Political Trails: Let's Scare the Old People!

Please enjoy a more "mature" view on the never-ending scare tactics from Washington.

It seems the political "wolf" is yet again, chasing Social Security through the proverbial woods; will he finally stop Grandma's check from reaching her door?

This raises our stress levels; we're both retired with Social Security filling more than a third of our wallet.

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Comments encouraged; let us know your thoughts and any further information you may have to enlighten this issue.

As always, Nature prevails.

Trails of Peace...

"May you have peace within, today.

* May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be.

* May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others.

* May you use the gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.

* May you be content with yourself just the way you are.

Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us."

Author unknown

Received 4/22/2011

Colorado

As always...Nature prevails.

Animal Trails; too funny!

I received this in e-mail. I do not know the author - this is NOT my writing. (wish it was). I would appreciate being able to credit the proper author; please contact me if you are the author - or can assist me in that direction; thank you. daniellesimone0@gmail.com. In the meantime - all you animal lovers...enjoy!
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FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE PETS, THIS IS A TRUE STORY.
FOR THOSE THAT DON'T, IT’S ALSO A TRUE STORY.
The following was found posted very low on a refrigerator door.

Dear Dogs and Cats: The dishes on the floor with the paw prints are yours and contain your food. The other dishes are mine and contain my food. Placing a paw print in the middle of my plate does not mean that is suddenly your food, nor do I find that aesthetically pleasing in the slightest.

The stairway was not designed by NASCAR and is not a racetrack. Racing me to the top of the stairs is not the object. Tripping me doesn't help because I fall faster than you can run.

I cannot buy anything bigger than a king sized bed. I am very sorry about this. Do not think I will continue sleeping on the couch to ensure your comfort. Dogs and cats can actually curl up in a ball when they sleep. It Is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other, stretched out to the fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking tails straight out and having tongues hanging out on the other end to maximize space that you are taking up, is nothing but sarcasm.

For the last time, there is no secret exit from the bathroom! If, by some miracle, I beat you there and manage to get the door shut, it is not necessary to claw, whine, meow, try to turn the knob or get your paw under the edge in an attempt to open the door. I must exit through the same door I entered. Also, I have been using the bathroom for years - canine/feline attendance is not required.

The proper order for kissing is: Kiss me first, then go smell the other dog or cat's butt. I cannot stress this enough.

Finally, in fairness, dear pets, I have posted the following message on the front door:
TO ALL NON-PET OWNERS WHO VISIT AND COMPLAIN ABOUT OUR PETS:

(1) They live here....you don't.
(2) If you don't want their hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture.
That's why they call it “fur”-niture.
(3) I like my pets a lot better than I like most people.
(4) To you, they are animals. To me, they are adopted sons/daughters who are short, hairy, walk on all fours and don't speak clearly.

Remember, dogs and cats are better than kids because they:
(1) eat less,
(2) don't ask for money all the time,
(3) are easier to train,
(4) normally come when called,
(5) never ask to drive the car,
(6) don't hang out with drug-using people;
(7) don't smoke or drink,
(8) don't want to wear your clothes,
(9) don't have to buy the latest fashions,
(10) don't need a gazillion dollars for college and
(11) if they get pregnant, you can sell their children.....
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AS always...Nature prevails - particularly on all fours.

GetStuffGone Trails; Hasty Acres

Monday is July 4th; we could be out careening around crazy boaters on John Martin Reservoir, stuffing our face with god-knows-what-ingredient-containing hot dogs, or even dodging traffic and law-enforcement on the hiways and biways. Instead, we thought we'd focus at home.

It's only a little half-acre here and the work will NEVER be done for us ole folks. Since our future goals to move closer to a large city must have total support from a GetStuffGONE effort, our mission ahead is to GetStuffGONE! Now that the local Bent County garbage-receptacle place charges for deposits, we are learning new lessons in creativity.

• -The local monthly auction in Las Animas (last Sunday of the month/Cody Downare, auctioneer), though not always very lucrative - does keep your stuff after it sells; one way to GetStuffGONE!
• -Our entertaining, local Lamar radio station, KLMR, klmrswapshop@hotmail.com, conducts a daily Swap-Shop show; you call in or e-mail your GetStuffGone items and they send it out over the airwaves. NO, unfortunately the stuff doesn't do the air-wave thingy (I WISH!), but the info flies around techno-land and sometimes, treasure-hunters call - even keep their promise to arrive, and if you are particularly fortunate that day, they leave with one or more GetStuffGONE item(s). Presto! The mission moves forward. After all, nothing in life is perfect, - just moments of perfection.

Our learning-curve with this new, creative approach to our concerted GetStuffGONE effort - is slow. But we're ole folks, after all; at least that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

Next month...yard sales?

Hasty Days - a masterful, yearly event in our little town, occurs in September, complete with parade, plentiful meals, tractor pulls and a live-band-dancing event under the stars. We may be Hasty Days ready for a gar-jantic yard-sale along the parade route in two months...or not. Learning to part with stuff...takes time, right???

Do you have GetStuffGONE thoughts? Please share; daniellesimone0@gmail.com (that's a zero after my name), or post your thoughts in a comment below. We're on a mission...

As always, Nature prevails.

Memory Makers: Mother's Day Trail

We always receive the blessings we need - at the time we need them.

My friend phoned me a Mother's Day wish (I had forgotten the holiday), in one of her soft-spoken, Loving tones I so enjoy sharing. The conversation became philosophical - as it so often does with us; we spoke about 'Memory Moments'.

"As I've experienced life along the way, I find that I don't always realize I'm experiencing a 'Memory Moment' - until it's past.’That's the one', I realize down the road. So now I wonder at times, is this a "Memory Moment?"

I so hear her thoughts. I think maybe - if we wonder if any particular moment is a Memory Moment, it most likely is.

Memory Moments - make life bearable - even awesome at times. Think about it. When your child is 4 and asks; "Were you alive when the dinosaurs lived, Mom?"

And what about…-"Give Grandma the money!"

• "Do they have gas stations in space, Mom?"
• Watching my 6 week old chicks fly around their newly opened outdoor pen with unmitigated joy!
• The day my foal took her first, few wobbly steps as her Mother nudged her flank with a worried brow.
• Holding my husband's hand as he awoke from serious surgery, and smiled.
• Watching the sun set through smoked filled clouds following a week long fire that came within a mile of my house.
• That feeling in my bones as they handed me my new-born child.
• The day the mold report came and stated our house was too moldy to inhabit.
• "Will you marry me?"
• "I Love you...anyway."

Last but not least..."Happy Mother's Day, Mom."

Count your Memory Moments; hoard them, dust them off regularly; they are food for your soul. Treasure them.

More importantly...propagate them freely. Life is short.

Especially on your...37th Mother's Day...

As always, Nature prevails.

More Chicken Trails; we can fly!

In 5 weeks, these little guys have tripled in size, have grown most of their feathers and can fly 2 to 4 feet high. Their energy is catching and I find myself watching them for long periods of time, smiling and full of awe with these wondrous little critters.

My initial research suggested this as a Khaki Campbell duck, but now at 3 months, both of these matching ducks appear to be Roen females.

A white duck and its 3 siblings are from Pekin stock. A meat bird with little or no broodiness, their eggs usually need to be incubated to hatch little guys. The little Cornish chicken just had to get in on the shot!

This pretty Toulouse goose was in perfect pose; I couldn't resist. There are 2; one is smaller overall with a smaller head, so I'm hoping they are a pair. This breed makes great parents and they so enjoy eating all the grasshoppers and goat-head seeds they can find.


A Backyard Poultry article a few months ago explained how you can let your chickens do the hard work of turning your compost. By allowing them access to it, they'll scratch through it, accomplishing most of the turning while speeding up the ripening process.

The compost bed pictured above took only a couple hours of work today and some leftover, old lumber garnered from a generous contractor/construction site. Made mostly of 2 X 4s, I added 2 removable shelves on the two short sides. The chicken waterers will reside there so any spilled water will help keep moisture in the compost pile, as well as being a handy surface to rinse and refill these containers. Being off the ground will keep the water cleaner since chickens have a bad habit of scratching dirt into their water. I engineered this compost bed around an elm tree so it, too, will get plenty of water from the daily container changes.

Aside from racing a thunderstorm with tool pickup, our day was fun, productive and will help keep our chicken flock happy.

As always, Nature prevails.

Chicken Trails back on Track

Two day old poultry of geese, turkeys and chickens grace our lives - yet again. One of our local ranch stores got their yearly boarders of geese, turkeys, ducks and chickens. Cackle Hatchery had already mailed our chicken order so it was soooo easy to justify...JUST a few additions to the already large chicken family en route! Yesterday we brought home a couple turkeys and geese; today 2 ducks. Presto; the new Hasty Acres poultry flock is complete!


"EXCUSE ME, but you're hoggin' the water bowl"!

The larger poultry waterer at the other end of the sheep tank seems to be the playground for the geese and turkeys so we added a few small water bowls on this end, for the lit'ler guys. The water levels don't last long and the chicks do more swimming than drinking!

Most of these chicks are too small to easily reach into the chick feeder so we sprinkled a generous amount of feed on the paper towels. Most is wasted during the daily paper changes but the chicks seem to eat more this way. And even at 2 days old, a few of the chicks already know to scratch around in it besides the initial pecking instinct. Mother Nature gives these little guys a quick start!

We bought 5 different breeds of pullets and 3 different cockerels, with plans to bring together certain breeds that will propagate a combination of broad traits into the flock. We're hoping to combine productive layers, tasty meat as well as natural tendencies to set, to allow a natural growth of the flock.

1. -White Leghorn pullets (female), white eggs, almost daily layers, but non-setters.
2. -Americauna pullets, green, blue, pink and brown eggs, multi-colored birds that are good setters, tasty meat.
3. -White Rock pullets, fast growers, good layers of brown eggs.
4. -Light Brahma pullets, large birds, fairly good layers of brown eggs, good setters.
5. -Dark Cornish pullets, excellent tasting meat birds, fair egg layers of brown eggs, good setters.
6. -Americauna, Cornish and Rock Cockerels to hopefully support the tinted eggs, tasty meat, quicker growth and natural setting tendencies.
   

The turkeys, ducks and geese will also provide meat that does not contain medicines and pesticides. As an added benefit, the geese love to eat goat-head stickers which plague our yard; the entire flock will hopefully keep down the persistent hoards of grasshoppers that graze across our property and garden every year, eating everything in sight!

It seems more and more people are raising chickens. Articles are popping up in magazines; more cities are allowing poultry raising within city limits; poultry websites are growing and the building of chicken houses is growing into an art-form! And some inner city chicken stories are worth retelling...for a long time.

Thinking about a few hens and some home-grown, healthy eggs? Leave a comment, ask questions. We'd be glad to help - OR - send you somewhere for helpful answers.

Hasty Acres chicken tracks...are back! Weekly updates ahead.

Nature prevails.