The Old Folks Home

[ozexpat]

Tara.

your posts are fascinating.

you should have your own thread.

i am sure you would have a great following

The Doggone & Chicken UP! thread

 

[drumstick diva]

I totally agree

 

[wolftracks]

The best deals on generators can be had after a bad weather event. People run out and purchase them for the time being and return them and Lowes and HD have to put them on discount. That is how we picked ours up so cheaply. I will have to say one advantage we had is DH worked for a vendor of HD and he was well known by several of the areas store and he asked them to call him they had one returned. You can still get it just have to be diligent in your visits. Typically they are put in a particular place in each store. The appliance in my kitchen came from when Lowes made over their kitchen section in the store. I picked up a french door fridge for less than $900 and a stove with all of the works...including convection oven for around the same price. Keep an eye out.

Oh I've found plenty since he died, but now everything is out of my price range. Darn it. I was really upset right after Christmas when I found am appliance deal at HD. $1300 for a great side by side, awsome stove and dishwasher that I could have cleaned a coop with. LOL All brand new. I was sick. I made an oops over a year ago when I was at Best Buy and found a dryer. Mind you I was always the one that made sure everything was just what I wanted and hooked up to what we had. Not that time. Got a nice big dryer for $150 and was in a hurry that day, so paid, loaded and ran. Got it home and tried to hook it up. DUH!!! Gas dryer and everything is set for electric. Put it on CL instead of returning it and sold it for $350. Never have gotten a dryer, but I paid some bills that month. LOL

Jeez Louise, I said where I was. Overworked, underpaid, and going grayer and crazier all at the same time. I'm going to need a rubber plane to get me out of here in 3 weeks. You guys thought I was nuts before, wait til you see SCG version 2.0.

Did I mention my furnace died 3 times in the past few weeks? It was really lovely to turn the shower on, brush my teeth while the water got "hot" and then hop in the shower at 0500. Had to unscrew myself from the ceiling after that one. That was a few days after drawing myself a nice deep bath that had to of been 32.5 degrees F. I have now learned the fine art that is dipping my toes into the water in the bath/shower prior to entering. I paid the furnace guy well plus he left with some chicken and turkey eggs to try. And since that moment my furnace juju has been significantly improved. I'm probably tempting fate just thinking about it right now.

I swear if I didn't have bad luck sometimes I'd have no luck at all.

But you gotta keep your humor up about the whole thing otherwise you're going to need a straitjacket and quite frankly, one doesn't have the time to be fashioning that item from scratch right about now. And one simply cannot go on in a non-personalized straitjacket.

Lost the other quotes and had the one with your quilt on here. Can't wait to see it all finished.

I sure get the bad luck or none at all remark. Boy do I get it.

Missed ya bunches, SCG! And no, you simply cannot be carted away in a non-personalized, Extra Secure Long-sleeved Jacket.


(I am so very proud of mine.... Even though you just made me realize I am at least one step closer to being ready for a short trip to a secure facility, escorted by men in white coats.)

I think when those white coats show up, I'm gonna tir dye them. Might do my padded walls too.

 

[chickadoodles]

The weather has really done a number on us.

Late Sunday night, DH and I were out in the driving wind and lighting, trying to access and handle the results of the wind. Roofs off of two of my coops, trees down, flooding (not too bad at my place, just really soggy and a couple of inches of sheeting water in my coops) and no power for over 24 hours. I didn't loose any adult birds, but I had a chick in the "bra-bator" all night. I had washed it in warm water and put it in the hatcher to dry just before the power went out. The others were dry and in the brooder. The sad part for me is the eggs that were/are in the Sportsman. There are nearly 200 eggs that were in there that probably won't hatch. I had to work and couldn't be there when he hooked it up to the borrowed generator, so I don't know what the temp got down to, but my guess would be in the 70's.

Sixty of those eggs were an order for a lady that has a petting zoo and needs chicks for an Easter event in two weeks. I called to give her the news, and she just BOO_HOOed. She went on to explain that her barn flooded (over waist deep) and she lost almost all of the animals she uses in her business. All but one of her pygmy goat kids, all her bunnies, piglets, kittens, and a few birds. It's so sad. She is struggling to get started and has just been able to secure a couple of large events and now she has no animals. The only insurance she has is for liability.

Eighteen of my eggs were the exhibition quality Wheaten/Blue Wheaten Ameraucanas that I had shipped to me from Texas. The rest were my Silver Campines that I have been working so hard to get started. The last batch of SCs are in the hatcher and there are no signs of pips today (day 22.)

We don't have a generator. We have several that we can borrow. All of those were in use by their owners and we were not able to get one for the first 8-10 hours. There are power company employees feverishly working to restore power, but there are lots of large trees to remove and detangle first.

As far as I know, there were no losses of human life in my community, but there was a child swept away and drowned in a nearby city. The strange thing is, these were not tornadoes. It was over 5" of rain to soak the ground, then strong straight line winds. It was just the right mix (or wrong mix) that caused the problems.

I have my friends, neighbors, and family, the animals can be replaced.

Wisher, I am so sorry for your losses

 

[Highcotton]

I don't really know, this is the first time I've tried them, but from my research I would think you could grow them - especially if you can grow tomatoes and eggplant - they are a member of the nightshade family.

Me, too! I always tr to throw something unusual in the garden, if for no other reason, to have something to point out to people I drag out to look at my gardens.

I read one review where someone was growing some in Canada! You can order seeds at many places, but if you (ANY of you) want, I will save some seeds from mine, that is assuming I have good luck with them. I don't think they are hard to grow, on the contary, I think they are VERY easy to grow but need to be dusted to discourage spider mites and aphids. I can do that to have a perfect "crazy-chicken-lady" plant!


Awesome list, but I don't see any cukes or cantalope. Yeah, I forgot to mention the cantalope and watermelons.........Oh, and the corn............

I like to plant watermelons late. There are so many available around here so cheap during the peak season that I like to raise them so the mature after the peak season so we have them when we are trying to find good ones in the fall. Between my wife, grandchildren and the chickens we must eat a truck load in a year.

 

[CanuckBock]

Tara.

your posts are fascinating.

you should have your own thread.

i am sure you would have a great following

The Doggone & Chicken UP! thread

Quote:

I totally agree

I think these are nice thoughts meant to be compliments and all but I have been given the boot outta much more eloquent establishments than Golden Acres! Blah...

A thread on just the Tales from Rat World--it might fly...

​

I'll have to think on that and the commitment (committed...yes I too know of the threat of jackets that do up in the back--funny farm indeed!) it takes.

I kinda like hovering and posting here at the Home...Wisher keeps us in line...well as straight a line a group of soggy bottomed, cane carousing, prune juiced, Geritol (nfi) fired, walker wobblers can be.

So yes, Bob's yer Uncle, will seriously consider it.


In the meantime, interesting what one day (or should I say night fall) can make.

I mentioned that the male Bluebirds arrive here before the females. To choose a nesting site and defend it...well they also arrive here long before I figure they should. Sigh...sometimes we find them inside the very houses meant for them to nest in...frozen. Sigh. Poor blighters. So much flurry of activity, such a huge use of resources to make the next generation...the future of their species.

On the left is one of our many Bluebird houses.
​

Kid and I bought Rick plans for Bluebird houses, years ago. We lived in an area that had no Bluebirds, but we knew that was to change--one day, a change to live in an area that had Bluebirds. And blue skies, nothing but BLUE skies....


Quote:
Oh yes, where was I...

We have had the Bluebird houses up now for about five years which tells me, life has slowed down a bit and attentions can be turned to the real things that matter. To helping out wildlife and giving them a place to set up shop. We hope for times to do those fun projects and sometimes you forget you even have made plans like that...don't want to be wishful thinkers but do SO love to see some things come to pass.

Every fall, Rick, the dogs, and I, go round and empty out the used nesting materials to ready the bluebird houses for spring use. Sometimes a family of swallows takes up residence but we so still adore the fly by Swallows (like bombers!), so don't mind whatever nice bird uses them, so long as they get used! Other than Starlings...not fond of those aggressive birds.

Rick bought me this ornament for Mother's Day for me one year...I put it out in the herb garden in the new orchard every spring.



Here's a close up of the ornament and by jove...a female Bluebird is perched on it. So kewl eh?

​

This is what the difference just one day can make living so close to the mountains here in the wilds of Alberta.

Yesterday...let the bantam ducks out, along with the swans and ruddies.



Lots of happiness, splashing in the melt off of the snow and ice.




The birds swimming and puddling.​

The two cobs decide it is time to retire, so they begin the slow big webber flap saunter to their winter quarters in the Duck Barn.​

The pens and the Ruddy pair decide to do the same thing and the procession moves along to their homes.​

So during the night, it goes from SPRING...back to WINTER...wake up and the dynamics are all topsy turvy again.

It is WHITE out again! All over WHITE OUT!​

Snow dog...snow faced Fixins.


Funny to imagine just yesterday...there were waterfowl UNDER this birch tree in the front yard.

​

Dang snow...sure makes things pretty though.

Here's our mailbox this morning, clad in snow.​

Sure hope I worked on my "tan lines" yesterday 'cause I expect, that's that for season of spring/summer now.

So maybe I should consider a thread of my very own...call it like When Pigs Can Fly...bwa ha ha...place where heathens can chat it up about the refined living of knowing which sterling silver dessert fork to use when invited for brunch at the palace...we shall see on that. Has to be a place where topics can be more than just about chooks, dogs too and such...down to the dirt, farmy kinda living...oh yes and teasing has to be allowed! Can't exist without so much teasing. Oh how many persons have been teased nothing short of their life by the likes of moi.

Had a girlfriend growing up in high school...she lost her leg in a tragic freak accident--lucky to have lived! She had just moved to the area and had made the basketball team. Had met her once and marvelled how lovely it would be to have such a nice similarly tall girl to chum round with. Well we became friends, sure enough--probably closer because of her accident. Oh how we teased...we would have a girl's night sleep over at one of our houses and we'd hide her leg. Yeh, nice kids, eh? Laugh like pigs when she discovered we were holding her leg hostage and going to torment the dickens outta her. We pushed her tolerances way past the point of politeness (but we never made each other cry...we did have limits, eh?) and made her a whole person because we all got tormented...teased and taunted and she was no soppy cripple with a get outta jail free card. Nope, she was going to pay up just like any of the rest of us did. She hated things like Kraft Dinner (nfi), no idea why, that and bananas...so I'd pick her up in my Mustang and ask her to, "Pass me that container on the back seat there." She would and I would begin eating cold KD with my fingers...whilst driving...Man she hated and yet loved me. You wanted to be one of our crowd, you were gonna have to step up and take the teasing--the more we loved you, the more we tickled. Suck it up Buttercup or wither and die already. She had spunk, she even participated in the Olympics (forget the correct handle for the "disabled" athletic events) for swimming too. She got her digs in with me too...still got a scar on my left forearm from her braces...we were swimming and she told me she could beat me, so I dove by her and guess she musta been smiling cause I ended up with some big cut in my arm from one of the wires in her braces...agh...she did end up with a rather nice smile though.

"POKE POKE! Got yer NOSE! Put blue hair on your chest!"​

See how much down time I have...spring has sprung and rebounded right outta here again. Back to winter whites and slip, sliding with trudging abounds. Slowed up like molasses in...uh..in April?

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[Dragonfly216]

I, for one, would definitely read the When Pigs Can Fly thread! I love your stories and am transported right there with your vivid descriptions and excellent photography.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Canuckbok, I finally found a couple of my aerial photos of raised garden beds.




Finally heard from the wife and daughter.

Anyone ever see the movie, Bridge Over the River Kwai? That's where they're staying.


Sunset view from our raft house


Raft house on the river Kwai.


~Amazing 2 days in Kanchanaburi, Bridge over the River Kwai and a full day spending quality time with the old, sick, and retired elephants of Elephants World

Mahouts and their elephants.


Wife bathing an elephant and waving

Looking tentative

Wife working hard cooking sticky rice and pumpkin for the old toothless elephants!


Feeding the 77 year old pretty lady, blind in 1 eye and no teeth

~ Mud bath and scratch time with the youngest Johnny, 7 years old






Daughter's selfie with her friend Songkran


The new boy in my life





~ 3 week old baby found on the street, aka mom's new favorite child


Elephant food storage

 

[Pozees]

Surely that baby will quietly ride in a handbag ... through customs ...

Incredible pictures, again. You are making us all vicarious workd travelers! Between you and Oz, the rest of us can experience parts of the world we'd otherwise not be able to. Thank you both.

 

[IttyBiddyRedHen]

SCG!!!!!!

we missed you!!!!

I don't know how to do the colored text on this thing......{{{ GRUMBLE-GRUMBLE }}}