One last ‘old’ picture for the old year ending. It looks like this old fence list is counting down to the new year with 2 old steel fence posts and then one old wooden post. But of course the new year here will not be a warm fall day but a cold, white winter day with temperatures starting out around -10F and wind chills down to -23F – a refreshing start to the new year.
Old Fence Line
This barn wall and hinges definitely fit into the ‘old’ week theme. With one hinge already broken, I wonder how long the rest will last or before the wood rots away. With the nails bent over and double nails instead of screws, the fix-it job probably would not have gotten an A in a school woodworking shop class!
Old Hinges
This old grain drill probably didn’t travel long distances but instead traveled up and down the field during planting season.
Old Grain Drill
The remaining standing part of this old corral might not be able to withstand another heavy snowfall.
Old Corral in Wintertime
This truck doesn’t look like it can outrun the next snow and fits very well into this ‘old’ week since due to the lack of vent windows, this old Chevy truck was built between 1947 to 1950. (Since I didn’t go trespassing to see were the gas tank or shifter was mounted, I couldn’t narrow down the age more precisely but I’m sure others would know just by looking at it. But since the gas cap appears to be by the passenger door and that the side hood emblem appeared to have been a longer one stating Loadmaster or Thriftmaster, then that would narrow it to early 1949.)
Old Chevy
The year is nearing the end and it soon will be 2013 so I figured I would start an ‘old’ week to finish out the old year. And since I rarely post pictures of people, I won’t post a picture of myself for the old week.
An article in the December 1924 edition of The Wisconsin Magazine of History stated “Little notice, however, was given to the silo, which has played an important role in the dairy industry. The fact that one-fifth of the entire silo-using population of the United States is in Wisconsin testifies to the economic importance of the silo. At the time of the advent of the silo in this state, land was increasing in value and feed was becoming high-priced. Under these conditions many of out farmers were unwilling to carry a herd of cows through the winter, finding it was not profitable to do so. Many would sell in the fall and buy again in the spring, this being able to pasture the herd and throwing the wintering losses on others. The silo greatly reduced the cost of wintering cows and thereby introduced a fundamental improvement in the business of dairying.”
The first trench type silo built in Wisconsin was in Fort Atkinson in 1877 by Levi Gilbert and the first above ground silo built in the state was erected in Oconomowoc during the summer of 1880. The next years brought experimenting with foliage rates the cows would eat and silo designs. Professor F. H. King, of the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station, introduced the round silo in 1891 which reduced the spoiling that was found in the corners of square silos. In 1904, there were a reported 716 silos in Wisconsin and by 1923, there were 100,060.
Driving on the back roads, one can see various designs of the older silos but this is the only one I have spotted so far which looks it has a spool on the top.
Spool Top Silo
There is a cowboy singing group from Montana called the Ringling 5 (even though more than 5 singing), who sing a song called “If Jesus was a Norwegian” and one of the lines is that there would be no December birthday as he would have been frozen where he lay. And that would have been was very true this morning since it was -5 out on this Christmas morning.
Wishing everyone a very Blessed Christmas even if it is a rather chilly one here!
Merry Christmas!
If you want to hear the song, even if they don’t show the cowboys singing it, you can hear it on YouTube at the link below.
Nature has decorated the trees outside, just in time for Christmas and a little extra decoration was added this morning, but all the decorations seem to be one color – white!
White Decorations
While not as colorful as yesterday’s hand blown glass ornament, the landscape outside can provide some color besides the white snow with green from the pines and the brown tree limbs, but the sky can provide colors from white, blue, orange and sometimes even pink.
Pink Delight
While I normally take landscape photographs and some of them might be extreme close ups, some times extreme close ups of other objects can provide a burst of color. And a burst color is welcomed on a white winter day.
Burst of Color
