The last winter that we were in Texas, we visited with a friend in Llano, TX for a few days.

Her partner had just passed the year before. She shared with us his interest in collecting barbed wire. Apparently, there were over 400 patents for barbed wire and by just looking at a sample, he could identify the type and the inventor.

Each time now, when I see a sample such as this one on a fence in the Qu’Appelle Valley, I think of our friend in Texas.

“All anyone really needs to know about barbed wire is that it can tear the arse out of your trousers, give a cow a good fright, entangle a Yorkshire terrier for life, and is nasty stuff made by greedy men.”

Billy Connolly