Chicken Hospice

I pride myself on being a tough old bastard that does not put up with anyone's bullshit. That said, I do have a caring and compassionate side as demonstrated by my career in EMS and the care of my animals.

This morning I found one of my elderly French Black Maran hens lying on her side in the pen when I went down to the coop this morning. The other birds were stomping all over her in excitement to my approach. I sent the other birds out to get their morning mealworm treat and picked her up. At first I thought she was dead, but she opened her eyes and lifted her head. I carried her into the house to my wife's dog grooming area of the basement. I set her on a towel on her grooming table while I went to get a spare dog crate. After the crate was assembled I placed the hen on the towel inside, put the crate on the table, and raised the table to its maximum level. She is sitting in a tripod position which makes breathing easier with her eyes closed and it is just a matter of time before she expires. At least she has a quiet space to go. I had her since she was a 4 month old pullet, laid hundreds of eggs while productive, and has lived out her long life as a matron of the younger ones.

When I find a chicken dead in the morning, I place their body in an empty feed bag and place it in the trash.

Lite On The Blogging

Forgive me readers, for I have sinned. It has been 8 days since my last blog post.

 

For a couple of reasons. First, being out of work means I am not spending the hours of down time at the firehouse sitting in front of the boob tube or a computer and blogging from my phone really sucks. I have been keeping busy doing other things. The other is when I do have idle time, I am on Gab.com and reading blogs which is easy to do on the phone. The following is a few of my "gabs" (their version of a tweet). This first one I have pinned to my profile.

 

 

The following are a couple of comments to gabs of others that don't require much context.

 

As a FAFO message to those that visit my profile page, this is my header. Yes, that could actually be me at an undisclosed location with any identifiers blacked out firing a one of a kind built precision rifle.

 

An update on my workplace injury; I finally have an appointment for an MRI next Wednesday. Then I have to have another appointment at the orthopedic office to see what treatment will be required. At this point I am getting around really well, and hope it is nothing more than some strengthening and rehab without surgery. I have lost 2 weeks of 108 hours pay so far. Between Workman's Comp and 2 supplementals I should not lose a dime in pay.

Fabulous Weather

It is sunny, 82 with low humidity, and a light breeze. The leaves have finally popped on the trees providing shade on the house. I have every window open and it is a comfortable 72 on the first floor and 74 on the second. I am spending a quiet afternoon alone on the porch listening to the WTIC AM 1080 stream on Audacy through my ROKU with the birds and squirrels to keep me company. 

Nothing else to do until after I get my knee fixed and go back to "fightin' fires and savin' lives!"

If this were a normal day off I'd definitely be out on "The Beast." I hear some guys out on the main road rippin' it up on sportbikes in the distance.

Update On My Knee Boo-Boo

This is an update on my "Aww Crap!" post. Since Sunday, I have been getting around without crutches and I ditched the knee brace. My knee actually feels pretty good, but "twingy", meaning I feel as though I am one wrong move, twist, or hard landing away from being back where I was last Friday afternoon. Initially I was OK on flat ground, but struggling with stairs and inclines. Now I can do those too, but slowly and with caution.

Getting the Workman's Comp paperwork filed has been a cluster fuck, with conflicting information and instructions. It finally got filed, getting me the all important claim number, but I believe it is still not right. At this point, I don't care. I got a claim number and was able to get right in to the orthopedist office for an exam yesterday morning at 11:00.

I saw a real nice young and handsome (I can recognize a handsome man without being gay!) physicians assistant. He listened to my story of what happened and then did a physical exam of my knee, by manipulating it in all different directions, and some other joint tests where he sat on my foot while I lay on my back. It was when he tried to bend it straight back as far as it would go that I howled and came off the table. He then did the same manipulations to my my other knee for comparison. He said my joints felt pretty good and strong, and is suspecting a meniscus tear in my right knee, requiring minor surgery to go in and "clean it up." He explained that there is no blood flow to the meniscus, therefore it will never heal. Instead they go in and just remove the damaged cartilage causing pain. An M.R.I. will be required to confirm, which of course, has to be authorized by Workman's Comp before I can even get an appointment. That should be early next week. The P.A. told me that when most people come in for the ten day post-op to get stitches removed after surgery, they are mostly recovered. THAT is good news compared to something that would sideline me for a couple of months like a total knee reconstruction or replacement. I would be out of my mind!

In the meantime, I am getting stuff done around the homestead. I have a Honda self-propelled walk behind mulching mower so I have been able to keep the grass cut without causing myself pain or further injury, although at a much slower pace than normal. Taking care of the chickens is trickier, carrying a 5 gallon waterer or their full feeder down the hill to the chicken coop every couple of days. I just take it slow and cautious. I have a minor exhaust repair to do on my truck that will be tricky. My FIL is around so he can get me tools and stuff while I stay down on the creeper, instead of getting up and down myself.

I had an terse discussion with my wife, who is upset that I am not working and that we are taking a temporary hit on our income. I say temporary because I will receive back pay for lost time. I had to explain that there is only two day time positions at the FD and there is no "light duty." I am a Firefighter/EMT and have to be able to fully perform my duties. Now if I had my old job in I.T. that was mostly a desk job, this would be a no brainer. I probably wouldn't have even filed a claim. Can you imagine me trying to be part of a 2-man team bringing a patient down a flight of stairs in a stair chair? Or being up on a roof trying to cut a vent hole? Trying to remove a victim from a house fire? Or operate the hydraulic rescue tools to open a crashed car? The list is endless. While I am certainly not a top notch physical specimen like the guy on the left and more like the guy on the right, as long as everything works on my body I can effectively do my job. BTW, the guy on the right is actor Kevin Heffernan portraying Chief Terry McConky in Tacoma FD. That show is one of the most accurate depictions of a small fire department on TV, and a favorite at our station.

Another friend asked if I could just sit at a desk and file reports. Nope. Our incident reports, patient care reports, maintenance records, etc. are done as soon as the incident or maintenance is concluded. Reports do not pile up for a clerk to do or for us to do later. Our department call volume is such that we have plenty of time between incidents to get reports done.

Finally Got A New Trailer

My wife was right. In 2016 when I got permanently exiled from a 35 year career in telecommunications and I.T., I sold off several possessions in order to keep the roof over our heads. One of those possessions was a utility trailer I owned in order to sweeten the deal when I sold my snowmobile. My wife didn't think I should let the trailer go and stated I would later regret it. Yup... I did and missed it more than the sled itself which was itself one sweet ride. It was 15 years old with low miles and a fresh top end, electric start, studded track, reverse, and heated seats and grips. I had modified the trailer to also carry the sled which it did perfectly and that clinched the sale.

My 45th Anniversary Edition Polaris 2000 700 XC. *Sniff* no more

So after getting a substantial sum of back overtime pay, I went trailer shopping again. The other things I use my trailer for is forest management from the road in front of my house, moving large items, and carrying my canoe with kayaks to and from bodies of water. I had looked around before and never found what I really wanted for a decent price. I started looking again and have had a bitch of time finding what I want. I came across an internet ad for Big Tex trailers, and found a local dealer. I called CT Trailer in Bolton and they had a brand new leftover trailer that was larger and heavier than I wanted but at a discounted price of $3995. They were going to close before I got out of work, so they said I could come by and look at it in their lot after hours then call them the next day. I looked at it and thought it was huge, but the price was unbeatable. I also looked at some aluminum trailers that had on site and jotted down some model numbers to see how much more they were out of curiosity.

When I called the next day, the saleswoman I originally spoke to was off. The salesman I spoke to said the Big Tex trailer I was looking to buy should not have been on the inventory because it was already sold. Since I had looked at the aluminum trailers I inquired about an Aluma 7210 they had on the lot. YIKES.... $5299.00 but was the size and capacity with the features I wanted. Plus it is all aluminum construction instead of a wooden deck like the Big Tex had. I went down that afternoon with the intention of buying it and taking it home. Unfortunately, my wife had other plans. She called me to see when I was coming home just as I was walking into the showroom. I went out with the salesman to give it a good once over and decided to take it. Because I did not have time to process the whole sale, I gave them a 10% down payment and told them I'd be back next Saturday the 6th to finalize the sale and take it home.

Saturday the 6th (bum knee and all) I went to CT Trailer to pickup my new trailer. The saleswoman I originally dealt with over the phone was there and I must say, quite the hot cougar (younger than me but older than MILF status). I did the paperwork and paid the money, which meant I was leaving with a fully registered trailer sporting a brand new license plate. I went outside with the saleswoman to get it ready to take away. Uh oh.... a problem developed with my hitch. I had a 6" drop hitch in my receiver, which was perfect for my old trailer, but too low for the new one. She said the too low angle will wear out the tires unnecessarily. "No problem, I have a level hitch with a 2" ball in my truck box" I said all proud of myself. That hitch was made by Toyota and came with our 2005 4Runner we had bought new and traded in back in 2019. I had never tried it in my Tundra tow receiver. The way it was made it would not go in far enough for the locking pin holes to line up. Now I look like an idiot. OK, they have some level hitches in the accessory store, they would just move my 2" ball onto it. Nope. The Toyota ball has a larger shank and was not even close to fitting. Another $50 for a whole new hitch and another 2" ball. OK it is hooked up and level, and all the lights are working fine. I had tested my truck's trailer electrical connector previously to make sure it was all good.

The new hitch and ball. I already had the locking retention pin

I have large stainless steel lock-nut rings on the receiver because unless the trailer safety chains have monster size hooks, they don't fit in those angled slots. That was the case with the new trailer's safety chains that had snap hooks on the ends. I also wanted to purchase hitch locks, so back into the store to pick out what I wanted.

A ball lock and a hitch lever pin lock

Because I bought a brand new trailer I got 10% off all the accessories, but it still all cost me another $144.38 for every thing. The whole deal for the trailer, registration, sales tax, and the accessories was $5960.56 which I plunked down on my rewards VISA card. I will pay the entire balance when the bill comes next month and use the points to get gift cards like I always do.

I extended and re-adjusted my tow mirrors, put on my headlights, and made the uneventful trip home. At only 450 pounds empty, I didn't even feel the trailer back there. I share a driveway with my neighbor, and I pulled in and up their driveway and then easily backed into mine and all the way up to my garage. It tracks and maneuvers like a dream.

Parked in my driveway. GVW is 2200 pounds

From the other side. Dimensions are 10' x 6' with 24" high removable sides

Heavy duty tie-down points in all four corners

The tie-downs will allow me to trailer "The Beast" to the Honda dealer in the event something happens that I can't drive it there.

So the anti-theft locks I put on really won't prevent theft. The hitch is bolted onto the trailer tongue, where it was all welded steel on my old trailer and these locks worked fine. All someone had to do was unbolt my hitch and toss it aside, bolt on a new one, and drive away with my trailer. See what I mean below.

 

So here is my solution; a 20' tow chain I had in the barn wrapped around a 2' diameter pine tree and threaded around the trailer tongue, secured with a "Level 9"  Master padlock. The trailer would be destroyed cutting the softer aluminum around the chain and lock. The hitch locks are there also. Will a determined thief with all the time in the world make off with my trailer? Probably. The hope is that the run of the mill petty thieves that sometimes pop up in our area would look at this mess and go elsewhere.

Current view from my Blink Outdoor camera

I had contemplated parking the trailer and chaining it to the telephone pole down the driveway in a better and flatter spot, but here by the pine tree puts it in camera range. It won't be used every day so secured, under video surveillance, and out of the way is fine.