The Fox Went Out On a Chilly Night

The Fox

The fox went out on a chilly night,

He prayed for the moon to give him light,

For he'd many a mile to go that night,

Before he reached the town-o, town-o, town-o,

He'd many a mile to go that night,

Before he reached the town-o.

~ from the 15th Century English Folksong - The Fox And The Goose

I'm grateful for Music, lyrics, rhymes, and poems.

Go Morgan! Go!!! Morgan chased the fox tonight and almost cornered and got her teeth into it, but the fox was smart and ran toward and under the old wooden horse fence. Morgan had to run to the end of the fence to get to the other side and by that time the fox was long gone. Whew! Kristine counted the chickens and (amazingly) we still have seventeen. Morgan is upstairs drying out because after her adventures she is a soaking muddy mess. Poor baby!

Kristine reminded me that we kept the chickens in their pen for a couple of weeks after the coyote attack. The coyotes still use our property as as they pass by daily, but they don't try and get the chickens. Maybe they are just biding their time until the opportunity arrives?

Wreath Making 101: These are some of the steps we go through to get to a finished wreath.

1. Some brave soul spends a lot of time out in the forest in the cold, rain and snow cutting down pine and cedar trees.

2. Said soul carries and loads the trees in a truck and delivers them to the wreath making site. Then unloads the trees.

3. The wreath makers use large cutters and cut off the branches.

4. Said makers carry the branches over to where makers trim off 8"+- lengths of useable pine. Usually that would be the tip ends of the branches.

5. The cut pine is placed in sorted piles so the actual wreath making can begin.

6. Somewhere along in there the tree trunks are carried by the makers and loaded back in the truck to be hauled away with the rest of the branches that aren't useable. (Tired yet?)

7. The makers have to make lots of bows ahead of time so they will be ready for decorating. So far I have avoided steps 1, & 2 and bow making, but I think I am going to have to learn how to make bows one day soon.

8. The head maker knows how many of each size and kind of wreaths need to be made and keeps track and also has to label and price the wreaths.

9. Bundle making: A wreath is made up of hand sized bundles of pine arranged and wired or clamped to different size and shape wreath bases. Makers make fan shaped layered bundles of pine and clamps them to the base. Sounds easy. Not so easy to get the right size and shape bundle every time. Takes practice. I use a foot operated mechanism that closes the clamp around the pine bundle.

10. All the clamps on the base are filled! Congratulations! You have a wreath!

11. Maker sprays the wreath to seal the cut ends to help prevent the wreath from drying out.

12. But it needs decorating. So, the maker may add a bow, or pine cones, dried wild flowers and seeds, Christmas ornaments, etc.

13. The head maker loads up the wreaths and delivers them to sale sites.

14. That is some of what goes on getting a wreath into a store so a customer can say, "I could make one of those" and complain about the price. I do admit the price can seem high until you think about what it takes to make a wreath.

Having a job for a few weeks out of the year is something I enjoy. I especially like being around friends I haven't seen for a long time. The wreath making is enjoyable, but tiring. My hands have been wet and cold all day. But I have learned to stand up straight because leaning over the piles of pine looking for just the right piece to add to my bundle was making my back ache. Also I bought a new pair of gloves that may help keep my hands dry. But everyone had wet soaking gloves so it wasn't just my gloves that failed.

I miss having time to read and comment on the blogs I usually visit. I try to read a few when I get home, but that doesn't always happen. I have been voting for Suzanne. She is behind in the voting the last time I looked. Phooey!

[Two eggs today.]

Smiles

~:>