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Month: January 2015
Surprise Visitors!
Now getting visitors around here is nothing new.
But, having family members stop is super special!
We were just getting started on chores the other night when I got a phone call from my Mom. She and my sister weren’t too far from our place, attending a party at a friend’s house, and wanted to stop over.
I was totally excited! It’s not everyday they come to visit us! Usually we stop and visit them on our way to volleyball, but rarely are we on the way anywhere for them.
We hurried up and got most everything done before they pulled in the yard. Reed, who had been napping in the milk house, hopped up and stumbled towards the house after hearing that Grandma Martha and Aunt Chrissy were here 🙂
After we all got in and got the rundown of their afternoon trip, I asked Mom if she wanted to play a game of cards.
Now, there’s only one game my mom and I ever play, so she didn’t even need to ask what I had in mind.
Pinochle.
A game our family has played and cussed for years. The first round always consists of a refresher in scoring and card order, as Ace is high, then Ten, King, Queen, Jack and a Nine. And the first one to 150 wins!
Weird, I know. But fun!
I’ll try to give you just the highlights of how our game went…
The first hand I actually bid! (Mom was shocked, as I’m usually a chicken at bidding, especially the first hand) After her shock, she (of course) outbid me… Crap! This should have been a sign!
The way the cards fell in her favor, she easily made it. And I was kinda glad she outbid me, even though I had initially thought my cards would clean up!
The next hand I dealt. Boyyyyyyy was it a crappy hand! She bid 28 and I let her have it. She picked up the 3-card Kitty to see what was in it… and guess what it gave her? The 4th leg of a
DOUBLE Pinochle! and 30 points!
Double Crap!
Her melt totaled 42 points! 42!!! And then she took 17 out of the 25 points during that round! (I really should’ve just thrown in my cards then, ha ha!)
In the next 3 hands, I only got the bid once. I used the phrase “Piggy” an awful lot too (which is a family tradition, might I say!) as she took pointer after pointer each trick.
See? Even if you don’t play Pinochle, the numbers below don’t lie…
Yep. I got skunked in just FIVE hands! And Mom just giggles and says “Well, you were the one who wanted to play!” 🙂
My Mom… I just love her! The thrill she got out of getting that Double Pinochle was priceless.
Tonight I made some memories with Mom I will never forget.
It’s the little things in life, right?
A glimpse of “Fagle Time”
It seems like when we start a job around the farm, we know what we’re getting into.
We’ve done things dozens of times… hundreds, thousands, MILLIONS of times we’ve done things! And still. You just never know HOW LONG something will take.
Yesterday was a great winter day here on the farm. The sun was shining, the wind was calm, and chores got done in record time. That left us with a little time before lunch to get a few things done.
We opted to grind feed, 5 batches in all, figuring a couple hours of work before heading in for lunch.
We ground both shell corn from our bins and ear corn from the corn crib, grinding enough to fill two steer feeders, a calf feeder, a granary we use for our dry cow feed, and a load for our dairy cow ration.
All was going good until we got to the last load. We pulled up to the bin to add some shell corn, switched the auger on the grinder on, it made about a half a turn and then… nothing. Tried it again… nothing.    Crap.
We decided to run home (luckily we had the truck along) and get some tools, as we thought maybe we sheared a pin, lost a key or maybe a chain came off ??? Who knows.
We got back and took the housing off and saw that the chain tightener had come loose on the chain that runs the auger. We put the chain back on, raised the tightener, cinched things up and we were back in business! (Sometimes we’re not so lucky)
So we finished our last load and headed in for lunch. Well, maybe we should call it a mid-afternoon snack, ha ha. And that’s what happens when we run on “Fagle Time.” When things don’t go quite as smoothly as planned and it costs us some time. Luckily, the only thing we were late for this time was lunch 🙂
Friend Time!
Today I got to spend the afternoon with my best friend, Missy.
Tomorrow is her birthday so we got to celebrate today, doing a little shopping and ate out.
We had supper at the Hurricane Grill, one of the newest additions in Waterloo.
I had a hard time deciding what to get (I always seem to have a hard time deciding – it all sounds so good!) but decided I had to try their wings. I opted for the honey bbq sauce out of the oh… 30 or so choices!
They were good (and sticky!) and I would recommend them. Yum!
Missy’s daughter Margo was along today too and snapped a picture of us.
Happy Birthday to you tomorrow Missy!
Mittens… Serious Business Round Here
If you asked me what I can’t live without these days, I wouldn’t answer the way I used to. There are just certain things that are a “must” now that I’m a farm girl.
This morning in the skid loader I got to thinkin’ bout my mittens… and how much I love them.
As soon as the aisles at Norby’s Farm Fleet get double-wide stocked with winter gloves, mittens, hats, scarves, and the like I turn my cart down the aisle for some serious shopping.
I have made the mistake the last couple of years to pick up just ONE pair of mittens for myself and the crew. BIG. MISTAKE.
See here? This is the result of only buying one pair of mittens.
This pair got totally blown out when I was pumping up a low skid loader tire. There must have been a weak spot in the sidewall because it exploded and blew me on my butt about 4 feet back.
Holy smokes! I thought my contacts were permanently glued to my eyeballs! I count myself lucky, but… my poor mittens. It blew one of the straps clean off and ripped the stitching out of the end of the other one.
But when I got up, they still dusted my butt off. That next week I went back to the store to get me another pair and guess what?
Hmmm…
Notice I still have them. (And in a safe place too, just in case there’s a mitten emergency!) They survived that season because I couldn’t live without them.
Now, this year I went all out. I found a pair of mittens that I am currently in love with. They’re heavy, warm, pretty much waterproof, have a rubbery grip and even have fleece between the fingers! Score!
In fact, I loved them so much I bought THREE pairs! (One for chores, one for good, and one on reserve for someone I really love or in case of a mitten emergency!)
My husband and girls have a favorite kind too.
We have a trusty supply of back ups of these too!
So on this windy, cold, morning my hands were warm.
And that, was a blessing.
A Honeymoon!
Ooooooohhhhhh! It’s so exciting! Well, not for ME. For THEM!
Chelsey and Jason, that is. They left this morning for their honeymoon! Thank goodness the snow was finished and they could get on their way.
Their wedding took place Labor Day Weekend and was quite the shin-dig! We had a great time celebrating with family and friends from all over. Here are a few pictures of the newlyweds…
In true farmer fashion they plan on visiting some farms on their trip, haha. I thought that was pretty cool.
And we’ll be missing them while they’re gone. Chelsey helps us with milking most everyday and we like having Jason stop by. He tends to make brownie points with his father-in-law most everytime he comes. See, he likes to fix things. Which is a bonus for us. There’s always something that needs fixing around the farm.
Anyways, I hope they have a great honeymoon! They sure deserve a break. Now, I know what you’re thinking, but I can’t tell you which direction they were heading. I wouldn’t want them to be disturbed 🙂
Do any of you want to share with me where you spent your honeymoon?
Dan’s New Toy
One sunny day last summer, my husband was on a mission. He had had enough during the past long, hard, snowy winter and raised his bidding number over and over and OVER again until he had bought something on his bucket list.
As you can see, the dogs like it too. We have 2 dogs… Cosmo and Brooklyn. Cosmo is our black lab and is close to 8 years old. Our yellow lab, Brooklyn, is his daughter and is about 3 years old.
Brooklyn especially loves to chase things that fly, like snow from a snow blower! Both dogs also enjoy tennis balls, bale spears, welding sparks and the worst of all, flying manure.
Let’s just say she stays a lot cleaner chasing flying snow. 🙂
So, if you’re in the neighborhood, you may be seeing Dan going from place to place, using his new toy! He’s good like that.
It was a double-sweatshirt kind of morning!
Brrr. Well, I’m not sure that covers it! Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!! There. Each r represents how many degrees below zero it was this morning.
However, the wind wasn’t blowing (which is the thing I hate the most about working outside) so it wasn’t too bad. And God made up for the bitter cold with a beautiful sunrise.
And he threw in a one sided sundog for good measure!
Hope you’re staying warm today!
The snow is falling…
Today is the day I probably should have taken down my Christmas Tree, decorations, cards, and my cute little lighted village.
But… (in true procrastination fashion) I chose instead to start my new little adventure! To be honest, I’ve never done anything like this before, blogging that is. And frankly it will be a “learn as you go” kind of thing.
So… here we go! We will see how much time this “snow storm” affords me in the next couple days. You just never know what that will mean for the farm.
We could be spending all day outside pushing snow? Or fixing waterers that freeze up? Or bedding down cattle that are knee deep in snow? Or cuddling up in our warm, wood-fire heated house.
And my hubby has a new toy I may get to show you! After last winter’s deluge of daily snow and cold, my husband invested in a rear-end snowblower for our tractor. Yay! Maybe I won’t have to spend all day in the skid loader? We will see! More to come on that subject!
So I don’t know where you are at out there, but I hope you are snuggled up on this snowy night. As for me, it’s chore time. So I’m headed out to scrape the cow lot in the skid loader so my husband can clean barn and haul manure.
Can’t wait to get in and eat one of my favorite casseroles. I will try to remember to take a picture.
Out I go!
Food, Family, Farmin' and Fun 