The Old Folks Home

[Peep_Show]

I'm right there with you. I am horrified at the purchases I see young kids making.

It's the generation without common sense. My nephew at Age 16 was given the choice of driving lessons or a new Xbox. He took the latter. Sheesh..... Guess which choice is now outdated?

 

[Beer can]

Is that a brand?

You talkin to me?
I never heard of them either, they are a heirloom open pollinated winter squash Jungs discription; "A favorite in the Northwest. Check out what our western neighbors have known for years. This is a great squash! It has hard, slate-gray skin and thick, golden-yellow, dry and stringless flesh with rich, sweet flavor that gets even sweeter with age. Use the 10 to 20 pound rounded fruits baked or for pies. They keep for months. The vigorous vines need lots of space."
Sustainable Seed Company; "Vigorous and spreading, this amazing tasting squash can top 10 pounds or more.Sweet meat squash is soft grey-green to deep green on the outside, the sweet, fine-grained orange flesh is an amazing keeper and great for pies! Sweet meat makes a great addition to any meal. Taste almost like a sweet potato. We have even cut up chunks, put butter on them and popped them on the grill in some tin foil. YUM!!"
Victory Seeds Rare, Open-pollinated & Heirloom Garden Seeds; "This old variety has been a favorite in my family for generations.The fruits weigh ten pounds or more and are a bluish-gray color. Very hard shelled, the flesh is a deep orange color, thick, very sweet, dry and fine grained (stringless).They keep many months after being harvested. The 1947 Gill Brother's catalog stated that they, ". . . kept six squash in good edible condition from crop to crop." In a later paragraph, they return attention from the plant description back to its unusually long-keeping quality and, ". . . the fact that the flavor and sweetness increases with age for at least six months from harvest.""
I was looking at replacing our usual early as we can find, short season here also, butternut squash with something bigger. Was thinking of trying Hubbard. Started looking at squash type pumpkins, Fairytale and Rouge vif D'Etampes, Galeuse D'Eysines, realized there was some dual purpose pumpkins, Rumbo, Red warty thing, happened upon Sweet Meat squash, think I'll give them a try. Warted Hubbard take a little longer to grow, 12-14 pounds so I was interested, but I figured try sweet meat, I'll see what happens, let everyone know how they do, going to put the chicken manure to work!

 

[vehve]

Bruce, the dogs actually use tiny snowmobiles.

Translating a technical manual would be between 12-25 cents per word.

Beer, I have no trouble using bunny poop as fertilizer, I just don't want the spent hay as my top layer. It comes from our "a bit of everything" compost pile I've been collecting all winter.

The world as we know it wouldn't function without the concept of credit.

 

[chickisoup]

Sorry Al, I should have clarified my position. I am (and was) all for educational experiences for children. (I actually went so far as to go full on homesteader for two years-wood cookstove,which I loved, wood heat, drawing water, making our own butter, cheese, etc. My only concession being electricity, simply for safety issues of not using oil lamps, etc.. I did this so my children would really understand where things came from and the real difference between necessity and luxury-water, necessity. Coming out of a tap, luxury).

It appears you were operating on the assumption that the parents of these children would have an actual clue as to what to do with these cute little "things" to keep them alive and in one piece for two weeks without drowning, starving or setting the house on fire with the brooder lamp and understand the time needed to guide, supervise and instruct their children.
I, on the other hand, am operating from the exact opposite assumption. I just think if a parent is actually serious about teaching their children about animal husbandry they would not be doing a two week rent a pet, they would at least be keeping the birds long enough for the child to learn that cute fluff ball grows into an animal that eventually makes their breakfast then potentially becomes Sunday dinner.

 

[Beer can]

I give up on kids, if our power goes out, WOW! dang not a biggie, lets play some board games, read a book, etc. Few yrs ago our power was out three days, like camping in the comfort of our own home, no biggie. Internet goes out OMG!

oldest are hounding me, "have you called Frontier yet!!?'...It's Sunday, they ain't going to do anything..'have you called them!!?' calm down...next thing we know oldest and her friend are walking up and down the road with their 'hand held devises', very few houses here, trying to jack someone else's internet, they found it two miles down the road, pathetic...Kids are crazy...

 

[Alaskan]

Sorry Al, I should have clarified my position. I am (and was) all for educational experiences for children.  (I actually went so far as to go full on homesteader for two years-wood cookstove,which I loved, wood heat, drawing water, making our own butter, cheese, etc.  My only concession being electricity, simply for safety issues of not using oil lamps, etc..  I did this so my children would really understand where things came from and the real difference between necessity and luxury-water, necessity.  Coming out of a tap, luxury).

It appears you were operating on the assumption that the parents of these children would have an actual clue as to what to do with these cute little "things" to keep them alive and in one piece for two weeks without drowning, starving or setting the house on fire with the brooder lamp and understand the time needed to guide, supervise and instruct their children.
 I, on the other hand,  am operating from the exact opposite assumption.  I just think if a parent is actually serious about teaching their children about animal husbandry  they would not be doing a two week rent a pet, they would at least be keeping the birds long enough for the child to learn that cute fluff ball grows into an animal that eventually makes their breakfast then potentially becomes Sunday dinner.

Yep... It blows me away.

What people decide to not teach their kids.

My kids can ditch the driveway, bake bread, cook dinner on an electric stove, a campfire, or a wood stove, raise animals, butcher them, smoke them, turn them into sausage, or turn them into soup.

Kids that can't... That have no understanding that the fluffy chick lays eggs for dinner, then becomes dinner... I just do not understand.

My eldest did turn down a drivers liscence. He said, " the insurance will cost a bunch of money, it is better if we wait until I need to drive" Good boy, and the right attitude, what do we need, and what can we get by without.

 

[vehve]

Is car insurance individual there? Here it covers a car with any driver.

 

[drumstick diva]

Alaskan, I think your sons are going to make great husbands

 

[Beer can]

Is car insurance individual there? Here it covers a car with any driver.

Here you have to pay for, cover drivers independently, same car just more $ cause of other drivers. You can get around the $ and take a risk, but if the ins company knows you have another licensed driver in your household, and multiple vehicles, they jack the price up anyway. When our oldest got her licence, we only covered her on one of our vehicles, she drives our big bad Suburban Lol! costs us a xtra $400 a yr under our ins, probably cost her $1,500 if it was her own. Just us, me and the wife was somewhere around $1,200 combined with our homeowners ins. so $400 more is a chunk of $.

 

[Alaskan]

Is car insurance individual there? Here it covers a car with any driver.

Depends on the state.

In Texas the insurance was 100% on the driver. Part of the rate changed depending on what kind of car you usually drove, but the insurance was on the driver.

Here in Alaska the insurance is totally on the car. As in, if you have a derelict car in your yard, someone steals it and crashes it, YOUR insurance gets billed.


However, in addition to the insurance cost per car, you also get billed per liscenced driver that is in your household. And of course, a boy under the age of 25 is a giant addition to the bill.