The Old Folks Home

[superchemicalgirl]

SCG glad to hear that your dad is doing better. I hope he does really well once he gets home. I know how hard it is to be so far away from your parents when they start having medical problems. Don't worry too much about your epic project, going to see your dad and support your mom is much more important.

I have chicks starting to hatch today.

Had a bit of an issue this morning though. I was putting more water in the bator because I was having a hard time keeping the humidity up. After putting in more water I noticed that it was all running out on to the floor. I had forgotten to put in the paper towels to hold the water. Took the eggs out and put in more water and paper towels. Figured I would candle since I had taken the eggs out anyway. Good thing I did. One of the eggs had pipped on the bottom so I laid it on it's side. The chick is not out of the shell yet but now it has a chance to get out.
It is chick days at the feed store. I love looking at the chicks but it is fairly easy to walk away from them knowing I can hatch my own. Yesterday was really hard to walk away though because they had really cute ducklings (SCG your warnings about duck messes makes it easier to look but not buy on them) and turkey poults. The poults were the hardest to leave since they aren't BBW's. I do think that they are BBB and I don't need the really big birds. I like the smaller heritage breeds I have so I walked away from them too. I keep hoping to find my first turkey egg of the year though. Edith (the blue slate cross I have) keeps letting Jake breed her so I think it will be soon. The BR hen I have (Lurkey's daughter) hasn't let him mount her yet so she must be maturing a little slower. SCG we will have to send some home with you since I am pretty sure they will both be laying by the time you get here.

Maybe I should bring you duck eggs when I come. They're cute and if you can keep them outside, worth the mess. I had my broody banty hatch 2 last spring and they were cute and fairly mess-free. Now when the year's before lived in the basement... and swam in the upstairs tub daily... MESS.
I'll take you up on turkey eggs as long as I don't fly Cape Air home (you can't have carry on - it gets shoved in the wing of the plane... Chris helped me pack Tuesday night and put some goodies in my bag for me. You should have seen my Zebra Cakes. I had no idea if smashed enough they would basically liquify). They could probably even smash a Wisher pack job.
Would love to see chick pictures when you get them. Good luck with the hatch.
Now that I've got my laundry in hot water, and took a shower, I'm going to go get some caprine and poultry love. I missed my babies.

 

[Wisher1000]

Careful, Linda, one might think you miss it......

 

[superchemicalgirl]

It appeared I was "special" enough to go with... Woo hoo! Wait, not woo hoo, but whoa Nellie!

Cramped quarters, lots of noise, incredible vibration, and the possibility of being shot at. Ahh, those were the days! Never to be repeated, thank you very much. Another reason to enjoy retirement.

But PAYING to ride small, commercial aircraft somewhere, sitting smushed up against the pilot's seat? Nah. At least I knew the pilots and observers and they were happy to educate, reassure, and laugh their buttts off at me.

Ok, if you had added the possibility of being shot at, I probably would have had a stroke. Because I learn from my mistakes, I took an Imodium and some Tums before boarding (and again, having my bag confiscated) and told the copilot when deplaning that if the holes in the seat from my nails were too big, to just send me a bill. He laughed heartily, and maybe that made up for me whimpering in his ear the last half hour. Not that he could have heard it over the roar of the engine, though.

I can't imagine doing that frequently, as part of a job. Do you ever get used to it?

And I didn't willingly pay for/take this flight. I let Expedia book it for me, told them where I wanted to depart from and land at... then searched nearby airports and took the cheapest of the quickest flights. I might take it again, but they really ought to serve cocktails in the waiting area.

 

[gryeyes]

It appeared I was "special" enough to go with... Woo hoo! Wait, not woo hoo, but whoa Nellie!


Cramped quarters, lots of noise, incredible vibration, and the possibility of being shot at. Ahh, those were the days! Never to be repeated, thank you very much. Another reason to enjoy retirement.


But PAYING to ride small, commercial aircraft somewhere, sitting smushed up against the pilot's seat? Nah. At least I knew the pilots and observers and they were happy to educate, reassure, and laugh their buttts off at me.

Ok, if you had added the possibility of being shot at, I probably would have had a stroke. Because I learn from my mistakes, I took an Imodium and some Tums before boarding (and again, having my bag confiscated) and told the copilot when deplaning that if the holes in the seat from my nails were too big, to just send me a bill. He laughed heartily, and maybe that made up for me whimpering in his ear the last half hour. Not that he could have heard it over the roar of the engine, though.

I can't imagine doing that frequently, as part of a job. Do you ever get used to it?

And I didn't willingly pay for/take this flight. I let Expedia book it for me, told them where I wanted to depart from and land at... then searched nearby airports and took the cheapest of the quickest flights. I might take it again, but they really ought to serve cocktails in the waiting area.

Well, not frequently, but at least once every five years. It also helps to wear the headphones for communicating with the crew and hear what's going on with any incident to which the aircraft responds.

Yeah, Wisher, I am full of law enforcement "war stories.". As the teller of such tales, I can re-write history in a light more favorable to my reputation. if you asked the pilots, I am sure their versions were much less traumatic. "We flew, she squealed, asked a lot of questions - yes, that's our airspeed, no, that's normal vibration, stop holding your breath - we provided air support, flew back to the hanger and dropped off the civilian. Tomorrow we'll fly along the coastline to check for vehicles over the side, wanna come along?"

Nah, but I'll schedule a dispatcher for THAT safe flying experience. Mwaaahaaahaaaahaaaaaa. That I DO miss.

SCG, cocktails SHOULD be provided upon landing. I agree with you there. Ever notice even the small airports have a bar either on site or pretty darned close?

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Ours didn't have a bar but I came home and grabbed a drink. I'm thinking about telling everyone about what a great experience flying out of Augusta is, and that they should try it. I can't "dispatch" anyone to there, but I might be able to sway some people to try it, if I can be convincing enough about how awesome it is.

I should have BF watch the animals more often. There's 2x6's down in the mud from the run door to the coop which greatly improves the experience, the goat fence is ratcheted to the dog house (which is frozen to the ground) so it is lifted up and the door can now open more than a few inches and won't freeze to the ground now. The biddies got a new flock block and everyone seems to have been fed and watered (with exception of the seedlings). He even did the laundry and set up an automatic cat feeder. My hive came though, and he didn't have it set up and painted. I'll have to talk to him about that when he gets home from work.

 

[Stumpy]

When I was a teenager, my father decided I should learn to fly, so he would take me up in a little plane. The most frightening part to me was when he would require me to pull back until the engine stalled. Yikes! I got quite a few hours and still have my little flight book, but I just didn't have the knack or desire to become a pilot. I've never ridden in a helicopter and I definitely consider small planes safer than airliners. At least there is a chance you might be able to glide down if something happens.

 

[Bunnylady]

Bunny, did I ever tell you that I lived in Wilmington NC? Waay long in the past. By chance, and yes, I am very serious..do you know any Smiths there? Sort of relatives. How do you have sort of relatives? Step dad, his family lived there. Some may still be there. Not sure. His brother was always called Bubba..so I don't know his first name. Daughter, Neil. Man, it's been forever..the 60's. Bet it's changed big time. Beautiful from what I remember. A lot of Bass fishing still go on around there?

I remember one year while there, it snowed..everyone was going crazy because a few flakes were falling. It never snowed there, so they said. I was used to snow in VA. Thick ice? Wow, the weather has changed since the 60's there.

Smiths? Oh, yeah, Smith is an old name around here - and Wilson, and a few others, too. I may not know the Smiths you knew, but I could just about guarantee that they are related!

But you are right, it hardly ever snows here. The last really good snow was in 2010:

 

[dsqard]

SCG I just can't do ducks. They would spend all day in the horse troughs and that would not be good for the horses. Might have an issue with the turkey eggs though. I ran in to town to pick up a few things and left the birds out since it is such a nice day. Should have tried to get them back in the pen. Came home to my dogs running amok (they got one of our gates open some how). Right now I have two Brahma hens I have to put down. Poor Jake is missing a lot of feathers but otherwise unharmed. Edith is missing. I am hoping she will show up or is over visiting the neighbors again and they will let me know if they see her. I don't think she was hurt since I didn't see any of her feathers on the ground but I have no idea where she went to hide. To top all of this off, our car sprung a fuel leak sometime during the short trip to town and back. I think I just need a "do over" for today. It will get better I am sure but right now not feeling too happy. At least it was my dogs and not a neighbor's dog. I think that would have made it worse to have to deal with someone else's dogs wreaking havoc.

 

[gryeyes]

 

[Bunnylady]

Oh, no! I've never lost chickens to my own dogs, but my dogs have gotten into the rabbitry and done dreadful things. Every time it happened, I wound up kicking myself for not doing a better job of keeping them out.

Hope your missing girl comes home safe and sound.