Nanny Morgan

Cold day and I'm taking the day off! Well, at least the morning. I'll probably find something to do inside. Morgan marks the place where I left off raking. I need to continue all the way back to the trees by the fence line. Makes me tired looking at the photo.

I was experimenting with the photo layout and chose "none" and now I can't do anything with the photo and I have all these lines show up. Phooey!

I didn't use the return key and so no lines. It won't let me put text by the side of the photo. OK. Sooo, I'll go back to choosing photo placement.

Here is Morgan being a good Mom to the girls.

Or bossy?

I really can't tell, but I noticed that the Cochin was eating corn peacefully, when an Orpington comes up on her right and a Wyandotte comes up on her left.

The Wyandotte pushes the Cochin away, the Cochin all of a sudden develops an itch that needs pecking, and then Morgan steps in and noses the the Wyandotte away. The Cochin comes back to the feeder... and then things get too confusing for me to follow.

Chicken politics are complicated and with Morgan overseeing things I don't have much hope of understanding their pecking order. I'll just trust Morgan to keep things peaceful.

But I wonder if the Cochin is Morgan's little pet?

The cochin does end up by Morgan and back at the feeder

while all the commotion is going on there

at the end of this little episode.

[9 eggs today]

It is going to be rainy and cold for a few days

so I filled up a feeder with cord and one with grower.

It seems colder than when it snowed,

but that's just me.

Humidity?

Smiles

Found In The Cupboard

Today I thought I would start clearing/cleaning out a hall closet and ran across these old recipe booklets that I got from Tom's mother, Dolores. She was clearing out her stuff and said I could go through her recipe books and take what I wanted. I picked out the oldest ones:

The top two photos show the small Mirro-matic pressure pan from 1947

and the Kenmore and Sunbeam mixmaster books from 1950.

I love the pictures and the recipes are still great!

I wish I had the pan and the mixer.

These middle two photos show the Borden's Eagle Brand book

that I think is from 1950's or maybe 60's

and the Family Fare food management

from the U. S. Department of Agriculture, February 1950.

The Borden book has some great candy and dessert recipes.

And the Family Fare book even has some great recipes.

I love these last booklets!

The Bisquick Cook Book and Party Book

have such neat illustrations and recipes.

But most of all I love the

Home Makers Guide, 1951.

It is a little treasury of all things a bride might need to know.

From banking to cooking, interior design to laundry,

and to gardens to home site, the list goes on.

Even the recipes are great.

How cool is that!

Go ahead, click on the photo.

I would love to have that range with those ovens!

I loved the 1950's.

I remember the cookie cutter houses, the milk delivery and

bakery trucks that would drive slowly up the street.

The ice cream truck with its goofy music.

High school, bowling, football, skating, tv,

but what I didn't like at all was

the air raid siren that went off at the end of the street.

By the 50's I didn't much worry about a bomb attack anymore,

I just hated the noise the siren made.

Can you read the little poem?

Take each step most carefully!

Cooking is an art!

A well cooked meal --- a pretty bride

Will keep her hubby's heart!

~ Crystal Hastings

Well, a home cooked meal makes me a lot happier

than fast food.

But, then I like to cook.

Some husbands make great cooks too!

And some wives can't cook worth beans.

I guess I believe in each person finding and doing

what works for them.

If it is cooking, or quilting, or raising chickens or ?...

go for it!

These books remind me of the times I spent in home economics class

in 1954 in the wonderful little kitchens

in my junior high school.

Everyday we would cook something.

Toward the end of the year we even cooked a whole meal.

That included setting the table, prep time, cooking, eating, cleaning

and washing up, and putting everything away ready for the next class.

How we did all that in a class period still amazes me.

We were so good.

[8 eggs today]

Smiles

Chickens and Bird Song

I thought I would start off today with this video and if I have time I will add to this post later today. I was surprised to hear the bird song when I played the video. I was so intent on the chickens and the rustle of the leaves I didn't pay any attention to the birds.  There aren't very many chickens in this spot. They make a lot of noise when they are together.

You can hear the noise the chickens make

scratching and walking around in the leaves.

I'm standing still.

And you can hear some bird song.

I don't know what the "tweety" birds are

but the  cawing call you hear at the beginning and at the end

is a woodpecker.

Wow! [12 eggs today]

Smiles

:)

Up On The Roof

I'm up on the garage roof

getting ready to start raking the leaves.

The leaves have dried up enough to come off easily,

 so here I go...

I noticed that the roof has a support

that is kinda sticking up a bit

where a tree crashed through the roof

a few years ago.

But since it is going up instead of down that seems OK.

 Maybe my brother built it that way when he did the repair?

Ahhhh!

Isn't that pretty!

I'm taking a break.

So fun to lay on my back

on the roof

and stare up through the trees.

Wow! They are leafing out fast.

Soon you won't be able to see

hardly any sky through the leaves.

All finished!

That really didn't take very long and I even had time to go rake more leaves off off my paths. And I took the movie of the hen/rooster. Kristine says she isn't laying. There is one other hen who is doing the rooster thing. I'll have to have Kristine show me which hen it is. This is what happens when you don't have a rooster in the flock. Somebody takes the roosters spot.

The black Australorp has decided she is a rooster! She has grown a large red comb, bigger wattles and she is endeavoring to crow. I followed her to the pen and finally captured her strange cluck/crow. The Buff Brahma is clucking along with the growly Australorp crow/clucking. What a strange sound. Enjoy!

[10 eggs today] + 1 = 11

Smiles

:)

Leaves, Leaves, Leaves...

How about this! I actually got all the leaves raked away from the back of the house and even made a start on one of the paths. Since Danny showed me how to take movies on my camera I have been playing around with it and I managed to take the video below of one of our Light Brahma hens. She was making so much noise that I went to check out her problem (even Morgan showed up) and she just kept up her clucking. Don't know what she was going on about.

But now I know why I don't see very many videos on the blogs I read... they take a very, very, long time to upload. So, in the future I will make shorter videos. I am trying to video the Australorp we have that has convinced herself that she is a rooster. She makes the strangest crowing/clucking noise, and has even grown a larger red comb. I did catch her on video today but I can't upload it because the video was over 100MB. I'll try again.

This movie making is pretty fun stuff.

This chicken is for you, Sarah! She is clucking, "Hello, Sarah! Where is my corn! I want corn, my corn feeder is empty!" But, I'm not giving her anymore corn. They have lots of feed. Fat chickens. She is going to give up and go in the pen and get a drink. But she must have been calling her other Light Brahma sisters, 'cause they all are running around the pen to get to her. Who knows what she was clucking about?

[10 eggs today]

Smiles

Be Happy

More Chickens

Added: (I'm trying again to upload a video.

It stopped at "Message 229)

The video is listed as a .jpg when I go to choose it,

so I dragged the video out of iPhoto onto the desktop

and there it says it is an avi.)

--- --- ---

Before when I chose the video I finally got the photo below, which is the first frame of the video. I'll just leave this and see if I finishes... maybe?

This is a movie... ?

I'm trying to upload a movie of the chickens on the porch.

Maybe it will post a photo?

I had to go back to draft to get it to do this much.

Well, I'll publish this and see if it is a movie or a photo.

Phooey! Only a photo...

I can't get the movie to upload.

Rats!

The plastic is part of the plastic we put up against the house

during the winter to protect the siding

from snow damage.

See the crushed board on the little bridge?

The board rotted over the winter

so when I stepped on it... crunch!

I'm going to be working outside so this will have to do for awhile.

It rained again and everything is so green and bright outside.

I'll post some more this evening.

Smiles

:)

[5 eggs] + 2 = 7 + 2 = 9

Turn your sound up...

Well, hot dog! Look at this!

I finally just told the edit page to publish and look what showed up.

I was feeding the hens leftover egg yolks from breakfast.

So, I guess the trick is to drag the video onto the desktop!

This is my first video so I will have to practice.

I really don't understand all the options that my camera has available.

Too many choices for me.

Hope you like hearing the chickens.

I had to turn my volume up all the way.

Big Smiles!

:)

Wonderful Visit!

Holly and Danny + Uncle Tom and Aunt Callie

We all had a wonderful visit yesterday!

Holly made a lovely celtic rug for me

and she and Danny brought it to me all the way from Seattle.

They are soooo sweet!

We thought they were just coming up for a few hours

because they have so many other family members to visit.

But they planned to stay for the day and evening.

Yikes!

I hadn't planned anything for them to eat and didn't know

what they could eat.... 

so, Danny and Holly and I went to the store

and they bought all the fixins for a great dinner

and then Holly proceeded to barbecue dinner!

But first we went for a walk!

Well, Holly tried to walk...

Danny had been pulling all-nighters so he grabbed some winks.

While Holly barbecued the tri-tip.

And the chicken, sausage, and zucchini!

Barbecue smells sooo good.

This is the place of honor the celtic rug is occupying.

I love the colors and the intricate weave.

Beautiful!

And Holly made if for me!

Thank you, Holly

Thank you, Danny

Hugs and kisses!

Here are some links that I found that give directions

and they have photos too.

- Tie an Ocean Plait Rug -

http://miniatures.about.com/od/miniatureprojects/ss/oceanplaitrug_2.htm

and

- SummitPost - So You Want to Make a Rope Rug Eh! -

http://www.summitpost.org/article/263578/So-You-Want-to-Make-a-Rope-Rug-Eh-.html

I like the directions and photos on both of these sites

but I really like the wooden platform to hammer nails

 into to mark the turns in the bottom link.

You did a beautiful job, Holly!

I love the rug.

It rained last night! Yea! I hope it rains again today, please. The rain made it much easier to rake up the leaves and I got halfway around the back of the house before I had to call a halt due to fatigue. I'll be back at it tomorrow.

[5 eggs today so far] + 1 = 6

6?

Have a Great Day!

Smiles

:)

Celtic Rug and Danny and Holly

Hi Aunt Callie!  Wow I feel so famous now that 

Danny and I are officially part of your blog!

This is me, (your Niece Holly) & the celtic rug 

I made at a YMCA Women's Retreat on Orcas Island, WA

This is Holly & Danny (your new Nephew-in-law!)  Yeah!  Lucky Holly found such a wonderful husband!  Welcome to the family Danny :)  We all love you so much!

The rug is made from old climbing rope that was used by all the little campers hands at Camp Orkila on Orcas Island.  The colors reminded me of my Aunt, and the craftiness of the idea (I knew she would love it!).  So it made me very happy to make this for her!

This Light Brahma is giving me the eye

through the front slider.

She wants me to open the slider and give her some treats!

Don't you think she is hefty enough!

Fat chicken.

It really isn't good if the hens get too fat because they

don't lay as many eggs as they would normally

or even stop laying.

I hope Holly and Danny had a great time driving up here

and that they have a wonderful visit with all the family.

Love and Hugs Holly and Danny!

Holly typed most of this blog.

I am trying to get her interested in blogging.

Please Holly!

Have a great Day!

Smiles

:)

Nothing Is Ever Easy

Curtains!

I actually finally got them hung up!

So you want to hang up a pole? Doesn't sound like a problem.

Why is there always a problem?

Well, it seemed easy. Just put up some hangers for the pole so I could hang curtains up to hide all the stuff in the closet and keep the light off my fabric. It started out easy. I drilled the holes for the first hanger and found longer screws and put it up. The hanger on the left side was a bear to hang. The drill wouldn't drill. Maybe hit a nail? Then one of the screws broke off. Then I had to pound nails in where the drill wouldn't work. Then I had to find a hammer and a piece of board to use to yank out the nail. There were lots of other problems that I won't bore you with. But, I finally got the pole up and the curtain hung. Window curtain photos tomorrow. I hope. (added: Nope. I decided, no curtain on the window!)

I'm still working on the curtains. See the green curtain on the table.

I'm trying to figure out whether I should cut off all the foo foo ruffles and make a curtain for the window, or use some other throws that I 

have and cut them up and make some curtains?

Ah, I got a photo of the mouse pad I cut up to made a holder for my foot control for my sewing machine. I hate trying to find the control when it keeps sliding around on the floor. I read about someone doing this so when we found a mouse pad during Spring cleaning I thought I would try it out. Haven't been sewing so I don't know how it works. 

The new rule around here is everyone is supposed to use this door to go in and out of the house... not the slider. There is a screen door you have to go through to get into this entry. The idea is to make it harder for the mosquitos, wasps, etc. to get into the house. I put a pillow on the hall tree for us to use as this is also supposed to be where we change from outside shoes/boots to inside footwear.

I collected 11 eggs today!

Have a great day!

Smiles

Mountain View

I had to go into town today and actually managed to take a photo on the way back of a view out over the tops of some mountains. There is even still some snow out there on the tops of some of them. We are supposed to be getting some more snow towards the end of the week. I sure hope we at least get a good freeze. I want all the mosquitos killed off! There is West Nile Virus up here. Very Bad Stuff.

This is a very pretty photo. Go ahead... click on it!

I did good.

Some of the oak trees have places on them where they collect water and where mosquitos will breed if given the chance. I pour cooking oil in the ones I can reach and fill them in with dirt. I don't know if that is an approved method to retard mosquitos, but it works for me. I'm sure there are spots higher up in the trees that I can't get to, so I only work outside in the middle of the day when the mosquitos are not as active. And the dear chickens do eat mosquitos when they can catch them. And eat the larva too. Good chickens.
Clearing away all these leaves is supposed to be for fire suppression, but the way I see it is that if we have a fire move through here everything is toast. There have been fires that have burned down these towns several times. The fires move through the tops of the trees. Clearing the leaves might slow the fire down, but if there is a fire all I want is for all of us to leave the area. I don't plan or expect anything to survive the fire. So, really moving the leaves and clearing brush for me is just exercise. Good thing I like raking.

This photo below is Bad Chickens! The girls do love to take sun and dust baths and one of their favorite places is under the edge of the spa house. As you can see they are undermining the supports. And I suppose I also move some of the dirt away when I rake up the leaves. I'm going to have to remember to shovel some dirt back under the spa house. I keep trying to get a photo of the hens dusting under here. Someday soon...

Like I said, everyday I am working a bit on moving the leaves away from around the house. Today I got all the way to the propane tank for the spa house. This propane tank used to be used to power the hot tub that was in the spa house, but now it is used just to power my cook top. I saw a propane tank with a smiley face painted on it. Kinda cute. But I do think this tank needs a cover. If you enlarge the photo you can see the shovel where I stopped pushing it and left to take the photo. I was reading a farm blog (Tyler Farm) and they have something called a york rake that they drag around with a tractor. Pretty neat! But I need the exercise, so this is better for me. I keep telling myself!
This is a peek into my sewing/computer room. Three more weeks until Kristine is off for the summer and we can continue with the spring cleaning in the loft and her room. In the meantime I am working on this room. Next photo of the window will show curtains! At least that is the plan. I moved my sewing/cutting table so I can walk around three sides of it which will make for much easier cutting. I hate moving and repositioning the fabric before I cut. Lazy me! I keep my machine and table covered to protect against the sunlight and dust. Ah, but soon I will have curtains!

I need to paint the counter. I primed it but I'm wearing the primer off. I built the counter out of a couple of doors. Hard to believe but true and the counter is still level. I do have a little bit on the edge to fix up with some wood putty, but then I can paint. Except I don't have any paint.  I need to go to the store. Three weeks? Four? Well, at least I can hang the curtains and put up the shade.

It has been really warm today, 87 degrees.

Hard to believe snow is on the way.

And rain.

I'll take the rain. Love the rain.

I'm going to put my egg count down here:

[3 eggs] + 5 = 8

Have a great day!

Smiles

:)

Morgan and the Girls In The Morning (I Added the Bridge)

[4 eggs] + 5 = 9

Bridge links at the bottom!

The hens are eating lettuce

and Morgan is looking for a doggie treat.

She doesn't like lettuce.

I can't remember if I already posted about my remodel

of the chicken coop.

One day I decided I had had enough of bumping my head

going through the gate to collect eggs every day

so I pulled down this end of the coop.

(I know... I should remember to duck)

And just started building.

Wish I had been blogging then.

I would have had lots of photos to post.

I do love power tools.

I had bought a metal white door and some windows

at a flea market so I built a frame out of scrap wood

left over outside paneling, and added the windows and door .

Amazing!

Well, I amazed myself.

I thought that If I messed up I could always just nail

the metal panels than had been there back up.

I added fencing over the windows

inside and out.

Then I added the swinging windows

on the inside of the coop.

The chickens slip in and out under the bottom windows.

I keep them open in the summer.

It was a lot of fun remodeling this end of the coop.

Now Kristine and I are making plans to enlarge

the coop and pen area.

After all, if/when we get the Muscovy ducks

they will need more room.

And...

maybe a rabbit?

Like the Hen Cam has... here.

I would love to add two doe kids to the plan!

But, we need safe housing and fencing.

Have to add that to the plan too.

And a new roof!

I would like to add outside roosting poles to the pen,

but the raccoons can reach in and grab a chicken.

Ahh... but I could add hardware cloth around the area.

So, we can put outside roosts in the plan.

The hens would like to roost in the sun when they have to stay in.

We lock them up in their coop when we leave the property.

Kristine and I are going to see a Movie today.

Monsters vs Aliens

so, this is a short post.

Well, it started out to be a short post.

Strange egg.

Click on the photo, please.

But I do have a question.

I collected this egg this morning from a nest in the coop.

Anybody know what's on this egg.

Kristine says she thinks it is just left over egg shell stuff.

It feels like egg shell, only they are tiny and round.

They do fall off when rubbed.

I wish the photo was clearer. I did set the camera for zoom.

Movie time.

I'll take my camera and I will try for some photos

 on the way down the mountain.

If I get some good shots I'll post them later today.

The movie was a lot of fun!

Rushing to leave I forgot my camera! 

So, here and here are some links to a bridge we took

on the way down the mountain.

When I said that Grandma lived across the bridge

I really meant it!

Have a great day!

Smiles

Blogger In Draft Post

[3 eggs] + 5 = 8

When I went back to post these next two photos

the old photo "uploader" showed up

and these photos uploaded just fine.

I unchecked blogger in draft.

Raking leaves away from the house! That's what I'll be doing a little bit of each day.

I'll start here next to the motor home.

I've been having a terrible time with having

my text turn into all caps.

I think the reason is that I didn't unplug my keyboard when I was cleaning the keys yesterday. So, let that be a lesson for me! I did reset everything and even went into preferences and reset the keyboard functions to default. Hope that works... at least the text has stopped turning into caps.

I've got a long way to go around the back of the house.

I wish I could train the chickens to move the leaves

instead of just turn them over.

(I posted this text and photo first) Ok, this is going to be a weird post because I don't know exactly how this blogger in draft is working. I tried to upload three photos, but only one has made it to the blog. So, I'm going to go back and try again. If I can only load one photo at a time I think I will go back to the regular blogger. 

Chickens in the woods.

They are watching me and Morgan is watching them.

Can you see Morgan?

They are not helping me at all.

They are waiting to see what kinds of goodies I rake up.

Have a great day!

Smiles

Eggs For Breakfast, Please?

[3 eggs] + 8 = 11 

I thought I would try out the large photo format. What do you think? Like it better than the small pics? Oh well, you can always click on the photos to have them enlarge.

60 degrees! I checked the temp on the way back from the gate to let the chickens out. This is much better than the 40 degrees the other day. Should be nice and warm today.

Don't let the motor home fool you. We only have it because we had to live in it for two and a half years while we got our earthquake damaged house repaired enough for us to live there again.

And then it took another seven years to finish the repairs. The motor home acts as our guest house. It can sleep a lot of people. Maybe I'll camp out there this summer and pretend I'm on vacation.

 

This Light Brahma is the first one out of the coop this morning. Zoom! See that light piece of 

board nailed up to the left of the hen... well, that is my repair job after the bear tore at the 
opening and ripped the plywood away 

so he could get into the coop where the chickens were roosting.

I had a door rigged up over the opening that I could raise and lower.

And I had two feed barrels in the areas where the feeders are hanging.

The feeders are inside because there are still freak rain and snow falls that sneak up on us. Wet feed is deadly. Mold grows and will kill the chickens.

After the hens all raced out I went in to collect eggs for my breakfast. Ha! There were only two eggs, so I left this  Wyandotte hen to her nest and went for a walk.

The hens had been busy clearing away the leaves from along the fence. 

I rake the leaves against the bottom of the fence to keep the rain from washing the dirt away and creating a space under the wire that critters can slip under.

The girls make sure that I never run out of raking duties. Such good exercise for me. Sigh...

After I picked up the eggs

I gave the hens a morning treat.

I really don't like typing around these large photos. It is hard to figure out where the text will end up. I think I will go back to the small photos.

Have a great day!

Smiles

Celery In The Morning!

[2 breakfast eggs] + 3 = 5 + 1 = 6

I'm feeding the chickens grower so I do expect the egg production

to decrease. I'm feeding the grower to get rid of it

since they really don't need it in the summer.

I feed the grower

in the winter to give the chickens extra energy to combat the cold.

We do not heat the coop unless the temperature falls very, very low.

This year we did not heat it at all, even when it snowed.

Our chickens are winter hardy breeds.

Good chickens!

This is what I saw when I walked in the kitchen this morning.

Celery... yikes!

I don't have much kitchen counter so when it comes to having

stuff sit around I''m always looking to free up space.

The window has a metal bottom with a drain so plants

can be watered and I thought why not?

So, I put stuff up there that needs to drain.

Works great!

As long as I don't forget stuff up there

like I did the celery last night.

Woops!

Here are the girls getting a treat last night

with Morgan supervising.

Well, I really don't know what she is thinking,

but I know she doesn't want the vegetables.

The veggie scraps were on the paper plate that you can barely

see behind the feeder. I don't know how the hens

dumped the scraps and moved the paper plate.

Such a neat job!

I guess they would rather eat off the blue plastic

than the paper plate?

Have a great day!

Smiles

Independent Chickens

[3 eggs this morning] + 8 = 11

This is how the chickens take off after I let them out of their coop in the morning. I used to think that chickens stayed in a flock and traveled around together. Maybe if they were all one breed? Some of my chickens do stay together, but others head out for their own favorite spots. You can see the Light Brahmas, and Wyandotte headed left and a Wyandotte and and Australorp headed right. I wonder if ducks stick together? Geese?

Kristine wants to get some geese. But what kind?

And if we get ducks we will get Muscovy ducks (info here.)

We have had them before when Kristine raised ducks

for a 4-H project.

Muscovies are a kick! We really enjoyed having them around.

They wag their tails, head bob and hiss not quack here.

Here is a video of some Muscovy ducks head bobbing and tail wagging.

The other ducks are quacking.

We had black and white ones, but I'll look into seeing if we can get

some brown or black ones so they can blend in with the leaves.

We got four of each breed of our chickens

and the Wyandottes are the only breed we still have four.

It is my supposition that they survived predator

attack because they are harder to spot in the leaves.

Maybe?

I don't know anything about geese except

that I know I want friendly ones.

My brother had some attack geese.

Well, back to the chickens...

It does upset Morgan when her chickens are spread

out and she can't see them all.

Sometimes she will just give up and go lay on the porch.

I checked on the fruit trees again

and at least the apricot and cherry tree are making leaves.

The fig tree isn't doing much at all.

Hope it is OK.

My paths are all messed up by the rain and snow melt.

This is a good thing because it gives me more opportunity

for exercise. And even when I get the paths all raked up again

the chickens will come along and move the leaves

back onto the paths. So, I have no excuse

for not raking leaves!

Smiles

P.S. I was just reading

If Life Gives You Scraps~Make Quilts here

and she mentioned her pollen

allergies. Maybe my migraines are

triggered by pollen? I got another one. Phooey!

I would really like to start sewing again.

P.S.S. I talked to Jean today and

she can get in and out of bed by herself!

And she can go home... except

she has to wait for a bed sore to heal.

How crummy is that!!!

Well, she will be home soon and then she can come up here for a picnic and we can go to the lake and she can even fish if she wants or have Kyle fish for her.

We want out!

[1 egg so far] + 9 = 10

Here is how the girls greet me in the morning! They are very vocal and want me to let them out. Now! So, I open the door and they all scurry out while Morgan at times greets them by nosing one and making the hen "explode."

It all happens so fast that I haven't been able to get a photo. She noses the chicken and the chicken squawks, flys up in the air flapping and you would expect to see feathers flying about, but no, the hen is fine, just startled.

I do tell Morgan, "No!" and she doesn't do the nosing thing unless she is really excited. So, she probably won't do it when I want so I can take a photo. 

In fact, I was going to name my blog "Exploding Chickens" but then I thought that with the world situation the way it is I really should go with a different name. So I went with Chickens On the Deck (Kristine yelled, "The chickens are on the deck!" one morning) but my fingers typed, Chickens On The Porch. Bad fingers!

I'll have to get Kristine to come with me some weekend to let the chickens out, so I can get all set to take photos and hopefully I will be able to catch Morgan and the hens in their act. 

Yesterday, I finally had it with the computer cord mess

and all the dust that collects around them

so I got some tools and some hooks.

And went to work.

Not a work of art but at least now I can dust under here without

fighting with the cords.

I'm sure I could have done a neater job if

I had unplugged the computer and printer but I didn't want

to deal with possible computer/printer problems.

See the tools on the floor?

I love this little tool. I found it in an antique store up here in the mountains, so I think it might be old. I know I have never seen any tool like it before. It is not too heavy and works great as a hammer, for pulling nails, and for prying stuff. I used it to pry up tack strips when I pulled up a rug.

It has "C. E. Bonner MFG. CO. Champaign, Ill." stamped on one side and on the other "TAT MCH.5.1901" The first T in TAT is a little different than the other T so I'm not too sure about it... maybe a P? Really don't have a clue as to what the TAT/PAT, etc., means. Well, anyway I'm very glad to have this little tool as it is very useful.

I'm just remembering that I think the ladies at the antique store said that the tool belonged to a family who was selling off an estate of a fellow who used to make/repair shoes up in an old gold town a long time ago. Just a story. Hard to know what to believe. People tell all kinds of stories if they think it might help sell something, but I knew these ladies and I tend to believe them since there were a bunch of other odd shaped tools that I didn't recognize. At least I believe that the tools had something to do with shoe repair. Maybe?

I went searching on Google and found two entries for

C. E. Bonner MFG Co. Champaign, Ill,

Antique 1901 CE Bonner Champaign Illinois Chisel Tool - eBay (item... Here is a neat Unusual Antique Combination Chisel tool marked CE Bonner Mfg. Co. Champaign, Ill on 1 side and Pat. Mch 5 1901 on the other. Measures 7 3/4" long...

...but the entry was deleted from Ebay. However, I guess the tool really is old and the T is a P. My tool is 8 and 3/4" long, so I guess they came in different sizes, maybe in a set?

This is very interesting! I selected the text on Google search and did a copy and pasted it into this post and the copy printed right into the post, not under the post like it usually does. So, I didn't have to recopy the text. Only bad thing was the size of the type was too large and the color was purple. I guess you can copy and paste Google stuff into Google? I'll have to play around with this.

I did some more searching and found a site that said the C. was for Clarence and there are other old tools for sale with the same Bonner stamp, but with other cities in Ill. than Champaign. I wish I could find some history about the company and Clarence.

I found an address: C. E. BONNER RESIDENCE, 702 W. University Ave., Champaign, Ill.

and the C. E. Bonner MFG CO., Tool Manufacturers, and Workmen's Cotteges, Bonner Additions, listed at:

http://www.archive.org/stream/viewbookofcityof00cham/viewbookofcityof00cham_djvu.txt

Well, I think that is enough sluething around.

I'm a genealogy junkie.

Have a great day!

Smiles

P.S. I added Treadle Quilts

to my list of Blogs on the

sidebar. Go Check!

P.S.S. Re the copy and paste thing... Duh! I just remembered that I checked the box for blogger in draft, so this copy stuff must be a draft feature.