[DeepSouthBamaGRITS]

Oh my! Nana is GORGEOUS!! I really like the big wooden box you have her in! Gives me an idea to use a couple of shipping crates I have for temp housing for chicks (kind of like a brooder box) I have a brooder box I built with a built in electrical socket to plug in a heat lamp. I cut out a trap door and hinged it to drop down and a barrel bolt lock to hold it shut. It had a big wasted area down below that I covered with wire and put in a wood board floor with a ramp leading down from the brooder area. When the chicks are little I won’t have the ramp in place and will have the trap door locked. When they get big enough to be able to take the heat from them I will drop the trap door and put the ramp on. That way the young chicks can go down the ramp into an open area for playing & to get fresh air & sunshine. They will be protected from any predators in the play area. I have a wire door on the bottom to be able to open & clean the bottom area.

I tried pulling up one of the links to the incubators you sent. One wouldn’t pull up because my Malware protector wouldn’t allow it to open because it contained Malware. I pulled up the 2nd link and WOW, that is a NICE incubator!! And it holds a LOT of eggs!! I love all the functions you can program it to do, too! I was very impressed with it. Mine is so old, but still works good but what I would give to have something like the one you have!!

What is your climate like there? We are VERY HOT & HUMID here 10 months of the year. Humid even in the winter time and have a few nights of freezing temps here & there usually in January & February.

I’ve done a lot of traveling up until a few years ago. People have done got CRAZY in this old world so I don’t do much traveling by myself anymore. I’ve been to Maui, Hawaii, Paris, France (spent 3 weeks to both of those areas). Been all over Canada and almost all of the US states. I was to go back to Paris, France to visit my friends and we were going to Austria & Germany but I never made it back. My friends spoke good English but I spoke very little French so I had big problems with a language barrier. Such a different culture, too. AND they love to eat & drink!! LOL!

I understand German’s do as well! Always wanted to go to a German Beer Festival. I had a friend that was an older lady that was German. She taught me a lot about cooking German meals. I love Hasenpfeffer and make it about once/twice a year usually when I dispatch a lot of rabbits. Schnitzel & Spätzle is very good, too. I even make homemade Spatzle! Spatzle and Beef Burgandy, Beef Stroganoff & Spatzle, Sauerbraten with spaetzle and red cabbage & apples are more favorites. I LOVE Spatzle, or can you tell?? LOL!

She introduced me to REAL German Bratwurst sausages and I LOVE them, too. We grill them and eat them like a hot dog here with sauerkraut. The bratwurst we get here in the states is NOTHING like a REAL GERMAN Bratwurst!! Also, I like German potato salad (made with vinegar) instead of mayonnaise which is used in the states.

She brought back some DELICIOUS cheese when she visited Germany. I think it was called Butterkase. We always had it on a piece of good toasted bread.

One of my favorite desserts that I make often is Schwarzwalder, we call it Black Forrest Cake in the states.
My friend taught me how to make Pizzelles cookies. She always told me they were German cookies and her mother made them all the time, especially at Christmas. We always make them at Christmas to have with boiled custard. I knew they were actually Italian cookies but I never told her I knew that.

I could go on & on about different German foods.

Here is a picture of the brooder I built for chicks. #1 is a pic of whole brooder, #2 is a pic of outside play area with ramp down, 3rd pic is looking inside at the trap door opening & showing the ramp.