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.

Thursday, November 21, 2013

THE FARM GREMLINS HAVE MOVED TO MY HOUSE

This morning my husband did the milking and we were both a bit later than usual as we have been  tired because we went to bed at 11:00 PM last night. He was supposed to come get the mother cow to milk her so I could feed her calf but he was rushing to wash the system before the plumber came to replace the water pressure tank and he totally forgot. He had to wait till the milking washing cycle system was finished before he could milk her in the steel milk can but by this time the plumber had turned the water off and I had no way of warming the milk so I had to go home to get a hot pail of water. The big steel milk can is cold and  cools off the milk rapidly.  See what I mean, the gremlins are here. This meant that I had to return to the barn to feed the new calf after having breakfast.

The water bowls and water troughs have been getting plugged on and off lately at the barn and especially lately and we have found pieces of diaphragm from the pressure tank and pieces of lining that plugs up the  pressure nozzles and water bowls so today we had a new pressure tank installed. It holds 180 gallons of water at the cost of $1100. 00 and the new water pump  on the 7th of November  was over $1200. 00. We had the water tested twice and there is still some bacteria that is present but
not harmful to human so we still have to get the well shocked another time and one more test. We believe the bacteria  came from the old tank when the submergible pump was replaced. There was some black in the water if you remember.

When I turned the Halogen light on this morning, it burnt out and I had to work in dim light. I say Gremlins are at work...

This morning when I opened the cover on the calf feed bin I saw my first mouse of the season. I couldn't believe it with all those cats in there. They were sniffing under the bin and for a good reason. I hope they catch it or I'll starve them till they do the work they are supposed to do.


When I returned home to make a beef pot pie, as I was getting a small Corning ware casserole dish out from the bottom of the cupboard to store the rest of the beef pie filling in and I accidentally knocked two identical small Corning casserole dish off the shelf and they shattered on the floor. I got those as wedding presents in 1966. I like them because they are small enough for two people. I still have one left thank goodness.  I think that the gremlins did it...  Oh well... it's time to think of downsizing any way. lol...   I  made my own Cream of Mushroom soup from scratch to put in the pie filling instead of the gravy. It was real good. I used the pie crust  trimmings to make a small one for my son. At least that project went very well. The Gremlins are not having any...


This afternoon, I went to work on weed cutting and my new weed eater was giving me problem as I was cutting tall grass I ran into some hidden metal wires and it cut the small blue cords and my husband had to take the spool apart. It has two cords inside the spool instead of one and he removed one cord and I liked it better. After that each time it hit something hidden in the grass, I knew what to do.  The damed Gremlins were at my weed eater too.

I was doing real well when I got a call from my son that he had found a new heifer calf born outside.
I dropped everything and went over to look after her. The mother was due on the 29th of November.

I have absolutely no place for another calf and had to remove the one that was in the big pen and tie it to a post right in my work path. I see a Gremlin pattern... Oh I almost forgot, that calf I had to tie to a post escaped from the pen the day before and went missing for a while.

When George came to get the mother, he left the big pen gate wide open and then he also left the big gate open. The calf gingerly came out in search of his mother and he ran over to the first cow he saw in the dry cow pen, out of site.
It was a warm sunny afternoon and I opened the outside door to let fresh air in and noticed one of the calf had knocked his feed pail on the floor and I went to tie it down and it's then that I noticed the calf missing. I thought that he had escaped outside. My heart sank down to my knees.

I looked everywhere and I finally found him hiding behind the dry cows. He laid in some cow patty and I had to wash under his belly and dip his navel again.
My husband has had so much on his mind lately because there's so much going on  that he forgets little important things like closing gates. Or maybe it was the Gremlins again...

At this rate, I'll never be able to tell you about my weekend stories. It's a longer story and if I don't write it down, I'll sure forget it as there are always some more stories that crops up.

I don't know what to do to keep my stories short. I do apologize.  Maybe just pretend you're reading a book.

Thanks for stopping by. I really appreciate your comments.
JB

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

LIFE IS FULL OF HURDLES

We had a couple of warm afternoons this past week and I did a few hours of yard work at the farm cutting small bushes and trees around the foundation on the back side of the machine shed and cutting tall weeds and grass and it felt good to be in the fresh air. It was warm enough to take my jacket and fleece off for a while. I also did some raking and made big piles of branches and weeds and grass for my husband George to haul away with the big tractor.

It was coming close to the time to go feed my calves when my weed eater gave up. No sweat, I had a brand new one still in the box at the house. I had bought it on sale at Canadian Tire store a few weeks earlier just because it was on sale lol... and might come in handy. It did come in handy. My husband just arrived home at the same time I did and he put it together for me. I rushed back to cut a little bit more barnyard grass.

My job is not finished but I've got a good head start on it. It's more than I can say for my own yard and gardens. Everything is a total mess this Fall.


For lack of taking pictures lately, I'm using and older picture of a messy flower bed in front of my house. This picture was taken last Fall I think and it's pretty much what my flowerbeds look like right now.

Today I scrubbed the walls of the milking parlor and wash the floor and the gutters. Not much glamour there. There is still lots of cleaning to do in there but my shoulder can only do so much before it starts to hurt a little so I have to pace myself.

While I was still in the milking parlor my husband called me about a heifer trying to give birth with her butts against the wall. He brought her into the calving pen and I came to assist and together we pulled the bull calf out and I clear the mouth and the nostril. My son Vaughan arrived before  the calf had taken his first breath and he stuck a piece of hay in his nostril and he breathed. I dipped the navel and vaccinate him as standard procedure. My son milked the mother and fed the calf for me and helped me with my chores while George milked the cows. I was done early for a change this evening. That's was the second bull calf this week. One was born on Sunday and I sold two yesterday. My pens are still full and I still have four without pens.

It has been a rough kind of a week but we take it all in stride. That's what we do on the farm. It never seem to get boring somehow. Always some kind of excitement happening on almost a daily basis.

Today was just a normal day and I have some more good adventures to share that happened this past week but it would make my post too long so I'll share some more maybe tomorrow if I can find time to post.

Thanks for stopping by. I so appreciate your comments.
JB