I was just about to post here to ask how she was doing when I saw your remarks. Keep her in "supportive care" for at least another day or so. If you feel she can manage it, you can bring another bird out to keep her company in her kennel. Chances are, if the limp isn't too bad, she'll recover completely, or learn to live with her slight limp. I'm glad it seems to be working out well for you and her.

I voted 'other'. Here's a snippet of the conversation going on in my head. "Frankly, I'd like to feel that I had mastered and completely understood any of these. Where's the all of the above choice? I don't feel that I have a single subject listed here all wrapped up, for there is always so much I don't know, don't remember, or want to learn. Mastery is a word I rarely apply to my abilities. If pressed, however, to choose something from this list, I would probably choose languages, for I love words, and I love being able to communicate effectively. Another 'other' that comes to mind for me, and which runs parallel with my desire for effective commucation, is the human mind. What I'd give to have some ability to understand the way we people think!" Not very decisive, huh? :D

Cathy, thank you for allowing your son's young heart to shed light on an otherwise dark situation. Sometimes, it seems, kids have more wisdom and less fear about death than we adults do. Colleen, Patty, Ms. Jones ~ sending comfort to your aching hearts and to the families of these children. It is so very painful. {{{{}}}}

Dexter dairy cows. They look SO adorable to me that I find myself really wanting a couple. :001_smile:

Dd 11 continues to improve across the board, but she also continues to be a very slow and often struggling reader and speller. Math is also sometimes difficult, but she "holds her own" as they say. I am curious about how/if any of your similarly challenged students have managed music studies. Dd began piano lessons two years ago, January. Last year, she really blossomed, and she received much praise from her teacher. But, in recent months, her interest has appeared to wane. She is no longer homeschooled, so practice time is now relegated to after school when her brain is tired and her patience is thin from spending the day in classes. Also, the piano study is becoming more challenging as she progresses with the upshot being that the whole experience is less enjoyable and more work. Basically, she has to THINK more to accomplish her weekly lessons; the work no longer comes as easily to her. Has anyone else had a similar experience? Is there a method or approach we might consider to help her find the joy in playing again? She's begun saying she no longer wants to take piano at all, which disappoints me greatly. And, if you have thoughts to share, I'd love to know how you feel these types of learning challenges affect a student's *ability* to study piano or any other instrument.

The dog was just doing what comes naturally to it. If there is lab in it, that may just be the saving grace for that chicken, because labs are known to have "soft mouths". I might add one more suggestion, if you have the energy after what sounds like a long, hard day for you (did you get your Mike's? ;)) -- your chicken might appreciate a little extra heat tonight (although, there in FL, it may not be necessary). A 60 watt bulb hung low in her temporary home, so she can get under it, or a move to an indoor setting in a dog crate if it is at all chilly where you are will enable her to focus her energy on healing, if needed, rather than on staying warm. A story that might cheer you: I once nearly ran over a Barred Rock Rooster with a golf cart, and he lived to crow about it. So, there is hope here! How does she seem now? (p.s. All female chickens under a year old are called "pullets")

No doubt, this is a heartbreaking time for this family. But, to consider the positive as well, maybe she was content just knowing how far he has come, and what he has already accomplished. Sometimes, the dying will "wait" until they or their loved ones are ready for them to move on. I'm trying to imagine that she was completely at peace with making her exit now, and that if there is future celebrating to be done, she can still do that from a new perspective. :) Just my own little way of looking at things.

Absolutely move it to quiet, less congested housing right away. It will benefit from not having the competition of its flockmates, and if there is any injury or debility, the other birds will single out the injured one and could create yet another issue for this bird. If you have some vitamin/electrolyte solution that you could add to the water, do so. The boost will be valuable. Supportive nutrition like chopped hard boiled egg and possibly cooked ground meat is another option. The added protein will be good for it. Watch it carefully. Chickens are good healers, but they are also good at masking injury. Depending on how the dog handled the bird (which is your unknown at this point), the bird may or may not recover. How old is the pullet, and what breed is the dog? I'm sorry. Wishing you and the bird well.

I so wish it was easier to live healthfully. I suppose the stress of worrying over all the areas about which I choose to be concerned is worse than the health risks themselves... but doggonit!! :glare: Our Rival is used frequently. If I had an actual income, I might have replaced it awhile ago because it cooks too hot for my liking. (Just this week, I set some nearly cooked black beans to 'Warm' and left home for a few hours. When I returned, they were boiling, even on the warm setting. Gah!) Now, I have another reason to replace the thing as soon as possible. And, one more thing to try to block out of my worried head for the time being while repeating my mantra: "I'm doing the best I can." Bill, you got any jobs to offer? ;)

How exciting for you all, Marie!! A boy to add to your brood. CONGRATULATIONS!!!! :001_smile::001_smile::001_smile:

You are dealing with many forms of miscommunication and dysfuntion in your household right now. I'm so sorry, for I know it has to be difficult to sort out how to prioritize and, hopefully, find some resolutions to the problems. The trouble with anyone here attempting to do that is that there are too many layers, and clearly, too much history for us to unravel it all. I believe that is why the most useful advice you've received here is for you to get your whole family into counseling as soon as possible. Some thoughts to consider in the meantime: ~ Children sense when the foundation is weak and they sometimes/often act accordingly. The fact that you and your husband are having problems is surely impacting the kids in the household. I'd work on that first and foremost. The two of you simply MUST be on the same page when it comes to how you will manage the kids and their discipline needs. ~ Your 15 year old is acting in a fashion similar to many 15 year olds, particularly those who are living in challenging home situations, but not unusual to those who have completely sound families. I realize many parents don't like to hear this or believe it, and they want to blame it all on peers and, as in your case, the school environment. But, you need not look far to see that many homeschooled 15 yos are similarly troubled and difficult. Please don't assume that homeschooling would "fix" the problem nor that schooling is "causing" the problem. ~ Youth this age (15) are pushing the boundaries in order to try to establish themselves as entities apart from their parents. It's part of what they do in a normal developmental cycle. I don't need/want to know what she may have done to lose *all* her privileges, but I would suggest that sometimes kids who need to be allowed more age appropriate freedoms act out in the most significant ways. Your counselor may be able to help you see how this could be true in your teens. ~ If you were "forced" to bring the bonus child home without notice or agreement on your part, then IMO, you need to follow your own instincts as to whether and when to continue that child's counseling. I can see no advantage to discontinuing that in the early days of this girl's arrival in your home. Backbone is a useful tool. That's all I have to offer just now. Do seek professional help, right away. Peace,

There's not much worse that getting out of a nice warm shower only to bury your wet face in a smelly towel! Well, okay, there are a lot of things that are worse. But, I'm just sayin'...:001_smile:

Heavy cream it is, then (with, perhaps a bit of milk or half and half for good measure). I can use the leftover from the quart to whip for topping. Yummm! I knew I could count on the wise heads here to help!

I am making a persimmon pudding using local persimmon pulp. It's been a long time since I've put this particular recipe together, so I can't recall whether I used the light cream called for in the recipe or substituted heavy cream instead which is easier to find here. Any thoughts? Moving ahead w/ the recipe in a very short while. :confused:

I rarely use a hot water setting, but I do use vinegar in the rinse cycle. What I've found works well for smelly clothes is to pour about a cup of white distilled vinegar in after the washer has filled for the rinse cycle. I let it agitate a bit, then turn the washer off and let the articles soak for as long as possible (often, for me, it's overnight). Complete the rinse cycle and hang out to dry in the sun. If you don't have a clothesline, you can dry them immediately in your dryer. The vinegar should help. If you have a front loading washer, I'm clueless about how to add things midway through the cycle. :confused:

Those sound terrific! Do post pics later on if you are so inclined.

We don't get trick-or-treaters here, and frankly, I don't have much interest in spending the money or time to carve a pumpkin for our cats to look at. So, we've broken with tradition and have no Jack O Lantern this year. Kind of sad, isn't it? This will be a fun substitute for my younger dd who was rather disappointed. Come to think of it, though, I'd be pumpkins will be CHEAP tomorrow. Maybe we should do one *after* Halloween! :D

"You mean that stack of papers I got waaay back at the beginning of the class? I was supposed to *do* something with those?!? Like keep them? AND read them?!" :svengo: Really, though, how did this student make it through undergrad without learning this particular skill?

...I despise what cars have done to our world. Poor unsuspecting creatures. I'm teary-eyed as well. :-(

I have to qualify this by saying that I haven't read the other replies (sorry, this computer doesn't let me do that in Hybrid mode, and I'm too lazy otherwise). What we've done is to agree that some years there might not BE ANY GIFTS between us. We are not swimming in extra money (what an understatement!) Christmas is often a time of stress for us...or...rather, January is stressful, because that's when all the bills from the holidays come due. Ick! So, we kind of have an unwritten rule that unless there's a real need or want, or unless there's something inspiring to offer, we just don't offer. We'd rather splurge on a weekend away, or a dinner out, or something that we need for the house rather than expending time and money on a "must do" gift for Christmas. Dh recently remarked that he really wants a new gray "hoodie". He wore one for years when we were younger, until it got so trashed that he couldn't bear to be seen in it anymore. So, that's a really good idea. And, I just *might* pass that idea on to his mother, who always wants ideas anyhow. Which will leave me idea-less, scratching my head, and figuring it will be an off year - again. Is that something you and your dh could manage together?

There she goes!................. I'll catch up to her in La-la-land!!! (Is that where stuttering fairies end up, or just washed up Moms like me!? ;)) Amy, I'm with you. Cling to the glitter!

Sorry, guys. My kids' pet pixie got a little loopy today. She's been flying around flinging fairy dust and chanting something that sounds like, "I do believe in [hic!] Sherry!" You can see everywhere she's been; there's a trail of dust a mile wide. What a mess! We'd gotten really complacent about shutting her cage door. Lately, she'd just seemed so funky - lolling around, eating Little Debbies and reading way too many political commentaries. It's like all that stuff just sucked the juice right out of her. But all of a sudden, it's like someone pumped her full of pomegranate! I'm afraid there's no stopping her now. :lol: P.S. It wasn't me. I'm just being silly.

...that you need to station Rooster on your saddles. :lol:

Karin, I'm not sure if I was the one who said something previously about piles of compost. At the farm, we had one main pile into which we put everything -- garden gleanings, weeds (as long as they weren't the rhizome-type that regrow from a tiny speck), kitchen scraps, leaves, shavings from the chicken coop, even the no-no's like meat scraps, dairy, and eggs. We'd let that steep for a time, and there would be intentional turning/stirring of the pile for which we had the benefit of a small tractor with a bucket. But, at a certain point -- and this is the part that you may remember and want to emulate -- we'd stop putting new stuff into that pile and start a new one. Otherwise, we'd never have "finished" compost. I have never, however, created a compost pile all at once. It has always been a gradual layering on of things as we collected/created them. If you're wanting to make one happen presto!, you'll need to go scouting for stuff. Coffee grinds. Horse manure (and bedding). Dry leaves (preferably chopped by a mower or leaf mulcher). Garden prunings (hostas are being trimmed right now). You can layer it up, or you can mix it up on the first go around, and then leave it alone. Dig your worms down into the middle of the pile, because you don't want them to get cold and migrate elsewhere (deeper into the soil, for ex.). Covering with straw will help insulate it. The only trouble I can see is that if your area experiences cold winters, the piles isn't going to do much during the cold months. It will just sit there, on idle, until there is enough warmth to get it really cooking. Sure, the middle may heat up, but probably not enough to turn the whole thing into useful compost by spring. Summer...? Late summer...? Time will tell. Yes, bigger piles break down faster because they create and trap more heat. They also leave you with something more than a wheelbarrow load when they're done. You'll be shocked at how your pile will shrink down. Don't overthink it. Compost is what you get when you leave stuff to rot according to the way Mother Nature designed. We humans tend to put a timeline on it, and want it just so. But, I promise, if you build it, it will come (ha!). Maybe not exactly as you've planned. But, it will. And, don't underestimate your hubby. Once he starts enjoying all those vegetables from the garden, and you start dropping hints about how you might've done even more if you'd only had more compost, he just *might* get a hankering to turn that pile more often. ;)

Those of us in similar situations to yours, strider, really do understand the push-pull of feeling that there is no great solution, only reasonable alternatives. Danestress offers a wonderful reasonable alternative to a very difficult choice. The only thing I might add is that you *could* visit your aunt later, rather than same day, to alleviate some of your stress and to free up the day to focus on just your grandmother who will otherwise be all alone. Your aunt will have already had her husband and kids there, so at least that's something special. Visiting her on another day will give her another happy occasion instead of having all the "fun" land on a single day. I'm struggling now with how to be with my family during the holidays. We have not spent Christmas with my husband's family in three years, instead spending that time with my family due to my father's ongoing issues. And, we face the decision again this year. I do grasp how difficult it is when you want to make everyone happy, make everyone feel loved and special, but there's only so much of you to go around. (((strider)))