Front Porch Chit Chat

[The Innkeeper]

Gorgeous -17?!?!?!?!

Clear, no wind, no new snow, fresh and crisp. Yup... gorgeous

 

[Double R]

Today was prepare for and feed b&b guests, housecleaning, shovelling snow off the well house, walk the dog and a worship service. Once a month the 5 Christian churches in the valley get together for a joint praise service. Also did some PR work for th3 local riding club and some updates on our B&B website.Tomorrow it’s worship service and then new guest arriving in the afternoon.

Wow! Busy! Busy for sure!

 

[The Innkeeper]

I'm fixin to help Noah build an ark!
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Must be your reptilian sense of humor! Lol
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Building that boat will keep you busy a long time

 

[The Innkeeper]

Okay, new topic… Yesterday it was 62 degrees, today it was 65. My house filled up with orange lady bugs. They are a beneficial insect. They eat aphids but are very annoying. They are in a family of tiny beetles called “Coccinellid”. There are dozens and dozens of beetles in this subfamily.

Any one else have this annoying beneficial insect plaguing their homes now?

at -17 we dont have an insect problem right now

 

[Double R]

Okay, new topic… Yesterday it was 62 degrees, today it was 65. My house filled up with orange lady bugs. They are a beneficial insect. They eat aphids but are very annoying. They are in a family of tiny beetles called “Coccinellid”. There are dozens and dozens of beetles in this subfamily.

Any one else have this annoying beneficial insect plaguing their homes now?

We buy lady bugs and release them every year. They are amazing bugs.
We also have praying mantis that breed like rabbits. Sometimes its almost impossible to buck hay without killing some. They hand out on the stacks of hay and the barns. We do our best to relocate them off the bales.
No bugs right now. Were supposed to be in winter. Having said that we are seeing mosquitoes the last few days. Can't believe it

 

[gumpy]

Okay, new topic… Yesterday it was 62 degrees, today it was 65. My house filled up with orange lady bugs. They are a beneficial insect. They eat aphids but are very annoying. They are in a family of tiny beetles called “Coccinellid”. There are dozens and dozens of beetles in this subfamily.

Any one else have this annoying beneficial insect plaguing their homes now?

They are around here big time. Now I know where they came from! Keep them there!

@Fort & @buildit Where are you???? Are you partying with out us again?

@buildit is teaching @Fort how to shift from neutral to first gear on that Bike!

 

[gumpy]

We buy lady bugs and release them every year. They are amazing bugs.
We also have praying mantis that breed like rabbits. Sometimes its almost impossible to buck hay without killing some. They hand out on the stacks of hay and the barns. We do our best to relocate them off the bales.
No bugs right now. Were supposed to be in winter. Having said that we are seeing mosquitoes the last few days. Can't believe it

Mosquitos started showing up here a couple of days ago! Already?

 

[Double R]

Were just getting our owl population back from West Nile. If were going to have a extremely bad mosquito season I fear it will devastate the numbers again.
Hard to believe with how little rain we've had theres mosquitoes

 

[gumpy]

 

[The Innkeeper]

Last year was a killer year for mosquitos. High flood water hatched eggs that had lain dormant for years. All sizes and varieties. It was nasty. We are hearing rumblings about West Nile working it’s way up here... not looking forward to that day

 

[Double R]

It hasn't reached you yet? Thats good. I wasn't sure.
Its bad. Ive seen horses die from it (not mine) and turned over multiple birds found dead here. All came up positive. We would see many owls a night. Dropped to none. We now have 3 back and see quite a few while driving at night.
We built an owl box in the hay barn but they don't use it. Were going to reevaluate our build and try again. We'd love to have them take up permanent residence and have babies.

 

[The Innkeeper]

We have Lyme disease with the ticks and West Nile is only a few hours south of here. Probably pretty much inevitable that it will move up this far although there is some small hope that the sp3 irs of mosquitoes that carry it won’t be able to handle the cold

 

[Peanut]

Sometimes its almost impossible to buck hay without killing some.

The most heart-breaking day I ever had in a hay field. He stayed right where his momma left him… in my hay. After being hit by the mower he couldn’t walk but I had nothing to put him down with… It was heart breaking, wrenching! I carried him to the woods to the shade so he could rest. He crawled back out into the field where his momma left him…

 

[Double R]

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The most heart-breaking day I ever had in a hay field. He stayed right where his momma left him… in my hay. After being hit by the mower he couldn’t walk but I had nothing to put him down with… It was heart breaking, wrenching! I carried him to the woods in the shade so he could rest. He crawled back out into the field where his momma left him…

I absolutely hate it when that stuff happens! Breaks my heart

 

[The Innkeeper]

View attachment 3910


The most heart-breaking day I ever had in a hay field. He stayed right where his momma left him… in my hay. After being hit by the mower he couldn’t walk but I had nothing to put him down with… It was heart breaking, wrenching! I carried him to the woods in the shade so he could rest. He crawled back out into the field where his momma left him…

always a heat breaker. I remember a time when I was about 14. We kept our kennel of sled dogs outside of town, about a three mile walk from our house. I walked to the kennel after school and found that most of a litter of ten day old puppies had prolapsed bowels which had frozen solid. I was faced with walking six miles to get my gun or putting them down by clubbing them with a blunt instrument ... I.e. a frozen stick. To prevent further suffering I did it then and there, ten puppies. Man I cried for a long time. It was the right thing but it was hard.

 

[Double R]

Taking a life is never easy for me. I have had to do it in situations like that before on multiple occasions. Some I still have nightmares about years later.

 

[The Innkeeper]

Life is sacred ... there is always a cost to taking it, even when it must be done. If it ever gets too easy be afraid.

 

[The Innkeeper]

Well folks I have to pack in it, have and a good night and a blessed da. Sleepwell

 

[gumpy]

You too! Catch ya later Mon!

 

[gumpy]

@Peanut are you doing well today?

 

[Double R]

Good night @BugoutBob
Sweet dreams!

 

[Peanut]

@Peanut are you doing well today?

Exhausted but that is always the case... I have CFS (22 years now). I'm a "glass half full" sort of person, nothing I can't do or overcome... Thanks for asking! ;D

 

[Double R]

Exhausted but that is always the case... I have CFS (22 years now). I'm a "glass half full" sort of person, nothing I can't do or overcome... Thanks for asking! ;D

I love that about you! So awesome

 

[gumpy]

Life's full of obstacles. When I start feeling down, God shows me someone worse off than me! You're still on my prayer list.

 

[Peanut]

Life's full of obstacles. When I start feeling down, God shows me someone worse off than me! You're still on my prayer list.

I think he is still teaching me a lesson about my arrogant belief that I can do anything...

 

[gumpy]

RR I like your avatar change! Haha! Must be a California kow! Lol

 

[gumpy]

@Peanut ,As the kids song goes, "He's still working on me, to make me what I ought to be!"

 

[gumpy]

I'm gonna try to crash out. Y'all have a good night's rest!

 

[Double R]

RR I like your avatar change! Haha! Must be a California kow! Lol

Haha! Probably!
Thanks! I should have changed it on the first. Kept forgetting.

 

[Double R]

I'm gonna try to crash out. Y'all have a good night's rest!

Sweet dreams!