Sunday, December 21, 2008

Mom and Pop's Aprons


I finished these two aprons for John and I a couple of days ago but couldn't take any photos until I knew John wasn't going to pop into the house and catch me. I still think he doesn't know he is getting a special apron for Christmas like everyone else. It was tricky to sew them too as I had to keep my ear tuned to the back door opening and rush to put them out of sight and pretend to be doing something else when he walked into the sewing room.

I made the frog fabric apron for myself and the UNL Husker one for John. I intend to wrap mine up too - may put a tag on them that they are from Santa. Will act surprised when I open it with everyone else opening theirs.

When the grandsons were here I had on an old apron and wore it to the table one evening. M, who is 3 asked me what I was wearing and told him I wore the apron to help keep my clothes clean when I cooked. He got this sad look on his face and told me he didn't have an apron. Can't wait until he opens his and realizes what it is.

We got ice, rain and snow on Thursday and are still dealing with the ice. Had to make a trip to town yesterday and the highway still only has one track each way that is not ice covered. The sidewalks and garage approach are still covered with ice too so walking can be tricky. Yesterday morning we woke to the sound of wind so besides being cold the wind chill was down really low. It is -3 degrees F here this morning but not as much wind but of course it will still be cold out.

John had to build fence for the cows across the road yesterday and waited until 3:30 pm hoping it would be warmer and less wind then. He was putting in an electric fence so had to push in the small metal posts. Wonder if he had to pound them in with a hammer if the ground was too frozen.

After he gets the posts in he strings out a strong wire that is attached to the posts with an insulator and will have a battery attached to the wire. That is all it takes to keep the cows in - they all respect the electric fence. It gives them a little shock if they touch it so they keep a little distance from the perimeter of the field. Using electric fences around the corn stalk fields is an easy way to clean up any downed corn and makes a cheap way to feed the cows after they come home from the pastures. We move them about every 2 weeks to new fields to keep them well fed. They stay in the stock fields until about 2 weeks before they are to give birth to their new calves in about mid March. At that time they are moved to the lots near the barn and are fed hay and silage (corn that was cut green and packed in a pile where it kind of ferments.) The cows love the taste of silage and it really doesn't smell too bad either.

So much for the "farm report" for today!

Lynn

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