Hi Sandra, yup my family is pretty much into our chickens, the kids have seen baby chicks hatch and watched them grow into adults. My dh did the turkeys this year, he took a class in processing birds at a working farm a few years ago. He processed one of our turkeys but we brought the rest to a processor and payed $10 each for the job (well worth it considering they were 30+ pound birds). Flogging is when a rooster attacks, they sort of jump up in the air and land on you w/their feet to scratch etc. it's the way they fight each other. I'm sure someone else can describe this better. Charles got threatened when we were trying to round him up, he did what comes naturally to many roo's. I do have one steady egg customer, I charge $3 per dozen, I used to buy organic chicken feed but found it not to be as fresh as the reg. feed and many times ended up finding bugs in the bags probably due to it not moving as quickly. The higher price also was a factor, about $8 more per bag. Claire, I love the pavilion your dh built you! it is very impressive. Your girls are very pretty, what are the gray hens? Americauna? Hi Susan, the covered pen is mostly for my bantams and crested birds, they live in the front coop with the attached pen. My standards (larger birds), live in the back coop (divided w/the recessed sliding door) and have a fenced chicken yard that they free range in. The only loss due to predator came this fall when a fisher cat pried open my back coop door and ran off w/one of my pullets. This was about three weeks after he ate our beloved cat. My dh promptly installed a dead bolt on the coop and trapped and disposed the fisher so he won't be bothering anyone anymore. The covered pen is great for young birds, bantams or crested breeds that can't see overhead which makes them easy prey for hawks around here. -Sheila

I make sure to use water that has sat out overnight to water my plants. Does that not make a difference? Or not enough of a difference? You already learned that the crystalline structures on the leaves of your plant is composed of dissolved solids (sugar and mineral salts) left behind as the water in the exudate associated with the guttation (primarily driven by over-watering) evaporates. If you allow your water to rest overnight in an open pan, some of the water in the pan evaporates, but ALL of the dissolved solids in the water are left behind, So technically, the concentration of dissolved solids in the water (which includes fluoride, and chloramine, used now to chlorinate most tapwater) would be slightly higher than water straight from the tap. The pH of water straight from the tap is also slightly lower than water that has rested for a period of time, due to dissolved CO2 gassing off. Also yes, can you point me in the direction of drain hole tutorials?? I'm guessing you mean how to drill the holes? This should help: Drilling holes in pots The 2 types of drill bits most appropriate for drilling holes in pots are a diamond core drill for the highly vitrified (hard material - baked at very high temps - glass, ceramic, ......) pots, and a drill with several names for drilling clay pots fired at low temps, such as terra cotta. That (carbide) drill is called a 3-point drill, spear point drill, or a spade drill, seen here: You only need 1 - in 1/2 or 3/8" size. For the hard stuff, diamond core drills are best, though the 3 point drill will drill the hard stuff, too. Diamond core drills: You can buy either type at big box stores. They're not that expensive, and they last a long time if you take care of them. They are best used with a steady stream of coolant from a squeeze bottle (contact lens solution bottles work great for this) or with the work surface barely submerged. IE, put the pot upside down in a tub and fill the tub with water until it just covers the work surface. If you use a spritzer or squirt bottle, a 50/50 mix of antifreeze and water is an excellent coolant, and soapy water is better than plain water but not as good as the antifreeze mix. The coolant keeps the tool from over-heating, and in doing so, increases the life of the tool substantially - like triple or quadruple the number of holes you can drill. Regular masonry bits are "ok" for drilling terra cotta or cement (you can make them work), but inappropriate for anything harder. The right tool makes everything easier. And lastly, should I be flushing all my plants (pothos, croton, aloe, snake plant...) when I water? One way or another - YES, absolutely. Ideally, your choice of soil should allow you to water to beyond the point of saturation, so you're flushing the soil as you water. If you can't do that w/o worry that the soil will remain soggy for a prolonged period, limiting root function, or worse, wrecking root health it would be best to consider learning how to amend the soil you're using or make a soil that allows you to flush the soil regularly. There are also a few very simple work-arounds that will allow you to use a soil that would otherwise be inappropriate. For example - if you're using a soil too water-retentive for a plant's well-being, and you need to flush it - you can flush thoroughly over a sink or tub or outdoors. When the pot stops draining, hold it in your hand(s) and move it up and down. You'll note that on the reversal from downward to upward motion, Newton's First Law of Motion takes over and some of the excess water in the pot exits through the drain hole. As the amount of water diminishes, more can be forced from the soil by reversing directions more forcibly. As long as your pot is of a manageable size, this simple trick is invaluable for anyone using an excessively water-retentive soil. If the pot is too large, you can use a wick to drain excess water, or even tipping the pot at a 45* angle to drain makes a very significant difference in how much excess water a medium can hold. Compare B with A to see how much excess water the simple act of tipping the pot forces from the pot. E shows what a wick, used correctly for best benefit, can achieve. D shows one way of using ballast to reduce excess water. Even when using extremely water retentive soils, ballast can reduce the amount of excess water a soil can hold to less than 5% of what it would hold w/o use of ballast. Al

I can see this being a system used by some folks in an earlier, simpler time when it was difficult to find money for some "mad" project ... or to get some major task (buy a wagon, renovate a kitchen, etc.) taken care of that one didn't need to do at a specific time. I see it as there being no large pot of money. Each week (month?), 10 people put in $50.00 (or whatever agreed amount) each, and one person gets the full amount, using it for a task that they've wanted to do for a time but couldn't afford, or collect enough money to do. Whether they put names into a hat, and draw one out to decide who gets the first pot, they would have some pattern in how to distribute it. Next week/month, everyone puts in their $50.00, and another person gets it, whether by picking one of the rest of the names out of a hat, or according to the pre-determined pattern, or by whatever means of deciding. Next week/month, everyone gathers and contributes their $50.00 each, and a third person gets it. As such plans began in an earlier time, when people in a community knew one another well and there was little moving around, it would be among a group of long-term friends ... and a person who had a reputation for scamming wouldn't be invited in, in the first place. After ten weeks/months, everyone gets the payout one time. I think that the term would more likely be at least a month, for gathering those $50.00 bundles would be a substantial task, and would take a while to accomplish ... especially when multiplied by ten, in uninterrupted sequence. It's a forced saving plan. Sort of like Weight Watchers, I think - a lot more difficult to quit if you're in a group, where you'd be embarrassed to default, more possibility of success than if you've simply agreed with yourself, with no outside "police" method to keep you honest, or continuing to participate. What's your success rate at keeping your New Year's resolutions?? As for putting the $500.00 on the credit card ... are you going to be ready to come up with the full $500. by next month? If not ... it's going to cost you a pretty penny, if you let much of the debt run for ten periods! If you're willing to postpone your benefit for 10 weeks/months, and have the discipline to make the contribution each week, use the bank account ... but the amount of "extra" that the bank offers may buy an all-day sucker ... but maybe not ... ... and how long did that "all-day" sucker last, can you recall? Hey - here's an idea ... ... how be you start your own bank? Get the gov't. to support you with a major loan ... at no interest ... and lend the money out, at a substantial interest rate ... ... and a substantial fee if the borrower gets his payment in one day late, etc. You know the game. On the other hand ... ... hasn't one of the major problems of our economy been in recent times that we tried to run before we knew how to walk? And the whole buying-thing-before-we-had-the-money got us into a bucket of trouble! It looks as though the leaders of the Big Banks, having claimed to have paid back all of the gov't. bail-out ... ... ???????????????????????? ............... ... now feel that they're justified in paying themselves those huge year-end bonuses!!!!!! As some have said ... ... they just don't get it. Trouble is - the rest of us just don't get it. Gov't.'s been bailing out major coporations for years. Socialism for those well-connected (or "too big to fail") ... ... private enterprise for the rest of us (the little guys). Seems to me that for most of us, if we'd darn near run our company into the ground ... ... we'd be out on the street, looking for a job (with no letter of reference from former employer). New meaning of "BBB" (in additon to "Better Business Bureau") - how about "Beaastly Bankrupt Bankers"??!! Have yourselves a great (and prosperous) New Year, O.K.? ole joyful

Live in an old country home, where one thing we do have is storage. I actually have three units in kitchen. First one is a walk in (messy) Next one is a built in that is in front of the walk in, there was glass in doors but the mess i keep it in i just painted blackboard paint and make my grocery list as needed. and this one i keep pizza and cookie pans in top and bottom is 30" deep and pulls all the way out.