Bren,
Thanks for all the comments and great details. Indeed you are a very busy woman. For the last 30 years, except this year we had a feed lot full with about 300 steers and 175 heifers. They belong to my side of the family. My DH feeds roundbales to the livestock, a alfalfa and grass mixture. We took this year off to repair the old feedlot. DH and his Dad do all the farming, planting, haying. I do get put on the tractor to rake the windrows together for the roundbaler. We used to move a lot of hand line for irrigation but have updated to pivots. We sold some of our hay last summer to a dairy in Idaho. Hopefully the price of hay and cattle will stay strong. DH is planting alfalfa with wheat as the cover crop ( wheat is $35.00/cwt and barley is $30.00/cwt) Father in law is planting malt barley. I have one old horse-mare, I need to ride her more, That's my plan for tomorrow, after I finish up the details for the back of my HST quilt. Then off to the longarm quilter on Friday. The deadline is very SOON!

We do not hire any extra help, therefore I have to be ready in a moments notice to help my DH. I do the night calving, thank goodness it only last a month.We start the first of Feb and brand on Easter weekend. When I can I travel about 50 miles west of here where my family's ranch is to help them out, they are in the middle of calving 400 head. I have been around cattle all my life. One of my favorite
sayings is; you can tell a lot about a person by the way they treat their animals.

Well I must say I probably have ???? (MANY) quilt projects and many, many not finished. The last couple of months I've picked up doing wool projects and trying Sashiko (PepperCory) love it. Seems there are certain times of the year I get more sewing done. I guess I am not normal I would rather quilt than do yard work but the flowers are to die for.

Would be fun to go to the Eureka quilt show. How far are you from there?

Wishing you good growing weather!
Terry

gerbigk wrote:
Karen,
It looks like some of ND is getting rain tonight, I hope you do too... Our rain you wouldnt have wanted... it came sideways with a 50 or 60 mph wind... felt like needles poking you in the face! I'm wish rain for you kiddo! Bren

2dogs wrote:
Thanks Terry, I love Montana, I am taking my mom to Eurikas quilt show is fall...Yeah that is kind of weird our feet are so close to the same level, his legs are way longer than mine but his horse is a hand or two taller than mine too... how many cattle??? good question, with cows that have babies all together with our son's and DH's bro around 3 or 4 maybe 5 hundred and then the pin of replacement herfiers is around 2 hundred or so and then the fat steers on feed we only have the steers left cause the other hefiers sold already... I'd say there is about 2 hundred in that pin... so around that many... I'm thankful they are not all ours! Or maybe I should wish they were all ours... No, no on second thought I'm glad they are not all ours... otherwise we wouldn't have all the other help...

Alfalfa is what my specilty is I cut and rake and bale. But my favorite is cutting and baling... especially if the dew stays off and I can bale until 2 or 3 in the morning. I love that quiet time of night but most of the time the hay draws to much moisture in the evening that I have to shut down... When I run our cutter it is nice and clean and cool and I can listen to my audio books on my mp3 and catch up on my reading. I just wish my quilt magazines were on audio books I'd rather listen to quilting than other books... We sell alot of hay to the big dairy farms on contracts. It is really good quality... and it has to be baled in big square bales, I don't like that baler so I run our big round baler, this hay we keep to winter the cows and back ground calves with...And then there is silage cutting time... truck driver is my title then and we plant a lot of corn... That is what we did today DH and I went to town to spend a lot of $ on seed corn and pick up chemical to spray and kill an old field of alf. to plant to corn. I like to plant because we have auto steer and GPS in our 4455 and I dont have to steer except to turn the corners and my rows are all straight! wish my stitches were as straight... Hey I just got a brain storm how about sewing machines with auto steer? LOL!

We cant grow barley or wheat here in the sand... How much does the seed cost for barley or wheat? Seed corn is at 250 a bag some of it is 280 a bag. And as far as finding time... I just dont feel right if I dont put in a stitch or two everyday... usually I do a block or two in the evening before bed if I'm not to tired otherwise I plan a head and have dinner in the crock pot and I put in some stitches before I go home to put it on the table... And I always, always have hand stitching on the side table next to my quilting chair... DH watches tv (he is really naping) and I sit and listen to the noise and pick up a block and sew it... it is amazing what you can get done over time.... a little here and a little there and before you know it .... its done! Oh and another thing I do when I go to a neighbors to help with branding, some of them I actually have to help either brand, vaccinate or rope and drag to the fire but others I just help put on the food so while I am waiting with the other women, they chat and I always take one or two blocks in a zip lock bag to piece... I can't stand to sit still. Oh and one more thing about finding time... I hate to tell you this but I have about 30 quilts going at a time... sometimes I get stuck and I need to think about the quilt or the person I am doing it for and other things so they have to simmer for a while before I can finish them...So I always have something to work on in differant stages so that helps too. You can get a lot of sewing done riding in a truck or sitting at a bull or cow sale or waiting at a rodeo...even sitting in the doctors office... you'd be surprised. Good Luck finding time! Bren...

crocus999 wrote:
I wish you were here too, then I wouldnt have to work because I had company and we could just bumb the day away quilting!

ajclapp wrote: [/quote][/quote][/quote]

Ha Ha, your my kinda girl.... I knew right away you had the country tree roots when you said mop bucket! Good job girl friend! You go Girl! 35 years is awesome we are almost at 35 too...I'm sure you will enjoy getting back to it... My favorite time is after a long hard day working then crawling in bed with fresh washed and line dried sheets.... I love the way they smell right off the clothes line and they feel so much better than out of the clothes dryer... They make we sleep so deep and long! I dont want to get up in the morning... Today was the first time I had my sheets out to line dry this year so I will sleep good tonight...
Bren

crocus999 wrote:
Awwe Shucks, Thanks! I hate to post photos of myself I feel like such a dork! We were joking about not killing our selves on the wet ground this close to branding time and how everyone would be mad at us if we showed up on crutches and broken legs! LOL It did turn out pretty good, our son took it for me after shutting the gate on the last pair. It was a beautiful day to ride...

Margo wrote:
Thanks Margo, It all came back to me as I read this link. I knew it but forgot it... shows you how long it's been since I have bought and prepared batiks... or messed with dyed fabrics... Thanks again!

Margo wrote: I'm with you on this one Margo!

Glad you're having fun,Lotti - I imagine that your mailbox will be "real" full when you get back!! Hopefully, it will also have the "reel" strips! I hope 'they' give you some time to get over jetlag and some time off after all your travels.

I love the pictutre of you and the horses, and DH alongside! It's postcard perfect - I made me think right away of the standard postcard line " Wish you were here!" I wish I was there! Looks wonderful, and to boot, you're cute!

Bren, read through this forum topic: [url]forum/help-im-stuck/4991-advice-about-retayne[/url]

Pay particular attention to info posted by Vicki Welsh!

Just popped in the house for a minute. I have fabric drying on the clothes line today and the wind is wrapping it around and around and I have one more big "DARK" blue batik piece that needed the color set and then dried... I do have a question about it... My bottle of retayne says hot water and 1 tsp for every yard. I put in 10 tsp for the 10 yards but the water was soooooooo very dark blue soooooo.... is my water to hot? I added a color catching sheet but I know it will be really blue so what do I do? Do I process it again in cooler water and more retayne or what?

I'm doing a jacobs ladder for a classmates wife and thier son who will graduate HS next yr and I dont want it to bleed on him/her...(My classmate was killed in a freack fire crash accident many years ago, he lived for 7 days in the burn unit but had 2 little boys and wife... she has never gotten over it and is so very tight to her boys I figured it was the least I could do for Scotty)...
HELP . I've never had this happen before!!! (I've never used this dark of a blue batik before either)
Will post photo later of the wind and clothes line/fabric dance. They are really snapping and whipping and popping, I need to tighten up the wires... Oh well it's time to stretch up fence soon anyway! I guess I'll grab the wire stretcher and get to it.... maybe in the morning... I want to make at least one block tonight....

In the meantime, maybe this will help: http://southernfood.about.com/library/info/blconv.htm

BTW....I only have a kitchen because it came with the house!

Wow, Lotti, you really have been around the world on this trip! Know you'll be glad to get home and sleep in your own bed....safe travels for the rest of your journey! Nancy