It's true Jean - your husband's reality. As a business you can make money but for 10 hens at home each dozen eggs would be about $300 a pop until you paid off the coop at $899 and the freight to a home at $365, not to mention buying the chickens. Started 17 week old laying poulets are about $12 each but the shipping on them is $49 (they do come with their shots however). Then there is the feed and having to work it each day to keep everything extremely clean and fresh. You have to keep chickens away from wild birds and their droppings, not to mention the predators, but oh the romance of having a barnyard and a self sustaining life (without the hard work of course because you are rich enough to hire a few people to actually run the place). He he he... My co-worker had chickens and their chickens lived outside during the day and sometimes at night, but had a shed they could go into if they wanted. They lost some to predators and sometimes the eggs were just laying around on the ground and other times the hens would lay in thick shrubby growth at the edge of their woodlot (in the brambles). Betcha egg gathering was the pits there! She said they shot a opposum one time that was raiding a favorite hen's nest - the hen woke them up screaming her bloody head off and running to beat the band (they are fast she said) and with the flashlight they saw the possum on the nest eating the eggs. Boom - bye bye possie. Awww...... poor possie - he only wanted some fresh eggs too!

It is also interesting to see how paths have crossed between not only cousins but families. For instance, in the 1850-1870 census my 5thGG was living next to a Dibble family in Flint, MI. When I was growing up in Flint, MI our neighbors were Dibble! Last year I decided to research a branch of my family that had migrated to Battle Creek, MI. There was quite a bit of info on this family in the local library and I decided to bring the research forward and contact some of the remaining family members. Not sure if anyone remembers the movie "Bitter Harvest" directed by Ron Howard? It was about the horrible problem of PBB, a fire retardant, that was accidently mixed in with dairy cattle fed in MI. I remember seeing that movie in the early '80s and I've talked about it several times over the years and it has always stuck in my mind. Come to find out it was my cousin that discovered the contaminated feed and it was on his family dairy farm! It is odd that I referenced that movie so many times and I had a connection to it other then drinking the contaminated milk! I ran into some birth records in IL for the same surname as my GC. Of course my interest was peaked and I did his genealogy back to the early 1700s. There was tons of info on his family at the local library so it was not difficult at all. His 4thGGM was named ELIZABETH but used the nickname LIBBIE. My GC has a daughter, 3yo, named ELIZABETH and they call her LIBBIE. I asked him if he had named Libbie after his GGM and he said he had no idea about his family history. Oddly enough both used "IE" instead of "Y" in Libbie. This is not the first time I've seen this either. Actually, what I started my family history research was my Mother wanted a copy of her father's birth certificate and had tried to find it but was not sucessful. I remember thinking that this was something I could do for my Mom and set off to find the BC. I finally did track down the BC but before hand found many interesting documents like his WWI military record, school records and so on. Well, that is all I needed! For me doing my family history is finding out just a bit about how my ancestors lived and what decisions they made along the way. My most precious record is that of my 4th GGM who one an award for hand spun wool at the 1854 MI State Agriculture Fair. I do tons of needlework and do weave and this connection was absolutely a thrill for me to find!

One of the most memorable things I have ever done in my life was tromping through the everglades a couple summers ago. Took my husband and three kids. Paid a great company called 'Garl's coastal Kayaking' to take us on a day tour of the everglades. Instead of looking from a road, we really did trudge through the everglades in our mosquito suits , into a mangrove, next to an alligator hole. There were no alligators in the hole though. The water was supposedly too high. I Passed by tall trees, brown snakes, 15 kinds of Orchids, airplants, moss. My shoes wouldn't stay on so I had to walk through the muck barefooted, which my guide said was what "Garl" always did. Our guide was a young Doctor, we called him Dr. Don. He was funny and very excited about everything. While traveling down the long lonely Evergaldes highway to the ocean, he saw a giant Eastern Diamond back rattle snake crossing the road. He quickly pulled the white van over, jumped out with his camera and gave us some arousing information about this snake. We went on to the south Florida boarder where our Kayaks were. Dr. Don and his friend took us on a six mile paddle (no current!) where I saw a three gators, about a thousand jumping fish (no good for eatting) , one wild flamingo, lots of sea birds, Storks, ducks and a group of wild manatees. Paddling along shore on the way back we stupidly braved out the mosquitos who flew out to greet us in the dark. I recommend putting the suits back on, looking back at our complaining and flailing arms. Dr. Don had wine, crackers and cheese for us out on the water but we declined because we were determined to get back before dark, which still didn't happen. Although I've been to some pretty interesting places, I'd love to return to, the Everglades was one of the most hands on and the most enjoyable. (in the USA). I have some out of state places in mind that were equally wonderful. Have to add, the electrified tennis rackets Dr. Don gave us, worked great on the mosquitoes. We were gratefully sizzling the tiny beasts all day. One more thing. Go to FRANKS fruit market near the park, Mangos the size of footballs. Frank even cut one up for us to take on the trip. Sooooo GOOD!

As an interesting (to me) side note....I dabbled in genealogy back when Ancestry.com was Family tree and contributed lots of information when going thru my mothers' keepsakes after her death. Many letters and news clippings etc. I was never able to get anywhere with DHs' tree, as his father was adopted....end of story from that family of 11 brothers and sisters. DS decided to join in the National Graphic first DNA study (or early) and he discovered that his (my sons') DNA showed an African-American from a more recent migration. It told him where in Africa his ancestor migrated from and a time frame. I don't remember details, but DS was and is delighted to know that, because he has always felt a connection to his many black friends he grew up with and his own dark skin and Curley hair. DH too, altho he has very fair skin color. The family in the mid-west was not very happy to be given that information. My thoughts are that 'how wonderful that thru DNA investigation, so many of us are going to just prove that our country truly is and has been a melting pot of the world, and we are better for it'.