Just need to talk to my friends (203)

ladyzetta

Good morning, windy here today.

Carl. I'm glad your going to start feeling less stress. Just plan your days now. This will be good for both of you. That's cute that your DW was looking for you. Hopefully they were able to distract her.

Iris. How far are you from Big Bear Mountin? I'm addicted to that nest. I have it on my phone, laptop and TV. I'm waiting for #3 to start pipping. Jackie, is on the nest right now and it's snowing all around her.

JeriLynn. I would love to have one of those baby's. It's so sweet that they, nozzle and suckle on your neck at feeding time, your their MaMa. Precious.

I need to go bring the plants in out of the wind. Hugs Zetta

ladyzetta

Egg #3 is in the process of hatching. It was confirmed a hour ago. 🙏 I can see a little hole in it and the baby pecking at it. ❤️

Lorita

Zetta, all I see is Jackie sitting on the nest in the snow. It says one day ago. What are you watching?

Iris L.

Zetta, I am about 100 miles from Big Bear as the crow flies, but Big Bear is up in the mountains, so there are winding roads to get there.

Beth, ice on the roads is no joke. We don't have ice but the rain can be slick. A trailer became unhitched on the freeway and covered three lanes during morning traffic. Do you read Nora Roberts' books?

Iris

JeriLynn66

Babies are good today. HB, I had some small doggie diapers and tried them today. One worked one leaked😂 I do have some Odoban so will pull that out. Lorita, I don’t think I would be comfortable to even try with Boogie taking the babies back. They were all but dead when I got my hands on them so I feel like they are compromised and at risk. Boogie did good when she had 1 baby, but she’s not really very maternal. She headbutts the other babies in the pasture if they get in the way of her food.

My 6 year old great granddaughter has a 1/2 day of school tomorrow and we will pick her up. She’s excited to see the babies.

Lorita

Glad the babies are doing well. Are both of the nursing bottles now or are using a syringe? I had to do that when we had a baby that was kind of deformed and couldn't get up. Not easy. Keep up the good work I know you will.

ladyzetta

Lorita . She is on the nest in the snow right now. Awhile ago she was feeding the babies, and I could see the 3rd egg in the hatching process. I'm just watching the camera looking into the nest. My daughter has me set up to watch, so I'm not sure what she did. She has a different site where she is getting updates from the commentators. Who did confirm the pipping.

jfkoc

this is the site I am following

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4-L2nfGcuE

Lorita

Thanks, Zetta and Judith. I hope since the third baby will be smaller that he gets enough food.

Well, the deportation thing has reached our little corner of the State. Last fall Darwin and I had two Mexican young men do some work for us. They fixed my flag pole and mailbox and his roof. This morning he called to tell me shingles just blown off his roof.. He called them and only one came - the other one has been deported. The remaining one is the son in law of one of the owners of our local lumber yard. They were going to paint the trim on my barn and some fences this spring. Maybe he can find someone to help him. Both young men were good workers and very friendly and polite. Hate that happened.

Carl46

Hello, group. Nice day here, 55 without wind. Expect 70 tomorrow, but with wind.

DW is having a rocky adjustment to day care. The nurse said their last Alzheimer's client took about a week to acclimate. DW was weeping and telling them I had left her there and she had been there for days, and I hate that, but I have to have the help.

Day care is five days a week, and we are doing only afternoons because DW normally sleeps from 6 PM to 10 AM or later. Their primary mission is to provide day care for adults whose parents need to go to work, but they also have some Alzheimer's clients. One of my coworkers (a good friend) used their services with her husband with AD so she could work, and they were able to take care of him until he became unable to walk and went to a NH.

I've gotten my shopping caught up and had lunch with DS. DS and I were able to have a face-to-face conversation without DW making a fuss (they trigger each other) for the first time in a couple of years. Tomorrow, I plan to clean up the yard a little and enjoy that warm weather. Then Monday I'll start visiting memory care facilities. I don't want to do that, but I have done a lot of things I didn't want to do over the past 50 years, and this is just one more. I'm having to talk to myself some, reminding myself that the things I am doing are necessary for all of us, and what I feel emotionally is my heart trying to overrule my brain.

Day care is working for me, and DW will adjust. I am already getting some much-needed exercise, and I am able to be much more patient and cheerful with DW in the evening.

I saw the prettiest bird today. It was grey with blue-grey shoulder patches and had a hooked beak like a raptor. It was about the size of a cardinal, so I guess it preys on little birds and mammals. Maybe I'll dig out the bird book and see if I can identify it.

Sleep well, friends. Take care of yourselves and each other.

Mint

Good morning

Looks like winter is going to have another hurrah here today. See in a few days giving it to be in the 60s. My nephew is in between activities and I think he’s going to help me get some yard work done. That will be wonderful.

Picked up my completed tax returns yesterday. Now I have to pay the tax man today good Lord willing. They want their share from the sale of my mom‘s house.

Yes, Carl, you have to have the help that is right. Your plate is full. Hopefully with time she will adjust. You said what I was thinking we have to allow our brain to rule and not our heart. Do you like birding? Birding is something that I used to enjoy a lot. Once though that my mom became so challenging, it was something that I. I realize that I don’t even remember a lot of what I knew. I miss going into the woods and taking hikes and listening to the birds.
When the houses were built here where I live they left fairly good size stretches of woods in between the sections of houses. Now the family that is left of the original developer is trying to sell all that land. So far, I don’t see any sold signs and it’s been a while. They’ve been trying to sell it. I hope the land remains unattractive to anyone and that we won’t lose that. I love sitting on my back porch and not having to look at another house. If I do lose it though, hopefully I’ll obtain a good backyard neighbor.

JeriLynn66

Good Morning,

It's early enough that the babies are still sleeping and I'm grateful they sleep the night. Progress. Both are enthusiastically taking a bottle. Yesterday I had them outside for just a bit and they were picking at the grass and mostly early emerged weeds. They follow me everywhere, cry if they can't see me, lol.

I'm also watching Jackie and Shadow. How exciting for them after having an empty nest. Isn't nature amazing?

66 degrees today and sunny with just a little wind.

I didn't get much tax work done this week. Well, I got the Shop and DH's personal stuff to the Accountant. Still mine, my late FIL's and the Estate account to pull together. It's all in separate piles, but I like to organize by category and then put sticky notes on each grouping. Probably a waste of time, but it "looks" better to me for submission to the Accountant.

Carl, I hope your DW is able to settle in quickly. I know how hard this is but you're doing all your best for your family and for yourself. You are in my prayers.

Mint, I know what you mean about the land. So many farms around us are selling, with housing developments springing up everywhere. And this land is lost forever to farming and just enjoying nature. I'm somewhat protected by my acreage. But the land adjacent to mine to the South is for sale. And everyone on my road is even older than me. When I'm gone, my children will sell the land as neither of them want or need this property.

DH has begun to ready the plot for the garden. We're moving some raised beds around and he has worked up the ground a little further back from the house. We have to make room to enlarge the chicken house. Lots of work for the Spring. I'm looking forward to it. Today is also dress Speck's foot day. She seems better. The Great Grand is coming today and will want to see her. And feed the babies. Should be a fun afternoon.

OK, I hear babies stirring. Time to get bottles ready. Y'all have a good day. BBL.

eaglemom

Good morning all. Seems as though everyone's busy. I've been on and reading, just haven't posted.

It's suppose to be beautiful here today before rain and cooler tomorrow. Maybe I can get some yard work accomplished.

Let's be safe everyone.

BethL

Most of Wednesday's ice and snow has melted. Roads are dry however we are getting rain and possibly some more snow today.

We had a busy day yesterday. I had my exercise class at the library yesterday. Then, my husband and I went to the bank, thrift store, grocery store and gas station/convenience store. I follow the thrift store on FB, and they had shown items from a large donation of Macy's overstock. They showed two air fryers, so I thought I'd see if I could snag one - well, they were gone when I got there. They did, however, have free grocery store "homemade" bread, cookies and cakes and fruit. So our trip there wasn't a total loss. We stopped at the convenience store and got gas and I bought a gift card for our son, who took care of our dog when we were in Tampa last week. By the time we got home, it was after 12:00 p.m. and I had a meeting at church to go to at 1:00. Got home from that around 3 pm and our son was here. He removed the Nest camera doorbell (which was continually going offline) and put back the regular doorbell. Basketball, Big 12 Women's tournament from 5:30-7:30 (on tv).

I have few plans for today, and none to go out and about given the chance for snow.

Be safe everyone and have a good day and weekend!

Beth

Lorita

Morning, warm and windy here this morning. Just fed the birds and girls are in the garden waiting to be fed.

JeriLynn I get my tax paperwork together the same as you. May not need to but it works for me.

Do you give the babies the same milk replacer as we use for calves? Glad they are doing well. Doesn't take long for babies to start nibbling on grass, does i?

Just saw Rusty hanging upside down on the birdfeeder but he left when I let Sheena out. Not many birds around this morning, guess it's too windy.

Lorita

Hi again, call me dense, but..how do tariffs affect the exporting countries? The importing country pays the tariff, not th e exporting country. The only thing would be that the exporter might not get to export as much. I have listened and listened and no one explains how tariffs benefit us and harm others.

Carl46

You're right, Lorita. The exporting country doesn't get to export as much. When China imposes tariffs on American soybeans, American soybean farmers lose a market to other soybean producing countries because American soybeans are overpriced when the tariff is included. Trump says the farmers can sell the soybeans here, but they can't. American farmers produce far more soybeans than the US market wants and far more food than Americans can eat. "We feed the world" isn't just a slogan. What Trump seems to be doing, if he actually has a plan instead of just thrashing around as it appears, is raising taxes on consumers in the form of higher prices, and lowering income taxes on the rich.

The tariffs on steel and aluminum mean US steel mills can sell more steel at higher prices. Good for them, bad for the rest of us. Plus, the Canadians are pulling American liquor off the shelves, so Jack Daniels et. al. are losing money.

Carl46

I have my tax papers together and planned to meet the tax man this afternoon, but he has the miserable flu so it's postponed until next week. He's a neighbor and a nice man, I hope he doesn't get really ill.

I saw a pair of hawks swooping around and calling a minute ago. I like to watch birds, but I have never taken the time to learn much about them. I recognize the obvious birds, like cardinals and bluebirds, but don't know much about the others.

My mother loved to sit on her porch and read and birdwatch, after she retired. There is a bird that comes through in flocks every fall and eats the berries of the red cedar trees before continuing south (red cedar is actually a juniper and has little blue berries). The whole flock tears into the trees and scatters needles ripping the berries loose. Mom called them "cedar birds" and looked forward to seeing them every fall. I miss her. She lived until I was 72, but I would have liked to have had her longer.

Carl46

Speaking of inflation, I noticed that my pension went up $2 per month this year after the increase in health insurance was deducted. I don't think that covers the increased cost of living, especially since my homeowner's insurance went up $100 per month. It's a good thing I love beans and pasta, faded jeans and old flannel shirts. I should write a country music song about this, maybe earn some of it back.

Carl46

Maybe we can do it together.

"I love beans, and faded jeans, and my old sweet wife. But the cost of keeping us up, goes up and up, and the wind cuts like a knife."

Who wants to add a line? Something about love, infidelity, and drinking to forget?

Iris L.

I believe the tariffs are a bargaining tool for something else. Prior talk of tariffs got more border enforcement.

There is a solution for illegal border crossings that I never hear mentioned. Interested parties can sponsor their person for immigration. I sponsored two people to be immigrants and to have green cards. It wasn't hard.

Carl, I used to hear a chorus of birds chirping in the tree outside my dining room years ago. Now I rarely hear any birds. There is a hummingbird that comes around every morning but it makes no sound.

After yesterday's rain, the sky is cloudless and the weather is warmer. It seems like everyone is having warmer and drier weather today.

Iris

jfkoc

Dinner made by youngest grandchild was good. He made tacos using beef cooked in a crockpot. Delish!

Also got to meet his girlfriend who is lovely.

Beautiful day here to bad I have inside things to do.

BethL

Carl, Those are cedar wax wings. Google to see a photo.

Have a good day, everyone!

Lorita

That is all I could figure Carl. Looks like they might be able to sell elsewhere.

There is a song in there for sure- I like your addition.

The thing that bothers me probably most is dismantling USAID, taking food from starving people ln Africa. Food our farmers could sell and save lives. The peanut food made from US grown peanuts that can save lives of starving babies. They say it can bring a baby back from almost being gone. So much that is going the wrong way. Treatment of veterans is another thing. Raises don't add much to our income when insurance premiums go up. When we would get a raise when I was working at the VA it barely covered the price increases in insurance premiums and everything else.

Beautiful weather here but rain and colder tomorrow. Went to the mailbox and drove around to see if they fed the girls. They had and saw three full bales and part of another. They are 1800 lb. Bales so maybe that will hold them until Monday. I think they have Sundays off. Ordered groceries, bird feed and peanuts for Rusty. Should be here around 4 today.. Carl, I have never seen a bluebird. We have a woodpecker, cardinals an d sparrows. I hear crows and I see hawks and geese and sometimes humming birds in the summer.

Judith, Is that the. cowboy ? Used to love tacos and chalupas.

Lorita

Zetta has the third egg hatched? All I can see is Jackie sitting on the nest in the snow.

ladyzetta

Lorita. I just looked and Jackie, is still on the nest. The egg has not hatched yet. Yesterday I saw the baby trying to get out, but nothing today. We were reminded today, that it could take 24 up to 48 hours to hatch. 🙏

Lorita

Thanks, Zetta, just saw that on the world news. We have had to help little chickens out of the shell. Jackie may do that, too.Do you remember which day the eggs hatched?

jfkoc

the third baby is pecking away

Carl46

I saw the eagle's nest on the news this evening too. The older two were eating the food the parents brought, and the youngest was pecking frantically to get out and get its share. I had three brothers, so I know how it feels. If you eat slowly you eat less, and that is particularly true in a large family.

Beth, I looked at the cedar waxwing pictures and sure enough, those are Mom's "cedar birds." It is possible that she knew the correct name and chose to call them "cedar birds." She was like that. Either way, she really enjoyed their annual visits.

Mom also liked the cardinals that nested in her back yard, but late in her life they went away. She blamed the Conservation Nature Center for feeding them and luring them away, but that was ten miles away. I think the neighbor who fed dozens of feral cats had more to do with it.

Lorita, the eastern bluebird is the Missouri State bird. We don't see them a lot, because they stay away from people. The experts say, if you want to put up a bluebird house, you should attach it to a fence post or tree well away from buildings. I see bluebirds in my birdbath occasionally. They are pretty birds, soft blue with rosy breasts. I grew up thinking the cardinal was the Missouri State bird, but that was a joke my father, a dedicated fan of the St. Louis Cardinal baseball team, made and I took seriously.

USAID was created by President Kennedy, at about the same time as the Peace Corps and the Army Special Forces. He was inspired by a novel called "The Ugly American." If the novel is reissued, perhaps President you-know-who should be on the cover.

Mint

Good morning

I have never seen a cedar waxwing. My mom saw them one year though, but didn’t know what they were till we looked it up. A huge flock came. I think it was to a crab apple tree if I remember correctly and basically devoured it and then they left. And as far as I know, they never returned to do that again if they did, she missed it. Bluebirds are beautiful and I do get to see them quite a bit. There has been a lot of boxes placed for them in ways that are beneficial to them in our area. Their population has really increased here.