- Thread starter
- #271
Ridgetop
Herd Master
OMG! I am still so computer illiterate! What are those things of which you speak?
Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along
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- Start date
Rammy
Herd Master
Too bad parents dont raise their kids like that today. Too much entitlement and think they deserve it even thought they havent earned it. My parents raised me like that too. I rarely buy myself anything new unless its finally worn out. Good to see that some people still feel that way.We gave up a lot to raise our kids the way we did. No new cars, no vacations until we found a 4-H mom willing to become my milk tester for DHIR. Then we were able to camp at the beach for a week. That was the only time my kids got soda. Too expensive otherwise. When DH's parents came to visit they brought sugary brands of cereal to my kids as a "treat". Otherwise cereal was too expensive, they ate oatmeal, French toast (you could still get "day old" bread then and I had 3 freezers, chickens, and goat milk) and pancakes. At supper I made scratch biscuits to fill everyone up. At the old house we ate everything out of the garden, at the new one we raised our own meat. I had our shoes resoled, patched and sewed our clothes, etc. I was lucky to have been raised by my grandmother who instilled in me the depression mentality:
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without."
The kids had 1 pair of shoes (which actually made it easier to keep track of them, LOL) in the winter, and a pair of sandals in the summers. The only new clothes we routinely had to buy were white jeans and shirts for 4-H showmanship, and all the 4-H parents used to trade back and forth! My children never went to the mall, and they earned the prize money they won at Fairs - we didn't give allowances for chores. They had to work for their suppers! LOL By the time they were 12 they were already working at jobs, feeding livestock and cleaning pens for neighbors on vacation babysitting, etc. 1 week at 4-H summer camp and they earned scholarships and the money to pay for it. I never put them into any summer programs, summer was for relaxing for me - no driving to school! We had a huge Doughboy pool, horses, miles of trails, and their friends were always welcome at our house. Chores had to be done by 9am and then they had the day free until evening milking. Chores took 2 hours am and 2 hours pm daily.
We were strict parents, but our kids worked hard and learned a good work ethic. Most importantly, they say they had a wonderful childhood!
Bruce
Herd Master
Ask your kids!
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- #274
Ridgetop
Herd Master
Well, y'all (notice I am practicing my Texan here) know about some of our previous animal raising episodes now so I am going to start the loooong tale of one of the most important things you have to do on a piece of property where I live.
Fire is a threat to any one of us, but never more dangerous than on a farm where we store hay, equipment and livestock in buildings. Hay and equipment fuel burn hot and fast and can spread to buildings and home quickly. I live in southern California, in the San Fernando Valley in the foothills. The brush is typical high desert brush with some creosote, and other high fuel varieties. Our fire season is anytime after the rain (if we get any) has stopped and the vegetation has dried out - about a month after the last rain. We also get a condition known here as the Santa Anas, hot dry winds that normally come in September but in the past 5 years have shown up any time they want to.
It is hard to get fire trucks into some of these areas quickly enough to prevent the loss of homes and outbuildings so the Fire Department has instituted fire clearance footage. Originally it was 100 feet from any structure, fence and road, then it became 200 feet. Many of the structures that burn in our southland fires burn because owners have not bothered to do their clearance. They like the privacy of screening brush or the cover it gives local wildlife. When we moved in here 30 years ago, we had bevies of quail, roadrunners, and rabbits everywhere. We even had deer here on the hills. The 100' fire clearance reduced the quail and our roadrunners, a mated pair and their chick, disappeared after about 5 years. The 200' required clearance eradicated them except in the distance. We back onto 100 acres of uncleared brush which had not burned for 70 years until the Creek Fire last December. I kept binoculars by the door to check on any smoke sightings, and we cleared. And cleared. And cleared.
Brush clearance is dirty, hard work on the flat. We have slopes starting at 30 degrees and almost immediately becoming 60 degrees. The horses will find a way down for the bright green grass, and the sheep and goats are comfortable on those slopes. But they have to be cleared so we do it.
One year we measured wrong and were cited by the Fire Inspector. yes the Fire Department sends out inspectors and cites whoever they find in noncompliance. They do not just trust residents to do their job. Anyway, we needed to recut the acreage since we had missed the measurement by 50 feet, and a late rain has caused more stuff to start up. We are in high desert type landscape, rain brings almost instant green. A high school friend of DS2 and DS3 wanted to earn money for college so we hired him. Eric is 6' tall and weighed about 190 lbs. He played football in high school and also did shot putt. Eric could only come on his days off, so DH, DS2 and DS3 started cutting. 2 days later Eric arrived to cut.
We still have a good supply of wildlife in our area. We have rabbits and ground squirrels everywhere, hawks soar, coyotes are a nuisance everywhere, and bobcats are also live here, although rarely seen. While working the barn several days before we had noticed a large bobcat strolling up the dirt road behind us. It was a daily thing. He would go up into the 100 acres of nothing in the late afternoon, and return in the morning. We enjoyed watching him strolling along unhurriedly, like someone just out for a casual walk. They are usually so shy that you never see one. We told Eric that if he was lucky he would see this bobcat while cutting on the field.
The 3 boys worked all morning. After lunch DS2 and 3 left to do something. They returned in the afternoon just about the time Eric came up for a break. He told us that he had seen the bobcat but
"I didn't know they got that big!"
"Was it on the road?" DH asked. "It comes every day?"
"No, I almost didn't see it at all" said Eric, "It was laying in the brush off to the side and a little down from where I was cutting. I only saw it when it moved towards me up the hill."
"That is really strange' said DH "We only ever saw it walking on the road behind the gully."
"How big was it?" I asked getting a horrible premonition.
"Really big and it was a yellowish color so it blended right in with the dried brush" replied Eric. "It started to make me nervous after a while when it kept slowly creeping towards me."
"What did you do?"
"I ignored it for a while, then when it kept getting closer I revved up the weed eater and sort of shook it at the bobcat and it finally ran off." said Eric, "It went down the gully and jumped over the fence at the end. Then I lost sight of it in the brush."
There was dead silence in the room as DH, DS2, DS3 and I stared at Eric.
"What was its tail like?" I asked, nervously.
"Really long" said Eric "Why?"
"Well, I think you were just stalked by a cougar" I said as Eric went pale and sat down suddenly. "It was on the SHPOA notice website this morning that one was seen in several yards in Shadow Hills yesterday."
DH, DS2 and DS3 erupted into laughter. Eric did not cut any more brush for us.
Lions are protected here in California and have no fear of people. The cougar proceeded to take 2 turkeys, a goat and a couple of pets before he returned to the National Forest several weeks later.
They don't come often, but they do come. We have had several encounters here, luckily my LGDs have chased them off. the episode with Eric was after we lost our last Pyreees to cancer and before getting our Anatolians.
One night DS1 was here alone and heard a big commotion of barking and growling in the gully. He went outside to check it out and headed for the field. He was startled by the horses bursting out of the gully and running madly across the field. Next thing he knew, a large yellow shape flashed out of the gully followed by 2 Weimaraners and 1 Pyrenees. The cougar leaped onto the chain link fence between the house and field. The dogs closed in, excited at having treed the cat. The cougar leaped off the other side of the fence and raced across the field, scattering the horses again, and finally gaining safety over the perimeter fence. DS1 was only 15 feet from the cougar when it burst out of the gully!
Fire is a threat to any one of us, but never more dangerous than on a farm where we store hay, equipment and livestock in buildings. Hay and equipment fuel burn hot and fast and can spread to buildings and home quickly. I live in southern California, in the San Fernando Valley in the foothills. The brush is typical high desert brush with some creosote, and other high fuel varieties. Our fire season is anytime after the rain (if we get any) has stopped and the vegetation has dried out - about a month after the last rain. We also get a condition known here as the Santa Anas, hot dry winds that normally come in September but in the past 5 years have shown up any time they want to.
It is hard to get fire trucks into some of these areas quickly enough to prevent the loss of homes and outbuildings so the Fire Department has instituted fire clearance footage. Originally it was 100 feet from any structure, fence and road, then it became 200 feet. Many of the structures that burn in our southland fires burn because owners have not bothered to do their clearance. They like the privacy of screening brush or the cover it gives local wildlife. When we moved in here 30 years ago, we had bevies of quail, roadrunners, and rabbits everywhere. We even had deer here on the hills. The 100' fire clearance reduced the quail and our roadrunners, a mated pair and their chick, disappeared after about 5 years. The 200' required clearance eradicated them except in the distance. We back onto 100 acres of uncleared brush which had not burned for 70 years until the Creek Fire last December. I kept binoculars by the door to check on any smoke sightings, and we cleared. And cleared. And cleared.
Brush clearance is dirty, hard work on the flat. We have slopes starting at 30 degrees and almost immediately becoming 60 degrees. The horses will find a way down for the bright green grass, and the sheep and goats are comfortable on those slopes. But they have to be cleared so we do it.
One year we measured wrong and were cited by the Fire Inspector. yes the Fire Department sends out inspectors and cites whoever they find in noncompliance. They do not just trust residents to do their job. Anyway, we needed to recut the acreage since we had missed the measurement by 50 feet, and a late rain has caused more stuff to start up. We are in high desert type landscape, rain brings almost instant green. A high school friend of DS2 and DS3 wanted to earn money for college so we hired him. Eric is 6' tall and weighed about 190 lbs. He played football in high school and also did shot putt. Eric could only come on his days off, so DH, DS2 and DS3 started cutting. 2 days later Eric arrived to cut.
We still have a good supply of wildlife in our area. We have rabbits and ground squirrels everywhere, hawks soar, coyotes are a nuisance everywhere, and bobcats are also live here, although rarely seen. While working the barn several days before we had noticed a large bobcat strolling up the dirt road behind us. It was a daily thing. He would go up into the 100 acres of nothing in the late afternoon, and return in the morning. We enjoyed watching him strolling along unhurriedly, like someone just out for a casual walk. They are usually so shy that you never see one. We told Eric that if he was lucky he would see this bobcat while cutting on the field.
The 3 boys worked all morning. After lunch DS2 and 3 left to do something. They returned in the afternoon just about the time Eric came up for a break. He told us that he had seen the bobcat but
"I didn't know they got that big!"
"Was it on the road?" DH asked. "It comes every day?"
"No, I almost didn't see it at all" said Eric, "It was laying in the brush off to the side and a little down from where I was cutting. I only saw it when it moved towards me up the hill."
"That is really strange' said DH "We only ever saw it walking on the road behind the gully."
"How big was it?" I asked getting a horrible premonition.
"Really big and it was a yellowish color so it blended right in with the dried brush" replied Eric. "It started to make me nervous after a while when it kept slowly creeping towards me."
"What did you do?"
"I ignored it for a while, then when it kept getting closer I revved up the weed eater and sort of shook it at the bobcat and it finally ran off." said Eric, "It went down the gully and jumped over the fence at the end. Then I lost sight of it in the brush."
There was dead silence in the room as DH, DS2, DS3 and I stared at Eric.
"What was its tail like?" I asked, nervously.
"Really long" said Eric "Why?"
"Well, I think you were just stalked by a cougar" I said as Eric went pale and sat down suddenly. "It was on the SHPOA notice website this morning that one was seen in several yards in Shadow Hills yesterday."
DH, DS2 and DS3 erupted into laughter. Eric did not cut any more brush for us.
Lions are protected here in California and have no fear of people. The cougar proceeded to take 2 turkeys, a goat and a couple of pets before he returned to the National Forest several weeks later.
They don't come often, but they do come. We have had several encounters here, luckily my LGDs have chased them off. the episode with Eric was after we lost our last Pyreees to cancer and before getting our Anatolians.
One night DS1 was here alone and heard a big commotion of barking and growling in the gully. He went outside to check it out and headed for the field. He was startled by the horses bursting out of the gully and running madly across the field. Next thing he knew, a large yellow shape flashed out of the gully followed by 2 Weimaraners and 1 Pyrenees. The cougar leaped onto the chain link fence between the house and field. The dogs closed in, excited at having treed the cat. The cougar leaped off the other side of the fence and raced across the field, scattering the horses again, and finally gaining safety over the perimeter fence. DS1 was only 15 feet from the cougar when it burst out of the gully!
- Thread starter
- #275
Ridgetop
Herd Master
I see once again I have gotten side tracked so my story about brush clearance will have to wait. It is still cool so I want to get out and do more cleaning in the tool/workshop. Temps here have been way above average - in the high 80's.
greybeard
Herd Master
Coming soon, the same regs and forced compliance, to a Texas county near you.......
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #277
Ridgetop
Herd Master
If it saves homes and lives, it is worth it. That is why we keep sheep and let them graze everything off to nothing. Our sheep saved our property during the Creek fire. That fire was driven by 90 mph winds and when it hit our acres with nothing to burn, it went around us. God was very good to us, but remember God helps those who help themselves. We have always cleared since fire here is so dangerous. This is the 2nd time a fire hit our property fence and skirted us due to lack of anything to burn. Most of the homes that burned had not done their fire clearance compliance. One family were evacuated, decided the evacuation was not necessary, went home with their horses, then when the fire came, tried to evacuate again, and one horse was injured so badly it had to be put down! And again, the brush came right up to their house!
"Stupid is the sin that is never forgiven and always punished" - I just read that quotation yesterday - so true!
"Stupid is the sin that is never forgiven and always punished" - I just read that quotation yesterday - so true!
Mike CHS
Herd Master
That is pretty profound when you think about it.
Bruce
Herd Master
I think it is good that they check because you KNOW a lot of people have the "it won't happen to me" mindset and won't clear. ESPECIALLY if they know they won't be caught. But it is too bad they can't give you a warning first time rather than a fine. Especially if it is obvious you have been working on clearing the area.
Rammy
Herd Master
Or just tell you its not far enough clearance and give you so much time to fix it. Then if you havent, THEN you get fined. Just sounds like they use it to get more money out of people. Tax for this, that, and oh, yeah, this too.
Rights being taken away little by little. Nobody notices. Those who do feel they cant fight it. My Mom says, as long as people can go buy what they want they dont care. Government is taking away more and more all the time. Fining people for not doing something maybe the state should be doing is just one more way to get what people work hard for.
Rights being taken away little by little. Nobody notices. Those who do feel they cant fight it. My Mom says, as long as people can go buy what they want they dont care. Government is taking away more and more all the time. Fining people for not doing something maybe the state should be doing is just one more way to get what people work hard for.
