Most will say that 2020 was not a very good year and they are looking forward to it ending. And here, the year ended with a cloudy, frosty, gray winter day so here is hoping next year will be better.
Wrapping Up a Prickly Year
Picture of the Day for May 19, 2019
The weather does not feel like the late spring, but had a cold sharp bite since the wind chill is below freezing. And with a frost advisory for tonight, the newly potted flowers and plants have to be covered or hauled back inside.
Cold Sharp Bite
Picture of the Day for January 2, 2019
The barbed wire didn’t stop the cold biting wind early this morning but maybe it is roping in the warmer temperatures this evening which might melt some snow.
Winter Wire Wreath
Picture of the Day for September 5, 2016
Today is Labor Day which “constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country”. And while the majority of workers have the day off, others still have to labor today, especially those providing service to those enjoying the last big summer getaways.
And growing up on a farm, Labor Day meant labor as it was the big push to get projects completed before school started. And some of those tasks including making fence before the ground froze.
Fencing Time
Picture of the Day for June 3, 2015
Rolled up old barbed wire can be photogenic except when it is at my place since it means I haven’t finished cleaning up the old fences or took care of the “pretty yellow flowers” which are behind the wire. The pretty flowers are considered a highly invasive weed which was brought over to North America in the 1700s. Wild Mustard greens can be eaten and the seeds ground for mustard, but can be poisonous to cattle if they eat too much or favor the milk so it is not sellable. So both the old wire and wild mustard are bad things but together they create a pretty picture.
Old and Yellow
Picture of the Day for December 18, 2013
I haven’t started decorating for the holidays yet. Maybe I need a western style wreath for my house.
Western Wreath
Picture of the Day for July 12, 2013
The need for barbed wire arose in the 19th century as the American frontier moved westward into the Great Plains and traditional fence materials—wooden rails and stone—became scarce and expensive. Of the many early types of barbed wire, the type invented in Illinois in 1873 by Joseph F. Glidden proved most popular.
Glidden fashioned barbs on an improvised coffee bean grinder, placed them at intervals along a smooth wire, and twisted another wire around the first to hold the barbs in a fixed position. His U.S. patent was issued November 24, 1874 and the patent survived court challenges from other inventors. Joseph Glidden prevailed in litigation and in sales. Today, it remains the most familiar style of barbed wire.
Joseph Glidden’s wire fences were cheaper to erect than their alternatives and when they became widely available in the late 19th century in the United States they made it affordable to fence much bigger areas than before. Joseph Farwell Glidden’s simple invention, barbed wire, changed forever the development of the American West.
Barbed Wire
