C & B family "chat thread"

[Tab]

I don't know if anyone's interested, but I view C & B as my home group and yet there's no way to chat about stuff other than C & B, and I wanted to see if anyone was interested in some kind of a chat thread that we can post to about stuff that's not specifically C&B, but without having to haul our asses out to the lounge (lazy slugs that we are), which would require mingling with the customers when we'd rather stay in the ex-smoke-filled back room (I don't smoke).

So, anyway, welcome if you're interested, or let this thread die a quiet death if not. :)

[Tab]

1. Just to start things off

I live in NH, and saw a coyote the other morning about 6 a.m. - and I live in a residential development sort of place - woods around, and big houses with big lawns, but we're not rural. Anyway, I saw this coyote loping around the lawns the other morning early, then it disappeared into the woods.

The other night I was sitting on the porch at 4 a.m. (couldn't sleep - will explain why at a later date) and heard up to three coyotes howling/singing. After about 5 minutes of this, my hound (one of 5 different dogs) decided to chime in with his own howl.

I don't know that I ever heard coyotes singing "live" - only in bad horror films or on nature shows - but it was pretty neat and comforting. Not that I'm going to get up at 4 a.m. every morning, but it was cool while it happened.

Anyway... that's my coyote story for the day.

[hippywife]

2. I love the sound of the coyotes.

We hear them pretty frequently. The dogs have always kept them from getting too close to the house but we are down to only one dog now, a black lab mix, she's about 8 years old and isn't aggressive in the least. Last week at about 3 a.m., they came up right behind the house and began howling loudly. We have a door in our loft bedroom that goes nowhere, long step down if you know what I mean. It was open so the howls and yips were very loud. The kitties, who were cuddled up with me, had never them before and it startled the heck outta them. They jumped up looking towards the door like, "WTF!?" LOL

At least once a week I see one run across the road at some point or another on my drive to work. I really kind of like them. They're scrappy survivors.

[Longhorn]

5. We have one of those big steps, too!

Years ago, we took down a second-floor deck and haven't gotten around to replacing it. There are some drawbacks to being married to a remodeling contractor. :D

[hippywife]

38. We've never put one up yet.

Too many other priorities and not enough time, energy, or money. Now I'm thinking I don't want one unless it's without stairs. It's been about four or so years since the last one but we've been broken into three times in the past 11 years we've been married. I don't want to give them another way in.

[Stinky The Clown]

4. I dunno about how my crazy mind went here from there ..... but ......

... we have a small brook at the back of our property and another, even smaller one, on the side. Maybe ten years or so ago, in the aftermath of a hurricane (all we get is the rain) our brooks were pretty swollen. The next day, there were two beaver in it!

They're way bigger than I thought they'd be.

They didn't stick around. They left with the dropping water level.

[Tab]

12. Oh, beavers are big bastards

Not surprised they boogied when you ran out of water. They're busy, but not nuts.

[pengillian101]

41. Beavers living amongst us.

"... we have a small brook at the back of our property and another, even smaller one, on the side. Maybe ten years or so ago, in the aftermath of a hurricane (all we get is the rain) our brooks were pretty swollen. The next day, there were two beaver in it!

They're way bigger than I thought they'd be.

They didn't stick around. They left with the dropping water level.


Beavers have lived in the USA longer than most of us have been alive. They make their homes in beaver dams in running water - streams, creeks and rivers.

JLO

[Longhorn]

6. We just have deer, roadrunners, rabbits, squirrels, birds, scorpions, fireants, and armadillos.

But my Rhodesian Ridgeback howls like a coyote while we're fixing his food. :)

[hippywife]

45. I had never heard of

that kind of dog before earlier this year. Good friends of ours have one. He's a really pretty, friendly dog. They just have to keep an electric fence between him and their chickens.

[Longhorn]

46. Someone dumped him when he was a puppy. A friend of our daughter's

rescued him but couldn't keep him. So we ended up with Sparky, pretty much the same way we ended up with all of our dogs. ;)

They're also known as African Lion Hounds and I can see why. He's definitely the leader of the pack and we had some trouble when we adopted our fifth dog, Chase, a Shepherd/Lab mix, who thought he would challenge Sparky. Fortunately, they worked everything out. Sparky doesn't have a ridge and is likely a mix.

Here he is with Buddy, our white Lab:

[hippywife]

47. LOL!

He looks like a drunken frat boy on game day in that pic! :rofl:

[housewolf]

13. I lived with a pack of wolves for a few years

Loved to hear them howl. Would start them off once in a while, just to hear them and to be part of the pack.

One day a someone's renegade chicken came to visit. It hung around for a while and later I "herded" it over the next hill. That night one of the wolves howled all night long, keeping everyone up all night. Wouldn't you know it, at day break that darned chicken was back... the darned wolf "called" it back! Well, the upshot of the story is that the in trying to get the chicken away to safety, it managed to get itself into the wolves' pen and ... well, the wolves won.

There were 3 when I got there and 11 when I left. Loved them all, they taught me much during my 4 years with them.

Now I'm in Portland, and a coyote visits my office on occasion, it can be seen just sitting in the sun on the lawn. It's pretty interesting seeing a coyote in the city!

[mtnester]

16. I saw a TV specal of a man living with wolves

and I do mean living with them. Snarling, dominating the pack, eating raw meat, etc.

Did anyone else see that? Shaun Ellis, National Geographic special (A Man Among Wolves)....It was...interesting

[kestrel91316]

14. We have coyotes here in Los Angeles, lol. You can drive the streets of Sherman Oaks

and other communities south of the Ventura Fwy and see them wandering casually through the suburbs. Looking for snacks, aka dogs and cats.

When I was in the house in Encino 1/2 block off Ventura Blvd I once saw two coyotes hanging out in my neighbor's yard across the street, watching and waiting for stray cats to come and prey on rats at the Ralph's dumpster. They were sitting on the lawn, and barely bothered to get up when I chased them off.

[mtnester]

15. They are considered a nuisance animal here

like groundhogs. NEXT WORDS NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH

You can shoot them any time of the year, just like groundhogs.

Coyotes are so easy to spot, they are the size of dogs, but run like there is something wrong with them, kind of a weird limping gait...EASY to spot from a mile off. We have a huge black oe on the farm with a pawprint as big as a man's hand..HUGE coyote (and a frightful thing to come across, especially since he is black as well, which is an unexpected color in the coyote world, usually anything that is not scrub colored is killed by its mother because of the standout factor when hunting, just like wolves do).

On that note, we have an animal that keeps avoiding the traps and it tearing the crap out from under our pole barn. It is also flinging out wood it is tearing up. Our resident trapper thinks it may be a badger, as it does most of its work at night instead of daytime like groundhogs do.

We are fighting the good fight so our pole barn floor does not collapse.

[NashVegas]

21. It Stops You In Your Tracks, Doesn't It?

I used to hear coyotes all the time at my old apartment. When I was going through the most difficult time of my life, I'd hear them and think: they sound like they know the value of comfort.

[bicentennial_baby]

3. I have a crockpot of Beef Stew on, and no desire to eat it,

because I just spent 3 hours putting my g-damn Ikea desk together, and I'm exhausted.

Other than that, things are peachy. :rofl:

[eridani]

7. Just printed up 210 trifold endorsement sheets for our legislative district

--on my workhorse laser printer. After I deliver them, I'll get started on the fennel with salmon that I planned for dinner tonight.

[auntAgonist]

8. great idea for a thread for sure.

I like it here.

Not much happening here right now.
We've been in the midst of home renos for about 2.5 years now and it's driving me nutzoid!

I'll check in later and see how you all are doing.

:hi:

kesha

[The empressof all]

9. I cooked more today than I have in months

Now that I've been on the weight loss mission (43lbs since April) I'm not in the kitchen much anymore. I miss it as it's always been my primary means of artistic expression. When I'm bored, or just passing time I'll always revert to creating imaginary menus or concocting various recipes that I won't ever get around to making. Now that I'm not cooking on a daily basis, I'm looking for new hobbies but find most things don't hold my interest as much as food.

[grasswire]

10. there's a lot of pleasure in just reading about beautiful food, tho!

I love to read each month's Saveur, and Eating Well, and the other food mags that catch my eye.

This weekend I spent several hours lost in the two-volume set that I got for a buck at the Eagles Lodge Twilight Rummage Sale last month: the American Heritage Cookbook and Illustrated History of American Eating & Drinking. It's just a lovely boxed set with so many historic images and artwork, and hundreds of recipes dating back hundreds of years. I highly recommend it.

[mtnester]

18. I have a stack of magazines and cookbooks awaiting cooler weather

when I do not have yard work to tend to

Although, I have started on Jamie Oliver's new cookbook, and am LOVING it...his Cooking from Home series, as well as the cookbook, show his growth as a chef. His strength is in easy, rustic comfort food, and I love how he has matured! (He is OK on the eyes now as well)

[pengillian101]

20. Food pics

Here's another place that is fun to view beautiful food pics. This looks and sounds like a healthy twist on a favorite - artichoke dip.



http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/baked-artichoke-dip-recipe.html

And don't miss Jim Lilek's regrettable food link. It takes hours to go through and laugh yourself silly on all the links within.



http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/

[mtnester]

17. I started running Labor Day weekend

it was my "celebrate a year smoke free" goal.

I am finding my extra weight starting to come off rather steadily.

I worry what would happen of I could not run.

My goal is not so much the distance I run, but how long it TAKES me.

I was never able to run before, and am finding myself quickly becoming addicted and ate up about it. My doc says I am now craving the endorphins from it. Sigh.

[hippywife]

39. Congrats, sweetie!

I'm still working on that bad habit here. Chantix has helped me pare it down quite a bit.

[NashVegas]

22. Congratulations!

On your loss. WTG.

[eleny]

23. Watching Tony B's Saudi show sort of put me off cooking with gusto

They ate stuff like baked camel and lizard when they were out. But the family dinner at the end looked good. By then I was off about food.

No doubt you saw the episode him being your squeeze 'n all. :P

[The empressof all]

25. It was a terrific show

How he manages to enjoy his food in some of the stuations he finds himself never ceases to amaze me. Then again it's one of those things we have in common...I can chow down almost anytime too...But I'm sure we'd both rather eat Falafel than Camel.

[eleny]

26. i love the show but that episode filled with abayas and lizard... well... :(

[grasswire]

27. Did you happen to see Michael Palin's trek across the Sahara?

There were some good food scenes in that, too. I love the part where he was teaching the camel drivers to say "Bottoms Up" when drinking.

[eleny]

30. I don't remember that one

I loved watching his travels.

[Tab]

11. How much Sudoku can one man do?

It's 2 a.m. EST - don't know if anyone else is on - but I'm half asleep / half awake and bored out of my skull. Too tired to cook or do anything other than just stare at the computer screen.

[eleny]

24. Yunno, I think you're on to something

I woke up this morning feeling wiped out but needed to get a blood draw for my physical. No biggee. I got that done, came home in a flash and was still wiped out. It's been like that all day. I think it's got to be this intensely draining pol season. October is my favorite month and yet I can't seem to get into it. Pfui.

So I went to bed, booted up the laptop to read thea "Paris Apartment" blog that's filled with gorgeous photographs. But it's impossible to avoid opening DU. And I figured C&B would be talking about something good. Little did I know how good an idea I'd find waiting!

:hi:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

31. It's the season, I think

Everyone I know is tired. Just wiped out. Part of it might be hay fever - some are sneezing and aching, too. Others, and I'm one of them, are waking each morning in a state of non-specific anxiety, like I'll find a contingent of Nazis in my living room when I venture out.

Everyone I know is dragging him- or herself through the day, wishing for a good laugh. A lot of it is economic, people wondering what's going to happen to their jobs. But a lot of it, too, is the horror of what this political campaign has turned into. Some of my pals are too young to remember things like Selma and Birmingham in the sixties and what life was like when racism was just an everyday thing. Now, they're seeing it in a naked form, and it's really upsetting them. As well it should.

Me, I find myself cooking, and then having no appetite. I'm feeding the refrigerator, but leftovers are quite wonderful. I'm not sure how many days until the election - I've already voted - but I sometimes feel certain that I'll just drop dead before November 5.

I don't ever recall feeling this under siege except when a marriage was ending. That was personal, though; this one feels even worse, because, in so many ways, it's even more personal.

It's good to know, though, that it's not just me. Thanks, Tab and all.

[hippywife]

40. We're absolutely exhausted here.

Work has been kicking out butts and we're not sleeping well, either of us for weeks. I don't know but I'm beginning to think that my body is trying to accommodate the normal autumn time change even though it's been moved back to November.

I'm just plain tired of being tired!

[pengillian101]

19. "chat thread"

So totally not C&B related unless one is a deer hunter.

We live in rural northern MN and have had families of deer somehow 'know' they are safe on our property for years. They have even hunkered down and slept next to the house under the decks in the dead of winter. Guess they get some heat.

We see them just about every day. They are not tame by any means, but they don't freak out and run when they see us.

Bow season is open and gun season will be soon so hunters are looking for places to hunt. Granted, the state record deer a few years ago was taken by our next neighbor over and he took it in our back acreage. Good and fine. I don't mind that one bit. I used to hunt myself years ago.

However, I am just LIVID with what has been happening recently. Our house is on a dead-end dirt road with little traffic. We have a horseshoe driveway with an island that 'our' deer frequent at daybreak and dusk. They feed on the moss and other greenery still alive.

Over the past week ago, there is one particular vehicle that drives ever so slowly and gawks. One time the vehicle drove by and turned around while the deer were there that he apparently felt the need to pull into the far-end of the driveway and open his door. Of course the deer high-(white)-tailed it to the very back acreage.

But the fricking audacity really riles me up. Our home is just off the road and very visible. Why anyone thinks of shooting toward our house just infuriates me. The same vehicle drives by at a crawl morning and evening every day since.

I have a very good description of the vehicle, but not a plate number.

Our friends all know we don't want hunters so it is a person we don't know. But must live in the area.

Hey, thanks for a place to post my little rant, inside C&B!

[Arkansas Granny]

28. Hopefully, all they are doing is gawking, but I'd sure keep an eye on him.

I work with several avid hunters, but lately they've been doing more hunting with the camera than anything else. They've set up feeders, blinds and cameras on some acreage that my boss owns that is bordered by National Forest land and have been bringing in some really good shots of wildlife including deer, coyotes, bears, bobcats, foxes and wild turkeys. Sometimes they just go out and sit in the blinds in the late afternoon to see who's coming to the feeders.

[pengillian101]

33. Thanks Hon!

Arkansas Granny

Thanks for posting!

They weren't sporting cameras, lol, but thanks for your comments!


*****

I am -- NOT anti-hunting.

Just don't do it in my front or back yard, is all I ask. I like our deer family that lives within our home area.

[hippywife]

37. I would be pissed, too.

May I suggest a few well placed "No Trespassing. No Hunting." signs. Might not help the diehard asshole but it might keep the less considerate away. :hi:

[japple]

42. Maybe you should put up a sign that says "SMILE, you're

picture is being taken," or something like that. You wouldn't even have to rig up a camera. People would probably stop coming around if they thought there was a camera recording their coming and going.

[yy4me]

29. Household related. Boy, I feel like some kind of a slob. I have

2 old vacuum cleaners, one is a stick, one is a 30 year old Electrolux. Both do the job(I thought). My daughter bought a new fangled Dyson vac for her house. She has a yellow lab that sheds like crazy so needs a good picker-upper. Her bragging naturally forced me to ask if I could borrow the thing. Well, I started this AM in the Den. This thing is like a jet engine in reverse. The room looked clean, I thought. Surprise! Next, off to the Kitchen. Along the way I flipped and vac'd both sides of the scatter rugs as well as vac'd the room size rug and the floors. I have emptied that very large container of dust and fur (dog visits) and I am so pooped I have taken 2 Advil. My back is killing me.

Off to the DR. Moved everything out except the table and sideboard. Did rug, floors and chair seats plus top of drapes. Container half full again. Now mind you, this place looks clean. The dust bunnies in that thing amaze me.

I will start the LR soon as the Advil kicks in. I would never have thought to buy one of these machines, even if I could afford it. Let me tell you that it also has all kind of attachments that interlock, detach, and a cord a mile long. It certainly is too powerful to use all the time and I guess about a year from now, I'll borrow it again.

Any of you that need a strong (but ugly) vac, this Dyson is the one.

Think I'll have coffee first. No results from the Advil yet.

[yy4me]

32. Did I kill this thread? Hope not, it sounded like fun. Maybe I

misinterpreted the purpose. To those of you who read my post about the Vacuum, boy is my back sore. Did the whole house and I must say, heavy as this thing is, I cleaned and moved stuff that I haven't moved for ages. Dumped more dust out than I care to mention. I think I will borrow it once in spring and once in the fall. It took me the whole day.

I never thought there could be such a difference.

[pengillian101]

34. boy is my back sore.

Me also!

My back is so disabling I can't even use a vacuum. It will truly suck my toes off. I just KNOW it :--)

[Tangerine LaBamba]

35. I started vacuuming yesterday

The vacuum cleaner is sitting in the living room. I got about 2/3 done. I thought I'd finish today. No way.

Maybe tomorrow.

Or maybe I'd end up using it as a hatrack or something.

[pengillian101]

36. Or maybe I'd end up using it as a hatrack or something.

Good idea!

[The empressof all]

43. My little Lilly is sick

She's been peeing up a storm so the vet ran a culture and she has staph and e-coli. She's on her second round of antibiotics and is due for another culture tomorrow. For a little dog she's sure producing alot of fluid. She's running around and eating normally and you wouldn't know she was not well. I'm getting tired of cleaning up after her and she's getting tired of being confined to outdoors, the kennel, the bathroom or our laps. (She hasn't peed on us yet)

[auntAgonist]

44. Lilly is so cute ...

I hope she gets well soon :hug:

aA

[hippywife]

48. This is for Pengillian.

Not quite the view I wanted to capture but thought you might enjoy this, anwyay. I really want to get them running at a good clip from behind because to add to the comedy, while they are running, they bounce back and forth from one foot to another. DH says they remind him of Broomhilda from the Bugs Bunny cartoon when you watch them from behind. And they really do. LOL

As requested, video of the chickens. I'm on the steps throwing out apple peels and cores while DH films.

http://s19.photobucket.com/albums/b163/hippywife/photos/?action=view¤t=MVI_0725.flv

[pengillian101]

49. And I so did enjoy - thanks Hippywife!

"As requested, video of the chickens. I'm on the steps throwing out apple peels and cores while DH films."

That is funny stuff, for sure. What happens in the winter? Is a chicken coop enough for them?

Thanks for posting the video! Maybe your DH could catch a video of our pal, Fiona, lol. We would all love seeing that :-)