Hobbies

Do I Need to Heat My Chicken Coop in the Winter?

February 7, 2016 0 Comments

Winter Chicken Coop Colorado

We live in Colorado, and when we first thought about raising chickens, I was concerned about how to keep them warm in the winter. Colorado winter storms can be brutally cold and windy, with the windchill often dropping well below zero. The last thing I wanted to do was build the chicken coop, raise the chickens, only to have them suffer frostbite, or worse yet die in the middle of winter. After doing a lot of research, I found out chickens are actually quite hardy. As long as they remain…
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Backyard Chickens, Hobbies

Oil Change in BMW F800 GS Motorcycle

January 31, 2016 0 Comments

Performing an oil change in a BMW F800 GS motorcycle is super easy, so don’t bother paying someone else to do it for you. Especially the BMW dealership who will gladly charge you a couple hundred dollars at their convenience. It only takes about 30 minutes, a tad longer if you haven’t done it before. Secondly, don’t buy the BMW oil change kit which runs about $75, or the BMW oil. It’s all way overpriced. This is what I buy: 3 quarts of non-synthetic oil = $21 K&N Oil Filter…
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Motorcycle

Ideas for Chicken Coop Bedding

January 14, 2016 0 Comments

Chickens aren’t too particular when it comes to their bedding. In reality, it’s probably you who is more particular than the chickens because you are the one that has to clean up after them. However, there are some health concerns that need to be addressed, because the chickens don’t always know what is best for them. The bedding on the floor of the coop serves a few purposes; provide comfort to the chickens, make it somewhat easier for you to clean up the poop (unless you want to scrape the…
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Backyard Chickens

Backyard Chicken Eggs Are More Healthy

September 26, 2015 0 Comments

Backyard chicken raising has become quite popular over the last few years, and I don’t think there is any one reason, but rather a few good reasons why. The reasons we did it are twofold; fresh healthy eggs and for the fun of it! First of all, eggs are not bad for you. They are very good for you because they are packed with lots of nutritional stuff. A few decades back, a war on eggs was waged because they were perceived as having too much cholesterol. Since then, study…
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Backyard Chickens

Colorado Backyard Chicken Coop

September 26, 2015 0 Comments

After months of planning and thoughtful research, I designed and built my own chicken coop from scratch. I could have bought one of the prefab kits online, but after looking them over and reading reviews, they simply wouldn’t withstand the weather on the Colorado plains. I needed something a lot more sturdy and heavy so it wouldn’t blow away in the 40 mph winds we are frequently subjected to out east. A lot of thought went into the design. I had to take many things into consideration such as location,…
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Backyard Chickens

Law Enforcement Encrypting Scanner Transmissions

May 2, 2015 0 Comments

Police scanners are a part of every media outlet newsroom. They provide real-time audio access to police, fire and paramedic emergency calls as they come in. It’s how news crews get to the scene of an accident or an emergency situation quickly — in some cases before the first responders. But the news crews aren’t the only ones listening. Police scanners have been around about as long as the police radios, and enthusiasts have been listening just as intently as the policemen, firemen and paramedics who use the radios to…
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Hobbies, Scanner

2015 BMW 800GS Adventurer Review

April 19, 2015 0 Comments

I’m back in the saddle again! After a 5-year hiatus (mostly due to events out of my control), I purchased a new 2015 BMW 800 GS Adventurer to quench my desire to hit the open road and fire-trails of the great Rocky Mountains. My last motorcycle was a 2005 BMW 650 GS Dakar, and while I was pleased with the bike, I had to sell it to buy a pop-up tent trailer, for this was the only way my wife would go camping with the kids and I. Just so…
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Hobbies, Motorcycle