AL - Recording baby steps: Newest Addition

[miss_thenorth]

i received an email a while ago that said to keep wasp spray in your car and beside your bed. Reason is it sprays up to 20 feet away, and fairly accurately. Whereas mace and the like you need to be up close to get them in the eye. It could be a difference between life and death--those 15-20 ft. I think if my life were in jeopardy, I wouldnt be all that concerned about nerve gassing anyone where the alternative is me dying or being assaulted in any way.

 

[AL]

check out those links Dac posted... they address the distance thing as well as the intentional use of a pesticide.

I used to have pepperspray on my keychain - until I was playing with it and got it on my hands then wiped my eyes. WOW

 

[miss_thenorth]

Just for the record, I do not have wasp spray or anything of the like in my car or my home. i personally am not worried about being attacked so therefore I don't have "protection" per se. We do have a .22 hanging by the door with ammo nearby, just in case there is a predator attack on our livestock. But just saying. If i was attacked, I wouldn't hesitate to use whatever was at my disposal to protect myself. Iwouldnt bee too concerned about his rights, while mine were being violated. Thats all.

 

[AL]

ah yeah, I see what you're saying. And true that - I don't care about his rights - I'll take 3 hots and a cot over an attacker being safe anyday.
I don't fear being attacked out in teh every day of my life (even though my every "day" happens after 1am). I do want to be prepared if someone feels brave enough to come to my home though.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

She was cruising full speed ahead when she put pressure on the chest cavity and the chicken "BAWK"ed at her!! She jumped and I laughed so hard I thought I was going to wet my pants!!

did you say "he's faking it!"???

actually in this instance we say, "i guess he had a few last words"

we think we are hilarious.

so about all this protection stuff - are the bad guys home invaders or just "rob ya while you're gone" types? all kidding aside, you've got some great dogs and thats a fabulous deterrent. if you really want to do it up right, get some geese. i'm not kidding - they hear and see everything even at night. sure you'll be "that crazy goose lady" but a small price to pay
;-)

but as far as 'things that go boom' you'd do well to take a conceal carry calls and see if your local range will let you try out some different models. for us, "shock and awe" seem to be a pretty good strategy - i couldnt be accurate without my glasses (if surprised at nite).

also check into motion detector lights for outside. some are solar and are reasonably priced.

 

[savingdogs]

Nobody messes with ya if you have a pack of dogs.

 

[AL]

We giggled the rest of the day about those squawking chickens (there were a couple of them but the first was the funniest!).

The bad guys are a mix. One of them was a blatant "we know you're home and are coming in anyway".... but they didn't know her 6'6" hubby was waiting with a .357
Two were the ladies walked in on it happening / about to happen.

In reality I am not too concerned inside my home. But when I get home at 1am and walk down to the barn to check the horses, or out back to count chickens and close them up for the night I sometimes get nervous. My dad agrees with the "12gauge makes a very distinctive sound" suggestions . That way I know I can control it, and I can use it if I ever work up my nerve to go hunting again (boy that's a story ).

Last night when I got home and turned off the big yard light and went out in the pasture to watch the lunar eclipse. It was awesome! The fun thing about watching stuff like that at my house is the entertainment isn't just astronomy. Buddy the foster horse thought something was terribly wrong for me to lay on the ground.... so he nudged me and lipped the cuff of my pants and huffed his horsey breath in my face. I finally got up and went to lean on the big pasture gate. I knew without a better tripod I would never get a good photo (I have really unsteady hands) , but the results were even more .... artistic? with Buddy chewing on my hair and pulling on my sweatshirt.
When I finally ran him off, the dogs were wrestling behind me and ramming me in the back of my legs. It was a good time. LOL


This morning I had to go to the orthopedic surgeon about my knee. It has bothered me for months (stepped in a hole and twisted it - in June ) but the last couple of weeks have been agony. He scolded me for the wait and sent my for x-rays. He also has me going to 4 physical therapy sessions to satisfy my insurance before he orders an MRI.
Thursday at 8am (blech) I have to go to the dentist to have a crumbly filling replaced - the first of 3.
I also am having a horrible time with my neck. I have had a dozen or more severe accidents and my neck bears the scars. I have arthritis and bone spurs in my cervical spine and the press in on the sheath of the spinal cord (not the cord itself). 2 years ago I had such a severe muscle spasm that the radiologist said it pulled the normal curve of my cervical spine straight. I told my doc "I told you it hurt!".
If I ever get a break I will take the mega-pharmaceuticals he gave me back then. But right now I have to go feed horses and sort out the hay. Friday my 12yr old nephew is coming to help me go get a truckload or 2 of old oak leaves to spread on the garden patch. I already of a couple of wheelbarrow loads of horse / chicken manure / straw etc. I WILL have a good garden this coming year!

 

[AL]

I was just looking at our area's 2009 census results. In my immediate area the percentage of individuals under poverty line is over 15%. In the north part of our county it is 31%.
I think maybe more folks around here should start gardens and chickens.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

lead the charge baby! make tshirts that say "a flock (of chickens) in every yard"



how ya doin' today?

 

[AL]

hehe
Our northend of the county is pretty rural. That is where I hope to get my side of beef from next year. There are a lot of Mennonite farms and they have the BEST produce ever. My favorite has a few big stocked catfish ponds. Their catfish is very clean and delicious (sometimes stocked ponds get scummy and gross, and the bottom feeding catfish taste ... well, scummy and gross). They had tomatoes the size of my double fisted hands, raw milk... hmm yum.
Oh anyway - so there are the farmers and the hobby folks like me and then there are some "bad neighbors", and they tend to congregate in the northend.


How am I? well... doing fine until someone lets me know otherwise.
I have so much pain with my knee I don't know how I would cope if I still had the meats to tend to. I am hoping if I have to have anything done to it we can get it done quickly - otherwise it'll have to wait until after my garden is in!!!

Today I took the meats out of the fridge and sorted them into a bird per bag and stuck 'em in the freezer (they should be ok, huh, being in the fridge 4 days instead of just 3?). I'll take 2 to my old neighbor. They sent me an invite to the wife's 90th birthday party on Sunday. I won't be able to make it because of work, but I bet those folks know how to party!

My work sold off some of their laptops. I got 2 of the top listed ones, but I don't know anything about computers.
Dell Latitude D630, Intel Core, 2 Duo Processor, 2.2 GHz, 2 GB RAM, Hard drive 80GB blah blah
My friend paid me for one of them, the other I am trying to convince my folks to get a wireless router that I can "piggyback" on from my house

I went to TSC to drool over the combination cattle panels today.... I don't know if I will be able to buy enough to really close in my garden, but I am going to start trying to buy 1-2 a payday.