My barn cat was on friendly terms with my chickens, too. He always followed me down to the hen house when he saw me headed that way with water and shoot in through the door. He was actually a little afraid of the fowl, and my guess is he got curious and pecked a time or two, or else cornered by a roo or two. He was looking for mice, and always surveyed around the periphery of the walls. I know he got caught in there a night or two, and spent the night. LOL. He was always glad to get out. He also lay outside the old chicken house and waited for a mousey or two to get brave and pop through a knot hole to go explore the vegetable garden. The chicks were safe with him, too.

I think that of all the appliances I've known in my life I'd have to give my parent's stainless steel coffee percolator the longevity award. I don't know when they bought it for sure, but it was back when refrigerators, stoves and the family car were rounded at the corners and had a lot of chrome and televisions were still black and white. Mid-fifties for sure. I remember Mama bursting into laughter when she made the morning coffee because this particular pot sounded like a person with irritable bowel syndrome after a supper of soup beans and cabbage. When plugged in, it began it's mantra of OOOOOHHHHHHHHhhhhhhh,mmmmmmmmmmmmmm, chugga, chugga, chugga" enough it served as an alarm clock to the rest of the family. Of course it became a family joke and earned itself the nickname of 'The Groaner'. It got retired the first time when automatic drip coffeemakers came into fashion in the seventies. The groaner then lived on a shelf in my parent's basement and came out of retirement frequently as the cheap (and not so cheap)modern plastic pots my parents bought bit the dust. Then the groaner came to live with me for awhile each time my plastic pots bit the dust and it served faithfully until retired back to it's place on my parent's basement shelf when I eventually got around to buying new pots. It was still recalled to active duty, like a reserve soldier, when my daughter grew up and moved away from home. The groaner is still alive and in semi-retirement almost sixty years later. We still call it by name into the fourth generation. It has survived so long that perks are now coming back in style and I may ask my daughter to dig it out so press it back in to service. The expensive machine I bought less than a year ago leaks and I took it apart to see why. The leak is caused by a cheap seal, probably costing the manufacturer less than a penny. It is not covered in the warranty, nor can you buy a replacement seal from them. I am sure the manufacturer knows they have a problem with this component. I suspect they expected the seal to hold out a couple months longer until the warranty was void and then they wouldn't care and tough luck consumer. Gone are the days when you can expect your product to last any longer than when its warranty, and actually you are lucky if it lasts that long.

Oh man. That stinks. I cant count how many times I have taken a chance on something having a feeling it could go wrong and sure enough it does. too bad you dont have room. that would be a nice start to a new tree. Since it fairly fresh what about trying to graft it back to itself? Mike This post was edited by mksmth on Wed, Aug 14, 13 at 17:20

Lysimachia procumbens, Golden Globes, perhaps.