It looks like it might rain and you sure hope it will even though you have laundry on the line

You have ever hauled livestock in the backseat of your car

You keep a junk car with no engine up by the chicken coop because you can store feed in it (and it means you don't have to add on to the shed)

You have ever dehydrated food (on purpose) in a car with the windows rolled up

When someone starts talking about their kids, you think they're talking about livestock

You search for tractor parts on eBay

You have ever considered building your own chicken plucker

You have ever kept a brooder in the kitchen

.......

:D

-- Anonymous, June 28, 2001

Answers

Some of those indeed fit me. When we were coming to our property on weekends and had no generator or electricity I used to sit my coffee pot on the dashboard and roll all the windows up to keep the coffee in my camp pot hot.

-- Anonymous, June 29, 2001

You take all 6 of your dogs into the bathroom with you during a tornado warning. (now 8 dogs, need a bigger bathroom)

You have baby goats jumping around on your wood floors in the house every February.

You got a milk cow for your birthday.

You spend every coffee break chatting with other homesteader people on the internet!

You can answer a question about the consistency of correct poo poo. (any animal)

-- Anonymous, June 29, 2001

It looks like it might rain and you sure hope it will even though you have laundry on the line

Until the drought broke a couple of weeks ago I'd have been happy to see it rain no matter *what* I had outside! Now that it has broke I'd like to see it *not* rain for long enough for me to at least get the lawn mowed without having to do it when the grass is still soaked. No happy mediums here!

You have ever hauled livestock in the backseat of your car

Nope, have always had at least access to a pickup truck. Did bring a box of chicks home in the back of a Volkswagen once though.

You keep a junk car with no engine up by the chicken coop because you can store feed in it (and it means you don't have to add on to the shed)

An old 1972 Ford van. Feed, garden tools and general stuff. A new shed would have cost me more than what I paid for the van when I first bought it and drove it for years.

You have ever dehydrated food (on purpose) in a car with the windows rolled up

Yes, but it wasn't particularly successful. Picked up odors.

When someone starts talking about their kids, you think they're talking about livestock

Haven't done much with goats yet.

You search for tractor parts on eBay

No tractor parts yet, but corn shellers, scythes and a lot more, oh yes.

You have ever considered building your own chicken plucker

How did you know? Was just looking at photoes of one built out of an old washing machine.

You have ever kept a brooder in the kitchen

In the kitchen?! Uh, no. That's *gross*.

I kept mine in the guest bedroom.

={(Oak)-

-- Anonymous, June 29, 2001

Kept our brooder in the dining room - 'til we got smart and now keep it in the basement!

Designed the new kitchen according to how much space we need come butcherin' time!

Used all of 3/4 tank of oil over the last 3 years - WOOD HEAT - nothing beats it!

Both kids got their own hatchets for Christmas - and both still love and use them (unlike any other toy/item they got).

-- Anonymous, June 30, 2001

I love all these things you have done. Everyone around here laughs at me and thinks I am crazy for doing many of the things listed here.

Can identify poo poo by smell alone.

Never had baby goats in the house in winter but did have lots of piglets in front of my wood cookstove last winter. Added a new aroma to the house.

I want directions for the homemade chicken plucker!!!

Got Gummy boots, pitchfork, hoes ect. for different Valentines days. Hubby got a manure spreader for his birthday.

Never searched for tractor parts on e-bay but just bought another team of draft horses I found on equine.com.

Keep making everyone smile and feel at home. Joanie

-- Anonymous, July 01, 2001

Joanie, check out this article at the Sustainabl e Farming Connection:

Mobile Poultry Processing Unit

At the end of the article they give an e-mail address you can use to get plans. The plans include a scalder as well as a plucker. They cost about $10 or $15 last I checked.

-- Anonymous, July 01, 2001