Pink Fox: its Raining...IN MY HOUSE! :/

[pinkfox]

i think its because we are such a relitivly restricted market, canned goods and stuff are pretty cheap, but fresh meat and produce, I think they know they can charge more for it because theres no local competition...
our local Walmart isn't a super center so theres no competition there, newton only has the weis and shopright, whereas Blairstown only has the A&P so no need have price wars when theres less choices.
we hit aldi once in a while, sometimes get some good deals there, but more so on package gods, cheeses ect, not so much on meat...

we find theres much better prices when we go to Hackettstown, they have 4 major grocery stores AND a super Walmart with full grocery center, so I think having more competition realy does make them think hard on managers specials clearances and sales...weve noticed as much as a 50c difference between the newton and the Hackettstown stores...

ugh, more snow, bing weather was saying light and only 40% chance so I looked up on weather.com and your right, we are in the 12-18" band *sigh*
im not built for winter, body till hurts rom shoveling yesterdays 8".
will make sure to clear off the roves on the goat and pig shelters and will be watching the tarp roof on the ducky house. it seems to do a good job of sheding snow as long a heres no rain first to make it puddle...
gonna have to see if mum needs to do a grocery run then, I think were good but dad might want to get soe fule in for the genny just in case and I need a couple bales of hay and straw to see us through incase we cant get out for a few days, otherwise though, we have plenty of milk, eggs bread and toilet paper, emergency French toast it is lol.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

French toast is delish - but sure hope you don't have to rely on it!

 

[pinkfox]

well be fine im sure,
more worried about ME, lol, yesterdays shoveling has left me hurting, between this flu, SAD and a major fibro flareup, I feel completely useless, the cold kicks my tuckus in a big way...
I wanted to get my room done this week and instead all ive done is cachup on tv shows on Netflix...that's not productive and I feel guilty and frustrated for it...which is even less productive, lol. im such a basketcase.

itll pass...winter always passes.

 

[hqueen13]

Thankfully winter always does pass. Hang in there! Don't feel guilty, if you don't take the time to heal, you'll never be better. Do what your body needs.

 

[pinkfox]

so I may have to bring my 3 English lop inside (or at least into the garage, looks like my older doe has frostbite on one ear, and im worried for the other 2, so planning that for today, not sure where im going to put them, but they are supposed to be sold at that show in feb, I don't think shell mind bluebell a she knows shes not showable, but the other 2 need to be in good condition)
I might be able to get away with moving them in the barn to the stall and putting a heat lamp over them and my little heater infront of them if I put them in the smaller cages...
snow started a little earlier than expeted, were about 2" so far, this is not promising to be all that much fun lol

 

[pinkfox]

so did some moving and the 3 elops are now in the stall in smaller cages with the heater infront and the heatlamp over top...*fingers crossed*
I hate winter.

good news is the other buns seem to be doing ok, will have to change out water bottles in another hour or so, the nipples are all freezing again...but otherwise they don't seem too bothered by the cold.

 

[hqueen13]

Poor buns!! Cold is really really hard to deal with sometimes. How much snow have yall ended up with now? We only got about 2" out of it, so I think it tracked further north than they were expecting, hope that doesn't mean you got too much!

 

[pinkfox]

i think we ended up around 10", only abou 1/2 of wha they told us to expect, cant complain though, got some flurries (and some blowing) going on today but nothing that will amount to much accumulation.

critters seem ok, the elops seem to be quite content in their little hot zone...but I think bluebell will loose part of her ear. I feel like such an idiot, if id left them where they were I would have had it wrapped in insulation and mabe not even had this issue, but then that too is a mabe.

oh well...

 

[pinkfox]

till feeling yucky but I think im on the tail end of this flu...
got to go out today and get the dogs liscensed...and send payment for a new bunny im picking up at the show next weekend...but otherwise no plans for the day, will have to change out water bottles around lunch time, its ot even out of the teens yet...
but it should be in the upper 20s by lunch so if I change out then they should stay ok until bedtime...
got some more light snow predicted for the overnight but nothing crazy...

Saturday im supposed ot be meeting the guy to trade peanut one of my rex bucks for the narragganset turkey poults, think they'll probably live in my brooder tote in my room for a little while, even with a heat lamp I just think the barn is just too cold still.
got to arrange for my lop buck buckwheat to go home too, need to make cage space.
right now at the show on the 7th im picking up:
a broken chinchilla satin buck and 2 chinchilla satin does.
a fawn French lop buck and a broken chestnut French lop doe (theres a broken fawn I want too but as of right now its not in the budget...)
a broken red rex buck, broken red rex doe and castor rex doe...(im hoping to add a red rex doe to that group too)
assuming the lady takes all 3 enlgish lops, (despite bluebells ear), and with peanut and buckwheat both going home I should end up at 15 buns again...

im planning the bunny barn, thinking of a rocket mass heater...
doubt itll get done though until spring, snow is not condusive with building anything right now...though if we get a warm spell I may try to at least get the frame and roof back up and properly secured...I can then start figuring things out to best arrange it with a floor plan.
I was thinking of suspended cages but I don't know if the frame itself would support the weight, so ill probably go back to using the t-post set up I was using, It worked well, but I wont be able to get them in the ground until it thaws out...

and im planning a rocket mass heater...but im wondering about using a temporary bed with sand/pearlite rather than the traditional cob...
playsand is cheap and if I pack it damp it should make a nice thermal mass bed...use concrete block for the bed itself, (fire brik for the burn chamber of course) pipe and sand/pearlite mix for the mass bed then top with concrete paving slabs ontop, thinking I can use the top as a small grow bed for fodder and even put the resevoir tank for the auto watering system ontop of it too (obviously on a frame so that doesnt get too hot,) and run a small fireplace fan ontop of the burn barrel to help distribute that heat through the space too...
my other thought was digging a trench about 3ft rom the edge of the shelter and burying he pipe using the ground as thermal mass, but I think it would take forever for the ground to reach good mass and be ultimately more work.
I could build that even now, start getting in the bricksbuild the system run the pipe ectsince there would be no digging involved I wouldn't need the ground to thaw, and who knows, mabe if I get it built and running I could trial run before moving buns in and see if itll work...

otherwise, that's about all I got...

 

[hqueen13]

Glad you're making plans. Its fun to design new stuff! I always get leery until I know it will really work out though...