Bee~ Journal of then...

[Beekissed]

I redesigned my hen house today~ built different roosts, moved the laying boxes, mounted a platform for my waterer. Used all recycled materials. It doesn't look as beautiful as most of the coops on BYC, but its functional and the best I could do for free!

Now I have more floor space, an easier clean out under the roosts, more roost space for more birds and a waterer that doesn't leak all over every time a chicken bumps against it and slants it off its hook~then I come out to find it empty! Not bad for a building that leans like a drunken sailor, was built about 75 years ago, and has not one level surface!

It will remain to be seen if I have to build a ladder to the roosts, as these are higher than the former ones, but have climbing spots from the roosts on the nesting boxes. It will be interesting to see how the chickens do this evening with all the changes.

 

[FarmerChick]

interesting posts
I enjoyed reading them.

but honestly, I would rather be rich and poor anyday.

I know I would not spend all on ME ME ME ME and have the fanciest stuff. Like another poster said, it is what you have and how you handle it.

having money or lack of it, is still related to your values in life. So for me, more money means I could help more people, live a comfortable life knowing my bills will never tear me down. Would I (me, personally) be materialistic. NOPE.....I am running from that now actually. I want simple now.

But if it is a choice between more money or less, I want more.

And yea, I am in the "almost" poor category also. I have alot on paper, and at any given moment I sure could lose all of this too. Each year when taxes hit I struggle horrible to come up with that money. And guess what, it comes each year.....OH Horror! LOL

oh well just rambling.....


GREAT on the re-design of the hen house. Always smart to give yourself enough open room to work easy. I don't mind work but don't crowd me..LOL

 

[2dream]

Bee - I am so glad I am not the only one with a chicken house that leans like that. It is on the property next door that we purchased last year. The people that built it used old car batteries and paint cans to sit the floor beams on. We did not know all that until we started turning it into a chicken coop. There is not a level surface anywhere in that old building. But its big and roomy and the chickens love it.

FC - I'm with you on the money. I don't NEED a thing but....if I had my druthers - rich over poor as a country church mouse any day.
I don't need more stuff but I sure could use a really big deposit at the bank.

 

[Beekissed]

Not to split hairs about the whole definition of "poor", FC~but I'm willing to bet that more than one of your tractors is worth more than I make in a year! In a pinch, you could sell one and generate some cash....I don't have anything to sell that would generate any cash.

I've never met one person who calls themselves rich, or even well off...everyone thinks, or says, that they are in the poor category. Trust me, when you are really poor, you can't afford to be in debt. You can't really make payments on things, as you never know if you will have the money to make the payment and you don't have anything worth selling to make the payment.

Heck, yeah, no one likes to struggle! But struggling to pay bills for things that you have bought~trucks, tractors, campers~is not quite the same as struggling to have enough to pay rent, or keep your power on, or even feed your kids.

So for me, more money means I could help more people, live a comfortable life knowing my bills will never tear me down. Would I (me, personally) be materialistic. NOPE.....I am running from that now actually. I want simple now.

You already have more money~ you earned half of what I make a year from the farmer's market profit the other day.... did you use it to pay off material things or did you use it to help people? See what I mean? Your camper is bigger than some people's houses!

So, already having "more money" than most folks, how would having even more than "more money" change how you spent it? I've known many a farmer in my day, with bigger farms than you are running now and I've never met one with seven tractors!

Please don't take this the wrong way, as I'm not saying this to offend or be disrespectful in any way, just to clarify that we are viewing this whole "poor" thingy from different ends of the spectrum. Chances are, if you had even more money, you would buy a bigger 4 x4 truck...

FarmerChick said: Second is a newer, fancier, bigger, better, loaded 4X4 truck with 4 doors and DVD player and every bell and whistle!

 

[Farmfresh]

Really a lot of us are richer than we think.

We have always had a nice place to live - not big or fancy or even pretty, but a safe secure shelter. We have NEVER gone hungry. We have ALWAYS had health insurance and be able to afford regular doctor visits and dental care. We have always had a car to drive (even if it was old and ugly it ran and had insurance on it). We always had a closet full of clothes to wear. We always had toys for the kids and pets. All of this stuff was because my husband got out of bed each day and went to work at a boring, sometimes very hard job that really paid pretty low, but had good benefits for his family.

We have NEVER owned a new car and we never will - by choice now. I have always shopped at thrift stores, garage sales and second hand shops first. Most of the work done on cars or house was done by US. So all of that has always allowed us to live quite well - even when we had only one income.

There are people out there (I have met some of them) who simply suffer if a tooth is bad. Try to make do with over the counter drugs (or non at all) when they need a doctor visit. Drive un-insured cars that leave them stranded and live in un-insured homes that have no heat. (I am not talking about those of us who choose to heat with wood etc.) Change places to stay often trying to stay ahead of the collections man. Wash clothes in the bathtub. And sadly often go to bed hungry. Some of them I met were children. Usually they were in this shape due to drugs or mental illness, but sometimes not.

Makes us all seem rich indeed. Even if the tax man says we are near the bottom of the money heap.

 

[Farmfresh]

On the subject of leaning buildings...

When we bought this old house the garage, which is a two car detached structure with a party wall down the center - (we have one stall and our neighbor has the other stall to go along with our shared driveway. I TOLD YOU WE LIVE IN THE CITY!!) was leaning at about a 50 degree angle to the south. I was pretty sure the only solution was a bulldozer. Then a neighbor - engineer by trade - said he could fix it pretty cheap. What the hay! Give 'er a try.

A lot of heaving and a couple of heavy diagonal braces installed - one afternoon of work - and I have had a level garage for about 20 years! Yippee!

 

[Beekissed]

I want to level this building out but the place I would have to jack it up is covered tightly by the neighbor's fence. I can get a jack in there but I can't get a block in there for a brace! I decided to just deal with it!

As for my garage....its like yours was, leaning so badly that the walls are bowed and cracked. The landlord wanted us to tear it down for money off the rent, but I decided to keep it for firewood storage and for selling produce out of in the summer. Its kind of cute and rustic looking, which can only improve my sales to the city slickers!

 

[Farmfresh]

The engineer neighbor braced mine diagonally on the inside back wall. I would have NEVER believed it would have worked, but it does.

 

[dacjohns]

Hey Sam's Girl. Empty your mail box.

 

[Beekissed]

No desire to do so, dac. No desire at all.