QUICK UPDATE ON MY GRANDFATHER RUG

Like I said, this is a very quick post to show you my progress on my grandfather rug.
I've been agonizing about hooking his face since the photo is really not showing the dimensional side of the face and I had to go  on my gut feelings.

I hooked and if it didn't looked right or not three dimensional enough, I simply reverse hooked ( put out the loops). I still have some tweaking to do but at least, it's looking a bit better.

I Didn't like the darker area on the cheek and tweaked it a bit in the second photo.

At least I have the face hooked and it still need lots of tweaking on the eyes, the mouth and probably somewhere else but I wouldn't know what to change until I study it more.

This is to show how I kept tract of my different values. This is and earlier photo. I labelled my wool colors using  numbers from 1 to 5.

If you want a closer look, just click on the photo to enlarge them.


I'm off to the barn.
Have a great day and stay safe from the major storm that's coming our way.

Thanks for your visit. I so appreciate your comments.

JB

HOW COLD IS -27°C?

Yesterday morning was colder than usual. I didn't need a thermometer to tell me that it was very cold. My hands and feet were getting painfully frozen, all the pipes near the sink was frozen as well as all the water in the bowls and pails. At -27 °C.  or -16.6 °F. it's very cold.

By the time I had the pipes and faucets thawed, my husband already had  finished milking the cows and was gone to a dentist appointment.... With 25 calves to care for it can get pretty hectic. I was at the barn from 5:30 am to 9:50 am and my feet were feeling the cold pretty badly. I was getting desperate. I used the blow dryer inside my boots and on my socks but as soon as I would put my foot back in my boots, they felt very cold again.  I had to put my hands in hot water too. What misery. The feed auger was frozen too so I couldn't give the grain to the 5 bigger calves. They got extra hay though.  They got their grain later when my son got the auger going again...

This is me, preparing the milk, hahaha, I didn't really copied the plumbing accurately but you get the idea of the set up. You can click on the pictures to make them bigger as I reduced the size of my pictures this year...

I had to warm my feet in a big bucket of hot water, one foot at a time as I prepared mixing the milk replacement for the older calves.  My steel toe boots can get pretty cold at that temperature.This will become my new method from now on. It worked like a charm for me.

The calves were so eager for their warm milk as I was getting late in feeding them. They are like clocks and knows when it's feeding time.

When it's colder than usual, they need lots of fresh bedding to ensure they have a dry bed but it's not always easy to keep their bedding clean and dry, especially when they are starting to eat all their grain as they sometimes get diarrhea and their pens quickly gets dirty. Some are pretty clean and others are hopeless. What normally takes me a few hours took me 4 hours and 15 minutes to do, from preparing and carrying the milk, feeding milk, hay, grain, water, bedding and cleaning up, washing bottles and pails  and filling the bottles for the next feeding all takes time especially when I have a bunch of new born calves.

These three calves are three weeks old now and the white one is huge and long as compared to the normal size. She was about 130 lbs when she was born and the average size are 90 lbs  at birth.  I have to put a halters on them to tie them down for feeding as they all want to eat at the same time, this way I can feed two at a time by holding the bottles.  The white on is super strong and feisty. Now I only tie two as one has learned to behave. I had 7 newborn but now I have only 6 as a bull was sold.

I have 10 calves in these littles pens and three are weaned off milk and are getting cold water. They are ready to move but have to wait till the new water bowl is install as the old one got a hole in it this week.  As soon as there three are moved out, their pens will be cleaned and the three bigger new born will be moved here. It's very difficult to take good pictures as the other 6 pens are behind a short retain wall.

This is Tigger, he just hates having his picture taken and I had to take about 6 shots before he agreed to look at the camera for a split second... He doesn't look too happy with me but still was waiting for his back scratch and a little sweet baby talk.

This is  the wood  that keeps the house toasty warm in these cold temperatures

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This is my selfie.  Tigger said that he would only allow me to post his picture if I posted a selfie of me so here it is...  Notice the dust in my glasses when I get home from the barn. Foggy glasses are not fun either. Anyone wants my job?

So if your feet gets cold stick your boots in hot water.
Stay warm and safe.

JB

COWS WITH SENSE OF HUMOR

What do I expect when it gets -25 °C outside? I expect lots of inconvenience, frozen water pipes and water bowls, in my end of the barn,  bawling calves waiting impatiently for their warm milk,  longer work hours, cold hand and feet.

Yesterday morning was just such a day but I was also expecting a cow to calve during the night. So early, I made a point to go check on her first thing in the morning. I really thought that she was ready to calve and I could have bet my winter farm jacket that she would calve during the night.

Instead, I found #391 in the next pen with twin calves by her side and cow  #322 cooing for those calves.   #391 was milked but only gave 4 pints of milk...

 I called my son Vaughan to come  check #322 to see if she was needing help to calve.  After an inspection, he couldn't feel any calf and called the vet to come check her up.  I was so sure she would calve during the night.......

 I won't bore you with the details of my work but on returning for the evening feeding, I found yet another large  baby bull calf in with #391 and the twins...  Again I call my son. The vet never came so we realized that #322 must have had her butts against the other pen and the calves squeezed under the fence as they were born and #391 cleaned then up and claimed them as her own.. It was a tight squeeze  under the gate because there was lots of bedding in those pens.

The mystery was solved and I'm overrun by calves still...

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Christmas came and the family was all here except my oldest daughter Nicole who was vacationing in Greece and then in Istanbul Turkey during the Holidays. We all missed here very much.

Here are some photos of the family at play. The house was full of happy laughter. Sorry, I didn't took photos of the dinner again this year. I promise that next year I'll make a point of taking photos of the meal.

Daniel and James watching a Thomas DVD.
Notice the focus on both these boys.

Mama and Daddy are setting up the gingerbread on the special tray, getting it ready to set before James help decorate it.

James is a great help and is getting a pro at placing candies in the frosting.

James  did a super deluxe job on this gingerbread house.
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Daniel and James are trying their new game.

A new train track bought secondhand on Kjiji

Another Kjiji find. The boys just loved it and played with it for hours.

James just loves his Christmas stocking full of good things.

Daniel is finding some toys in his stocking too.He take one toy out at a time and plays with it before going to the next item. Just wait till he finds out there are chocolates in there...

Family are arriving for the day.

Jackie and younger Nicole showing us their new silk wrap and Simon on the left, Bill in the background.

We'er in the kitchen sampling a very expensive type of coffee sent by my daughter Nicole when she was travelling to Indonesia earlier. Kopi Luwak coffee.  I'm still very reserved on this coffee  but it was the experience that counts. Maybe if I drank this type of coffee I'd grow a bit taller.  See how puny I am.  
That's Bill, Jackie, myself and Joe trying this civet cat poop coffee. It tasted rather smooth but a bit too expensive for my ordinary taste. Thanks Nicole for the experience.

James and Daniel love their alphabet and numbers gifts, Daniel knows his numbers but refuses to say seven, maybe because it has two syllables.

Mira chose to sit down and drink the Kopi Luwak coffee.  She's a good sport.

We ate the big Christmas meal and went directly to the present game while we digested the yummy feast. The present game is starting and George is the one calling the cards, Notice the table full of small gifts. My great grandson Cyprus is getting right into the fun.

Everyone is waiting their turn to have their card called so they can go chose a gift.

Even the little kids are playing the game but have alphabets instead of cards. James knows his alphabet and he wins from a pile of gifts for kiddies.

Jackie is choosing a gift while Cyprus looks at me.

Poor Cyprus, spilled some juice all over his shirt before the present game.

Those beautiful golden locks belongs to Jordyn, Cyprus's mother.

It's time to disassemble the race track and train track  without breaking anything for the long trip home.....

Of course the traditional post Christmas puzzle. An Audubon bird puzzle. Thanks jackie...

Christmas was relaxed, full of laughter and fun and best off all, family. Nicole we missed you this year but I'm glad we didn't had to worry about you making your flight to Toronto and then over the Atlantic like last year. That was brutal.

Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment. They show that you care enough to bother.
JB

THE LAST POST FOR 2014

Oh Lala, I've been gone a long time but it seems like only a few weeks. The time machine is broken and is going out of control...

When I started this post  it was still in 2014 but I got sick for 4 days and went to work at the farm sick twice a day and went to bed when I returned home. I'm still not feeling well yet.

I've missed visiting you because I just couldn't sit at the computer very long.
A lot has been going on since my last post so I'll try to condense it as much as I can.

My calf nursery is overflowing again with  more on the way... I've had 22 calves born since November 1st so I've been very busy.

We has a huge storm on my Birthday and it  knocked the power out. The new stove installation was delayed for 3 days, I was so tired from having to care for all the new calves being born  almost everyday and all the work that went with and the cold and everything else ...

We  really got dumped on and no heat in the house.... A view of the back deck from the sunroom door

Caught in the act... Sound asleep with layers and layers of clothing and a heat bag on my neck to warm up after work... Notice the Rug Hooking Bible on the table...

I had no internet for many hours. Can't even remember....
Even with the generator I was still cold but I had internet after they removed a fallen tree off the wires that provided internet and phone communication.

We hammered  out a wall of white and black speckle faux bricks, the wainscotting and a pine board wall was removed and George laid a sub floor over the old yucky  flooring.

The porcelain tiles were finally installed

I sanded the glue my husband had put on the wall behind the wainscotting and used some Polly Filla to cover all the uglies, but had to wait until later to sand as the stove installer came.

They had to tear the chimney liner and install a new chimney pipe.

This insulated pie was installed through the new hole cut through very hard bricks.

The new energy efficient stove finally installed.  It's an amazing stove that once lit stays lit for up to 14 hours so all you need to do is add wood and push a few livers and away it goes and it close the damper by a timer.  George loves it.

The library was emptied all over the livingroom  and I had my cookbooks and my gardening books  were put on the stairs. I painted the den and had some help from my granddaughter Jordyn.

I got the furniture all moved back in and the house just straightened out just in time for my daughter Christine and her little family's arrival on the 21st of Dec. The next morning she's reading a book brought by The Elf On The Shelf. He brought a new book  every day since December 1st to Christmas Eve. The boys loved it.


To be continued...

HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone...  I'll try to catch up again as soon as I feel better.
JB