Are we living our dream?

[LaurenRitz]

Stupid!!! I don’t even have another word for it. I’m sorry I couldn’t have caught the whole lot of them but I did get most.

I'd call it a miracle. Not just that they were dumped, but that they were dumped in a place you regularly go, to be cared for by someone who appreciates them.

 

[Medicine Woman]

DH is convinced that at least some of the pullets are from a fighting breed. He knows of a location where they are bred and he has been taking me to the location for drive bys. The guy has a bunch of tiny tractors in his yard each with a single rooster. Not many hens in sight. He said the guy incubates, hoping for a lot of cockerels he can later sell. . I never saw a cock fight exactly. I always separated my roosters when that business started.
So I’m dragging the young girls around in a tractor but DH put a few in the coop.
We found a woman wanting to part with some young bucks (mini rex), so we got 6 of them for $60 a few days ago and he bought 2 proven does (California giant). The presence of so many new friends made our buck interested in being captured and lose his freedom. We gave him his own condo (therefore we lost our carrying cage) and I fed him and gave him a waterer. DH had reconnected the watering system for the rest of the rabbits.
You know a few years ago I had thought I would become as knowledgeable about rabbit breeds as I was with chickens but it never happened. DH is not exactly the right person to keep anything but his pit bull pure. He is always talking about crossing this breed with that one to get whatever good quality from each into an ideal chicken, rabbit, whatever… so all I can say is I have rabbits and I guess I can breed them but the buck is a Texas A&M and the does are big Californias. I have a black doe but I am thinking she might be litter mates with the buck so maybe she can later mate with one of the mini Rex that we won’t eat . I tried putting her with the buck but she just runs around. I have been calling him Mr Lapin (totally in French) but it’s not very original of me because I have been calling all my bucks that for years. I was halfway thinking of calling him Midnight and calling his does Snow and Ghost. Doesn’t sound French at all though. So he fell off the 1st doe 4 times yesterday and at least twice from the 2nd doe this morning before I came inside for coffee so I best return her to her cage and feed him. I really need to be the one to care for them because DH has a tendency to not lock the cage.
I have yet another pregnant niece in the house. I think I collect them. Well she has an appointment today and hopefully finds out the gender. This one needs extra help cuz she’s prone to crazy decisions. But I think she is understanding how some of her decisions have affected her life. She recently apologized to her godmother for running away from home (her guardian). I will try to teach her something. Currently sleeping on my sister’s air mattress until my folding bed arrives. I won’t 100% give up my hobby room but I will let her sleep in it. I’m such a sucker.
I slept most of the day yesterday. But my oncologist will get bloodwork done on me soon and he can figure out my low RBCs at that time. I need a life.

 

[Medicine Woman]

DD 17 (unfortunately my youngest) has taken the natural approach to a whole new level that I’ve never dreamed of. Washable tampons. How did I never know about this? She talked to me about this yesterday and complained about 16 different kinds of toxins and she said they were even in pads so she doesn’t want to use those either. Fortunately I had cloth snap on pads that I bought a while back for myself that came in too small so I gave them to her but I was shopping online and I said…wait a minute. I can probably make these. I found a tutorial on a woman sewing some tampons and then I heard her say you can crochet them but she wasn’t good at crocheting. Hello!! I am!! So I watched a video and now I’m on the 9th tampon. I will wash them up and roll and sew them after they dry only because the yarn was in storage too long and it’s nice to be clean. But I’m embarrassed it took her to teach me about this. And because it’s crocheted…no waste.

 

[Medicine Woman]

I’m just waiting around for an unwilling doe to mate with the buck. Sometimes I think it’s a myth about rabbits multiplying so fast.

 

[flowerbug]

I’m just waiting around for an unwilling doe to mate with the buck. Sometimes I think it’s a myth about rabbits multiplying so fast.

i've certainly seen it happen here!

 

[Medicine Woman]

Well I think I have a bunch of kits on the way next month between 3 does now but unfortunately the black doe is several days behind the white ones. I think he got her because I heard him squeal and he seemed to have fallen off. We have a few nests but DH needs to take some measurements and get a few made.
Currently in the city alone at my son’s house cuz the children are all still sleeping. But I fried bacon and I just have to put grits in the microwave when the baby wakes up. I took the liberty of frying myself two store bought eggs. . It’s not so much the lack of flavor and the pale color as the runny texture. Shut up Rhoda!! It’s easy to babysit kids after they party all night .
So always tired and Wednesday I went in for bloodwork which they did extra tests and a CT scan and Thursday I saw the oncologist. He told me not to take my chemotherapy drug for one week and then to call him and tell him if I am less tired and if so he will decrease my dose. But then he said he didn’t think it’s the chemo but rather the hormone blocker, which really I can’t get off of. You ever just really wish your doctor was wrong? So…Assuming I won’t notice anything, I think I just gotta prepare myself to take the bull by the horns and stay away from all the food that I know makes me tired. I don’t think I will be too quick to ditch the white poison until a week has passed but just thinking out loud. I mean it’s my life. The doctor likes my bloodwork but it’s me who has to take long naps several times a week and wake up and ask if my animals need me. Fortunately I have help. My niece has been feeding the chickens and rabbits. Yesterday afternoon I had to gather the milk jugs I use for the fermentation system for the chickens and I really worked hard to get the house right as far as finding the countertop, catching up on dishes, picking up the eggs, fixing kool aid and tea for the fridge, so I tell my niece to get whatever trash out the room now (DD’s room….she has been at the ex a few days) because garbage is passing in the morning and she did so while I was pouring my meds then she took her shower and I asked her to take the clothes to the washer. It occurred to me to show her around cuz she never used it. So I showed her how we fill the washer faster with a hose cuz something has got to be wrong then I introduced her to the fermentation system so she understands which one to take, how to keep track of which one is next, how much grain to measure, why I do it like that, etc.
DH and the niece had eye appointments and she had to drive him home afterwards. I stayed in bed because exhausted. Got up later to bring her to a WIC appointment so now she can get her benefits. Then I took her thrift shopping and we found her some maternity clothes which she really loved that will fit her well. She handed me a pamphlet intended for grandmothers to support breast feeding mothers. I was touched to tell the truth. We went through the baby clothes and I selected a few monkey suits that would be good for either sex and when niece was looking through a box of socks for some cloth diapers I told her to find some infant tights. I am a firm believer that tights are better than socks on an infant because they can take those off no matter how hard they pull. We can put socks on if it’s very cold and cover with tights. I already have a folding play pen and a friend is bringing her a bunch of bottles today. I think I will just get a bassinet as soon as I can find one used because that will be good for about 3 months and then we can just use the playpen. But the lady who runs the shop found me 3 cloth diapers and I bought some vinyl to make some rubber pants. I mean I don’t need diapers if I have rubber pants cuz I can always just buy some old, man’s t-shirts and use safety pins. I wish I had known about this 36 years ago.
I finally paid off both of our credit cards from the damages of no work after my cancer diagnosis and last week I bought my older niece a new washer and hooked her up with clothes line wire and clamps to hold it in place. I know she washed 6 batches of dirty clothes that very day. The next day I got a text from her saying “First day in cloth diapers” so I was all happy because she is learning a survival skill. I got it at Lowes and got a Lowes card so I got 20% off my entire purchase which was almost a $100 savings. I won’t stress it. I will just pay about $200/month until it’s over. She needed a washer…plain and simple. She is much more capable of managing a house than my current live in niece but she is older and already has 3 children.
My coffee pot died and I had to start using a regular coffee maker that keeps going off and on to keep the coffee hot. Suddenly my electricity went up. I see a possible connection so this morning I brewed the coffee and transferred it to the already heated thermal pot from the broken coffee machine. Put it right in front of the coffee machine so DH has to move it to reach. Surely he will notice it’s full. I think I will order a new thermal coffee machine. It’s bad enough the bill came late and was super expensive and I asked for an extension (which I will overpay, of course). But safe to say if the bill suddenly went up and the coffee machine is the only change I can see, that has to be the culprit.
The generator is in working order and ready for Hurricane season 2024.
I keep hearing about various people….some local and some celebrities who have recently died from breast cancer. It makes me think about my own time left here. Apparently my body has responded well with my treatment. The doctor doesn’t like to use the word REMISSION, for whatever reasons he has. But my tumor has shrunk significantly and my GYN couldn’t even feel it for my last annual appointment. My CT scans and MRIs all show no new growth but why do some women die and I am still here?

 

[flowerbug]

...But my tumor has shrunk significantly and my GYN couldn’t even feel it for my last annual appointment. My CT scans and MRIs all show no new growth but why do some women die and I am still here?

none of us know how long we'll be here. as a wise man said, "Genetic blends with uncertain ends, on a fortune hunt that's far too fleet."

 

[Medicine Woman]

My house guest is interesting. She thinks I’m a millionaire I guess. Always wants takeout. . So anyway…life goes on.
Saturdays I always babysit for a few hours to connect with my grandchildren and to help out. I came home on the interstate instead of the wooded shortcut because I had an arrangement with the woman who sold us the rabbits a couple of weeks ago. She texted me that she wants to get out of the rabbit business completely and I wanted some cages and does. So I told her what I wanted initially but then I spy a few nesting boxes and question what they want for them seeing they getting out…not that DH can’t put it together but if they cleaning house and all. They said $5 each so I said well here….just take all my money and I got 6 of them plus the extra cage and two young does not quite ready yet but unrelated to the bucks I already bought. That’s all beautiful but the great escape occurred that night!! The two proven Mini Rex have been caught but not the young does. I think I will put one with the buck. By the end of the week I will have to introduce cages to the other does. I really want to locate the record book because what I put in my phone is hard to retrieve. I don’t belong in this century.
My chemotherapy is supposed to be decreased to give me more energy. Kinda waiting on a phone call to see if that occurs.
I understand the buck (goat) keeps getting in and out of the pen. I think he is in there with two does cleaning up. DH said he’s going to slaughter him because it’s not worth the risk of a car accident. I just hope he has served his purpose but .
I never have liked farming at multiple locations. The goats are only in his grandparents fenced yard to keep the grass down. Always trouble. We should just get geese.

 

[Mini Horses]

The goats are only in his grandparents fenced yard to keep the grass down. Always trouble. We should just get geese.

typical goats. But a buck can be strong meat if old & in rut. Maybe bring him to your place & tie him out, let the testosterone settle before he butchers.

 

[Medicine Woman]

I now have 5 does loaded up, all written in a journal with dates on when to put in nests. DH told me that he put in nests for Mini Rex’s 2 days before because sometimes the kittens come earlier, just like for bantam chickens.
DH has been collecting ragweed and drying it on top of the cages, which I think serves two purposes. The first is maybe it helps decrease the temperature in the cages and the second is he feeds it to the rabbits the following day so it’s less rations necessary to feed the herd.
In just 4 days I will need to begin to put nesting boxes and hay for the does. I don’t feel little marbles in the abdomen but I never really did in the past anyway.