March Update

 The first week of March we headed back across the Mississippi River to see our new grandson.  We now have six male grands to nine female.  They are trying to catch up!  It was good to be back in Mediapolis and we enjoyed the visit once again.  Little Ivan Jacob is doing fine and growing normally.  The name has Slavic, Hebrew, and Russian origins and means "God is gracious". 

I have been going to farm meetings on a regular basis, so I have been eating well.  The meetings are over now as we all prepare for the new planting season.  I have been slowly and systematically going through the planter, making sure everything is in working order.  The problem is, you really don't know until that first day in the field!  It has snowed three times so far in March, but none amounted to much, and none stuck around more than a half day.

This summer, the township put two new layers of tar and chips on our road.  The problem was that they used a larger than normal rock for the chips.  It was 1/2 to 3/4 inch rock instead of pea gravel.  The snow plows this winter peeled a lot of it off and windrowed it into the ditch and our front yard!  I spent a half day raking and scooping gravel out of the grass.  I ended up with a skid steer bucket full of extra gravel.

We spent an evening at T-towns Jazz Coffee House.  It is Tremont's Jr. and Sr. High jazz night.  Our oldest granddaughter plays in the Jr. High jazz band.  We sat at theme decorated tables and were served coffee and dessert. It was a fun night with the K kids.

I spent an afternoon at the Deer and Turkey Classic at the Peoria Civic Center last week.  It was hard not to spend a lot of money there with all the hunting gear and equipment available.  But I restrained myself and just picked up brochures and business cards in case I want something in the future.  I have been considering hunting with a crossbow, but haven't made the decision yet.  That would lengthen my season and let me choose the days I want to hunt.  For $250,000 I could have purchased this all terrain vehicle, but I passed on it!

Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel.

Proverbs 20:17

Florida 25

I was going to make reservations for Florida early (for me), late fall, but when the hurricane rolled through in November I didn't.  I assumed the resorts along the gulf would not be open because of the damage.  We thought about trying Ft. Lauderdale, but then didn't get around to finding a place there.  The first part of January I decided to call a couple of places that we have stayed before, just to see if by chance they had any availability. Most of the places were partially open, and as soon as a room was remodeled, they made it available.  We found a unit for the first week of February on Casey Key.

I was sick the week prior to heading south.  I spent a day in bed, and a day in a recliner.  I was mostly recovered when we left, but we decided to take our time driving down and we took the Alabama route that misses Atlanta.  We stretched it into a two and a half day drive.  We did stop at a state park to see some Florida wildlife, but weren't too impressed with it.  We made it to A Beach Retreat on a Friday afternoon.  We had a beautiful week weatherwise, and we definitely enjoyed relaxing. 

 

 We enjoyed the fellowship in Sarasota church on Sunday, and Glen and Joyce had us for breakfast one morning with John and Jeannie, and Marilyn.  We also stopped in to visit Max and Mary at their very nice, new place.  But mostly we relaxed.  I walked several miles on the beach twice a day, looking for sharks teeth.  I was pretty successful, but still haven't found the big ones.  Casperson Beach Park was closed, but if you were willing to walk (I was), you could get there by walking the beach from South Broward Park.

  As is our habit, we ate out every night at a different seafood restaurant. We tried two new ones this year, Pop's Sunset Grill and Pinchers. All of our favorite restaurants were reopened following the hurricanes, so we were thankful for them.

Being fully rested and feeling good, we got on the road early for our trip home.  We missed rush hour in Atlanta, and drove until we were beyond Nashville before we stopped for the night.  It made for an easy last leg home.  We got home in time to help D#2 and S-I-L serve lunch the following day.

The first week home I bought a new computer.  My farm software would no longer update on the old one.  I spent the week learning a new operating system and getting all my important stuff transferred to the new machine.  The second week was meeting week, which kept me busy.  Then on Friday we headed west to visit Son#2 and D-I-L in Burlington before the baby comes.  We had a nice afternoon, supper, and evening with them, then we drove to Ft. Madison for the night.  On Saturday morning we headed for Bloomfield to visit Uncle Russell.  We stopped in Cantril at the new Dutchman's Store, which is huge!  I enjoy the store, but didn't spend much money this time.

We got to Bloomfield midmorning and had a nice visit with Russ.  He has slowed down, and he will turn 100 this year.  I think he was still driving a year ago!  After our visit, Rog and Deanne took us to the Southfork for lunch.  After a huge lunch, they took us on a Davis County historical tour.  We learned where the early church members settled and saw where the first two churches were built. They are currently worshiping in the fourth church building.  They also showed us the earliest cemetery that was used by the church.  We saw the Troy Academy, the first "college" in the state of Iowa.  We also visited Brent's place, because I wanted to see the farm shop.  They certainly farm a much greater variety of farm ground out there than we do.  We had a leisurely drive home, stopping at the Milton Creamery to buy some specialty cheeses.

And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.                                   Genesis 49:15

Winter

 We spent the day in Morton for Cliff and Alyssa's wedding a few weeks ago.  It was a nice day and I got to visit with some old friends.  The couple is young, but they will do well!  On the previous night, we helped prepare and serve the food at the wedding supper at the Goodfield Fellowship Hall.  The steaks came from Trail's End, so it was a great meal.  Congratulations and God's Blessings to the new couple!  Most of the cousins that were in attendance gathered up for a quick picture.

Winter has arrived with some snow and some cold weather.  I helped scoop snow off the ice at Nathan and Michelle's house one evening during the week.  The ice was a little soft around the edges yet, but by that Saturday the ice was good and the hill had enough snow to have a skating and sledding party.  It took me a little while to get some skating form back, but we all had a good time.  The local grandkids all made it for the party.

I found some recipes online for hot Dr. Pepper and dirty Dr. Pepper.  So, I have been experimenting lately.  So far, I like all of the drinks that I have concocted.  My wife was a little skeptical when she saw the bottle of coconut syrup that I bought, but I think I made a believer out of her.  Other ingredients I've used include lemon, lime, and cream.

Saturday, I had been hoping to go ice fishing in the morning and then another skating party in the afternoon.  It was to be a warm sunny day with perfect ice.  Alas, I started feeling ill Wednesday night.  I slept all day Thursday, and was only half functional on Friday.  I was really disappointed when Virg asked if we were going ice fishing Saturday and I had to turn him down.  And disappointed when the grandkids got together to skate again in the afternoon and I couldn't join them. We didn't make it to church on Sunday, so we had to participate online.  My symptoms were fever, fatigue, and nasal congestion and drainage. I'm still a little slow, but mostly back to normal.  I was glad I didn't have hog chores to do!

For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.                                                          I Corinthians 11:30

Holidays

 Son #1 and I both went deer hunting this year.  Neither of us shot anything first season.  We both took one second season, so we will have meat for the winter.  There were a few more people than normal hunting on Uncle Dick's farm this year, but we stayed out of each others' way.  The farm is about 240 acres of mixed timber, lakes, CRP ground, pasture, and farmland.  Great habitat for a healthy deer herd.

We hosted Thanksgiving at the farm this year.  We cooked a large and a small turkey for the group of 30 people in attendance.  The job that I enjoy is carving the turkey.  All 14 of our grandchildren were here, as well as the oldest farmers widow (Mom) and Aunt Pearl.  The group ranged in age from 1 to 96!  It was a house full, and got a little wild at times, but it was a good gathering.  We  have much to be thankful for!

I went out Christmas shopping a couple of times and got most of what I was looking for.  Our first Christmas, the big family one, was ten days before Christmas day.  It was a large group at a rented hall that lasted most of a day.  There was lots of food and fellowship, some games, wild kids, and gifts.  The weather turned nasty while the party was in progress, but everyone made it home safe.

The annual Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren photo with Grandma and Aunt Pearl.

 Our Christmas with our kids and grandkids wasn't going to be until New Years Day.  So we had two quiet weeks.  I was able to finish up a couple books I had started reading plus read a couple more.  Christmas Eve, the old farmers wife made brisket plus the fixings.  We enjoyed our quiet evening together realizing that the storm of activity was still coming.  We spent Christmas day with my mom at the Condo's potluck Christmas meal.  It was a laid back mixed group which we enjoyed very much.  Also the food was plentiful and excellent.  There were two gentlemen from India invited who had recently moved to central Illinois.  James is here as a Christian missionary to the 6000 Indians/Southeast Asians living in the Peoria area.  His son is here to attend college. I enjoyed talking to and learning from them.

I attended a farm marketing meeting in December where a definition was included in the power point presentation.  I thought it was rather interesting!

Farming (Farm-ing) n.  The art of losing money while working 400 hours a month to feed people who think you are trying to kill them.

Family started rolling in the 30th, so our celebrations started early.  We went to New Years Eve church services, but we came home and all were in bed before midnight.  Our New Years day Christmas started with an early lunch.  After cleanup, the gift exchange started, the highlight for the kids (big and small).  The gift opening can get drawn out after the grandchildren are done, so they usually drift off to play.  One of my gifts was bees wax candles made by my daughter with wax from my own hives. Plus books!  Snacks, pop, games, Lego set building, general chaos, and naps round out the afternoon.  The evening meal consisted of soups, including Jake and Rachel's (now annual) turtle stew.  The house was trashed, but that is what we have come to expect.  It is good to see all the cousins playing together.  Six of them stayed overnight without parents for a slumber party, and the littlest ended up in bed with us at about 4 in the morning.  Last night, we had three more for another slumber party before school starts back up.

Grandma and her flock. (unfortunately the lighting was poor!)

We are blessed with the gift of God's son, and the gift of children and grandchildren!

Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.           John 4:10

   

Chicago

 We had invite-a-guest at church one weekend in November.  We had Tim and Sonia as guests and we enjoyed our time with them.  Christian fellowship is a true blessing.  I hope we never take it for granted, and take advantage of the opportunities that we have.

D#1 and four granddaughters invited us to ride along with them on a trip to Chicago.  We used to take our family up occasionally, and we would go up for Farm Bureau and Grain and Feed conventions.   But it has been quite a few years since we have been up to the big city.  The plan was to drive to Water Tower place, eat lunch, and then shop at the American Girl Doll store followed by the Lego store.  We ate at Wildberries Cafe, and even the young girls realized that paying $181 for lunch was expensive!  After a couple hours there, we headed down Michigan Avenue (the Magnificent Mile) to Millennium Park.  After finding the underground parking, we walked to the "Bean" ( Cloud Gate sculpture).  The granddaughters were pretty impressed with everything as this was their first time in the big city.  

The Chicago skyline reflected in the "Bean".

Then it was on to The Art Institute of Chicago, one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States, for a little culture.  It was a free day at the Art Institute, so that saved us a lot of money!  The young girls especially wanted to see the Thorn miniature rooms and the Arms and Armor gallery.  I wanted to see some of the more famous paintings, including A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, Nighthawks, American Gothic, Song of the Lark (which we have a print of in our bedroom) and others.  I was able to make it through a majority of the galleries, but have never seen the entire collection yet.

Still Life with Dead Game, Fruits, and Vegetables in a Market

The beautiful Tiffany window.

We headed out of downtown late afternoon.  It was Veterans Day, so the traffic was not as bad as it could have been.  D#1 did a good job driving into and out of the city, and we stopped for fast food on the way home.  A good time was had by all!

Son#1 and the old farmer did some deer hunting on opening weekend.  We both passed on some shots and ended up with nothing for the freezer.  We will try again second season.  

And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.             Genesis 11:15

     

Dogs

We finished harvest a week and a half ago.  It went much smoother than some.  I think we went six weeks without any major rain delays, and our breakdowns were minimal.  We had near record corn yields, and the highest whole farm soybean yield ever.  

The one breakdown that I thought would be major was when the lower gearbox on the combine unloading auger went out.  It was late afternoon and I called the service manager at the dealership.  At first he said I should drive it all the way to the dealership to work on it in the shop.  I didn't want to do that, so I talked him into having a mechanic stop by yet that evening to look at it.  He showed up around 6:30 and determined what parts he would need.  At 9:00 the next morning he was in the yard with all the parts, and by noon we were running.  I figured they wouldn't have all the parts, and that we would be down a couple days!  A very pleasant surprise indeed.  The bad news was that the parts alone cost $3500, then with service call and labor the total came to over $5000!  Right after harvest I decided to replace all of the snapping rolls.  That was another $13,000 expense.  

On our 1 hour, 40 minute drive home from our farthest away farm, we were treated to this view, which looked like the sky was on fire.

One day during harvest, the neighbors were contacting each other because two Great Pyrenees dogs had gotten away from the owner and were roaming.  My brother and nephew were back at the farm loading a steer to take to the locker, and the dogs were around the buildings.  They shut them in my barn until John could get them after work.

Most of the grandkids were able to ride with me on the combine this fall.  We've done a lot of babysitting this fall which has been fun.  Including keeping four for a whole weekend.  That brought back memories of raising our own four kids, but we have much less energy now!  I forgot what it was like to get four young kids ready for church on Sunday morning, but we made it on time!

One afternoon last week when I was doing tillage, there were two dogs bedded down in an adjacent field.  I tried to get close to them a couple times, but they would bark at me and move away.  I didn't see any collars on them.  The neighbors again were communicating as several others had seen them roaming the area for a day.  Towards evening neighbor Brent went out to the field and tried to take them some water.  They went on the move and he followed awhile, but lost them in the dark.  The next morning the County Animal Control was out looking for them, but I think they were out of the area.  We probably won't ever know if someone was missing them or if someone dumped them in the country to get rid of them. 

Last Saturday night we attended my 50 year class reunion!  It was held in Doug's Singing Shed, which was not a very far drive.  It was a really nice venue, much nicer than my shed.  Less than a quarter of my class was in attendance. We really enjoyed catching up with each other, and remembering and retelling stories.  It is hard to believe that much time has passed and I was surprised at all the old people there!  Earlier this fall we also attended the old farmer's wife's 50th class reunion in Gridley.  She had a much smaller class and I know several of them, so I enjoyed that too.

And ye shall be holy men unto me: neither shall ye eat any flesh that is torn of beasts in the field; ye shall cast it to the dogs.                                                Exodus 22:31

September

 We spent some time one Saturday setting Son#1's plow.  The alfalfa was pretty tall, but the plow made it through.  We think we have it set pretty close to where we want it and it was doing a pretty good job.

We started harvest mid-September.  The corn is drying down very slowly, so we've only picked a couple of fields.  The beans are mostly dry, but with a lot of green stems yet.  It makes for slow harvest, but we are making good progress on them.  After the first full day of corn harvest, we parked the equipment and I snapped this picture.

I was doing some cleanup around the buildings and spraying some weeds one day when I stepped into an old calf hut.  My dad had built two pull together calf huts shortly after he got married and painted them white.  On the inside back wall of one of them he painted a love note for my mom.  I knew it was there, but forgot about it.  Barely visible, it was a good reminder of their long marriage ( 71&1/2 years) and their enduring love.

D#1 will turn 40 in a couple of months, and Bob turned 40 already.  They decided to throw themselves a birthday party out at Firefly Woods.  They called it an over/under party.  It was a beautiful evening, and since we weren't too busy in the field yet, we were able to spend the evening with them.  People came from miles around to attend.  The pasture and trails were mowed, so I was able to do a little exploring before it got dark.  It was a fun time and all the kids seemed to enjoy it as well as the adults.

Nephew Neil , wife Kim, and family built a new pizza parlor from scratch in Mahomet.  They imported a brick pizza oven from Italy and make their dough fresh.  We were invited to the soft opening on a Saturday night and drove down to try out the pizza.  Great pizza, great atmosphere, and a really nice building with indoor and outdoor spaces!  But it sure looks like a lot of work to this old farmer!  We hope we can get back and try some of their other food.  Congrats and best wishes to them.

And if thou bring an oblation of a meat offering baken in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil.                                                                 Leviticus 2:4