Mother's Down-Home Country Lore

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Barbara McKinney took the guesswork out of trimming her goats' hooves when she happened upon a useful little tool at her local hardware store. The woman from Portland, Oregon reports that the instrument—called a "Stanley Surform Pocket Planer"—will gently "file" the hoof down only where it's needed. The cutter is composed of a series of rasplike holes rather than a single straightedged blade.

A Rochester, New York reader has written in with still another "useful tool" suggestion. Daniel DeVault claims that no toolbox should be without a package of chewing gum. Dan finds the sticky substance very useful for removing broken keys from locks, patching leaking carburetors, or retrieving dropped screws and nuts from hard-to-reach crevices ... and reports that it can also come in handy when you discover you've left your magnetic screwdriver at home!

"When my youngest child grew out of his crib, I decided I wanted to keep the bed (perhaps to pass on to grandchildren in the far-off future) ... but I couldn't figure out where to store the sleeper," writes Cheryl Tavares of Newfield, New York. "I finally came up with the idea of turning the crib on end ... shoving it back in a closet . . . and sliding pieces of wide plywood over the slats, to make a useful shelving unit for toys, clothes, shoes, and any other household items."

And, while Mrs. Tavares was looking for ways to make the crib earn its keep between babies, she came up with still another idea worth passing on. Cheryl decided she'd brighten up the white walls of her children's room by drawing a colorful alphabet, right on the existing paint, with marking pens. Beside each letter, she drew a simple illustrative picture . . . an apple for A, a ball for B, etc. Not only does her artwork add to the room's decor at a fraction of the cost of wallpaper, but the children begin to become familiar with the alphabet very early.

Finally, we want to mention a few tips that apply to the less pleasant side of summer. It's very likely that by the time you read this, many parts of the country will be drought-stricken . . . possibly even to the point where wateruse restrictions are imposed. The following advice from MOTHER-reader R.W. Myers may make your efforts to conserve the precious liquid more successful:

"For several years our city has had severe water shortages," R.W. writes, "so my idle garden hose has assumed a new duty. I attached it to our hot water tank . . . and hung it so that it will be ready to do emergency duty in the event of a fire." Mr. Myers also suggests using the same hose to drain the sediment from the water tank on a regular basis.

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