[Homestead] Enjoy the quiet while it lasts...

Akka Homestead akkabhomestead at yahoo.com
Fri Sep 5 13:47:32 EDT 2008


Welcome back Jeannie.  I don't know why the list is so quiet.  With the Republican Convention providing so much ammo, it is certainly amazing to me that so far not a shot has been fired. ;)
I am just staying busy, still trying to clean up the property and do small projects.
I finished remaking candles, and creating a new 'resting nook' in the front yard.  DH built a rustic bench along the driveway, and I created a faux rock to cover the wellhead and then landscaped the whole area.  I think that by next year that no one will even suspect that there is a well right smack dab in the middle of the front yard.  The grasses and knockout rose needs time to grow.
Tonight we will finish what DH is calling the chicken fortress.  It is a fortified area of the chicken moat that has a fence roof and metal at the ground to thwart digging.  The metal is cut, it is just a matter of dragging the air nailer over and installing it.  This will provide a safe haven for the chickens if predators come stalking, and yet, in good times, we can open the door and they will have access to the moat or the garden area, whichever I choose.  The fortress area is 24 feet long, 10 wide on the coop end, six feet wide at the moat end-and six feet tall to allow for walking room.  
 A few days ago, we identified our latest chicken predator.  It is a 'neighborhood' dog-a bird dog-spaniel type.  Jasper cornered a wild turkey almost exactly at the spot where he had been entering the chicken moat.  He had ripped the moat fencing, which was mostly chicken wire at that spot.   Jasper will not enter the fortress area, nor will any other canine.  Airborne predators, our second biggest problem, are also thwarted.  

On a weirder front, it seems that perhaps one of my hens might be a rooster..  I haven't heard any crowing, but it's a young bird-maybe 5-6 months old.  I got her(him) from a neighbor in a barter.  I always thought this particular bird looked a bit butch with it's large comb and upright posture, but it is a mixed breed bird and who was I to say otherwise?  Anyway, he/she/ is mounting other birds, AND came at me yesterday while I was in the pen.  Sounds like rooster behavior...  If that's true, then I have 5 hens and a rooster.  

I've got the truck almost loaded with scrap metal.  I am lacking two things, both are really heavy and I'll need to get my neighbor's tractor to get it on the truck.  The bathtub and that metal cage. I hope this pays for the gas.  I almost hate doing it because I know that this metal will end up in China supporting their industrial growth.  You know the WTC is now Chinese scrap.... I had this weird paranoid dream that America had sold all of it's scrap metal and then the invasion came and there was no longer any metal for ammunition...I dream crazy stuff like that.

Okay, so that should be enough fodder to start some kind of conversation on the list.  Or try this tidbit:  I've always known the media was liberal and 'left wing', but I've never seen such blatant bias as I did during the conventions.  During the Dem convention, it was televised on all network channels from 8 to 11 or later every night.  CNN headlines online were always about Obama and the convention.  Then, the Republicans convene and there's very little coverage, usually starting at 10pm and lasting for an hour.  Only PBS carried it the whole thing, as far as I could tell.  If you looked at the CNN page, they were talking about everything but politics.  When it comes to air time for conventions, both parties should have equal air...you shouldn't be running Wife Swap and Supernanny while the convention is held.  I also think that the impromptu Ron Paul convention should have received more news coverage.  All they seemed to want to talk about
 was Palin's daughter's pregnancy, which would never have even been an issue if she were male.  They should have been all over that Bridge to Nowhere stuff, but it is like the networks only want the tabloid sensational stuff, not anything with real meat.
Rant mode off..

Akka B, watching a couple of cardinals take a bird bath






      


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