RUG HOOKING BLOG

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I'm a mother of four grandmother of seven and great grandmother of three. I live with my husband in the house that we built with the help of my brothers and will have been married for 57 years this February.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

TAKING A BREAK FROM BLOGGER

Hello my blogging friends. I'm taking a break from Blogger so that I can get ready to go to my rug hooking retreat weekend.  I hope to have some photos to share with you when I get back  and I'm  looking forward to meet other rug hookers.
My little calf is doing great and she drank two full bottles of milk. She got right up as soon as she saw me coming at supper time and her little bottom was still clean when I saw her last.  It's amazing how fast she got better. But she looks so alone there in her little pen all by herself in the nursery.  Little baby calves brings me so much joy  and so does this little guy.



Here is my little prince sleeping. He's growing so fast.



I love this froggie snuggle thingie. Do you suppose that he'll get embarrassed when his girl friends sees him in this outfit?

Daddy reading Pride and Prejudice and the Zombies again.

I hope that you all have a safe weekend and that I'll be back after a short pause. JB

Monday, March 28, 2011

CALF JACKETS FOR MY BABY

This Friday and  Saturday I was busy at the farm all day with chores and scrubbing calf pens and for the first time since I've been working at the farm I had an empty calf nursery. Not for long though.

Sunday morning I had a feeling that there might be a new calf and I sent my husband to check and  he was surprised to find a new baby calf hiding behind a bunch of cows. It was a heifer calf and she was dirty and cold and he carried her in the barn in his arm. She was born in the dry cow shelter which is colder than the barn. It didn't appeared that this cow was going to calf the day before and we were so busy with heard health and rounding all the heifers to be checked for pregnancy and having another bunch bred, so she was left there in the shelter with plenty of bedding Saturday. We also had a Luau and auction to go to.

I quickly prepared the pen with fresh bedding for the mama cow and baby. My husband and I had made plans to go to breakfast with friends so my son fed the calf for me and she drank her two bottles of milk in about five minutes. Sunday evening she again gulped down two bottles( 8Pints) of warm milk and I gave her a vaccine. Then she started to make grunting sounds as if she was having difficulty breathing or was in pain. Later at night my son checked her and decided that her breathing was labored and gave her some penicillin in case she was getting pneumonia.

This morning she didn't want to get up and was not feeling well and refuse even to suck so I just let her be and went to my meeting all day. When I got back she still wouldn't get up for me and I managed to get her to drink about a pint of milk.  So a while ago I went to see if I could get her to take some electrolyte and she even got up and drank a whole bottle. She is getting another shot of antibiotic and should start to feel better by  tomorrow I hope.

Earlier today I tried to get her to stand so I could take a picture but she would not cooperate but she stood up for this picture tonight. So Tammy and someone else were asking about the calf jacket. When it's cold we put these jackets on the new born calves as it takes a lot of calories for them to keep warm and with these jackets they do so much better. The trick is to get them to gain weight as fast as possible.


 Her jacket needs to be wash and hung on the line because it got a lot of use this winter but the inside is clean. Another job for another day.

Some of my empty calf pen. Sorry for the dark picture. There are 10 pens.


  Thanks for stopping by and leaving a small comment.  JB

Sunday, March 27, 2011

IT'S GOING TO BE A SHORT WEEK.

How time flies  since I've been so busy all week with regular chores and hooking on my Grandmother's Trunk Challenge rug and cleaning out calves pens, yes all 10 of them and 10 poop crusted gates too. Now I only need to clean 20 pails but today I'm taking a break.

This morning I went to feed my big girls, yes,  once my small calves are moved to the large pens so they can socialize with each others, I call them my big girls. This is the first time since I've been taking care of the small calves that I had a totally empty nursery.

When I was ready to leave I asked my husband if he would go out back to see if by any chance a cow would have calved. I really didn't thought that there would be a new calf but I was wrong. There she was all cold and standing, hiding behind the other cows.  My husband carried her in, yes , she's  a heifer, thank goodness.
We put on a calf jacket  on her to warm her up. Since we had planned to meet with friends for breakfast we had to go and my son fed her 2 bottles of Mama's warm milk.  Sorry, no pictures this morning.

Last evening after work I attended a Luau and  dinner auction at our church as fund raiser. I bid on 10 hours of labor  by a renowned tile installer to install floor tiles. I bid up to $280.00 and let it go, as the girl who I was bidding against has been fighting cancer for the last couple of years and I really didn't need to have those tiles installed right away and I wanted her to win the bid.

Then I bid up to $600.00 on a three day  renovation by another  renowned carpenter and I got my bid. I was so happy. The two previous  years I bid up to $625.00 and still never got it. The donor for this offering was donating 2  bids valued at $500.00 each and so many wanted him that I abandoned the bid. This year he was offering only one bid as he's getting on in years. So now I'm looking forward to having my other bathroom renovated. It looks pathetic  right now.

Tomorrow I'm off to an all day farm meeting so I won't get much done and I also need to calculate 3 months of HST (harmonized sales tax) and revenue for the farm business and I need to get some wool ready and pack my bags for the Maritime Fiber Artist Retreat at the Atlantic Hotel Marina Oak Island Resort  for the weekend. I've got my list made up and only need to pack but what wool to bring. I'm gonna try to work on my neglected Childhood Memories rug when there and also take photos.

I almost forgot to show you my blanket and my husband's journal that we won.. I had promised to show you pictures.


I won this blanket, it has a fluffy soft lining and  I love the  convenient handle on it.

My husband won this hard cover journal with removable leatherette cover with ribbon page marker.

This morning my Electronic Engineer son in law stopped by to check if my flood damaged  ceramic kilns could be salvaged. Since he took a pottery course with my granddaughter he's interested at getting a kiln and I would like to get one working at least as I love doing ceramics and I have items that were glazed and gold applied but never fired. They are electronic kilns and may prove quite a challenge to fix.


Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment and have a good week.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

TODAY IS MY LUCKY DAY

As the title states, today is my lucky day.  I went to pick my granddaughter at the High School in town and I needed to buy some cat food for my 4 barn cats. I thought that I would buy some grocery for her, something that she would like for her  school lunch and some snacks. On our home we stopped at the mail box and as she opened the mail box I saw a big puffy golden envelope and I knew that it was from Lauren of Rug and Pugs.  You can see what the rug should look like on the left of my blog. For the new followers, if you click on Rugs and Pugs it will take you to Lauren' blog.

I was excited to open it and was in awe of her generosity. I never hooked with such wide wool and I'm looking forward to the challenge.  THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH  Lauren  for this opportunity of hooking with wide wool. I was amazed that there was also a large Joan Moshimer hook in the package. This is not a cheap give away. It has everything I need, lots of beautiful wool ready cut, even the binding. She even included a nice hand written note  on a "I need a Pug" note pad  and everything was wrapped in a nice green tissue paper reminding me of the St Patrick Day celebrations of  last week.  It's awesome.  I can't wait to find the time to start hooking my first primitive rug ever. The thing that I like about this give away is that there is no strings attached.  Such a thoughtful gift. Thanks again.


The hook is a perfect gift too because although I have three Joan Moshimer hook I didn't had a large hook like that.


Today I decided to transplant my bell peppers as they have been growing so fast and were getting their third leaves already. I planted them a bit deeper than they were in the first pots.  They will root on the stems anyway.

I love to start my own plants and avoid buying plants that are root bound.

This must be my lucky week too because on Monday I bought 2 tickets to our Credit Union  Annual General Meeting and banquet and I gave one ticket to my husband and I kept the other as they draw numbers for prizes. His number was called first and he won a hard cover journal in a beautiful  removable case and it just happens that my husband journal every day. I used to to that for year and now since I'm blogging I don't do it any more.  The second number called was mine. I won a blanket in with a carry on handle. Very soft fuzzy inside. Great to keep in the car.  I'll post  some pictures later as I'm running late.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit and thanks for leaving your comments.  JB

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

UPS AND DOWN AND LOTS OF SMILES

Yesterday morning  started not very well. One of our older very pregnant cow was in the calving pen and it looked like she was ready to give birth but I notice that she hadn't eaten her  grain and she even refused to drink her water. I thought that she was in labor and that once she gave birth she would get interested in eating. Then she laid down and when she tried to get up she was too weak to get up.

My son called the vet and he came and treated her and then tried to pull the dead heifer calf out. It was turned and he worked about two and a half hours to pull the calf out. It was 10:30pm last night when I got home from the barn. It looked like she was getting her strength back but this morning when I walked in the barn, the first thing I saw was the cow on her side and she was dead.

Today I made some lemon meringue pies to cheer me up and the next cheer me up I got was that my daughter send me some photos of my grandson smiling and I thought that I would share them with you.



 Daddy and James
 A little brown cow
 My daughter Jackie visiting James and family.
 So much to look at
 Now here comes a smile
 I just love to have my photo taken
 I love all this flashing going on...
 Hummm...
 Ok now, that's enough  smiling for now.
I still look cute even when I'm not smiling...

Thanks for stopping by and for leaving a comment.  JB

Sunday, March 20, 2011

WELCOME SPRING...WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU.

First I want to wish HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Lauren from Rugs and Pugs. I hope that she had a great birthday and that she blew all the candles and that her wish will come true.

Today has been a busy day for me and yet I didn't accomplished much. I had to work at the farm this morning and went to breakfast with friends and then to church, When I got home I got visit from my daughter and four grandkids,then after they left two more friends stopped by. I managed to get in about half hour of hooking and it was time to go back to work at the farm. After work I made a quick stir fry and went to a large church meeting with surrounding parishes and it's almost 10:00 PM and didn't get much done on my rug.



My granddaughter M. went into my snippet basket and she even brought a small plastic pail to put them in. She saves all my little wool snippets and has a plan to used them creatively in one of her new project. I've asked her to document her process and she has agreed to take photos of her project using all my snippets.

She is dividing all the snippets by color. These are the hands of a very creative young lady.



As I was leaving for the barn, I noticed these tulips poking out from the ground and they were covered with snow yesterday. I had to go back in to get my camera. A sure sign that spring has arrived.


And I noticed these daffodils as well. They were planted two falls ago in a very dry sheltered corner that doesn't get much rain and I didn't thought that they would even come out this spring but they still survived although it looks like that they have suffered.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for leaving a comment.  JB

Friday, March 18, 2011

SIGNS OF SPRING

I just thought that I would share with you a couple signs of spring that I noticed today. It has been a warm sunny day with high winds and the snow has really melted quite a bit although we still have lots left.


The St John River opened up in front of our house today. It's good that it opened up so the melted snow water and rain can go down river. Hopefully we won't have a flood this year. Keeping my fingers crossed.


As you can see there is still lots of snow around but at least we can see green grass at last. 


My begonias are coming along nicely and will be transplanted when a bit bigger.

Here are some of my sweet peppers.  They will be transplanted in a few days if I get the time to deal with it.

 I've been dyeing wool and hooking on my Grandmother's Trunk rug Challenge and I get a little done everyday. Today I had boil my last batch of wool again to remove some dye  as I couldn't get exactly the color I was after also I clean and scrub three calf pens and only had time to  hook for about an hour. I got to get back to it. Sorry no pictures yet...


Thanks for dropping by and I appreciate your comments so much.  Have a great weekend.  JB

Thursday, March 17, 2011

BEE KEEPING ANYONE?

Yesterday's blog posting from my dear friend Kim, from the blog My Field of Dreams,  reminded  me of the swarming of bees that gathered in a tree in front of our house last year.

It looks very small here but it was a huge swarm  of bees. They were also all over my cherry tree in front of the house too and very noisy. They were everywhere. If you click on the photo you can see them on the branches too.

My son was walking on the road in front of our house and came in to ask me if I knew the source of the noise.  I came out and I could see a cloud of bees flying into this very tall tree by the river bank. I ran inside to get my little Fuji  camera. I definitely need  a stronger zoom lens to get a better shot. Maybe it's time to purchase that big zoom lens for my new Canon camera.

We called a local bee keeper and he said that they were not his bees. In a while they all flew away, thank goodness. I'm not very fond of getting stung although I get stung by yellow jackets at least once every two years. Yikes, I'm due for a sting...

Kim is such a  brave girl that she tackled her bees when hers swarmed, but she did got stung.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

SOUP'S ON

I'm  glad to report that my sick calf is doing great and is all better but my cold which I tried so hard to squash has got me by the head... I'm stuffed up, especially at night and I have a sore red nose from blowing it and my head feel like it's on too tight.



So, even though I'm sick, I still have to do my barn chores and today I thought that I would make a great big pot of beef barley soup so I'll have something to eat tomorrow in case  I don't feel like cooking a meal.
I love this soup tureen that I got at Value Village a while back and I make use of it quite often. I love it.

 I shouldn't complain about  my tiny miseries because they are nothing to mention in regards to what is going on in Japan. My heart goes out to them and all those who live in its  path and fear for radiation fallout for themselves and their love ones.

Thanks for stopping by.  JB

Sunday, March 13, 2011

SIGNS OF NEW LIFE UPDATE

I checked on my pepper seeds and I've got three pepper plants that have sprung from the soil looking green and some more begonias seeds have popped up too.

I'm feeling a bit tired today because I'm fighting a cold and will try to rest a bit this afternoon. I forgot to mention that I had a very sick calf in my last post.  She had a high temperature and wouldn't eat or drink. My son gave her some antibiotic and now she is starting to feel better and has started eating again. I think that she on the mend.

 We are starting seeing some patches of grass here and there where the snow melted but there is still so much snow left to melt.

I hope that you are all resting on this beautiful Sunday afternoon. Thanks for visiting my blog.  I always enjoy your comments.  JB

Friday, March 11, 2011

I BEEN PLAYING INSIDE, WAITING FOR SPRING...

It's been a while since my last post. My heart goes out to the people of Japan for the lost of lives, and the devastation and to all those in far away places like Hawaii and even on the west coast of Canada who have been inconvenienced and to those who can't reach their love one. The devastation is so immense and the lost must be astronomical.

My youngest daughter lived in Japan while she was in University  and I was always worried about earthquakes while she was there.   Even her husband travelled to Japan just a couple of years ago on business. I'm so glad that they are both in Canada right now.  The world seems to get smaller and smaller  all the time.

I haven't blogged for quite a while as I've been busy and I've been working on my Grandmother 's Trunk Challenge rug. I've got it all designed and actually got quite a bit hooked on it and I've been dyeing wool for it  for the last few days and need to dye some more tomorrow because I can't find the colors I need in the amount I need and I don't want to use the ones in my color palette just yet. I don't want to show pictures of that mystery rug yet, not until the after the beginning of April.

This just reminds me that in the beginning of April, I'll be at the Atlantic Fiber Art Retreat in Nova Scotia with my artist daughter and her friends. That should be interesting.  I'm looking  forward to meeting Sara.

I've set up my grow lights in the spare bathroom upstairs because I can control the heat without having to heat a big room. My husband made these for me a while back  and I've used it every year to start  my plants. It's not the right type of fixture but I make due with these.

I've started some tiny begonia seeds called Beda Boom and if you look closely, you can see tiny green leaves coming up from the pelleted seeds.  The seeds are so very tiny that they need to be coated with a substance to make them more manageable. I've sprinkled the seeds on top and covered the pot wit a plastic bag and put in under the lights at about 80 degree F. the seeds might not all take as some were purchased last year.



Today I planted these sweet pepper sprouted seeds  that I had started on March 2nd. I placed some pepper seeds between a dampen paper towel and placed it in a Ziplock bag and  placed the plastic bag in a brown paper bag in the family room so it would stay warm near the wood stove.


I scrubbed and sanitized my recycled pots and turned them to drip.



I use these bakers pans that my husband purchased for me secondhand from a restaurant equipment retailer. I use some cardboard boxes under to bring the pots closer to the light and lower the pots as the plant grows.


To make sure I have a constant heat, I use this very old temperature and moisture reader and it works like a charm.  The door is kept closed to keep the heat in.  I start all my seeds that needs special care with these lights.

Yesterday this cardinal came to the feeder. Usually the Mrs is with him. But this time only a baby squirrel showed up. This is only the second winter that they spend here. They have plenty to eat and plenty of shelter. I put  seeds directly on the snow as I was having so much trouble with the squirrels. This way everyone gets to eat any time it suites them.  These photos are taken through the window and I don't use the flash of course. 

Of course, the mourning doves come very early in the morning to feed. During the day a floc of the smaller birds comes to feed too.  They are pooping on my deck, oh well, nobody is perfect.  

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to count your blessings.   JB

Friday, March 4, 2011

BLUE ON BLUE

Can you tell that I've been in the dye pot again. This time I used Copenhagen Blue, Strawberry and Buttercup Yellow to get this blue palette. I was supposed to do some darker onion skin dyeing but didn't got the time.
 Here are some doves that are sunbathing on the deck. There were a lot more but some flew away and the rest were sunning themselves on the wood pile in the back of the house. There are now about 20 mourning doves that comes to the feeders. As soon as I come with the camera they fly away.


I've been hooking at least 10 minutes a day on my Childhood Memories rug and also today I colored most of my Grandmother 's Trunk Challenge design on my pattern and should be able to start to hook some part of it tomorrow.   Thanks for stopping by and leaving comments.  JB

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

THE OLD DYE POT IS STILL ON

I just thought that I would post what I've been up to today. When I got back from the barn this morning I checked my emails to see how my daughter's flight to Ottawa went and instead,we got a phone call from her telling us that she was still in Fredericton and that she had been bumped. They checked her bag with a swab checking for explosive, can you believe?

So her plans for the week is ruined because she didn't checked online to confirm her seat last night.  She purchased her ticket from a travel agency. So her plans are on hold for another week.

Today I decided that I better start to shovel the roof on the sunroom.  There was about 2 feet of snow and the weather was warming up. My husband was busy working on the farm income statement so  I tried to set up my new folding ladder  by myself but it was a bit too heavy for me to set up so I asked my husband for help.  I was afraid to break my window with the heavy ladder. He took pity on me and came to help shovel. It works every time.... Sorry, no pictures.




Then I got into my dye pots and did my yellow. Well it's sort of yellow, I guess. All I know, I like the results.  This time I used Strawberry Red, Buttercup Yellow and Bronze Green. This is my third palette.


Since my canner only holds 7 jars, I use another small pot for my 8th palette.

Here is the results of my yellow palette.


 I decided to dye some skin color and boiled some onion skins.
This is the onion skins that were left after draining.  I could have used a third of it and it would have been plenty.


 I boiled quite a bit more than I needed. I wanted some skin color and thought that I would experiment  with  different strength.  I got quite a bit of dye solution from about two cups of onion skins. A quart plus a bit more in the pot. It doesn't take much to get some strong color.
I started with a very weak solution and added a bit more dye solution for each piece of wool and I believe that this was my third piece. Sorry, I didn't take a picture every time.

This was my last piece, just before I added the vinegar 


 Here is the result of my onion skin for tonight. I'll try some stronger solution tomorrow.

I hope that you enjoyed my little adventure into the dye pot.  Thanks for stopping in and leaving a comment.  JB