Oh, no? They are?!???

Husband and I have found texting to be a terrific way to send notes.  If I am outside, I can either tell him if I need something, or he does, and what we are doing, if we can't find one another.  This has helped a lot, because you'd think it would be hard to find one another, but we have had a few of those old movies, where she goes to A, he goes to B, she leaves A to go to C, while he runs to A, and on and on...  The texting allows me to ask him to stay put, dangit wait where he is, so I can get to him...

BUT.  Texting can have a downside.  I was going to do a bit of planting for spring.  I received a bunch of daffodil bulbs, and wanted to get them in the ground... Where I wanted to put them, I had to walk by the chicken house.  The chickens were all sort of gathered around the waterer, looking dejected.

Uh, oh. 

Sure enough, I walked over, and the waterer was empty.  Sigh.  So, I text a quick note to Husband, that the chickens were out of water, and I would be filling the tank.*

Or, that's what I thought I'd written... 

I  finally filled the tank, started the water for them, got Mon Ami and Gypsy to get back in with the group, (they have figured out how to get out, and I am going to have to invest in some new fence, or close off the group to the front, they are walking down the darn road, like that other rooster did!)

So, anywho, I finish up, walk in the house, and Husband is looking at his phone, grinning from ear to ear, and says, "Warranty?  Didn't know they needed one.  Do we need an extension?  How many miles per chicken?"

I was truly wondering what the blazes he was talking about.  He then pointed to my text...

The chickens are out of warranty, and I need to fill the barrel for them.

Uh, yeah, no...

But, it gave us a good laugh, after my confusion cleared up... I know I can cancel autocorrect, but I find it useful when I am not sure how to spell a word. Must say, however, it does lead to some... Unique conversations...



*I do this, as we have the outside water turned off, and I would have to enter and exit the house several times.

A new chicken roller...

I feed my chickens (when it's wet, mostly), in a long feeder.  It's a long metal 'trough' that is supposed to have a bar at the top, so the chickens won't stand IN the feeder to eat. 

I don't know when it happened, but my feeder was in pretty rough shape, and when I have been feeding them inside of late, (NOT like any rain in the south, but we have been getting some rain here, oddly...), two or three chickens will insist on standing in the center, which blocks the other chickens from eating... And, sometimes the solid fuel exhaust gets put in the feed.  EEEEEEEEEEEW!!!

So, I finally remembered to get a heavy dowel on my last trip into town, and had a little confab with Husband about putting it on the feeder.  He looked at the poor thing, and said, is the foot SUPPOSED to look like this?  Um, no, I think it may have been run over?  (To this day, I have NO clue what happened, but the bar was bent nearly in half, and the foot was crushed, even the trough itself was squashed, but I managed to get that back to useability.)  He hmmed for a moment, and said, let me see what I can do.

He came back in with the feeder, and the first thing I notice, the center roller was white, not wood.  He explained, he put a bit of PVC pipe he had over it, to protect the wood, and he waxed the PVC, so that the chickens couldn't stand on it.  (The dowel rolls quite smoothly...)  Then he showed me where the smashed foot was, and it was as if it was new!  He'd taken both out, and bent the one to match the other. 

And so now, I have a chicken feeder that looks very much like a nice tool box, with feet.  I gave it a 'test feed' the other day, and nearly hurt myself laughing!  Edgar, one of my most obnoxious bold hens, jumped right up on the roller.  Then Marshmallow did, too.  And they realized that they couldn't keep their footing.  They both tried running, to keep up with the roll of the center, and then WHOOSH, both go zooming off, landing in a heap by the feeder. 

Do they give up?

Of course not. 

It took Marshmallow about 3 tries to get the clue she couldn't stand on it, and Edgar, the better part of 3 DAYS... But, they aren't jumping up on it anymore. 

Now Jet Puff, on the other hand, got the bright idea to stand straddle of the roller, with one foot on either side.  Oh, great, thought I...  But he learned that he isn't well appreciated for  that, as his toes were pecked, and his tail feathers pulled.  Whereupon, he jumped on the roller...

No one seems inclined to have breakfast on the run anymore!

Memorial.

A friend of mine died unexpectedly from a car wreck.  I had been moping about it for a while.  Husband had actually known her and her husband longer than I had.  We went to her memorial, and I just watched for a little while.

This was a gal that was exuberant, and was happy.  She had had breast cancer, and so when she wore something to keep warm, as she'd lost her hair?

Jester caps!

A hat that looked like R2D2!

One that looked like she had a TARDIS on her head...

You get the idea.  In fact, at her memorial where she worked, (there was two, one for people from work, one for family and close friends), all of her hats were table toppers.

Bright colors were generally the norm, if she wasn't wearing something related to Doctor Who.  She and I would have discussions on that show, as well as Star Trek, and various books.  She kept chiding me to update, as I haven't seen much of any of them since the Doctor's 6th regeneration.  (Matt Smith seemed to be her favorite.  Didn't get a chance to ask what she thought of Jodie Whittaker.)  I knitted her a Tom Baker Doctor Who scarf.  We amused a few people at the Ren Faire, when we both were wearing them (I made myself one), at the same time.

Anywho, back to my observation.

I realized that she had friends all across the spectrum.  I have been to memorials where there are mostly older people, or younger people.  Mostly men that knew the deceased, or in one case, mostly knitters.

But her memorial, there were young folks, there were some older (I hesitate to say elderly, but they had seen several more winters than I have... Ahem.) Some that I know are conservative, others radically liberal, some who were neither.  Some that smoked and drank and partied, some that didn't.  She was friends with, and happy about all.

And it came through when we were together.

She had a unique habit of going to the liquor store to pick up something for a drink she was making, and she would pick up a bottle of something else, not because she was going to drink it, necessarily, but, it was a pretty color.  Or the label was neat.  The color of the booze was interesting...  So there was a long table of that, too.  He asked everyone to feel free to take that, as well.

I looked, but I don't drink.  Then I spotted it.  A green bottle shaped like a cat.  I double checked, yep, take it.  I did.

Someone, knowing I don't drink, asked what it was.  I had to read it to them, it seems to be some sort of wine.  I didn't take it for the contents, however.  Several folks did, and some were... very happy and relaxed, by the time they left.  (There was a check on who was the designated driver, too...)

There was a couple boxes sitting, and her Husband said that he'd like everyone to pick out a hat for themselves.  I looked at the hats.  One was a narrow jester hat with bells on.  I tried it on, and it was just a bit too tight, but I decided to keep it, as I remembered hearing her walk into camp more than once wearing it.  She always commented she could tell when I was walking into her camp, as I have a set of bells I wear, and she said they were distinctive, she could tell mine from all the other bell wearing types at faire. (Which is saying something at a Ren Faire, trust me!!!)  But the hat was uncomfortable.  So I took it off, and put my regular, wide brimmed hat back on.

Someone noticed her "horn top" hat.   I truly don't know what else to call it.  It's a round black cap, with a long black beaver tail flap behind, and the whole thing is covered in bright colored fabric horns.  It looks like someone skinned a prehistoric party animal!  I mentioned that I'd already taken a hat, and the daughter said no, it's fine, I bet it will fit you.  I "hmmmd" a bit, then stuck it on over my other hat.

It fit perfectly!  I remember my friend wearing that one a lot, it was one of her favorites.  And I thanked the daughter, and wore it the rest of the gathering.  Someone in the group mentioned that I looked a lot like her, wearing it.

I think my friend might have been looking down, cracking up at me.

At least I hope so... :)