I know this ain’t a very good photo, but it’s dark in that there barn. Don’t you love how I used the word ain’t? I even put a little apostrophe in there to make it look all proper. I spoke on the phone to a woman down in the southern parts of our states the other day and I can’t get her accent out of my head. Now I think I have a southern accent and I can use the word ain’t if’n I want to.
Any of you suffer from the problem of taking on the accent of the person you’re talking to? Is there a name for this debilitating disease? I have it bad. It’s very embarrassing. Especially, when the person is from another country. I have to try very hard not to become British or Asian or Indian or Hispanic or Zimbabwean or whatever because I just want to talk like the person I’m talking to.
Okay, enough about that. Let’s talk about the feed room.
I took this photo back in the spring. See the old nesting box on the wall? I have one hen that insists on jumping up there everyday and laying an egg. I tried to be nice and put some hay in there for her, but she pushed it all out, so no hay for her. This room needs a good scrubbing. The chickens have taken over in there and it ain’t pretty. The feed sacks stacked on top of those ceiling tiles are a problem, because take that stack and multiply it by ten and you’ve got how many feed sacks I have. I can’t throw them away because I like to use them to pick up sticks in the yard or fill with weeds and then chuck it into my compost at least that’s what I like to say, really I just stack them. The grain mill doesn’t recycle them like they used to, which is a shame. Some of them are plastic coated. So, my friends what would you do with all this feed sacks? And no, you can not say throw them or burn them. Maybe I’ll make a giant sculpture in the the image of Damn Ramsey and put it out in the corn field……then it would be okay to burn. Oh calm down, I’m just kidding, kind of.
Now, what about those darn ceiling tiles? They are one of the many, many treasures left by the previous owners. What can I do with them? I don’t want to keep them, do I? It’s not like I’m thinking, Hmm, maybe we’ll put a drop in ceiling in the barn someday. Who wants them? You can have them, they are my gift to you. Please don’t thank me, it’s the least I can do.
That’s all I have for today. So, let’s review;
1. Chickens poop, a lot.
2. We all think drop ceilings do not belong in barns.
3. Feed sacks are what’s to wear for this fall.
Study hard, there will be another quiz tomorrow.
Need a Chicken Doctor?
Contact 
I think adopting the accent of someone you’re talking to is quite common. Most people do it unintentionally. Then there are the people like my MIL who do it on purpose. Good Lord! You should hear her “Scottish” accent. She whips that one out even when there is no one with a Scottish accent around. It’s quite embarrassing. I have to leave the room whenever she does it. Hey! Do you think she’s caught on to that and just wants me to leave the room?
It’s a shame they don’t make feed sacks out of cloth any more. Then again, they would probably be stacking up in my closet waiting for me to make them into something. That would be bad because there’s already no room in my closet due to the cloth (for making aprons and various other projects) and river glass (for God only knows what) that is already inhabiting that space. Soon I will have to get rid of my clothes to have more space for cloth and river glass. That’s all fine and good for July in Kansas, but what about when winter rolls around?
That brings up a question I’ve always had. Do nudist colonies only exist in locations where it is warm year round? What does the New England nudist do in the winter? Stay inside? Fly south with the birds? These are the kind of questions that keep me up at night.
BTW:
First!
Surprise! It’s a guest post!
Accents… they are always interesting and I think it is common to adopt them as your own.
Feed bags… could you use them as garbage bags?
Too bad the chickens can’t be trained to drop their droppings in a place like your garden.
Have a great day!
Lucy
I have the same feed sack problem… not sure how to approach this.
But I am so glad to know I’m not alone.
I’m not sure what to do with the feed sacks, but could you use the ceiling tiles as insulation? Maybe for a shed or other place where they wouldn’t be seen?
Put a listing in your local paper for free ceiling tiles.
Use the feed bags as garbage bags for chicken and dog poop. I’ve used flattened mulch/soil bags on the bottom of raised bed gardens or areas where I don’t want weeds to pop up. Just used it in an area where gravel is going to be put down in fact. The gravel will cover the plastic and the plastic will not allow weeds!
Give the ceiling tiles to your local school’s art department. If the school uses ceiling tiles, the kids can paint on yours and then put them up on the ceiling, keeping the clean tiles for the end of year when the kids can take their art home. The art department might have a use for the feed sacks too. Can you sew? You could make tote bags out of them. Maybe make some to fill for kids in the hospital or to give out at church filled with things to keep the kids occupied during the service.
Maybe you can insulate the chicken house walls with the tiles..lol! We recently insulate our house and my husband found 12 x 12 ceiling tiles all over our roof. Somebody was crazy enough to think that will keep is warm ( that was my brother-in-law..the previous owner) It was a hard work to take those out of up there.
April. I have an actual Irish accent and people do what you do all the time. They start to talk like me and it’s disconceting without a doubt but harmless. I like to think it is done by people who have a more musical ear and as such forgave Madonna for her faux Englishness really quickly. After all I have left the tom ah to behind having been so long here in the US, so who am I to judge:)
Tiles- Freecycle them, someone might want them.
Feedbags, if they’re permeable you could use them to bulk out garden planters so you wouldn’t use as much good potting soil? Maybe split them and use them as weed blankets in your flowerbeds? Line the car foot bed with them in wet weather? Cut a place for the head and arms and make Clay wear it as sunblock?
that’d be disconcerting
ohh I had been using my bags for ladscape, then I put mulch or rock on top.
I’d love the ceiling tiles–they make great bulletin boards.
My sister just painted some and added cool butterflies and flowers with scrap book paper to some for her daughter’s room.
Wish I lived closer, I’d come get some.
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=23917802
If you’re of the crafty sort…maybe you could whip up a batch of these out of your many bags? I think they’re kinda cute!
(I am not Green Couch or whoever she is…I just did a search and found her creative etsy shop. Just so I don’t hurt anyone’s feelings…giving credit where credit is due!)
If you have a Habitat for Humanity nearby they may operate a “ReStore” like they do here in Atlanta. They take donations of building supplies (and are also a great place to check for new appliances, cabinets, etc. that are close outs by the big box folks…).
I use my old feed bags to put on the chicken house floor. That way it’s easier to clean out. Just pull up the feed bags and go shake them into the garden. Works really well.
i used the same ceiling tiles to line the walls of my workshop. it made it much easier to heat in the winter.
Well – it’s a revolutionary idea – but it’s what my great-grandmother used to do for my Grammy and her sister: make dresses out of the feed sacks!
Wouldn’t it be cool if they were still made out of fabric?
If you had time to kill (HA!)wouldn’t it be a hoot to make a little dress up out of them?
I totally love the “feed bag” bag! Up here in suburbia, I have never laid eyes on a feed bag. Way cool. My first thought though, was to weave them into baskets. Then sell them to (stupid) tourists (like myself) who would just think they were soooo cool. Then you can make your millions, write a book and give me credit in the acknowledgements.
Or, you could send them to me and I will do it
Ooh – hey! – almost forgot!
My broody girl (I remember you have one, too) is sitting on five baby little chicks today!
They’re adorable! Pictures on my blog!
http://knownbyname.wordpress.com/
Well danggit, everyone has already given you all my cool ideas.
As far as not burning or throwing out the old feed bags—will we ever be free of our beloved ancestors ideals that lived in the Depression era. Why is it painful to recycle boxes and coffee cans? My grandmother’s voice whisper’s in my ear–”That could be used for something, don’t get rid of it.”
Accent transfer—very embarrassing. Done it myself, many times.
You could make the feed bags into re-usable grocery bags or tote bags! (Or sell them on e-bay for that very purpose!) I just saw little purses made out of Asian feed bags (coated in plastic) and they were super neat. I don’t know if you have that kind of motivation/dedication, but it could be a little side business for ya if’n you sew. ;D
As for the accent… oh man. My s-i-l lives in France and whenever she comes home I end up speaking like her and it’s awful. I always feel like SUCH a jerk!
I keep hearing the fancy word, “repurpose”. I think both of your items can be repurposed into something spec-tac-u-lar!
Saw a ceiling tile wrapped in fabric and turned into a bulletin board (gonna do this in my new office – pssst. I could use ceiling tiles).
With the feed bags…just fill them with chicken feathers and make a bed, pillow, mattress…you get the idea.
Craigslist…maybe you could unload them for free!! and then you would be free of them! I saw on a sewing show on PBS that they made a handbag and a tote from those juice containers sewn togather! Maybe that would work with your feed bags.
My husband does that all the time! Drives me crazy with the accent! I had no idea anyone else did that…
My family refers to it as being a “linguistic chameleon”. When I talk to my friends in Louisiana, I start to y’all. When I talk to relatives in Rhode Island, I say “wicked” and “pahk my cah in the Yahd.” And when I talk to friends overseas- who knows. Any place we’ve lived for over six months, we can imitate like a native.
If those ceiling tiles are acoustical…. you can cover them with neat cloth and make push-pin boards. That’s how I decorated my dorm…. and I’ve done something similar to every room I’ve ever lived in afterwards!
very interesting and informative reading,these comments! i had the very same idea a few months ago about making totes out of feed bags. we have about 20 dozen floating around our house,too. now i’ll have to get serious about seeing what i can do with them!
can’t help you with the cieling tiles,though. but the sunscreen idea for clay was a hoot…
I saw a cute apron made of plastic chicken feed sacks…I think the tote idea is great too.
How about having a whole lot of people over for sack races? As for the ceiling tiles, do the kids have bb guns? If so you could use them for target practice.
Yes! I have the same speech disorder! I even blogged about it once a while back
I used to have an English roommate (I’m from S.C., live in CA), & I would say stuff like “on holiday” (instead of vacation), “when I was in Uni” (instead of in college), “I left it in the boot” (instead of in the trunk), etc. I felt like a total fool, but I couldn’t NOT do it 
I do not think drop ceilings belong anywhere. We just took them down in our kitchen and living room. I have no idea what to do with feed sacks…sorry.
I occasionally use a feed sack as a garbage bag. They don’t fit super well into my tall kitchen garbage can, though, so I don’t do this very often. More frequently they get used to hold sorted recyclables until I can haul them to the recycling center.
Mostly I use them as weed blocking material. Weed cloth is so expensive! I lay them down in the space between the raised beds in the garden, then cover them with mulch so they’re out of sight. Also great for paths.
The only thing I could think of was to make a pin board out of the tiles. YOu can even cover them in fabric.
I too have stuff left over from the previous owners. Door slabs, roof shingles, door knobs and such. I keep it, who knows why, but I do.
Charity
http://www.charitymoon.blogspot.com
We acquired an old kitchen cabinet & bath vanity from a former home owner. (They were left in the garage.) I set the items near the curb on our street with a “FREE – TAKE IT” sign. After two days, I was rid of the items and I knew that someone would get lots of use by re-purposing the items.
I wonder if those tiles are asbestos? If they are you need to dispose of them environmentally correct which is a bummer. Based on their age they should be tested (Or NOT). Accents.. I live in southern california (And YES we are happy the mj funeral is OVER and that poor man is almost buried.
Anywho… we have that “valley girl” ‘speak’ accent which affects women NOT necesarily girls from the ages of 10 -30. In a professional atmosphere it INFURIATES me when a so called professinal calls with this accent in a baby girl voice and they are ADULTS. Don’t get me started EWWWWWWW Grrrrrrrrrrrrr Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Whew okay I’m done now.
My sister in law used feed bags to wallpaper her boys rooms, it turned out really cute!
1. I, too, have the accent imitation problem.
2. I, too, have the feed sack problem.
3. I, too, have the chicken poop problem.
4. I, too, have chickens lay eggs where they’re not supposed too.
5. I am not NEARLY as creative or serious as all your other commenters, who clearly have solutions to all of these problems.
However–I did find a woman on Etsy who makes v. cool tote bags out of feed sacks. Maybe she’ll accept donations?
I do the accent thingie, too. My uncle does it wickedly, and he’s a super spiffy salesman. Maybe this ability of yours will allow you to sell the ceiling tiles AND the feed sacks for astronomical amounts of money so you can forget budgets.
I totally have that whole accent ailment. It takes all kinds of self control to not mock everyone I meet. I’m glad it’s not just me.
when harvest starts this fall find a farmer that will sell you some corn and milo and use the sacks to put the feed in. a lot of times they will just give you some grain. then grind if up for the chickens. that is what i do anyway.
One time I had a yard sale and put a whole bunch of ‘man things’ together. I tell ya, I priced it all cheap, like ‘five things for a dollar’ and by the end of the day the man things were gone. Men were not able to resist the partial cans of paint, bug spray and other things you can’t throw away. That is what I’d do with the ceiling tiles and the feed sacks..it’s a thought and Dave R. would approve..lol, I took that class too!
Hey April!
I have a friend in Texas who leaves on a very large cattle ranch in Texas. Your feed room makes me think of the feed room they had for their horses, it really use to give me the creeps to go in there until it was clean out and but in order, not so bad now.
About those tile.. all those boy you have – give them free rein and with there creativity, I bet they can make a super cool fort or some such. Then when the rain comes and destroyes it… to bad so sad, time for those tiles to got to the dump. You will feel like they will have served some sort of purpose. Damn Ramsey might have you have a yard sale to make some more money for your emergency fund, but the kids… they haven’t had a vaction in years!
As to the accents.. then I am done – I always talk with accents… and everyone always tells me that I sound like and Indian person trying to talk with an aisian accent. By dear friend who is Irish and living in Ireland even says that my Irish accent sounds that way. When I’ve visit her in Ireland, she will NOT let me try to blend in with all the other local Irish. Cheeky Irish!
Okay, that’s all! Have a good day, April! Love to Clay, the kids and The chickens!
You should use the feed sacs to make a scarecrow.
My son is a Navy guy who waits tables & Bartends at night, he plays with different accents all the time. Takes on various persona’s, its a hoot to watch if you know him and ge is tipped well! as for the ceiling tiles? line the rafters of the coop & help insulate for winter….the bags & tiles? post on freecycle or craigs list some crafter will come claim them…..or yes… another idea….use the bags to line the walk way in your garden, cut out the weeds..then your back to the same spot,,,,now they are filthy bags! Good luck
OOOOOHHHHHHH, APRIL! You slay me! I think you might be one of my long lost sisters…the things you say!
I think, use the feed bags to make chicken diapers!
What? It could work!!!
LOL in Texas.
I read a blog about making bags from feed sacks and made my mom one for her birthday–It turned out pretty cute! If you’re into craftiness that is! Here’s my blog about it–with a link to the creator’s blog about it! http://oklahomansread.blogspot.com/2009/04/21st-century-feed-sack-craft.html
I also have a problem with the “accent thing”. It gets pretty embarrassing when traveling.
My husband comes from a farming family. Long ago his aunts would rush to meet the truck delivering the feed, etc. to see what their new dresses would look like because they came from the feed sacks. Of course they were muslin and whatever back then. Maybe there’s a new fashion use for these sacks? Purses? Totes? Hmmm…. Maybe some funky farm art. Instead of canvas wrap these around a frame with a staple gun and go to town with paint or glue stuff on ‘em. You could even incorporate the ceilings tiles into that.
Oops. Just saw the Paiges post above about the feed sack bags. There you go. See if she’ll buy ‘em. Those are pretty cool. Or should I say a’int those pretty cool.
April, since you are such a home-grown Christmas gift giver, you could fill those sacks up with manure, tie a red bow on, and gift them to all your giftee people! Who wouldn’t want some good quality fertilizer? It is the perfect gift for the folks who have everything! The plastic coated ones are the best for this. My mom used to take home a bag every time she came over…