Bless Her Cotton Socks Exchange

Is this a good idea? Yes

Can I accomplish it? Sure, if I try.

Do I want to? I THINK so.

I better think about it for a day or so.

Avian Inluenza update

http://www.mercola.com/2006/may/11/a_hidden_agenda_behind_the_bird_flu_hoax.htm

Says it all

Unclaimed Territory - by Glenn Greenwald

Unclaimed Territory - by Glenn Greenwald
Just discovered this blog this morning. Even though he is thought to be a conservative, and I am thought to be a liberal, I haven't read anything yet I disagree with. I plan to read this on a regular basis.

Ideal day old chicks

Actually they were 48 hours old in the photo. They were hatched at 8 AM Monday and shipped to me. The PO called me at 7 AM Wed and I had them home and in the brooder box by 8 AM. Aren't they just the cutest things? And they are stronger and more active than the ones I get from the feed store. THey come from Texas, and the feed store ones are from New Mexico, but these were shipped by air, AND I picked them up shortly after arrival rather than waiting for them to be delivered. That would be at least another 6-7 hours delay. And it is my understanding that the NM chicks are 3 days in transit rather than 2. So I guess its no wonder that these chicks recovered from it faster.
Oh, when I got home from work, there were 2!!
small perfect green eggs in the nest box. Yay!
However, I soon noticed that one of the pullets,
Sisty Ugler was straining, and that she has a
prolapsed cloaca. I put her in a sink of warm
water until I was able to massage the impacted egg out, but I wasn't able to make the prolapsed tissue. She continued to strain off and on, and that pushed it out again. I knew the other chickens would peck it, the evil little buggers, so I put her in the small crate overnight.
I haven't decided yet whether to kill her this morning by myself or confine her all day and let DH do it tonight. We were going to eat a Barred Rock this weekend, but we will eat her instead. 

Ideal Hatchery

I just got back from picking my my new chicks from the Buckeye Post Office. They are assorted straight run chicks from Ideal Hatchery in Texas and are all happy and healthy. Ideal threw in 3 extras, so I have 28, and it is going to be so much fun figuring out what breeds the chicks are. There seem to be at least 3 of each kind, and are at least 6 different kinds. So cute. They are all eating and drinking and cheeping and hopping and running, etc, etc.
I was going to put them out in the large airy chicken house right away, but after reading on chicken lists about people losing baby chicks to rats, and then this morning, to snakes, I changed my mind and put them in the brooder box on the front porch. It won't take them long to outgrow it, but at least they will be bigger and more able to run from danger when I move them. Perching would be a plus. I'll put in the practice perch tomorrow.
See my previous post about Privett. Ideal is proving to be the exact opposite. Every communication I have had with them has been prompt and informative, and I received one phone call from Ideal as to when the chicks would be shipped, along with emails from 2 different CSRs. Ideal also attached a note to the box for the post office to call me right away. So they have made a customer. Even with the small order charge and the postage, the chicks work out to be $1.16 apiece. Can't beat that. Granted, I will pay more when I pick the breed, but the service can't be beat.

Privett Hatchery

Here is a copy of what I emailed to Privett.
"You have lost me as a customer. I have gotten chicks from you twice through my local feed store and thought it was great to have you just in the next state. However, I have emailed you twice asking why 2 of my 10 Fayoumis are brown and gold, and you have not bothered to even acknowledge the question.

I have come to believe that you sent Golden Campines in with the Fayoumis, since I have no other information to go on. So it was either a careless mistake or a deliberate one, and neither is acceptable.

If anyone had bothered to answer and tell me that the brown do occur in Fayoumis things would be different, but that didn't happen."

My front yard

Just as an aside, the round garden contained strawberries, and no, the pie tins did NOT protect them from the birds. I had to buy bird netting like people use on their fruit trees and weight it
do all around, then peel it back to look for strawberries. Boy, they were sure good.
Since then I have used the bird netting to cover the chicken yard and protect from hawks and owls.
Since I can only handle a few obsessions at a time, the gardening is definitely suffering now. But with putting in the fish pond, and cleaning the chicken coops, I am going to have so much organic fertilizer it would be a crime NOT to have an organic vegetable patch. Next, next. Just let us get the fish pond set up and going first. 

Cool cool Kuku Kitty

This must be the coolest place in the house. Kuku sure seems to think so. 

Whose blog is this, anyway?

One of my knitting group says she came across my blog and really liked the Avian Influenza rant, but she chided me for not writing in it more often. Well, I chide myself often enough for that already, thanks. If I ever get something better than this dial-up connection, I can sit down and write whenever I feel like it, instead of having to turn it off when I am not actively using it to avoid tying up the phone.
However, if I get a hi-speed connection, it is almost surely going to cost a whole lot more than the $9.95 per month I pay now. And I'm cheap. After all, it is our refusal to acquire and pay for all the extras in this modern society that enables us both to work part-time instead of spending all waking hours commuting and at work like most people our age. So, 6 of one.
I AM applying again, for an online customer service position, with the promise to buy hi-speed if they hire me. That would be 15 hours a week, and I would be able to quit the museum and discontinue driving into Buckeye 2-3 days a week. That would save 48-72 miles a week on the Liberty and 3-4 gallons of gas. Doesn't seem like much, but it all adds up.
I'm not worried about becoming a hermit and not knowing what goes on in the world. After all, I will still be knitting and teaching quilt classes at Cotton Fields. Hmmm, better get started filling out the form for the CSR job.

More Avian Influenza info

Thought you would be interested in this article from The Nation.

Avian Flu Over the Cuckoo's Nest

by Nicholas von Hoffman

Is it Mother Nature or Father Human Greed whom we have to blame for

avian flu?

A few days ago the Union of Concerned Scientists sent out an e-mail saying, "A

study by the international non-governmental organization GRAIN suggests

that avian influenza is spread primarily by the global poultry trade,

not migratory birds or free-range poultry operations as has been

suggested, and that confined factory farm production contributed to its

mutation into its current deadly form. The organization tracked the

movements of the disease over time and found that they were correlated,

not with migratory bird routes or the locations of free-range farms,

but with integrated trade networks involving poultry, eggs, meat,

feathers, manure and animal feed. US Department of Agriculture

Secretary Mike Johanns warned that bird flu will almost certainly come

to the United States."

An article on the website of the biodiversity agency Grain titled "Fowl Play: The Poultry

Industry's Central Role in the Bird Flu Crisis" is yet one more

reminder that things are not always as they tell us they are. Maybe the

migrating swallows and arctic terns are not carrying the H5N1 flu virus

after all, and why do we have to wait for the Union of Concerned

Scientists to hip us to the knowledge that the disease rarely occurs in

small family flocks but rather mostly in farm factories where chickens

are raised by the tens of thousands inside, under unsanitary and

debilitating conditions that make them soft prey for the virus. Overly

large, unregulated agribusiness is at it again.

All of this is but a new version of an old truth: There is no money, or

not enough money, in health. From a business point of view prevention

of disease or disability is a chump's game, whether you are talking

about Canadian geese, a Rhode Island red hen or a person. The big bucks

are in sickness. You can make money getting people sick by selling them

bad food and make more money selling them remedies for what you did to

them.

So the same Grain article also brings the startling news that

"one of the standard ingredients in industrial chicken feed, and most

industrial animal feed, is 'poultry litter.' This is a euphemism for

whatever is found on the floor of the factory farms: fecal matter,

feathers, bedding, etc. Chicken meat, under the label 'animal byproduct

meal,' also goes into industrial chicken feed. The WHO (World Health

Organization) says that bird flu can survive in bird feces for up to 35

days and, in a recent update to its bird flu fact sheet, it mentions

feed as a possible medium for the spread of bird flu between farms.

Russian authorities pointed to feed as one of the main suspected

sources of an H5N1 outbreak at a large-scale factory farm in Kurgan

province, where 460,000 birds were killed. Yet globally, nothing is

being done to tighten regulations or monitoring of the feed industry.

Instead it often seems that the industry, not governments, is calling

the shots."

Thus the don't-fence-me-in, don't-regulate-me cowboys of the food

business may kill us by breeding sick chickens and may kill the

chickens by feeding them contaminated food--which, of course, they sell.

Yippeee-ay-yea, bring on the pandemic! But there is yet another way of

wringing legitimate profits out of this disease, which, if the most

pessimistic predictions turn out to be true, may cause one out of five

of us to turn up our toes and head for the great chicken factory in the

sky.

That other way is selling us expensive medicine that does not work in

case we come down with avian flu. The medicine in question is Tamiflu, which may cure Tamiflu but doesn't cure avian flu. Nevertheless, they can't make the stuff fast

enough. They are back-ordered into the next century.

If that were not fun enough, Grain has also discovered that Donald Rumsfeld is a major stockholder in Gilead Sciences, which licenses Tamiflu.

Whether or not Tamiflu is of the slightest use to avian flu sufferers,

it is of great profitability to the secretary of defense, since Gilead

is expected to make $118 million from Tamiflu sales this year. Somebody

has laid a big, fat egg here.

This article can be found on the web at:

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060410/vonhoffman

Visit The Nation

http://www.thenation.com/

Subscribe to The Nation:

https://ssl.thenation.com/

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RoseByAny @-;----

RoseByAny @-;----
I found this through the Knitters Review and I'm so glad. I used to eagerly read posts by her in the Forums, but I really no longer have time for the Forums. I mean, that was before my chicken obsession, after all. So, adding this to my favorite blogs, and I'll check in with her regularly. Yay.

Highland Triangle in progress

I am still working on the edging, and probably will be for a while, but couldn't resist finally posting a photo. I know I have been promising one for weeks. This quilt is made from every color of red worsted wool from my stash, plus a couple of new ones as I say how much I was actually going to need. One is Araucana Nature Wool, a couple are Knit Picks Wool of the Andes, and the edging is Paton's Classic Merino. Oh, and the part with white flecks are my crockpot Kool-Aid dyed Fisherman's Wool in Tropical Punch.
Anyway, I was planning to start one in laceweight next, but last night at the Quilt-In, I discovered a wonderful hand-dyed New Zealand wool hand painted by Jan Gilray. I'm afraid I just have to start the next one with this Kaleidoscope color for spring, as it is yellow, purple, blue, pink and is so gorgeous I just want to lie down and roll on it. I haven't decided yet which shawl, maybe the Stora Dimun or Lacy Prairie SHawl. Any suggestions? I am partial to the triangles but open to persuasion. I think I am seriously hooked on this lace knitting. I have even started a couple of different lace patterned socks.
AJ 

Nerd in the Country

Nerd in the Country
I love this blog. A fellow on at least one of my chicken lists writes it, and I have always been interested in his posts. Other than the God stuff, I like his writing and plan to read it regularly. And he doesn't beat you over the head with his God, so that's OK. I think he must be a very nice person to know.

Migraine!

I woke up at 3:30 this morning with the worst migraine I think I have ever been afflicted with. I tried to ignore it and go back to sleep, but Nooooooo! I finally got up and took a migraine pill, waking up DH(I thought) in the process. Back to bed; wasn't working; felt nauseous. Got up, and while waiting to hurl, I rested my temple on the cold tile counter in the bathroom. That actually felt good(relatively speaking), so I tried the other one. It made me forget all about hurling. I stayed in there, cooling alternate temples on the tile until the entire counter top was warmed up. Then I went back to bed and was able to go back to sleep. At 7:30 I woke again and still had the migraine but it wasn't near as bad. I took another pill and it finally receded enough to let me function.
I had really considered having DH drive me to the ER for an injection, for the very first time in my history of migraines. I think next time I will try a bag of frozen vegetables on my temples when I first get the headache and see what that does. I know that the cold shrinks the veins that are all swollen and the swollen veins are supposed to be what causes the pain. But the pain is always so bad that you swear you must have a brain tumor. I really can see why people kill themselves in the grip of an attack; you would do anything to stop the pain.
Enough of that. I just hope it is a long time until the next one. If I could figure out what causes them for me, I would change that whatever immediately. No lie!
And by the way, DH says he knew nothing of what was going on, even with the lights going off and on, etc.

Left-handed Leo

My coworker really drives me nuts with her constant complaints about everything under the sun, and especially her excessive dithering about initiating any action. It is really scary because she is a left-handed Leo just like me, only 20 years older. Am I going to be like that?
My relationship with her just might be very good for me, psychologically, because I can see the results of various ways to think and behave. Hopefully I can learn to avoid going the direction of the traits I dislike.
For instance, yesterday she started feeling sorry for herself because she never got to go anywhere as a child and teenager, and also because she had to get rid of all kinds of family possessions over the years because she can't afford the big house or big storage for them.
Give me a break! Wouldn't you think there would be a statute of limitations for blaming your parents for the way they brought you up! I mean, when you are in your 70's, you've had more than half a century to move past your upbringing. I don't think you can blame anybody but yourself for the way you turned out in the end.
I realize the way I feel about it is not a popular feeling. Even my own father, in his 70's also, has always gotten drunk and blamed absolutely everything on the fact that "my own mother couldn't remember my name" when she was yelling and upset about something. Well, get a clue Dad, NOBODY's mother can remember their name when she's upset, including mine. SHe used to go thru all her sister's names before she got to mine. Big deal.
I am unsure WHY I am more emotionally healthy than my father, except that I have always tried to reflect on my own motivations and be emotionally honest with myself and most every one else. Not that it always works, but at least I am trying.

Neck Pain

I woke up yesterday with a sore neck and it got worse last night. I should have called for an appointment to see the chiropractor yesterday but convinced myself it would get better. Duh. It never gets better until I get an adjustment. Now the whole left side of my back hurts and my left arm and in general, I'm just a wreck. As soon as the office opens, I will call and see if they can work me in today. If not, I will be like this over the weekend. Grrr, and nobody to blame but myself.
I don't know what happened. I think I just did it turning over in bed, but how can that be? I just got 2 ribs put back last Tuesday and I usually stay fairly pain-free for a couple of weeks(which is why I make appointments 2 weeks apart.)

Publishing this blog

I have added the address of this blog to my email signature since I last posted. I will look at the comments later.
I have 2 minds about having done this. Bloggers have always seemed hopelessly self-indulgent and self-centered to me. That hasn't changed, but I have kept a diary off and on since I was a child and always puzzle things out better if I write them down.
Then too, there is the fact that nobody HAS to read your blog, whereas anybody that has to listen to a rant in person can only sit there with their eyes glazed over, or else interrupt to the point that you can't remember what you were going to say in the first place.
For instance, my knitting friends don't want to listen to me brag about my chickens; my family doesn't want to listen to my politics (except my SIL). Boy, DON'T they want to listen to my politics! I had a great friendship going with one of my nieces until discussions about Mr Bush and Company got acrimonious. I really tried to keep it low-key but it is so frustrating when a person you otherwise regard as intelligent can be so wrong-headed. AND they won't change their mind even after you explain it to them! See what I mean.
Ok, then there is always Crohn's Disease, and fibromyalgia. People with those diseases are completely uninterested in anything I have to say except health tips, disease history, good doctors, diet and lifestyle changes, etc.
Oh well, go now and return later, maybe. I don't want to neglect my life while I sit here and write about it.

Poor me

I have a cold. I HATE having a cold. But I really shouldn't complain too much. I don't want to be like my coworker, who can complain about absolutely ANYTHING.
Its not really that bad, not yet anyway, and I have Dayquil for days and EmerGen-C for night. We are having the Mystery Quilt meeting tonight though, rather than Friday. I am probably shedding virus, but I will just inform everyone not to kiss me and they should be fine.
It is cloudy today, and I would normally love that (It happens so seldom) But with a cold, the cloudiness only contributes to the stuffy head feeling. Bitch, bitch, bitch. I am going now; got to feed the chickens and see if I can work on the chicken yard without DH. It is both easier and harder to work on it without him. He has lots of knowledge and knows how to do everything. This means that the way I do IT is wrong and I must do IT his way, whatever IT is. So I do anything I can when he is gone. When he gets home, the task is already done and he can't tell me how to do it.
Since we are both strong-willed, compromise is often necessary (on my part, usually).
Why is it that faced with ANY decision, no matter how trivial, we automatically decide the opposite? Does this happen to everybody?

Too many topics

One thing about this blog: Everytime I start to obsess about something now, I just tell myself to keep that thought and blog it. Of course, by the time I get around to blogging, I have forgotten most of what I was going to say. That's good though; at least I didn't spend as much time uselessly obsessing as I used to. That alone is worth the cost of admission.
I have a sore throat and have to keep blowing my nose, so must have picked up a cold. I hope it doesn't get any worse. After DH left for the grocery store, I went out and spent some time doing finish work on the brooder house. Yesterday we worked all morning on the yard fencing but I will need to get some more chicken wire before I can completely enclose it. Once we build and hang the gate, DH considers that his part is done and the rest is up to me. I hope to finish within 2 weeks, but I have to work next Saturday. Darn, this working gets in the way of life!
We ate our first home-grown chicken last night. Very tasty. Chewy, not like store bought chicken at all, and a whole lot more taste. I wish we could switch to eating only our own, and not even buy chicken any more, but I doubt if I can raise that many and keep them coming along. Especially since DH wants to keep everybody that looks the least bit interesting and see how they turn out.
Well, got to hang out the clothes now and then get back to quilting. I am almost finished with the Gila Bend lady's quilt and hope to deliver it back to CF tomorrow. But if not, I will take it Friday when I go there to knit and then stay for the Mystery Quilt class. So busy, LOL.

Lazy Friday

But it shouldn't be lazy. I should be quilting madly on a quilt for a GIla Bend lady right now, so that I can deliver it to CF early next week for her. I believe she goes to a chiropractor in Avondale every week, just like I do.
I gave all the chickens a treat of alfalfa sprouts this morning and the Fayoumis REALLY went for them. It may just be my imaginations, but they seem to be smarter than the Ameraucanas, and especially smarter than the Barred Rocks. The Rocks are handsome and friendly but they really don't have much personality. I guess its because they all look alike. Its hard to have a personal relationshipwhen you can't tell who you are talking to.
Knitting group this afternoon so I'd better get to work now. I think I'll take the shawl I just started and save the sock for DVD knitting. I've made so many socks from that pattern I can knit them in the dark even with sock yarn. Can't say that about a lot of other things.