Tag Archives: Country living

The Elusive Mouse

29 Sep

Speak Up Saturday

Patricia Franklin

Here on the porch I have so enjoyed Patricia’s stories. Sadly it appears she may be taking a Fall break. If anyone has s story they would like to share,  leave a comment or tweet me @onisha. I would love to hear your stories-Onisha

 

 

I think our elusive mouse has disappeared. Could he have been a figment of my imagination?  I was so frustrated with something that wasn’t even there?  However, he did leave behind his little gifts for me to clean up.  And I remember when I first discovered his presence. He was trying to nest in my husband’s knee pads. He never even went near the pile of rags I keep in the laundry room.  This just gets curiouser and curiouser.

If he is living under my house he must be an “arachnidavore” because that is all I have under the house. He would have to survive  by devouring bugs and spiders, as he has not set one little foot in any other part of the house. I know because I have kept up a ritual of sweeping glances in every corner ever since he showed up.

We have had several cool nights and I figured if he was coming in from outdoors, he would be in on those nights.  Black Cat has been hanging around just enough to make me think he could read my mind, and took care of the problem. No doubt Cat is a very intelligent animal. We have a mutual respect and understanding between us, even if there is no love lost there.

 

End of Mouse I think…. will let you know if otherwise.  At any rate he still remains a mystery!

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Pallet House

12 Jul

On The Porch

Onisha Ellis

My son, Matt enjoys raising chickens. I don’t know why, but he just can’t seem to have enough chickens or chicken houses. Recently he decided to raise bantam chickens. He got eight of the Cochin type and four others of a breed I can’t remember. I’m not up on my chicken knowledge. This caused a problem since these chickens are smaller than his other ones. He decided to build another chicken house but like with many of us money is tight so he had to be creative.

Matt worked in a factory, which had a surplus of wooden pallets, and they were glad to get rid of them. He took seven home and started building. He framed it with five wooden pallets, put two pallets down to make a floor and used two by fours to create a roof. He picked up some Masonite siding from a surplus supply store to finish the outer walls and put two four by eight corrugated fiberglass panels to make a nice roof. He finished it off with two by twos and chicken wire for a door. This chicken house is so deluxe it even has an automatic water dispenser made using a five-gallon bucket. All total, he built a fine chicken house for sixty dollars.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m so proud of him. He has the ability to look at a problem and find creative, practical solutions. In these hard times, we all need to look into ourselves to rediscover that mindset. I fear that in our busy lives we have found it easier to throw money at a situation rather than using our minds to solve problems.

Matt’s chickens even get water front living.

 

Luke 12:42

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