Category Archives: Family stories

Deciding on your retirement location

My husband I are in North Carolina taking a turn caring for my 90-year old Mom.  It is quite a change for us to be away from our chickens and our two acres out in the country but we feel good about being with Mom and making her latter days of her life happy.

To be honest, I cried a lot when I first moved here.  I just missed my life that I had been living for 17 years out in the country with just me and my husband.   It is always difficult when you add another person to the mix, even when you love that person dearly.  Kind of like when you have a child.

I am around my relatives now which includes three sisters and one brother and nieces and nephews as well as Mom.  There are family gatherings, outings on my sister’s boat and meals with family at our home here.  Plus, one of my daughters (NC) and my only son (Washington, DC) came to visit.  I am hoping to see more of them since it is a lot closer for them to visit.

So, even though we had a lot of peace and quiet in Florida all by ourselves, there are things to consider as we get older.

If my husband passed away, I would be without any of my family down there.  It is difficult enough when someone passes away but then to have to uproot your life and move, wow, that would be really hard.

So, this time taking care of Mom is our trial period to see if we could be happy living in NC instead of Florida.  We are in a condo so no yard to care for which appeals to my husband, I think.  But seriously, if I were to live here permanently, I would have to have some property where I can have a few chickens.

Even though I am 64, we found some part time work that gives us something to do and some extra money.  If it weren’t for that, I probably would have looked for some volunteer work to do.

So, when the time comes for us to make changes in our living location, we are going to be deciding whether to stay in NC around my side of the family or move back to our property in Florida. At times I feel in limbo. Not necessarily a place I like to be so I am focusing on having fun with my family and enjoying this time with Mom.

April 6, 2015 update

Well, it has been almost 2 years living here in North Carolina taking care of my mom.  Being a caregiver is a very difficult job.  It has been so confining for us and we are very spontaneous people.

Plans are that we are returning to Florida the first part of June and another family member is moving in with mom.  I feel bad leaving mom but I just can’t do it any longer and remain sane.  Mom doesn’t want to be left alone even for a few minutes even though she is not bedridden and cooks her breakfast and does her laundry.  Her nerves are bad.  Thank God I have three sisters who have filled in to let us get out of the house for awhile and even get away to go back to Florida to check on our property.  I feel bad for an only child who tries to do this by their self.

We may at some point in our lives move back where my family lives but now we are considering moving near one of my daughters who lives in another part of NC.  I definitely see why it is important to live near family as you get older.

 

Cold water to remove blood stains

I don’t think I knew this when I was young.  Thinking everything comes cleaner with warm soapy water, being young and dumb, I made this mistake with blood stains.  So, for you young women, especially with kids with boo-boos, use cold water to remove blood stains.

I remember a day in high school when I wore a white skirt.  Math class ended and a nice young man told me I had blood on the back of my skirt.  I wanted to die.  I am sure my mom washed this stain out for me and other than the embarrassment, never gave it another thought.  We take a lot of things for granted when we are growing up and have a terrific mom at home taking care of us.

As my children grew up and left for college, I realized I hadn’t showed them many of the things that I did every day for them.  They called me often at first and occasionally now to ask how to cook something or some other tidbit they couldn’t remember how to do.

My daughter, Bonnie has just bought her first home and is going to plant a garden and is interested in canning and chickens and all sorts of things I actually have knowledge about.  So they do still need me!  Yea

Army of Syrups

You know I love a bargain, especially on food.  A few years ago, Winn Dixie had Miss Butterworth syrup on sale, plus I had coupons (which is rare for me) so I ended up getting each one for 75 cents and they normally sold for almost $3 each.  I think I bought 8 of them.

My daughter, Bonnie came for a visit and when opening the cabinet noticed my battalion of Butterworths.   She teased me about it for years.  Recently she sent a picture of two bottles of NyQuil and commented that she was starting her army.

My New Blog: mychickentales.com

My son, Brian gave me a new blog for my birthday in November.   I kept saying I wanted to write about my experiences with my chickens.   I am so excited.   I have already started writing on the blog.  I still don’t have the format of the blog right yet.  My daughter, Bonnie is suppose to help me with that and now that Christmas is over, she can probably get on it. I want some chickens and barns on the background.  I will definitely have to get my digital camera skills working.   I will be staying with my daughter, Amber after the birth of her first child in January so she can help me with that between changing diapers.  lol

Busy with chicks hatching

Because I went to NC for two months, just as our two chicks were hatched by the momma hen, I missed out on watching them grow.   So, I was eager to start hatching chicks in the incubator.  The two chicks have grown into beautiful chickens with unique coloring.

My first experience with the incubator wasn’t very good.  I only got two chicks out of about 20 eggs.   I didn’t have a hygrometer to measure humidity so I think that was the problem.

Our second incubation was much better.  I am only hatching out the green/blue colored eggs.  So far, we have 8 chicks.  Also, our Silkie hen was sitting on eggs and she is the proud mother of six.  I certainly have learned how protective mother hens are with their chicks.  Fortunately, the pecks don’t really hurt but she is so fast and she surprises me.

We have the mother hen and her six chicks in a child’s play pen with a heat lamp on them in our shed.  We put down some newspaper and then covered it with straw.  We put a tile in the corner to sit the water on and then put the feeder in there for the chicks and a bowl of scratch for the mom.  The weather has been cold here in Florida and the babies and mom are safe from predators and the cold.

We also purchased four Silkies (hopefully, hens) at our local Swap Meet held at a feed store.  I saw a chicken hawk in the trees near our house yesterday and I quickly locked the Silkies in their secure 4 ft by 8 ft chain link cage.  It is also 4 ft high so they have lots of room.  They are so small and fluffy.  I can’t imagine one of them weighing more than two pounds.  Easy prey for a hawk.

We have also built some chicken houses which cost about 125 dollars each and we are very pleased with them.  They are 4x4x8.  We used the deck concrete blocks as the base so the houses could be moved.  Also, the concrete blocks allowed there to be room on the bottom so the chickens could quickly run into the house from any side if there was danger from hawks.  I will take pictures and also provide info on building on another post.  Our first house only took maybe three hours to build and the second house only two hours.  I  painted the outside of one yesterday in our 72 degree weather.

There are Swap Meets around here where you can buy and sell your animals and plants.  Kind of like a flea market but it is mostly about animals.  It is a good outlet for selling your excess animals but also meet some really nice people.

Selling/buying on Craigslist under Farm and Garden is also an option.   I have purchased chickens from Craigslist and have been very satisfied. The great thing about buying from Craigslist is you go to the home and you see the way the chickens were raised.  You can see if it looks like a healthy situation so you don’t bring sick chickens home to infect your flock.  One time, when I was looking to purchase chickens, we encountered a snake on the cage of the chickens.  It wasn’t a poisonous snake so I wasn’t afraid but the seller screamed for her husband to come help.

Also, you can get ideas from the sellers regarding housing needs for your chickens.  Every one has a different set up for their chicken yards.  Mine are free range but they are in a large fenced-in area to separate the types of chickens.  If I weren’t hatching eggs, it wouldn’t really matter if they were all together.

My newest trick I have learned is how to determine the sex of the chicks.  I have learned so much from the backyardchicken.com website.  The forum with everyone giving their suggestions/comments has been great.  People have asked the exact questions I wanted answered.   I love the pictures of the chicks and chickens, too.  Who knew there were so many breeds?

Well, it’s time to feed the baby chicks and chickens and dogs.   It is suppose to rain most of the day so no painting the chicken houses today.

I hope everyone has a hobby that keeps them as fulfilled as my chicken addiction does me.  I spend a lot of time designing chicken yards and the housing.   I will end up making some money from all of this but I doubt seriously if I make any profit but it will help pay the feed bill.  lol

Retirement is around the corner for my husband and we will be spending our days gardening, raising chickens and running the roads.  It is a good thing chickens don’t need a lot of care and we can be gone for a couple days at a time.  Good neighbors help, too.

No Regrets

My mom was recuperating from her hip surgery so I was washing and drying her clothes.  I brought the clothes to her to fold to give her something to do.  She noticed one of her “good” towels was in the laundry pile for her to fold.  Evidently, I wasn’t suppose to use that one.  Oops.

She looked kind of teary-eyed when she said how silly it was that she didn’t let even her now deceased husband use the new towels.   She said she was wondering what she was saving the towels for anyway.

It made me think how many times we “save” some things for special occasions.   Like only using the good dishes when there is company.   Or only sitting at the dining room table when you have company; if not you eat in the kitchen.

You are not promised a tomorrow.  Better to enjoy life now and not have those little regrets later.

Chicken Addiction

I am sure my NC family thinks I am crazy.  I am spending about two months there caring for my mom and her broken hip so we have plenty of conversations involving my chickens.

Two chicks hatched out the day before I left for NC and I was so excited.  They are Silkie chicks mixed with an Aracuana daddy.  I didn’t get to see them grow because I was gone three weeks and they are much bigger now.  Boo hoo

I have found some interesting websites where other people are raising chickens and writing about their experiences.  A woman who sells eggs and chicks lives close to me and has a website named chickenzoo.com.  She has all kinds of animals and lives on two acres like me.

My chickens give me a lot of joy.  It is fun to see what the baby chicks will look like.  I now have 33 chickens including the babies.  One of my Aracuanas just laid it’s first green egg.  I have an incubator so I will be hatching out some baby chicks in the spring.  So eggciting.

I think I may start a chicken blog….it would a diary of my ideas and happenings while raising my chickens.  I have designed a chicken house and found some cheap shortcuts for caring for unexpected situations.  I am looking forward to finding a name for my blog. 

Mom and a broken hip

Mom fell and broke her hip on October 22.  It was a clean break and she had three pins put into her hip.  The doctor said she should totally heal.

I flew to NC to help out since it really is a round the clock job to take care of someone who can’t get around.

My mother is such an active person and keeps a spotless house even at the age of 86.  The physical therapist said it is even harder for people who are so active to adjust to not being able to do anything without assistance.

I feel so badly for people who don’t have four daughters to work around the clock to make sure the patient is cared for and kept in good spirits.  We have realized how important it is to keep her thinking positive thoughts.  She is working really hard to do the therapy twice a day and walk with a walker.

Mom has such a sweet spirit.  She got all weepy when she was thinking about how all of us girls work so hard to take care of her and some people end up in a rehab center and then go home to an empty house.

Guess there are some advantages to having a lot of children.

Mom’s got a beau

My dad has been passed away now for almost three years.  I am so thankful my mom did not follow him like a lot of couple’s do.  My father-in-law died and within a year, my mother-in-law had passed, too. They were only in their late sixties.  My dad was 92 and now mom is 85…86 next month.

Well, we go to Biloxi to the Beau Rivage Casino and Resort which is so beautiful…think it is a four star hotel.  My husband and I use to drive from Florida to NC to pick up my parents and then to Biloxi and then to NC and then to Florida to take my parents on vacation (total of 3500 miles).

So this past March, Mom was sitting at a quarter slot machine and a very sweet, handsome man starting talking to her.  Since then, they have been talking on the phone.

We traveled back to Biloxi the end of July just so she could see him again.  Now he is in the hospital in GA and she is wanting to go see him there.   Boy, like can get complicated.

My three sisters are there with Mom and take great care of her.  I am way down here in Florida and don’t help out much anymore since Dad has passed away.   For me, it is rather painful to go home and not have Dad there.  I guess my sisters had to get use to it but it hits  me every time I walk through the door and see his recliner.

I have had a very blessed life….my friend’s parents have passed away a long time ago.   My high school friend, Brenda had a triple by-pass this past week.  My best friend is taking a number of pills for high blood pressure, diabetes and thyroid problems.   I take no medication.    I had three healthy children who have college educations and careers.    Just one grandchild so far but she is beautiful, intelligent and great manners.  My son and daughter-in-law are great parents.

And then there is Calvin.  A man who waited for me for over thirty years.  Never married.  Loved me since we were 15/16 years old.   Growing old with Calvin is going to be wonderful.  He is so sweet and patient and never says a mean word to me.   We are anxiously awaiting his retirement which is less than two years.

I can totally understand why my mom wants another relationship with a man.  She was with someone she loved for over 56 years and misses the feeling only a man can give you.

Dog Sitting

During one of my son’s visits to Florida, he commented on our dog’s good behavior.  With our two acres, he suggested we take in dogs since we seem to be good with them.

Well, my daughter’s house caught on fire and during reconstruction, we offered to take her two dauschands to our home.   We told Jack and Max they were coming to Grandma’s for a country vacation.

Then my girlfriend’s apartment complex found out she had an extra dog.  She being the dog lover that she is, rescued too many dogs.  Four dogs in an apartment….not good.  The apartment complex told her to get rid of the biggest dog.  So, until she finds another home for Krista, we now have a 75 lb black Lab to dog sit.

We actually had six dogs for a few days.  Amber has her dogs back and I am going to check with Michelle today as to her progress in finding a place for Krista.   She is a sweet dog but she almost knocked me over yesterday.

I am definitely a dog lover.  I have never been one to care much for cats but they are adorable when they are kittens.

But what is really cute is a baby chick.