Dennis Barrow

My wife names most of the chickens, the cats and I name the dogs.
I call the all the cats "gato", because they don't give a dang about names.

I have named only 3 of the chickens, a rooster that looked like Sammy Haggar, so Sammy.  One chicken that jumps in my truck if I leave the door open for to long, Hitchhiker, (she is about 9 years old) and another 9 year old chicken I call Henrietta. I think I was watching some show with one of my grandkids when there was a chicken called that.

One of my sons names his dogs after things to do with fire:  Blaze, Ash, etc.  Another named his dogs Carbon and Steel.

When we get a new dog I usually name them after some trait they show in the first few day.  We have adopted several senior dogs over the years and just keep their names they had because they are used to them.

I have a light weight chipper that only does up to 2.5 inches.
Sunflower stalks and corn stalks go through it in the fall. (I only get three 5 gallon buckets full).  I add the results to raised beds, in ground beds and compost piles.
Seems to work well.

I have one compost pile that I started 3 years ago with old raspberry canes, and added lots of other stuff.  We are in what is considered "high desert".   I have to water it a lot and they are just now starting to break down.

My wife and I fly once a year, always in the winter to somewhere WARM!!
This year was Costa Rica.  Hawaii many times.  One of our sons lived on ST Croix for several years so would go to visit there a lot.

I know that the airlines have totally messed up the fun of traveling.  Extra $$ for checked bags, carry on bags, food, etc.

We watch for upgrades when possible so have been able to fly first class about half the time we fly.  That is well worth the extra $$.

Very seldom do we fly with checked baggage.  We try to find a place to stay that has a washer and dryer, if not there seems to be laundry services that are fairly cheap.  In Costa Rica we used a laundry service that cost $4 US for a weeks worth of clothes.  Saved a few hundred bucks on rental place by not having washer and dryer.

I found a carry on bag that the laptop fits in and also got some of the bags that you can roll the air out of.  Twice the amount of clothes fits in that space.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DSPTX5JC?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PLHBVZQ?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

We do mail stuff home quite often.

Garry, welcome to Permies!!

And welcome to gardening!  

Where I live here in Montana we don't have an ivy problem.  
If I did, I would let the Boy Scout in me come out and have some fun with a blow torch!!
Seriously, my gut says get rid of the roots, so fire should work.  I just would not burn the wood to much as it will preserve the wood so it will take longer to compost down.

I used to be a banker, but I lost interest.

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Broken pencils are pointless.

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I'm reading a book about glue........... I can't put it down.

When I started my current homestead I purchased several 10' x 10' portable car shelters from Harbor Freight to store stuff while building.
My neighbor was moving so gave me a dozen chickens.  I got a few bales of straw and lined the inside  4 rows up.  Grabbed a branch for perch and let them out each morning.
Worked great as I was building.
Then new neighbor asked if I wanted an old coop.  Sure, thinking this would be better.  Not really as the previous owner had built it with 3 add-ons and it was horrible to clean.  I added on to it with one of my HF shelters, but sided it with wood instead of the plastic cover.  Finally had enough of fighting to clean it and last summer I removed the coop I got from him and added another HF shelter frame to the other one.   Now have a 20 x 10 coop with good roosting bars, windows, easy cleaning, (full size man door), bulk feeder, large water barrel, storage area and 4 really nice nesting boxes for my 20 birds.
My girls are not impressed with my nesting boxes tho.  Most of the time they lay in a corner of the coop or outside in my lean-to where I store my straw.  lol.
That all happened over 6 years.
Build big.  You can always block off part if it is to much, but the chicken math does come into play at some point.

This spring is the start of my third year with asparagus.  I have a 16' x 2' bed I planted crowns in first then added strawberries.  Last year we did get some asparagus but left most of it.  This year we will get a lot I am sure.  The strawberries have been fantastic!  Lots of large, very wonderful berries.

My grandson said to me today, "Grandpa, I watched someone do 50 pushups, do you think you can do that?"
I said of course.  I don't want to brag, but I could probably watch someone do 150 pushups.

Me:    "I'm not very hungry, I just want something easy".

Server:   "........ maybe the chicken strips for $6?"

Me:    "Maybe it does, but that doesn't help with my hunger."

I got back a couple weeks ago from 2 weeks in Costa Rica.
I was really happy while there, interacting with the local wildlife, swimming in the ocean, eating the local food.  But I would say the joy I experienced there was when I was with my family that were able to vacation with us.
Then, when I got home. here in Montana.  I noticed I was happier than the past couple weeks.  Joy at being at my place, Joy of getting back with the animals, and then when my dog saw me we both shared what I would call JOY!