Some people misread what I said-the Mexican lady that occasionally watched my kids, and the kids of the other workers, from the fenced yard of the farmhouse that was provided for her family by the potato farmer, was a LEGAL worker. Not an immigrant, even. A temporary worker that returned to Mexico when harvest was done. LEGAL to be here but depending on how many kids she had that day she may not have been a licensed daycare provider. In my state you only need a license if you had over a certain number of kids a day. The men worked milking and potatoes all day because they WANTED to-they were getting overtime! My boss didn't make anyone do anything illegal. The Mexicans were up here for a few months of the year to make money and that's what they did. And I'll tell you what, in my world, that is what a man does. They take care of their family even if it means their hands get dirty, they get tired and they have to work more than 8 hours a day without benefits. The Mexican wives and families came with them to keep everyone together and to help them be able to work all they could. The farmer told me that he couldn't find local people to do the work any more-his daughters and wife worked the tables with us but most of the other locals wouldn't do it any more. Me and a few older farm/ranch wives, a few homeschooled teenagers, and a lot of Mexicans. Funnest job I've ever had! We didn't complain, we didn't fight, we talked all day, we helped each other out, and we respected our boss. Crazy. If I could still work potatoes fulltime I would-it was a great job. I got $11/hour, overtime, mileage and it was all on the books. Plus all the free potatoes I could haul home! It's good honest work, gads-go figure. Are all the jobs like that? no... but some folks here were condemning these jobs with a broad brush and I want to be clear that I'm not a slave nor a sharecropper and my boss was an upstanding citizen, good farmer, and a pastor. And I didn't consider myself too good for the jobs (like many of the college kids and young people did). I got stronger, I got plenty of fresh air. Made some great friends and learned how to make awesome salsa. :D

I have two SIL's that have jobs like this. They are on the books and I don't see here where you say you would be off the books so I will assume this would be a legit job, complete with overtime for those 5 hours or negotiate yourself out of those five hours. My SIL's cook, clean, run errands, watch kids, housesit, shop, ect for the homeowners. They have afternoons off often then return to the house to make dinner, clean up afterward,and prepare for the next morning for "their" families. They're treated very well, part of the family to the point that their kids get gifts from the employers for graduations, ect. Both SIL's get tons of awesome hand me down clothes! and appliances, ect. Lots of handme downs. There is a professional but comfortable line there and both SIL's are very very happy with their jobs. One SIL has insurance and a retirement account (along with some very good financial advice) from her boss, the other SIL doesn't, works for wages only. We live in a very affluent area and the rich folks like to have their help! Both SIL's have been worked for their people for approximately 10 years. That said, they aren't homeschooling their kids. If your kids are old enough to manage on their own and WILL, and you need the money and don't mind the work nor the employer, then why not? Do it legally and professionally. I looked at the OP's previous posts and I don't find a thing to indicate she's been grooming the board for a big troll event. I err on the side of not being a jerk. I guess this is another example when some rush to Troll Judgement at the risk of being pretty rude.

I live in the land of little coyotes but I still know someone that was attacked by them! IMO living where you do a good strong fence backed with electric is probably your best bet. And keep small pets inside when you aren't there. The kind of dog you need to protect against coyotes is big, loud, and has every chance of getting sick/injured from fighting with coyotes. I have a Great Pyrenees that guards our place every night and he's extremely loud and needs a lot of room and would be very difficult to fence in. A pistol, tazer or pepper spray of some sort would be good to have if you're out walking where you could come across them. Here we have Fish and Game that have trappers on staff that will come clear out the coyotes for you if you ask. Nothing will deter a coyote. I've heard of people buying wolf pee and that might work at first but if there's food the coyote will always figure out a way unless you are right there with the means to harm it.

This sounds obtuse to me to be honest. Would it be easy, no. It's an JOB where you show up and you work and nobody is greasing all the wheels for you. When I did seasonal farm work my MIL watched my kids. The days that she couldn't there was a wife of one of the Mexican workers that watched all the other kids and my kids could go with her for the day. I had lunch with them and they learned Spanish. She wasn't expensive per parent b/c she had enough kids to watch that it added up. She was an Unlicensed Day Care Provider in some eyes but to my kids she was fun and a super good cook. The workers that were staying on a place further out carpooled to work. They did the morning milking at the dairy at 4:30 twice a day and then worked potatoes 12 hours a day on top of it. We're talking hard times here, not inconvenient times. You do what you have to do; not hold out for just the right situation for you. Do you have health insurance anyway? If not you might need some money to pay for a doctor visit. If you dont' have money you can't buy food to care for your family. You carpool to save on expenses, you figure it out. You can freshen up your resume and send it to employment services on your day off or at night or on your lunch break. (ask me how I know) You take time off for an interview-my farmer boss didn't fuss at all if you took a day off, he knew how it went. I loved my potato jobs-they were good hard work and I learned a lot from the good hard workers that I met there. And they sure weren't college kids. The college kids lasted ONE day and they wimped out. I worked with Mexicans and other ranch wives that used those jobs to get some extra cash during the spring and fall.

My mutt was born in the pound! I got her when she was 3 months old, 12 years ago. I also have purebreds and even dared to raise a litter of puppies. :D But I do love my pound dog.

I'm jealous too-my beautifully turned out DD on her cute Cute CUTE white arab mare is turning away from english to BARREL RACING! :blink::001_huh::001_huh: Or so she thinks-western saddles are generally pretty pricey and we don't have a barrel saddle for her!

All of this is why I said "dollar signs don't always mean success" because you listed a bunch of expensive stuff that seemed to imply that it WAS necessary for success? I do know someone (in person and on COTH, no less) that shows competitively in dressage for much less money that you're talking here. For her first few shows she even leased her high boots from a local tack shop. She's also the one riding a Wintec. I know some high level people in the horse world and know pretty well that it can be as pretentious and expensive as you want to go. Or not. :D Another friend is selling two jumping saddles, a Stubben for $500 and Passier for $6oo. I see used Crosby's and Stubbens for $300 all the time online. I was pricing breeches last week and for a young kid they could be found for $20-100. A troxel helmet is $50-80. Boots can be found in the $100-150 for show, $30-50 for paddock boots. All of those can be found second-hand for a fraction of all that. OP wasn't even talking about showing, she was talking about riding. So I didn't want her to think that she needed to spend your kind of money on the start-up of her interest in riding english. Higher level show situation was apples to her schooling level interest in english oranges. OP I also was going to tell you that english riders ride with a lot more contact and leg than trail/western riders. Your horses would want to get comfortable with the different feel and training.

Yes I do. My parents have had one for four years and I've met many of them as a vet tech. Nice, personable, smart dogs with a beetle-like clean coat. Theirs is calm and very obedient and all that I've met have been the same way.

My good friend is cleaning up in her local shows in a Wintec dressage saddle-name and dollar signs don't always mean success. I see scads of used quality saddles used both for show and just riding and they do just fine. I wouldn't pay $900 for a pair of boots for a growing kid if my life depended on it! But winning ribbons isn't remotely important to me so I'm coming from a different place. Just know that it doesn't have to be expensive At All. A good used AP saddle can be had for $400, in fact I think I have a friend listing one for sale right now. Breeches can be found on sale, boots the same. www.tacktrader.com That Chronicle of the Horse page has a forum that is very knowledgable and you could get a lot of good info there. Saddle quality, saddle fit, best prices and places for gear and even suggest trainers and show prep. For where you are starting from it's the best possible source of info. Both jumping and dressage are NOT things you can do to a higher level with just any horse. You can start with the horses you have but if you stay with it you may need to find a jumper with a natural tuck and talent to jump or a dressage horse with the conformation that can make him/her successful. That small horse could be a better natural jumper than the tall and the tall horse might be built better for dressage. It's not a size thing.

Boston terriers.

We loved Geico-we had to switch from them when we reinsured our house otherwise we would still be with them.

Here in MT the gentleman's agreement is that you find the halfway mark of the fence and you take responsibility for the the half to your right.

www.chronofhorse.com

I've worked ag jobs, sometimes side by side with legal immigrants on a work pass. They can be difficult but they aren't that bad, jeez, I was doing them as a middle aged housewife and after a short break in time I was doing fine. it's good money, you're outside, with good people. the Mexicans I was working with had a four bedroom double wide house to live in and were very comfortable. I have never pulled unemployment and I sure wouldn't let it stop me from working. My kids are just waiting until they're old enough to work those jobs-it's a way to make a bunch of money and then be done. People will come up with all kinds of excuses to not work! LOL

I love my chickens, I can't imagine if my dog(s) would do something like that. My dogs protect ours. :( I have gotten rid of dogs that chased cats... I'm sorry this happened to you and your flock.

There isn't really enough poison left in a dead, dehydrated, poisoned mouse to harm a cat. And most (all?) cats don't want to eat a mummified already dead mouse, they like the hunt and play aspect of killing mice, not the eating portion of the game. I would make sure all the poison is picked up and go get a cat. :)

Thank you-the OP's head has been spinning in this thread for a long time now. LOL I read the entire thread and most of the links and am still looking for my answers. I appreciate all the information and advice that I got on here and it taught me a lot! Thank you everyone and carry on!

I don't mind being in the hospital so I wouldn't mind either way, I would choose whatever I thought was easiest on my family. But if I knew someone that really wanted to be home I would do everything I could to accomodate that. Most people do want to be home. My parents house had the previous owner die in the house and we bought a house once that was haunted. Both cases (different states) the realtors said it part of the disclosure agreement. We found out that an older lady had died in our house of natural causes-she made her presense known but not in a bad scary way at all. It didn't stop us from buying the house.

My guess is head infection breaking up from the abx kicking in. I have chronic sinus infections and the bad ones make me dizzy and when things start to break loose it can get really bad. Make sure you're hydrated too.

Rachel Ray uses a lot of kale in a variety of recipes, I found a bunch on a google. I shred it and add it to salads, soups, casseroles. I use it strictly as an add-on, not the main dish. DH bought ten plants for the garden last spring when he thought he was buying cabbage! LOL

Looks like a bunch of my benign moles. I'm a very moley person and have them in all shapes/colors/shades but of course they all need to get checked if they're atypical, which that one is. Probably a nothing-burger but good to get it checked!

toast them before using them? (I wouldn't worry about it myself ;) )

gads, I'm not so sure these parents are the smartest tools in the shed.

She's a cutie pie! I'm glad she has her tail, too. :) I go to the 2nd hand stores and find stuffed animals without beaded noses/eyes to be our dog toys. Not mentally stimulating but they like to wrestle and sleep with them.

Because raw milk is a petri dish. The minute it leaves the cow it is a petri dish for whatever it encounters. We have a family milk cow and I firmly FIRMLY believe that people should be able to buy raw milk if they want it. I think people should be able to drink mud puddle water if they want to and if they do, I should be able to sell it to them. I think the gov't should back the heck out and people should educate themselves. But as much as I love raw milk and we drink it all the time, 24/7, it's nothing to fool with.