husband: Bless his bizarre little thinking-outside-the-box heart.

[gcvmom]

husband was off to Home Depot this afternoon to pick up some odds 'n' ends for yard repairs, and I asked him to look for a heat lamp or any kind of utility lamp with a safety cage on it to use in the chicken coop. I really want to get these four little critters OUT of my bathtub!

So what does he bring home? One of those standalone electric ceramic space heaters. Says it was on clearance for $30. I'm thinking "how the heck do we keep the chicks from burning themselves on this thing (which clearly says for use indoors on a level floor only) ?" while trying to... ummmm... thank him for the "creative" solution and not hurt his extremely sensitive feelings.

I thought he understood that I wanted something to hang above whatever perch they'll use in the coop for roosting at night. I guess I wasn't C L E A R enough.

Anyone else have someone in their life that needs a picture drawn for them in order to get your message across?

 

[Hound dog]

How about my whole family??

husband might have better luck at someplace like TSC for the heat lamp with the cage around it. We used one for one of our dogs who had a litter of pups in the middle of winter. It had a huge clamp on it and we also tied it into place to make sure it stayed secure.

My husband is also super sensitive. But I've learned to ignore it. Can't have fried chickies because husband's feelings might get hurt, or a chicken coop fire because you're using a space heater on uneven ground.

Of course I'm not husband's biggest fan right now anyway. lol

Hugs

 

[Lothlorien]

Anyone else have someone in their life that needs a picture drawn for them in order to get your message across?

Ummmmm, more than I can tell you about in a post.

 

[nvts]

I thought he understood that I wanted something to hang above whatever perch they'll use in the coop for roosting at night. I guess I wasn't C L E A R enough.

Anyone else have someone in their life that needs a picture drawn for them in order to get your message across?

Ummm, maybe he thought you said "roast" not "roost"??!!!

Ok, ok, now I'm headed for the corner!

Beth

 

[hearts and roses]

Ironically, difficult child is the only one who 'gets me' most of the time...easy child also, H, almost never. Hahahahaha---so what will you do? Return the heater thingy?

 

[KTMom91]

Yep. All the time. There are days when explaining is just too much and I want to scream. "Did I stutter? Did I not say this in ENGLISH, or did you somehow hear Chinese, or Latin, or some other incomprehensible language?" But if I do show my irritation, I get, "But I just want to make sure I heard you right...now, what did you say again?"

 

[Ropefree]

I had a dog once who would only respond to commands in a deep voice. Once I figured that out I turned up the lowest tones I could muster and the dog did what I said.
CLEAR, I quess, is a very personal thing. And better know who you are giving the picture to or the appliance WILL BE way to big, way to small or the door, switch, fuel will be all wrong and for sure the bringer will not have a reciept and won't remember where they bought it.
At least in my world.

 

[Ropefree]

Oh, oh, oh...speaking of chickens...my son asked a new landlord once if he could have chickens. And he could. So one day my son had enough money to buy one of two chicks, which he did, at a feed store. The left over chick followed him out of the store.
CLEAR enough? The landlord changed his mind! So for awhile until we moved we had these two chicks in our closet and we took them with us every where we went.
When we finally did find a new room to rent the new landlady said she did not want chicken in her kitchen, the smell of chicken...she said chicken so many times we were frantic. So...the chicks continued to live in our car. And chicks grow quick.
Eventually we found a home for those chick but what we learned about chicks is they are more attached to people than one might imagin. Those chick would stay by our car outside and get in without any prompting. Who knew? And untill it was utterly rediculas those chicks were content with a freash paper box and some lawn clippiings with a screen cover.

 

[susiestar]

Oh, my husband is SOO much the same way. Heck, I can even draw a picture and not get the right thing. Jess has learned if she isn't going to the store with him to tear the label off of the tampon carton to get even CLOSE to the right product. And she usually has to write instructions to get EXACTLY this box, no other one. LOLOLOL!!

I owuldn't even TRY to send my husband for something like a heater for a chicken coop. Heck, I got the neighbors to give us their shed before they moved, and I can't get husband to even work with me on moving it. And we NEED a shed badly. Oh well. I will get it moved in a couple of weeks I guess.

Good luck, I think a farm and home supply store would be a better bet, at least in our area.

 

[flutterbee]

You're nicer than me. I wouldn't worry about feelings and would send him back to return the space heater and to get the proper items.

Eventually, they get tired of having to return things and get the right thing to start with.

 

[gcvmom]

Lisa, Loth, Mary, Susie: It's nice to know the men in YOUR lives are just as confused about life as MINE is! Misery loves company...

Beth -- you are too funny!

Jo -- he's agreed to return it after I suggested we simply put some wire screen around the heat lamp we've already BEEN using in the bathroom for them (DOH!). Why I didn't just think of that to begin with....

Heather -- I've learned to be careful about his attempts to be helpful, because if his ego gets bruised too badly he just gives up trying. And with the undx'd mood disorder I'm pretty sure he has, his feelings are usually running very close to the surface most of the time and it's just not worth the tyrade that would ensue. So instead, he gets an "atta boy" and then a "what do you think about this?" for the way out of the predicament.

I'm hoping he gets a door on the coop today since it's a bit drafty without, and the old gate we had on it before has openings the chicks fit through very easily! (And WHY is he home for the second day in a row? I think he's mildly depressed on top of being sore from lots of yardwork Sunday.)

Ropefree, it doesn't surprise me your son's chicks were so tame We recently lost a hen (thus the replacement chicks) that was also very tame. She came when you called her by name, enjoyed sitting in my lap, would follow me around the yard, and if I went in the house, she'd sit at the back sliding glass door looking inside and waiting for me. (Sniff! I miss Herbert!)

 

[ML]

Some of them are just visual learners lol.

 

[Star*]

Sooooooooooo...........in order NOT to hurt his feelings I guess you will be using the heater INSIDE and then buying a little lamp for outside......

Perhaps. A. Suggestion. SHOW it to him...or print it out....or better yet while there - just order it yourself.

THEN?

And print SHOW it to him.....or print it out.....or better yet while there - just order it yourself.

THEN?

pictionary.....ROFLMOAO.



THEN?

charades......I am so good at this

THEN?

YOU go and forget you even told him anything.

OR...

LOL you teach the chickens to stay out of the frickasee-er.

I can hear them peeping from here -

DEEP FRYER - AISLE 4 ..............

You sent the man for a heater and he brought home a chicken cooker. NICE.

 

[donna723]

The only thing about those heat lamps ... when they're in use outdoors, if they get even so much as a tiny droplet of water on them, they will shatter into a million little pieces! When I lived in the country we had a well with a little 'dog house' type structure over the pump in the back yard. In the winter we'd rig up a heat lamp inside of it to keep the pump from freezing up. There were many times we got up and had no water, then found the heat lamp bulb shattered in pieces all over the pump house floor and the pump frozen.

It's kind of the wrong time of the year to be raising chicks, isn't it? When my daughter was a kid she really wanted to participate in the 4H chicken projects - they gave each kid two dozen chicks that they raised and then sold at auction when they were laying size. Trouble was, they got the chicks in in MARCH, when it was still way too cold for them to be outside. You had to rig up something inside to keep them in! This is how I ended up with two dozen baby chickens living the good life on the floor of my pantry!

 

[gcvmom]

Oh gosh, Star, he's not allowed to buy anything MORE! Not even JEWELRY (as much as I love it). Remember, this is the guy with an IMPULSE CONTROL problem? Case in point, last night he took difficult child 1 to Walmart and apparently he bought a bag of DVD's from the $5 bin (I HOPE)! I'm really annoyed because there are about 15 movies in that bag, and we sure as heck don't NEED them. I could see one or two, maybe even three on an impulse buy, but this is just WAY out of control. So YES, he is taking the heater BACK, BACK, BACK!

Donna, thanks for the tip. We'll make sure the heat lamp is securely tucked away from any water. Fortunately, it doesn't get that cold here. Right now it's in the mid-50's at night. Even in the dead of winter it rarely gets below 40 degrees.