And finally, this is what our largest veg bed looks like currently. It was covered by winter rye all winter and I used a spade to turn it all over by hand about a week ago. Tiring!
cmonkey's journal
Re: cmonkey's journal
The Crocus in the orchard blooming.
And finally, this is what our largest veg bed looks like currently. It was covered by winter rye all winter and I used a spade to turn it all over by hand about a week ago. Tiring!
And finally, this is what our largest veg bed looks like currently. It was covered by winter rye all winter and I used a spade to turn it all over by hand about a week ago. Tiring!
Last edited by cmonkey on Wed Jul 19, 2017 11:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
-
George the original one
- Posts: 5406
- Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2010 3:28 am
- Location: Wettest corner of Orygun
Re: cmonkey's journal
Nice gardening space!
Re: cmonkey's journal
The Chickens Have Arrived!
I have mentioned a few times on here that the DW and I are getting chickens and now we can actually call ourselves chicken farmers! They are peeping away right now down in the basement.
The are the most adorable things we have ever had in our lives! As first time chicken owners we are quite proud to say that all 16 of them have survived since we received them Saturday morning at the post office. They were born on Good Friday and are growing very fast. They have tons of energy because we put a bit of sugar in their water.
For anyone who is interested we got some uncommon varieties.
5 Blue Andalusians - https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/blue_andalusians.html
These are the black, gray and white chicks.
5 Cuckoo Marans - https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/cuckoo_maran.html
These are the black with yellow spot on the head. They lay super dark brown eggs.
5 Easter Egg Chickens - https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/arauca ... canas.html
These are the tan/brown with stripes. They will lay pastel blue and green eggs (hence the name).
1 Dark Brahmas - https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/dark_brahmas.html
Murray McMurray always sends on free exotic chick with each order and this is the one we got!
We got the straight run and so about half of them should be roosters. All but the most exciting one will end up in the freezer this fall.
I have mentioned a few times on here that the DW and I are getting chickens and now we can actually call ourselves chicken farmers! They are peeping away right now down in the basement.
The are the most adorable things we have ever had in our lives! As first time chicken owners we are quite proud to say that all 16 of them have survived since we received them Saturday morning at the post office. They were born on Good Friday and are growing very fast. They have tons of energy because we put a bit of sugar in their water.
For anyone who is interested we got some uncommon varieties.
5 Blue Andalusians - https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/blue_andalusians.html
These are the black, gray and white chicks.
5 Cuckoo Marans - https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/cuckoo_maran.html
These are the black with yellow spot on the head. They lay super dark brown eggs.
5 Easter Egg Chickens - https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/arauca ... canas.html
These are the tan/brown with stripes. They will lay pastel blue and green eggs (hence the name).
1 Dark Brahmas - https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/dark_brahmas.html
Murray McMurray always sends on free exotic chick with each order and this is the one we got!
We got the straight run and so about half of them should be roosters. All but the most exciting one will end up in the freezer this fall.
Last edited by cmonkey on Wed Jul 19, 2017 11:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: cmonkey's journal
Wow, they look super cute. I like the one photo where they're looking straight into the camera.
For a second there, I took your last comment seriously =).
For a second there, I took your last comment seriously =).
Re: cmonkey's journal
Chicks just in time for Easter, they are too cute! Can't wait to have my own land for chickens! 
Re: cmonkey's journal
We will actually be butchering some of them, but only the extra roosters. I can't even stand the thought right now, but when we have half a dozen roosters squawking over territory I'm sure it'll be easier.spoonman wrote:For a second there, I took your last comment seriously =).
We want to keep one rooster and it will be a hard toss up between a Blue Andalusian rooster (since they are so beautiful and the bird is actually threatened) and the Dark Brahmas if that turns out to be a male.
The hens will be safe!
Re: cmonkey's journal
Monthly update, April 2015 -
Lending Club
Balance - 4124.42 (+52.34)
Deposits - 0
Principle Payments - 98.24 (+20.42)
Interest Payments - 53.52 (+10.55)
Reinvested - 111.62 (+23.06)
Income Withdrawal - 40.14 (+7.91) (Right now this is still being re-invested, this would be our income if we were FIRE)
NAR - 14.23%
Total Charge Offs - 0
Dividend Fund
Balance - 74.65
Deposits - 100
Dividends - 0
Dividend Increase - 0
Monthly Nut
Skype/Tracphone = 15
Garbage - 19
Sewer - 20
Car Insurance - 29
Mediacom - 55
Property Taxes/Insurance - 150
Total - 288
Variable Expenses (things I can directly control) - Actual (of Budgeted Amount)
Transportation- 69.00 (of 100)
Food - 263.17 (of 300)
Energy - 116.68 (of 100)
Misc - 1142.21 (of 500)
Total - 1591.06 (of 1000)
Total Expenses - 1879.06.69
Truck Loan - 8,663.98(-830.37) Made a larger payment this month, but was lower due to higher expenses.
While expenses weren't as high as last month, they were higher than they should have been. About 400-500 of that was one time things that won't happen again. Half of that amount was probably not too wise (130 bucks for a vet bill and 100 bucks for a completely useless visit from Culligan), but hey what can you do. The other half was mostly chicken coop infrastructure such as 200 feet of outdoor rated copper wiring. I did save some money on that by not buying conduit, using old metal pipes instead.
Note - this also includes the costs of non-GMO chicken feed, so that accounts for another 100 or so. It is not cheap in the slightest. I may have found a local source so I can hopefully get this cost down. I am also getting fodder crops growing for them and have plans for more free-ranging. The most important thing I did was to build a non-waste feeder. More on this later.
I am completely committed to keeping May in check. Feel free to call me out next month if I don't go UNDER budget for May. So far for the year, I am currently eating into July's second paycheck for variable expenses.
We also decided to increase our food budget by 100 a month from 200. We buy about 75% organic food and we were really beginning to feel stretched toward the end of the cycle. We would end up just going out to eat and making the leftovers stretch for a day or two. So we committed to purchasing a bit more and using it wiser. I am making up plans for a lot of slow cooker meals mainly because we can throw a lot of garden produce in and they last a long time. Plus there is no greater feeling than spending 5-6 hours outside and knowing you don't have to make supper! Cooking in the evening just sucks when you are tired.
Transportation expenses were lower than they have been in a LONG time mainly due to riding the metro to work. As spoonman said, I have become a bus riding ninja. I ride about 24 miles a day so that is about a gallon of gas I'd be using. To ride the metro is 0.76 per ride, so I am effectively getting to work for $1.52 a gallon gas, minus all the maintenance costs.
We filled up the truck 1 time and the car has been sitting for over a month with half a tank in it. Its looking like we will be spending less than 100 a month, on average, for transportation going forward.
Lending Club is still cruising right along. I have 2 loans that are in the 31-120 day late category and advanced collections are underway. My return will drop to about 12.5% if they are charged off.
It also hit me that my monthly cash flow has already been hit by these loans and that I really won't see a noticeable difference in the event that they are charged off. The minute they didn't make their payments is when my cash flow dropped. After the charge off, I'll simply have less balance (which sucks) but since I'm after cash flow it doesn't seem as negative.
One other note, I have decided to change up my investment plans starting in July/August when I start blasting money into the accounts. Instead of committing to Lending Club full time, I am doing a half and half strategy of Lending Club and dividend growth investing (*). I am paid bi-monthly, so one check will go to LC, the second to DGI. Doing the numbers this will likely push of FIRE by about a year, but I am the kind of person that like robustness in anything I do. Do it right or don't do it. Originally I had planned to do Lending Club 100% until we FIRE and then put some money into stocks, but the more I learned about DGI the more I liked the sound of it.
So I would essentially be invested in 3 areas - my paid off homestead (non-liquid), Lending Club (semi-liquid) and DGI (fully liquid).
I am pretty hesitant to put anything into stocks this year though, so I might sit on the cash for a while. From what I see most of the stocks I have picked out so far are fairly pricey. I did end up purchasing 2 stocks of AT&T simply because I wanted something earning dividends in the time until I start investing and they seem pretty fairly priced. I did get paid .94 in dividends on May 1, so I was elated at that!
Here's my list I have compiled over the last month. I like healthcare, tech & energy mainly along with a slew of proven companies that have been paying for a long time. I am still learning though and this list might change going forward. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!
GSK PFE BAX UNH HUM AET STJ UNP LOW GAS T DIS AFL OHI PG WFM FDX DE VZ MA UPS PEP XOM KMB UNM IBM JNJ COP CPK NI RY MMM PM BA LMT GE NUE EMR AAPL DPS KO ORCL APD PX INTC HPQ
*Originally I had stated I would not be investing in the markets for ethical reasons. However, it hit me as I was pondering my thought on closing the circles in my life that I could force all these massive corporations (that I frankly view as horrendous monstrosities) to pay for my healthcare insurance upon FIRE. My goal is to generate 500 per month from dividend stocks, which I feel will pay for insurance and provide a small amount for the HSA account. My small attempt at closing the circle on that expense! At that point, it would just be a task I take care of. I wouldn't even consider it part of my budget.
Lending Club
Balance - 4124.42 (+52.34)
Deposits - 0
Principle Payments - 98.24 (+20.42)
Interest Payments - 53.52 (+10.55)
Reinvested - 111.62 (+23.06)
Income Withdrawal - 40.14 (+7.91) (Right now this is still being re-invested, this would be our income if we were FIRE)
NAR - 14.23%
Total Charge Offs - 0
Dividend Fund
Balance - 74.65
Deposits - 100
Dividends - 0
Dividend Increase - 0
Monthly Nut
Skype/Tracphone = 15
Garbage - 19
Sewer - 20
Car Insurance - 29
Mediacom - 55
Property Taxes/Insurance - 150
Total - 288
Variable Expenses (things I can directly control) - Actual (of Budgeted Amount)
Transportation- 69.00 (of 100)
Food - 263.17 (of 300)
Energy - 116.68 (of 100)
Misc - 1142.21 (of 500)
Total - 1591.06 (of 1000)
Total Expenses - 1879.06.69
Truck Loan - 8,663.98(-830.37) Made a larger payment this month, but was lower due to higher expenses.
While expenses weren't as high as last month, they were higher than they should have been. About 400-500 of that was one time things that won't happen again. Half of that amount was probably not too wise (130 bucks for a vet bill and 100 bucks for a completely useless visit from Culligan), but hey what can you do. The other half was mostly chicken coop infrastructure such as 200 feet of outdoor rated copper wiring. I did save some money on that by not buying conduit, using old metal pipes instead.
Note - this also includes the costs of non-GMO chicken feed, so that accounts for another 100 or so. It is not cheap in the slightest. I may have found a local source so I can hopefully get this cost down. I am also getting fodder crops growing for them and have plans for more free-ranging. The most important thing I did was to build a non-waste feeder. More on this later.
I am completely committed to keeping May in check. Feel free to call me out next month if I don't go UNDER budget for May. So far for the year, I am currently eating into July's second paycheck for variable expenses.
We also decided to increase our food budget by 100 a month from 200. We buy about 75% organic food and we were really beginning to feel stretched toward the end of the cycle. We would end up just going out to eat and making the leftovers stretch for a day or two. So we committed to purchasing a bit more and using it wiser. I am making up plans for a lot of slow cooker meals mainly because we can throw a lot of garden produce in and they last a long time. Plus there is no greater feeling than spending 5-6 hours outside and knowing you don't have to make supper!
Cooking in the evening just sucks when you are tired.Transportation expenses were lower than they have been in a LONG time mainly due to riding the metro to work. As spoonman said, I have become a bus riding ninja. I ride about 24 miles a day so that is about a gallon of gas I'd be using. To ride the metro is 0.76 per ride, so I am effectively getting to work for $1.52 a gallon gas, minus all the maintenance costs.
We filled up the truck 1 time and the car has been sitting for over a month with half a tank in it. Its looking like we will be spending less than 100 a month, on average, for transportation going forward.
Lending Club is still cruising right along. I have 2 loans that are in the 31-120 day late category and advanced collections are underway. My return will drop to about 12.5% if they are charged off.
It also hit me that my monthly cash flow has already been hit by these loans and that I really won't see a noticeable difference in the event that they are charged off. The minute they didn't make their payments is when my cash flow dropped. After the charge off, I'll simply have less balance (which sucks) but since I'm after cash flow it doesn't seem as negative.
One other note, I have decided to change up my investment plans starting in July/August when I start blasting money into the accounts. Instead of committing to Lending Club full time, I am doing a half and half strategy of Lending Club and dividend growth investing (*). I am paid bi-monthly, so one check will go to LC, the second to DGI. Doing the numbers this will likely push of FIRE by about a year, but I am the kind of person that like robustness in anything I do. Do it right or don't do it. Originally I had planned to do Lending Club 100% until we FIRE and then put some money into stocks, but the more I learned about DGI the more I liked the sound of it.
So I would essentially be invested in 3 areas - my paid off homestead (non-liquid), Lending Club (semi-liquid) and DGI (fully liquid).
I am pretty hesitant to put anything into stocks this year though, so I might sit on the cash for a while. From what I see most of the stocks I have picked out so far are fairly pricey. I did end up purchasing 2 stocks of AT&T simply because I wanted something earning dividends in the time until I start investing and they seem pretty fairly priced. I did get paid .94 in dividends on May 1, so I was elated at that!
Here's my list I have compiled over the last month. I like healthcare, tech & energy mainly along with a slew of proven companies that have been paying for a long time. I am still learning though and this list might change going forward. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!
GSK PFE BAX UNH HUM AET STJ UNP LOW GAS T DIS AFL OHI PG WFM FDX DE VZ MA UPS PEP XOM KMB UNM IBM JNJ COP CPK NI RY MMM PM BA LMT GE NUE EMR AAPL DPS KO ORCL APD PX INTC HPQ
*Originally I had stated I would not be investing in the markets for ethical reasons. However, it hit me as I was pondering my thought on closing the circles in my life that I could force all these massive corporations (that I frankly view as horrendous monstrosities) to pay for my healthcare insurance upon FIRE. My goal is to generate 500 per month from dividend stocks, which I feel will pay for insurance and provide a small amount for the HSA account. My small attempt at closing the circle on that expense! At that point, it would just be a task I take care of. I wouldn't even consider it part of my budget.
Re: cmonkey's journal
Chicken Update
Our chickens have been doing great and are 7 weeks old today. They are growing fast! We moved them from the basement brooder to the chicken coop back on April 28 or so at 4 weeks old simply because the basement was starting to smell and they were beginning to squabble in their tiny brooder. We started letting them outside on nice days right away. They quickly learned to go into the coop at night and now this week have started roosting on the small roost I built for them.
I also planted a bunch of fodder beets for them to eat this winter and will be planting the golden amaranth I bought as well. This is more of a test run to see how they grow and how long they last. I planted 3 different kinds of beets interspersed in our newly planted lilac hedge, due to a lack of space in my gardens. We have over 3,000 square feet of veg beds and not one spot to plant! Guess we are utilizing our space well.
We ended up getting 10 hens and 6 roosters out of the straight run batch we bought. We were only expecting 7 or 8 hens, so we got lucky and will hopefully be rolling in eggs! Optimistically we can expect 8-10 eggs per day during the summer and about half that in winter and so our food budget will hopefully be reduced significantly. Not only will we not have to buy eggs, we can replace many meals with egg-based dinners/herbs. This is where the true savings come I think. Our costs will transition from buying food to buying food for our chickens instead. Similar costs, much fresher food.
I have been monitoring their food usage, and right now a 30 LB bag of organic, non-gmo lasts about 3 weeks. At a cost of 30 bucks a bag, that's not too bad. Costs of 40 bucks a month. If I can reduce the food budget by that much by utilizing the egg dinners (combined with home grown produce) I am not looking at an increase in costs at all. I am tracking everything and will be giving updates.
We have also named all of them (except for a couple of the roosters we are culling).
Easter Egger Hens - Mabel, Hazel, Myrtle & Rosie. These are all the sandy/brown hens. They are very beautiful and remind us of wild game birds.
Andalusian Hens - Opal (white), Gem (Blue) & Lucy (Black). We got super lucky and managed to get one hen of each possible color for this variety. We couldn't believe it!
Cuckoo Maron Hens - Penelope, Gertrude & Delila. These hens are turning out to be the big fat/squat type and remind us of old fat grannies.
Here are some photos from the past month or so. I will try to get a picture of each this summer and label it with the name.
Stanley - Our true blue andalusian rooster. He is the leader of the pack and we are thinking we'll keep him and one other roo.
Humphrey - Our only Easter egger rooster. He is quite a plump bird, this photo doesn't do justice. He also has dark feathers all down his chin/neck making it look like he has a beard!
Myrtle
Gem & Gertrude hanging in the shade.
Half of them roosting at night. From top left to bottom right - Gem, Stanley, Myrtle, Bee, Hazel, Lucy, Mabel, Cristo
Stay tuned for updates.
Our chickens have been doing great and are 7 weeks old today. They are growing fast! We moved them from the basement brooder to the chicken coop back on April 28 or so at 4 weeks old simply because the basement was starting to smell and they were beginning to squabble in their tiny brooder. We started letting them outside on nice days right away. They quickly learned to go into the coop at night and now this week have started roosting on the small roost I built for them.
I also planted a bunch of fodder beets for them to eat this winter and will be planting the golden amaranth I bought as well. This is more of a test run to see how they grow and how long they last. I planted 3 different kinds of beets interspersed in our newly planted lilac hedge, due to a lack of space in my gardens. We have over 3,000 square feet of veg beds and not one spot to plant! Guess we are utilizing our space well.
We ended up getting 10 hens and 6 roosters out of the straight run batch we bought. We were only expecting 7 or 8 hens, so we got lucky and will hopefully be rolling in eggs! Optimistically we can expect 8-10 eggs per day during the summer and about half that in winter and so our food budget will hopefully be reduced significantly. Not only will we not have to buy eggs, we can replace many meals with egg-based dinners/herbs. This is where the true savings come I think. Our costs will transition from buying food to buying food for our chickens instead. Similar costs, much fresher food.
I have been monitoring their food usage, and right now a 30 LB bag of organic, non-gmo lasts about 3 weeks. At a cost of 30 bucks a bag, that's not too bad. Costs of 40 bucks a month. If I can reduce the food budget by that much by utilizing the egg dinners (combined with home grown produce) I am not looking at an increase in costs at all. I am tracking everything and will be giving updates.
We have also named all of them (except for a couple of the roosters we are culling).
Easter Egger Hens - Mabel, Hazel, Myrtle & Rosie. These are all the sandy/brown hens. They are very beautiful and remind us of wild game birds.
Andalusian Hens - Opal (white), Gem (Blue) & Lucy (Black). We got super lucky and managed to get one hen of each possible color for this variety. We couldn't believe it!
Cuckoo Maron Hens - Penelope, Gertrude & Delila. These hens are turning out to be the big fat/squat type and remind us of old fat grannies.
Here are some photos from the past month or so. I will try to get a picture of each this summer and label it with the name.
Stanley - Our true blue andalusian rooster. He is the leader of the pack and we are thinking we'll keep him and one other roo.
Humphrey - Our only Easter egger rooster. He is quite a plump bird, this photo doesn't do justice. He also has dark feathers all down his chin/neck making it look like he has a beard!
Myrtle
Gem & Gertrude hanging in the shade.
Half of them roosting at night. From top left to bottom right - Gem, Stanley, Myrtle, Bee, Hazel, Lucy, Mabel, Cristo
Stay tuned for updates.
Last edited by cmonkey on Wed Jul 19, 2017 11:57 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: cmonkey's journal
Loving these chicken pictures! Are Roosters happy living together?
Loving the maths on the $40 reduction in food budget substituted with eggs, but wondering how long it will take til you get sick of eggs and start selling them to neighbors.
Admittedly I have never been able to taste the difference between free range eggs from the supermarket and from local farm.
Loving the maths on the $40 reduction in food budget substituted with eggs, but wondering how long it will take til you get sick of eggs and start selling them to neighbors.
Admittedly I have never been able to taste the difference between free range eggs from the supermarket and from local farm.
Re: cmonkey's journal
Yep, they are getting along for now. They don't really start forming the pecking order until 6-8 weeks (which is now) so we are expecting them to start bickering in the coming weeks. Once in a while they will square up and jump around so I think its starting.
The Dark Brahmas (Bee) is clearly the underdog and is subservient to even the hens. We think its because he is all alone in his breed.
Ha! I will have to get clever with the egg meals, its true. We are growing lots of herbs and veggies so that will help. And lots of angel food cake! The neighbors and even the boss at work have expressed interest in the eggs too. I am going to use the small amount we get from that for food budget expenses.
I have never had a farm fresh egg that was laid the day I eat it, so I am excited to try!
The Dark Brahmas (Bee) is clearly the underdog and is subservient to even the hens. We think its because he is all alone in his breed.
Ha! I will have to get clever with the egg meals, its true. We are growing lots of herbs and veggies so that will help. And lots of angel food cake! The neighbors and even the boss at work have expressed interest in the eggs too. I am going to use the small amount we get from that for food budget expenses.
I have never had a farm fresh egg that was laid the day I eat it, so I am excited to try!
Re: cmonkey's journal
Great pics of the chickens. What a neat project.
*Pastured* organic eggs are very popular these days. From what I understand the chickens have fed on bugs and as a result the nutrition of the yolks is denser and more varied than even cage-free/free range/organic eggs.
The differences between certain types of eggs are very apparent in my experience. Actually the first time I paid attention to eggs was in England when I noticed the yolks were orange rather than the pale yellow I was used to in the U.S. They tasted a lot better than what I was used to also. Later I found pastured eggs being sold here that had these orange yolks. In a small Southern town local natural grocer they cost $6.50/dozen, in my present large urban Whole Foods they cost $8/dozen. Same source farm, actually, some place called Vital Farms in Texas. WF can't even keep these eggs in stock they are so popular.
Long story short, if you can break into this market it might be pretty lucrative, even in a non-urban area.
*Pastured* organic eggs are very popular these days. From what I understand the chickens have fed on bugs and as a result the nutrition of the yolks is denser and more varied than even cage-free/free range/organic eggs.
The differences between certain types of eggs are very apparent in my experience. Actually the first time I paid attention to eggs was in England when I noticed the yolks were orange rather than the pale yellow I was used to in the U.S. They tasted a lot better than what I was used to also. Later I found pastured eggs being sold here that had these orange yolks. In a small Southern town local natural grocer they cost $6.50/dozen, in my present large urban Whole Foods they cost $8/dozen. Same source farm, actually, some place called Vital Farms in Texas. WF can't even keep these eggs in stock they are so popular.
Long story short, if you can break into this market it might be pretty lucrative, even in a non-urban area.
Re: cmonkey's journal
I got a real kick out of the name Gertrude, I think there is a correlation between that name and short, chubby old ladies. I knew at least one Gertrude in our neighborhood that fit that description.
Looks like your project is progressing along quite nicely, congratulations!
Looks like your project is progressing along quite nicely, congratulations!
Re: cmonkey's journal
@Peanut, thanks for stopping by! That is an incredible price for a dozen eggs! I have never seen anything over about 4.99 here, all pasture raised. Living in the midwest probably makes it a bit cheaper.
@Spoonman, ha yea! She is a fat little hen so that's why we named her that. She also likes to fluff up her feathers a lot which makes her even larger! I will try to get some good pictures up.
@Spoonman, ha yea! She is a fat little hen so that's why we named her that.
She also likes to fluff up her feathers a lot which makes her even larger! I will try to get some good pictures up.Re: cmonkey's journal
Here are some more photos we took this weekend.
Lucy, our black female Andalusian
Mabel, by far the most beautiful of the easter eggers, possibly the entire flock.
Plump little Humphrey. He reminds me of an owl with a 5 o`clock shadow. He is my favorite roo
One of the unnamed twin Cuckoo males. Could call him chicken dinner #1
Hazel (front), Gem (middle), Lucy (back)
They are becoming quite happy to be by us now and are not as skiddish as they used to be. A couple of them, including my favorite (Gem) are content to jump on our laps when we sit down in the run and will settle in like they are nesting. It is quite a fun passtime and a great way to wind down after a long work day/bus ride home. We have a great routine of sitting with them for an hour or so each evening hand feeding them all sorts of garden produce.
Lucy, our black female Andalusian
Mabel, by far the most beautiful of the easter eggers, possibly the entire flock.
Plump little Humphrey. He reminds me of an owl with a 5 o`clock shadow. He is my favorite roo
One of the unnamed twin Cuckoo males. Could call him chicken dinner #1
Hazel (front), Gem (middle), Lucy (back)
They are becoming quite happy to be by us now and are not as skiddish as they used to be. A couple of them, including my favorite (Gem) are content to jump on our laps when we sit down in the run and will settle in like they are nesting. It is quite a fun passtime and a great way to wind down after a long work day/bus ride home. We have a great routine of sitting with them for an hour or so each evening hand feeding them all sorts of garden produce.
Last edited by cmonkey on Wed Jul 19, 2017 12:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: cmonkey's journal
Spoiled Rotten Brats
I normally have a great time at work and have a wonderful team, but this week has been like hell and I just had to write out something about it. Why do business people/users act like spoiled rotten brats when their systems don't perform the way they expect? Our team has a great track record, having an uptime of greater than 99.9% (yes we track it) and we never have performance problems. Ever. We are reputed to be one of the best teams in our organization.
Yet this past weekend we had a major upgrade go in and it didn't go as smoothly as it could have. We ran way ahead of schedule (about 12 hours). Everything upgraded and passed inspection. However, we started having performance problems with caching and some database caching issues that required various restarts of the system during lunch hours and evening hours. The system was up during all business hours.
And the best we can get is that the business was "really ticked" with the performance of the upgraded system.
Less than 2 days after the issues started, they are now fixed through tremendous efforts by our team.
Maybe its our incredible track record, but it seems like if even a hiccup happens in the day to day life of a DFU (dumb fucking user - my first boss coined this term and for good reason) they throw hissy fits. I'm pretty sure that all the spoiled rotten brats that ruined everything for all the good mannered kids just migrated into business suits....because that's all they do. Demand demand demand and make life difficult for everyone.
Alright rant over. Thankfully I have been shielded from it, while our more senior team member take the full on assault. I can see a day (after they retire) when I will be taking these assaults. I just wanted to get this down so I can remember my real motivations for this journal.
For a little post rant humor - The Web Server is Down
I normally have a great time at work and have a wonderful team, but this week has been like hell and I just had to write out something about it. Why do business people/users act like spoiled rotten brats when their systems don't perform the way they expect? Our team has a great track record, having an uptime of greater than 99.9% (yes we track it) and we never have performance problems. Ever. We are reputed to be one of the best teams in our organization.
Yet this past weekend we had a major upgrade go in and it didn't go as smoothly as it could have. We ran way ahead of schedule (about 12 hours). Everything upgraded and passed inspection. However, we started having performance problems with caching and some database caching issues that required various restarts of the system during lunch hours and evening hours. The system was up during all business hours.
And the best we can get is that the business was "really ticked" with the performance of the upgraded system.
Less than 2 days after the issues started, they are now fixed through tremendous efforts by our team.
Maybe its our incredible track record, but it seems like if even a hiccup happens in the day to day life of a DFU (dumb fucking user - my first boss coined this term and for good reason) they throw hissy fits. I'm pretty sure that all the spoiled rotten brats that ruined everything for all the good mannered kids just migrated into business suits....because that's all they do. Demand demand demand and make life difficult for everyone.
Alright rant over. Thankfully I have been shielded from it, while our more senior team member take the full on assault. I can see a day (after they retire) when I will be taking these assaults. I just wanted to get this down so I can remember my real motivations for this journal.
For a little post rant humor - The Web Server is Down
Re: cmonkey's journal
DFU! AAHAHAHAH. I love it! I never envied the work that our IT folk were on the hook to do precisely because I knew the got a lot of flack from some idiots. I think it's good to write down what motivates you to reach the finish line. I wrote similar articles, they were very cathartic.
Btw, it's great to hear the birds like to spend time on your lap. That's a huge intangible.
Btw, it's great to hear the birds like to spend time on your lap. That's a huge intangible.
Re: cmonkey's journal
This is why I could never raise chickens for anything other than eggs. Your birds are far too beautiful.
Re: cmonkey's journal
@spoonman, Yes I feel quite good having written all that out this morning. Had one of my more productive days and I attribute part of it to that. I love that DFU term and have never forgotten it. My first week at my first internship out in LA 8 years ago and this is what my boss taught me. It was a defining moment. 
Sitting with the chickens is the highlight of each day. Nothing more relaxing.
@Tyler, Thanks! We know exactly what you mean. It's turning out to be very challenging for us to choose which roos we are keeping. We only have 3 of the 6 picked out for the freezer. They are the more bland of the group.
Sitting with the chickens is the highlight of each day.
Nothing more relaxing.@Tyler, Thanks! We know exactly what you mean. It's turning out to be very challenging for us to choose which roos we are keeping.
We only have 3 of the 6 picked out for the freezer. They are the more bland of the group.Re: cmonkey's journal
Here are some updated pictures of the veg and flower gardens. We have been quite busy and go to bed exhausted (and happy) each night.
A reminder of before.
Now. This is our largest veg patch and it is divided up into 5 north-south oriented beds set up for crop rotation. So nightshades in bed 1, brassicas in bed 2, etc....
The south veg patch. It is a little smaller but set up in the same 5 bed rotation pattern. Makes planting a lot easier. Those are potatoes in the front...early and late.
Between the two veg patches we have a large wildflower/perennial bed. It is really useful as a pollinator attracter. This is actually an older picture, it is really in bloom right now! Also that is the chicken coop in the center, in case you couldn't tell
Foxglove, shasta daisy, centaurea montana, and a peony in the flower bed.
Some of the bearded iris coming into bloom last week.
A reminder of before.
Now. This is our largest veg patch and it is divided up into 5 north-south oriented beds set up for crop rotation. So nightshades in bed 1, brassicas in bed 2, etc....
The south veg patch. It is a little smaller but set up in the same 5 bed rotation pattern. Makes planting a lot easier. Those are potatoes in the front...early and late.
Between the two veg patches we have a large wildflower/perennial bed. It is really useful as a pollinator attracter. This is actually an older picture, it is really in bloom right now! Also that is the chicken coop in the center, in case you couldn't tell
Foxglove, shasta daisy, centaurea montana, and a peony in the flower bed.
Some of the bearded iris coming into bloom last week.
Last edited by cmonkey on Wed Jul 19, 2017 12:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: cmonkey's journal
I always find these kinds of pictures incredibly pleasant and relaxing to look at, even though I'm not a gardener at all. Thanks for putting them up.