Latestarter's ramblings/musings/gripes and grumbles.

[babsbag]

Your feeder sounds really similar to the one built with Premier 1 plans. I use panels with 4x4 openings. It wears on the goat's noses a little bit but it prevents heads getting stuck or goats trying to share an opening when it is really too small. Premier sells panels that are 3x5 openings but they are $$$ but I do like them the best.

 

[Latestarter]

So, a couple of quick observations. Those of you with no "southern experience" will just have to come down and experience it for yourownselves... Fire ant nests can be completely camouflaged by leaf litter... If you stand on said fire ant nest, being unaware, they WILL climb up your pant leg, inside and out, as well as up your leg and down into the loafer you are wearing (sans socks), and commence eating you... Eating will not commence until sufficient ants have gained access and then will happen all at once while additional forces invade your bodily structure... Fire ants eating you is a very uncomfortable experience, that stays with you, even after said ants have been swatted/crushed/brushed/swiped/slapped/etc. from your persona... Kicking off a loafer while in dew covered grass (barefoot) and hopping around trying to remove angry fire ants leaves a lot to be desired and bears possibly a little resemblance to "modern dance"... Not that it would be recognized as such, especially when being performed by a short, fat, non-limber, 60 year old man in the middle of a pasture... That method of dance/expression also tends to scare away any nearby wildlife or livestock within visual range... Would probably scare away a wife if I had one to witness it.

Mel is doing just fine... He holds my flooring down quite well most of the day, and then keeps the boogey men away at night. I don't know that he's in any particular rush to have a girlfriend... I believe that's more my issue than his. He leads a very non-LGD type life all things considered. He did get some quality time with CC the other day. They like each other.

Finally called the home warranty place and got an electrician out to repair the spa. The guy suggested a new breaker box and said he'd run it by the warranty company and if approved would come back out to replace it. After sitting filled, unheated/unfiltered for over a month, the water was pretty danged nasty. Got it emptied, cleaned, refilled and turned back on but haven't used it yet. When I wanted to use it (night temps in the 50s) it wasn't working... Now we're back in the 90s and night temps in/near the 70s. Soon enough I'll get the chance.

 

[CntryBoy777]

.....not laughing at ya Joe, but with ya....those Fahr Ants will have ya dancin a jig for sure, and their reminders will stay with ya for a while and itch like the dickens. When ya take a shower get the water as hot as ya can stand it and let it spray the bumps....if a selector showerhead turn to massage for the pressured stream....the intense itch sensation will subside and become numb giving relief. They will cure the urge to go commando, too....Sure sorry ya had to endure such and hopefully ya will be able to tend to them properly....

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Feel your pain...been there done that too many times to want to remember!

 

[Mike CHS]

I'll have to ask Teresa about her milk and bread remedy for stings in general. The red wasps here have announced open season on me so I have had to use her remedy several times. She used it on several fire ant bites last week after she stood on a nest.

 

[Baymule]

Joe, I read that to BJ and we had a good chuckle over your "southern experience". I have had that very same one. Them little devils will swarm all over you, give the signal, then they all bite at once. Get a bottle of Aloe Vera gel with Lidocaine in the sunburn section, it is great stuff for bug bites. In normal circumstances, it will last a LONG time. But in your case, you might want to slather the whole danged bottle on you.

 

[Mike CHS]

If you don't mind I'll do a minor hijack since I have a quick fire ant story. Back in the early 80's I was stationed at NAS Whiting Field and lived in Pace, Florida. We had the sandy soil that I think of whenever I see some of you Texans posting pictures and I was digging out a pine tree stump that was left over from before I bought my house. I was dressed as a typical Floridian in July in shorts and that's about it and in hole almost 4' deep when the critters attacked.

I did the dance LS mentioned slapping myself all over and without thinking went running for the water hose and started hosing myself all over. There must have been a couple of dozen of them critters that had made there way into my shorts and I literally had to strip down and hose myself all over to get rid of them. Fortunately I had underwear on and the water got rid of the majority of them. This was taking place in a subdivision and when I looked up there were several families out doing the BBQ thing and laughing their rears off since they were pretty sure they knew what had happened.

 

[Baymule]

SO TRUE!

 

[Alaskan]

so nice you weren't buck naked dancing in that water.

 

[CntryBoy777]

I'll spare the "Details" of my experience, but it was at an early age in Hawaii....I can't swear they were Fahr Ants, or another kind, but they certainly got my "Attention" for the rest of my life. I hate to admit it here.....but, I enjoy every ant hill I doctor.......and tell them so.....