MOTHER'S DOWN-HOME COUNTRY LORE

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

And just in case that's not enough exercise for the birds, Kathleen ties a few pieces of stale bread together with a string and hangs it just above the cacklers' heads . . . a trick, she says, "that's sure to keep 'em jumping". "And," says Kathleen, "it must all be working . . . 'cause in all the time that we've had homestead fowl, we've never lost a chicken or had to go without 0995!"

Even after you bundle up in coat, hat, scarf, gloves, and boots . . . the winter's snow always seems to locate the most vulnerable inlet to the skin: sleeves! But up in Columbiaville, Michigan—where the winters can get mighty bitter Carl McGinnis leaves his house prepared when he goes off to chop wood and the like during the cold weather months: Carl takes an old pair of socks and cuts five finger holes In the toe end of each. Then he pulls the sock onto his hand and up his arm as far as it will go, pokes his fingers through the openings ... and dons his coat and gloves. What a great way to keep out the cold, Carl . . . our warmest thanks to you!

Plenty of us need to take our belts In a notch these inflationary days, but pokin' those extra holes with an ice pick makes kind of a ragged job of the whole Idea. You can do neater work on leather by concocting a punch from an empty brass cartridge, says Brad Pendergraft of Gunnison, Colorado. (If you're not a hunter or a skeet shooter, maybe your gun-totin' friends will save you some of their used ammunition casings.) Just pick out a spent shelf that has an opening the right size and use a file to sharpen its edges. Then spread your cowhide or pigskin -or naughty--on a block of wood, position your new cutter, sharp-side down, where you want to make the hole, and give the base of the cartridge a couple of good raps with a hammer.

If you're short of storage space, Brenda Neal of Tolima, Colombia, South America suggests this substitute for a closet or chest of drawers: Keep your clothes, towels, or whatever suspended in baskets hung from the ceiling with macrame hangers. Great for a child's room!

A blazing flame in the fireplace or hearth Is e heavenly thing in the midst of a cold winter's day or night . .. but to start the fire buming--while shivering In one's shoes-always seems to take forever. "Nonetheless," says Mrs. Stan Ellis of Brownstown, Illinois, "there Is a solution to this chilling problem, which takes only a little preparation beforehand. My husband and I make `Instant fire starters' and then put them aside until needed." Here's how It's done:

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print