to all forms of dead machinery. All waiting to be needed again. We have the same on our place, at least in concept, just a bit more "sorted" and organized. For years I would go to charity thrift shops and scoop up all the wood items that no one wanted because the finish was bad, they were scratched up, etc. I would take them home, clean and fix them up, re-finish them, add an embellishment if needed and then donate them back to give them a new life and more money for the charity. Who knew I was being "environmentally hip"?

Venison!!!! Yes!!! My favorite meat! Sadly, our state department of natural resources issued way too many doe permits based on some, who knows where they got them, herd numbers and literally decimated the deer herd to the point potentially of no return in the northern regions of our state. It was in really serious trouble from over hunting when the polar vortex hit. Now, it doesn't matter if you can get a buck permit (no more getting doe permits like cracker jack prizes) you probably won't see one. We had all the sons and grandsons hunting last year and no one saw anything opening weekend on our entire 65 acres or the other 40 we are caretakers for. There are still lots of deer to the south around all the big dairy farms and fields so we are hoping the boys will remember grandpa and me and share.

 

[ozexpat]

Alaskan, the Gulf stream keeps us a bit warmer, even though we're at the same height.

CC, okay, I hope the 20W will be enough, I'm putting it in a 2 gallon waterer, so the mass it needs to keep warm isn't that large. And it only really needs to keep the bottom from freezing.

The corrugated plastic I've been eyeing is about 20 euros for a 2m x 1.1m piece, the cell plastic with the double structure would be significantly more and let through less light. I'm hoping to get away with about 100-150 euros total.

It amazes me how similar items are priced so differently from country to country.

Clear or colored corrugated roofing is 580 pesos (44php to the dollar).

A sheet of the flat double pane polycarbonate with internal ribbing is 850 pesos.

A 40kg bag of Portland cement is 236

Nails are 55 pesos a kilo.

A 10watt LED light is 180 pesos

A 20 dollar black and Decker drill in USA is about 60 bucks.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Buying good power tools where they're not made can be very pricey. Possibly the duties are the culprit but also just shipping and warehousing.
Same goes for things like drinking Kentucky bourbon in Germany.
Costa Rica doesn't build cars and has a huge duty on both new and used imports. Many want to bring their 4 year old car when they move there. That's so expensive.
It makes me wonder how taxi rides can be so cheap when the cars and fuel are so expensive.

OZ, I remember you saying you vaccinated for a few things. I've been reading a textbook titled Broiler Breeder Production and the subject of vaccination I found interesting. I don't have 100,000 breeders so I don't intend to vaccinate but it looks like commercially they vaccinate for about 11 things. Could you remind me what you vaccinate for?

 

[chickisoup]

Speaking of construction projects, we have a big one starting here tomorrow. DH had scrapped together a ramp to get me out of the house and to my doctor appointment on Wednesday. Even with a large, strong neighbor helping, it was a very scary adventure for all. DH had totally missed the incline thing and we all went SLIDING down! Me, the chair and two large men!!! Hubby, finally agreed to let me call his friend the carpenter (who had finished building his beautiful, two story, retirement home completely by himself) who retired up here not too far from us last summer. They did the figuring and came up with a supply list and hubby is now at the big home improvement/hardware store (Menard's) in the city with the trailer destroying what was left in the emergency savings account so construction can begin tomorrow. The decision was made that we might just as well go with a permanent ramp, since doing it right (and safely) requires some sturdy construction anyway. By Monday I will be able to actually get to the yard again!!! YEA!!!

Doc has me grounded from any weight on my leg for at least another month. Then MAYBE, if the 2nd surgery isn't needed I will get a walking cast to use with crutches, geesh. Anyway, it will be cold and possibly snow by then so these next few weeks are my last chance to actually get outside and enjoy it.

 

[LindaB220]

The windmills take away from the scenery, but they sure help with the economy.

Coming from the deep south I had no idea what y'all were talking about when you discussed the neighbor making the man take down his windmill. I was thinking of the old days with a 20' high or so old timey windmill..

 

[LindaB220]

I am NOT a happy camper tonight. As most of you know, we are house hunting. We went to see a home this evening. There were a couple nice chicken coops outside, and about 25 chickens of various ages running around the yard. The owner of the house was there, and I commented on her chickens, and mentioned I too had chickens. We proceeded to tour the house, and property.

After a bit, she began telling me she had just spent about $400.00 on her chickens, because they had gotten sick, but were ok now. I sympathized, and asked what they had. Infectious Coryza. When she assured me they were fine now, with no more symptoms. I mentioned that I thought I had read that once a flock had gotten infectious coryza, that they were carriers for life, but maybe had it confused with something else. She said her vet had told her the same thing, so she wouldn't be getting anymore chickens. She admitted that she should probably cull them, but they were the family pets, and her kids loved them. So these chickens are carriers, and running around lose in her yard, contaminating everyone, and everything that comes into contact with her yard. That's not a concern if no one with chickens goes there, or they don't go near anyone that has chickens, but that was not the case today, and she was very nonchalant about the whole thing. Oh, she was told that after she moves her birds off the property, and they are gone for 3 days, there is no risk of the property contaminating any other chickens, so just bring my flock.

While I do take biosecurity measures, I have gone the extra mile now. When we got home, shoes were removed outside, one pair machine washed. The other pair was thoroughly misted with a clorox/water solution, we showered, and our clothes laundered. Floors misted where we walked, including carpeting. Car misted, especially floor mats, door handles, window buttons, and arm rests. Keys, and cell phones misted. I think that's everything.

Oh yeah, the house had leaks in the roof, and water had run down inside the walls too, which had gotten into the insulation under the flooring, and rotted the wood underneath some, so there are lots of soft spots in the floor, the air conditioner has to be replaced, out in the garage the windows leak, and the roof leaks. The property is 5 acres, but only 2 cleared because 3 acres are low, swampy and unusable in their present state. No one disclosed that to our realtor. Tomorrow's a new day, right?

So good that you are a discerning buyer. You know what to look for and what is dangerous. Good luck to that lady trying to sell her house. Especially to chicken lovers.

 

[vehve]

Quote: Actually I found 2.5m x 1.05m for 16.64€, I think I'll get that. Even with extra waste it will end up costing less, and I can probably figure some use for the remnants. With our VAT of 24% and slightly higher price of labor (somebody's gotta sell it), I'd say it's pretty on par with your price. The cement is a bit more in small amounts here, a 25kg bag goes for about 4.50€. Nails are expensive, I think I paid 30-40 euros for 10 kilos of galvanized 60mm nails. Led bulbs cost a lot too, between 5 and 10 euros. Black & Deckers are about 50 euros.

 

[LindaB220]

I had never heard of birds being damaged by Wind turbines.... You see they are very visible and do make noise and best off all they create wind turbulence around them.... Birds do NOT fly blindly. I just wondered how these stories get passed around as truth. So I just looked up an article on it.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/wind-turbine-kill-birds.htm

Bottom line yes they do kill birds but NOt on the levels you might think..... Less than one tenth of a percent of Accidental Bird deaths are attributed to wind turbines. That is .001 percent.

The list started with Cats being the worst offender with hundreds of millions of birds per year.... and ended with wind turbines with a maximum of 40,000. The chart of it is at the bottom of the article i posted.

and Like Felix says a home windmill especially the vertical ones is going to be even less offensive. The one my neighbor has is about four feet in diameter and about twenty feet tall including its mounting tower. I believe he uses its electricity to power his Well pump. Our wells here can be in excess of 500 feet deep much too deep for a standard windmill.

deb

I shared this in FB as a way to show people the power of propaganda. The naysayers of wind turbines can see what they are bit##ing about

 

[LindaB220]

Hi everyone!

Alaskan - great job! Don't you just love how "in" we suddenly are with our "repurposing"??? My dad ( and grandad) would be laughing at the city "Idiots" as he would call them, suddenly discovering this amazing way to save the planet by " recycling and repurposing" , how brilliant!!! In my family it's called "common sense and making do". Any family homestead I knew had a "hole out back" somewhere, often just a spot in the woods or "hollow" behind the barn where anything that had worn out from it's original purpose or just not used anymore would go to wait for it's next reincarnation, often going thru several. In this hidden store house would be anything from old pots and pans to construction materials to all forms of dead machinery. All waiting to be needed again. We have the same on our place, at least in concept, just a bit more "sorted" and organized. For years I would go to charity thrift shops and scoop up all the wood items that no one wanted because the finish was bad, they were scratched up, etc. I would take them home, clean and fix them up, re-finish them, add an embellishment if needed and then donate them back to give them a new life and more money for the charity. Who knew I was being "environmentally hip"?

Venison!!!! Yes!!! My favorite meat! Sadly, our state department of natural resources issued way too many doe permits based on some, who knows where they got them, herd numbers and literally decimated the deer herd to the point potentially of no return in the northern regions of our state. It was in really serious trouble from over hunting when the polar vortex hit. Now, it doesn't matter if you can get a buck permit (no more getting doe permits like cracker jack prizes) you probably won't see one. We had all the sons and grandsons hunting last year and no one saw anything opening weekend on our entire 65 acres or the other 40 we are caretakers for. There are still lots of deer to the south around all the big dairy farms and fields so we are hoping the boys will remember grandpa and me and share.

Repurposing, reuse, recycle. Yeah, yeah. My family calls it hoarding and promptly throws it out in the trash. I have to dig through sometimes to get what I asked for in my chicken endeavors. My DD said I'm not to go dumpster diving even in our trash. sigh

 

[chickadoodles]

Quote: Awww Linda that is terrible. Try telling her what you need and what it's for and see if that would help. :/