Yes, there is hope... but not quite yet. Your chicks are really too young to be with the old girls who naturally regard them as pesky intruders. They will resent this upsetting of their pecking order, but will adjust in time if you give them the chance. The chicks need to be safe from the hens but in their view daily so that they become part of the scenery. A small pen or chicken tractor located within the main chicken yard is the answer. The hens will not be able to hurt them and as they grow they will become better at holding their own. In a couple of months, try what Velvet Sparrow calls a "meet and greet." Late afternoon is a good time because the hens and chicks will all be winding down for the day. You open the door to the chick pen and allow them to emerge. There will likely be some conflict, but not as much as you might think. Have someone along to help you and perhaps a landing net in case you need to catch anyone fast. Take lots of treats: bread, scrambled egg, watermelon... whatever your old girls think is wonderful. Keep it out of sight though, and save it to distract the hens if things go badly. You will need to do this several times until you are fairly sure that the youngsters can hold there own, gradually increasing the time they are together and reducing your supervision. When they begin to sleep in the chicken house, make sure there is a box or something they can hide in. Next time you get chicks, consider getting all the same age and perhaps even all the same breed.(You may have problems even among your four because of the different ages.) Even better is to put fertile eggs under a broody and let her do the work. They will still need a chick pen but Momma will do most of the socialization. Be sure to check out Velvet Sparrow's website. I believe there is a link to it from her member page. TONS of great info and ideas for happy healthy chickens.

"Japy Freres & Cie Grd Med. D'Honneur." means it (the movement) was mads some time AFTER the company (Japy Freres) won the Grand Medal of Honor (which they did at the Paris exhibition in 1855) ... they also won a medal in 1867 - what is the date on that stamp? Japy founded one of the first mass-production clockworks factories, and sold just the movements to various companies who put the works into clocks of theiur design ... and then the clocks were sold on to others who often had them marked with their shop names. Thus you can have a clock with a movement marked Japy, case marked by John Doe, and the whole thing marked "Baily, Banks and Biddle". They were usually sold to high-end case makers and eventually sold by posh retailers, so they are well worth tracking down. Pictures of the clock and the marks would help narrow the date a bit. Here is a link that might be useful: Japy Freres

It seems that most older people, when faced with the loss of their independance, have great problems dealing with it. When we asked my father about giving up driving (he was 93), he was in tears, saying that would just kill him. He drove until the day before he died, no accidents luckily, but I was so scared for him. The sight of my take-charge, strong father reduced to that emotional state when faced with giving up driving really shook me. Now I'm taking care of my 95 yr old Mother, altho she lives in a senior apt complex, now with assisted living. I've had to take all financial matters away from her because she was driving me crazy, not understanding the bank statements, obsessing about every penny. Her finances are just fine, but she would not leave it alone. She was upset if the SS check was deposited to her account on the last day of the month instead of the first of the next month, because she was sure "they" would take it away from her. I suppose I took the checkbook more to save my own sanity, but it is, again, one of those independance issues. Most senior complexes like where Mother lives do not accept AD residents (even tho many of the residents are in early stages, I am sure). So that would not be an option for you. What about trying out an apartment close to where you live, if you could do a month-to-month rental, and let your father give it a try? Possible? Maybe with a visiting aide part of the day? But there is no easy answer for your question of how you tell someone that they can no longer take care of himself. It's got to be the hardest time of life, in so many ways. Especially for us kids, who remember when our fathers were larger than life and took care of us. One thing to watch out for is the depression that comes along with this. Is your father on anti-depressant medications? Mother just went on medication this past summer, after saying she didn't need it and then calling me to say how she wanted to die. (I needed medication after those phone calls---if she hadn't taken the medication, I would have!) Depression in the elderly is way under-diagnosed and treated, I have learned. It's an issue you might explore. Keep in touch here on this board. No easy answers. I have often thought that it is a different mind game for you and me dealing with a healthy older person as we are, than dealing with an AD patient. Very different, no less difficult. I recently found that our local Alliance on Aging in Monterey County has a peer conselling group for caregivers who are NOT dealing with alz or cancer patients, like you and me. There are other support groups for specific diseases, but this one fits my needs. It's been my life-saver. So call around and see if you can locate a support group for yourself. It's worth it, I assure you. Helene

There's nothing sibling rivalry about her bahavior. The resentment, embarrassment, and other feelings described here concerning a much, much younger sibling is nonsense, justified as normal or legitimate because they had no one to tell them their feelings were wrong. People think and feel all kinds of things, but just because it's the way one feels doesn't make it right, hence there is murder and much other wrongful doing in the world. If they had someone to set them straight, the subjects would never have entered into your thread as anything of concern or consideration. Given any opportunity, I think your SD will abuse the baby - smack him, pinch him, or anything she can do to make him cry, if not *accidentally* drop him - because she lives in a very dark place mentally and emotionally, and she wants the whole world to be as angry, sad, and unhappy as she is. For him to think it nothing more than sibling rivalry is turning a blind eye. He needs an intervention to make him realize and understand the damage he's doing his daughter, and therefore his marriage and his son. You might talk to a health care professional and tell them the same as you've told us (and everything you haven't told us). Then, ask them to help you talk to your husband. I know you don't want to leave, but I'm truly impressed you are seriously considering it as more than just threatening in order to get your way. I don't know how the women who threaten end up feeling when they don't get their way and don't leave either. You can't keep being walked on like this, but he isn't going to listen to you. He isn't going to do any more than he has been doing no matter how much you threaten. It might take you leaving to get his attention, and then you can demand he go with you to talk to the professional. You might demand it before leaving but if he refuses, then you have to walk out the door, realizing it is likely forever and no amount of tears and begging you to come back can change your mind unless he changes his. If you don't leave, then please don't leave the baby with him when you go back to work. He has a cautious mother to protect him right now. Who will protect him when you're gone? His father never will believe there is any danger or concern.