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, January 25, 2012

SINCE I HAVE NO PETALS, BRACTS WILL DO FOR NOW

I always wonder how long my blogger friends keep their Poinsettias after the holidays.  Although I haven't bought a poinsettia in years, I have a collection at my house. For four years in a row at Christmas I get a big one from the University students brothers who have been part time employees and whom I've been feeding when ever they worked at our farm.

 I keep them because they bring some color to cheer me up in the winter.  The church which I attend also give poinsettias for adoption after Epiphany, January 6th.  I adopted a small one last year and a bigger one this year.  I've lost a couple through neglect because the pot was too small and they dried out last year but I still have 6.

I know that some people get rid of theirs after the Holidays but I just can't throw mine out even if the leaves have completely fallen off. They usually leaf out with a little care and sunshine.

This one I got this Christmas 2011, from Dwyer, our part time employee. It's still healthy enough except some leaves show that it could use some fertilizer or maybe more sun. It's in the living room on the North side.


This one I adopted from the church after the Epiphany, Jan  2012. It had suffered a bit of cold in the transport and the bracts shows some dried spots. It quite a large plant.



This pale poinsettia actually has a white stem in the back which is hidden from view. I won this one as a door prize at a Christmas  party Christmas 2011.

This one was given to me for Christmas 2010  by the same University student . It needs repotting and TLC. It's late blooming because it wasn't getting enough light where it was.



This one I adopted from our church last Christmas 2011. in need of TLC too but it's blooming.


This one is a gift from the University students brothers  for Christmas 2009. I lost one stem from an accident  but although the bracts are small I love this plant.
See my little gardener angel watering it. That little angel was given to me as a little gift in a Sunshine Basket when I was going through chimo. It's a Dollar Store buy but full of memories.


This is what my front yard looks like at the moment. The January thaw has visited us.  It almost felt like Spring.


Since I haven't posted my Value Village treasure lately, I thought that I had to show you this cute pair of twitter-patted porcelain bunnies. The basket is about 7 inches tall.



As you can see, I paid $3.99 for this cute Easter decoration.

MEANWHILE,  ON THE FARM NOTHING HAS CHANGED MUCH...

My husband called me real early this morning, waking me up from my sleep before my alarm rang to let me know that I had a new calf and  that another heifer needed assistance to give birth.  I just sold a bull calf on Tuesday and now I have three more. 13 small calves is a handful. I'm weaning the triplets, Faith, Hope and Love  and Charity off milk.

I was so tired when I came home for breakfast today at 10:30 a.m. It seems that I've been coming home to breakfast at 10:30 everyday this week. Anyway, I poured myself a nice hot cup of French Roast coffee prepared myself  a big bowl of oatmeal with walnuts and raisins, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds and  milk and sat in front of my computer to check my emails. I just barely finished my breakfast that I could hardly keep my eyes opened. I felt a bit cold all of a sudden and went to lay on the couch wrapped up in a couple of throws. I fell asleep and slept till 1:30 PM. I think that I was sleep deprived.

I managed to quilt a bit today and went back to work at the farm. I'm almost ready to make another turn on the quilt.
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.   JB

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

GOING OUT FOR A CHAT AT PATRICE

I've been bad at blogging lately and I'm trying to make amend.

 Every week we are all invited for a get to know you chat on at Everyday Ruralty on Patrice's porch. I think that this time since she's sick with the flu, the poor girl, we better bring her some flowers. I was going to bring her daisies but I'm afraid that she might take that the wrong way.  I'll bring her some peonies. That should cheer her up.



    
Looks like the chat will happen in her bedroom. We'll get to see her in her PJ's he he he...  I'm sure that Wendell will get a laugh out of that... I better bring a face mask, just in case. I can't afford to be sick for even a single day since I have another calf today. That's two within a week. I now have 13 calves.

Today everyone is helping with the questions and now let's get the party on the way.

 1.  Kimberly asks: How long have you blogged?
   My first post was launched on a shaky leg on August 2nd.  2010 so it's almost a year and a half.  It's been a great experience and I never feel alone. I've made nice blogger friends along the way and got some amazing gifts also. Thanks everyone.

2.  Lana asks:  What is the most difficult part of taking care of chickens?
     Oh dear, I guess I'll have to say dusting them and gluing their tail feathers back on after a fall.  Moving them around for dusting too. Having to explain to them why I have to find a temporary home around Christmas to make room for snowmen or Santas.

3.  Susana asks: Would you prefer to live where's it hot or cold?
 I'd like to live smack in the middle. Although I love the 4 seasons, I don't like it too hot or too cold.
Does anybody know where that is?

4.  Farm Girl asks: What sort of things are you looking forward to in 2012?
I'm looking forward to my son moving his little black shed onto his own property.  You all know that kids leaves things home when the get their own place.  Mine left his shed.  It was supposed to be there for a little while. It's been there a long time and my hedge is damaged because of not getting enough sun.

5.  Dreaming asks: What's for dinner?
Seafood chowder with a sprinkle of dill weed. I put chopped carrots in my seafood chowder. Like Wendell, I love carrots.

Wishing Patrice and all those who have the sniffle  and more serious conditions a speedy recovery.

I'm so glad that you stopped by today. Please go over to Everyday Ruralty to wish her well and take part of her chat. I'm looking forward to reading your comments.   Hugs.  JB

Monday, January 23, 2012

JAMES' FIRST BIRTHDAY

It's been ages since I blogged. It seems that I never have enough time to blog lately. I visit some blogs and leave comments on those who visit my blog first or those special blogger friends, we all have some that we bond strongly with for some reason or other.  Tonight, it's a short post for a change.

Last week was James first birthday and my daughter Christine sent me some photos.


Oh mama, bring on the cake, I'm the Birthday Boy.  What-is-that-on-the-cake?




OOh... it looks pretty....James wanted to touch the fire on the candle. He was more interested in the candle than the cake. 



Now how do I go about it. Let me see....  Ah, this is gonna be a piece of cake...


 
How do you like my blue finger nails. I think it pretty cool.I bet it's tasty too. I think that I may have a sweet tooth or two...




I told you it was gonna be a piece of cake.  Mama makes the best cakes. Now I hope that I don't have to wait another year for another piece. I know that she's saving some for the birthday boy.

                                   ********************************************

Today was my husband George's Birthday.  I had so many errands to run all over town and no time to bake a cake,  I bought him a birthday cake and since he's a practical man, I bought him a big roll of duct tape. I didn't had my camera handy and he didn't want to wait for me to go get it. He dug right into the cake for desert. So I have no pictures.

This evening we were on the phone talking to my daughter long distance for a long time. She called to wish her dad a Happy Birthday. Then my son in law set up a conference call on Skype and we all talked again for quite a while, so of course, I'm late blogging.

Thanks for stopping by and please leave me a comment.  JB

Friday, January 13, 2012

YEAH, MY TREE IS DOWN ...BOO-HOO MY CALVES ARE SICK...

Since I promised some Christmas photos here's a one of yours truly with grandson James on his  new fire truck with all the bells and whistles. He used his stump to push on the buttons that he liked and it was some real disco type of music and we went around and around the house till the back gave up and someone else took over and James just loved it and kept us busy and entertained and the process was repeated all over again while the other ones rested their back. The truck came from Grandpa McDonald.

I forgot my camera as we rushed to my daughter and son in law's new house for Christmas dinner after work so no pictures for this. Dinner was absolutely wonderful, the bird cooked to perfection and we even had the traditional present game after dinner with great surprises... It's like a Yankee swap game.  We had lots of fun.


Since my daughter Christine reads my blog and read that when I need a good laugh I go to You-tube and watch old episodes of the Carol Burnett show, she bought me some Carol Burnett DVDs, although it says on the card, from James.    Now I have hours of viewing entertainment.



How lucky can I be to have  receive this The Me Project book as a gift,  on time for Christmas from my good  blogger friend Patrice of Everyday Ruralty. I started to read it and I hope that I'll be able to follow the directions to be what God wants me to become. One of the the things Patrice and I have in common and we didn't know until we made contact by email and mail is that our last name are similar and we both live on our own roads. I think that it was awful sweet of her to send me this out of the blue.
Thank you so much Patrice. You are a sweet and generous friend.





I bought an assortments of candies to make a gingerbread house but with all the calves being born around Christmas I didn't made it and the kids munched on most of the candies. My daughter assembled the gingerbread house with what was left and sprinkled some crushed peppermint candies on the roof. I didn't buy the meringue powder that was supposed to go with the kit so my daughter made the best with what she had and James seems to like it just fine. The kids and the adults ate it like a tornado went through it.

Next year I'll be prepared. We are having a gingerbread contest. Because of distances to transport the gingerbreads,  pictures with the author will be allowed. There's a whole year to prepare but I bet everyone will wait till the last minute, but Hope reign eternal.

 My husband is showing the front. Even chickenbone candies were used for the door.





I told you of our tradition of making puzzles after Christmas and we made three in all.  This was a difficult one. Here is an unflattering photo of me with my cute granddaughter Nicole. I no doubt was keeping an eye on James.




Another puzzle finished after having sips of wine when we placed a piece near the end. We would say sippy sippy. When a piece didn't fit where we thought it should fit  we called it missy sippy. Then the laughter. This one was easy enough.



The only casualty was my Claire de Lune resin rooster that got knocked down by James and the tail broke off. It's my fault for not putting it in a more secure place. I had so many Christmas decorations that there really was no good place for it.

Here the tail was attached with super glue and you can't even see that it was broken.

I finally got my Christmas tree down and put away for next year. It took me longer to put all the Christmas decorations  away this time as I organized everything in clear totes and labeled everything. Being married for almost 46 years in February you can understand how much decorations I've accumulated, and all those cheap Value Village bargains...

 I never took pictures of all the totes,  I'm not that organized, but believe me, there's a lot. The totes are so big and take a lot of room so I'll have to set up the metal shelves downstairs in the basement so that they will be high enough in case of a flood, God forbid...



This week was registration for our Holstein calves. I had no more room in the nursery and had three of them in one big pen and were loving it. This Dancer,  She loves to jump around and the name fits her. We take photos of both side for their registration papers.


This one was called  Prancer, she jumps around too but we call it dancing because she has her own style.
She had a yellow ribbon around her neck to identify her at first but she managed to pull it off but it didn't matter because we had her tagged by then.

Who do you think this is? Well it's Vixen of course and she is so beautiful but she really is a vixen. She  still has her original red ribbon around her neck.


This one we called Mademoiselle because that's what came to mind when I came around to name her. She is gentle and not pushy like some. I imagine it would be easier to wait longer to see what they are like but because of registration I had to do it hastily.

My triplet calves came down with winter dysentery ( watery diarrhea)   this past week and it has slowly spread to all 11 of my small calves. I've been keeping their bedding dry and their pails clean and giving them electrolyte and following the vet's recommendations. He said to continue doing what I was doing.
Four are now better and some are starting to feel better. It's no fun..... for me and for them.

Again I apologize for having a long post as I have some catching up to do.
Thanks for stopping by and you know that I cherish your comments.  Stay warm and safe.  JB

Friday, January 6, 2012

I'm lagging behind with my Chat on Patrice's Porch but I know that you'll understand. These past two weeks have been unusually busy for me.

Patrice wanted to get to know her friends better so she's been having these chats on her front porch but I think that I'm going to bring a parka and mittens, and a little thermos of hot toddy.

Patrice's Questions:
1.  What is your favorite kind of tree. That's is a loaded question.  If I'm cold I like a dead Maple tree that is seasoned and dried so I get the best heat from it, In the summer I like the shade of a live maple tree, In the fall I like a red Maple for it's beauty and in the spring I like a lilac tree. At Christmas it's a fir tree, if I'm hungry, it would be an apple tree.  Heck, I love just about any kind of tree but I have no use for a Tamarack. I don't know why but I just don't care for them.

2.  How did you celebrate the New Year.
Wine and a bag of chip shared with my husband after work in the evening. We worked on a puzzle. It was freezing rain and we stayed home.

3.  Do you have any family traditions for the New Year?
We go to the Lieutenant Governor's New Year's Levee at Government House, but this year because of calves being born we missed it.

4.  I'm so glad I went to stay with my daughter in Ottawa  for 5 weeks when my grandson James was born in January 2011.

5.  Did you have a nickname as a child.
No I didn't have a nickname as a child and non of my siblings either. My mom frowned on nicknames and wanted us to be called by our Christian's name as we were baptized. Our neighbor's kids all had bad nicknames and I think that my mother did not like that.

I'm having a very slow computer today so I'm going to call it a night. I'll be back with a few Christmas pictures. It took me for ever to upload them.

I can't believe that I have 99 followers. Thanks for your support and thanks for stopping by and leaving comments. Stay safe and warm. Best wishes for the New Year.  JB