Farmer Guy Updates

Well, I haven't written for a while again; it seems as if the days just fly by and we hardly have time to look at each other (Matt and I) or even breathe.  Over the weekend, Matt and his dad dug 220 power into all three of our big sheds, then filled the trenches back in. Then, the three of us (Bob, Matt and me) hauled manure part of the day Saturday. 
On Sunday, we all headed for church - I had to play piano and teach Sunday School.  I love going to church; it's a nice break in my week where I have a chance to sit and listen to Pastor Melodi (as long as my kids behave...:) ) and visit with neighbors and people from town that we've met since going there.  I also like teaching Sunday School; I teach the pre-schoolers, so I get to help Clarence feel comfortable going to Sunday School with his friends.  He loves going, so it makes it fun.  We watched a movie on Sunday for S.S.  The pre-schoolers seemed to get kind of distracted,  so they ended up taking a big bathroom break and coloring.  It works, I guess.

When we got home, I made lunch and Matt's brother Mark and his girlfriend, Andrea, came over.  That was so nice of them!  Matt took Andrea and had her help haul manure.  She even kind of liked it, I think, mostly the whole driving tractor part.  That was a huge help for Matt! He was so excited at the end of Sunday because he'd pretty much cleaned out the whole calf pen.  Yippee!
Mark and I worked out back on our house; (Friday, Matt had taken dad's ASV - bobcat - and dug down into the ground so we can get the ground ready for laying cement for our addition.  Yeah, it actually might happen.)  Mark helped me stake out the perimeter and then we made lines inside the perimeter where the different rooms are going to be.  It was so fun and helpful for me to picture where things are going to go.  So, Thanks, Mark and Andrea, for taking your whole Sunday afternoon to help us! It was a great day!

Yesterday, I went up to the St. Vincent Brethren School.  I am now their Monday piano teacher; I just go up and charge my lesson amount and teach 15 kids throughout the whole day. I actually really enjoyed it.  All the students I'm teaching have had previous piano lesson experience, so it's more advanced.  That's a lot more fun for me because I can focus on them practicing hard and advancing rather  than just helping them grasp the whole note-paper-piano concept.  Then, I came back to Lancaster and had four more piano lessons.  That's what my Mondays look like for the whole school year from here on out - 19 piano lessons. Matt had a hectic and semi-productive day yesterday (he doesn't think it was very productive, but as long as he's getting some of the work done, I'd say it was productive).  He had the electrician people come and get the 220 power hooked up in the sheds, then our cousin Rudy came over and helped finish cleaning out the calf pen.  Then the cows got out, so Matt and Rudy had to get them in. He was nervous because the kids had to be picked up by six, and I had piano lessons still, so he had to do it.  It turns out Shannon, Rudy's mom, was in town and was able to pick the kids up for us.  It gave Matt two more hours of work time, which was awesome.  The kids went home with Shannon and ate supper there.  It was so nice. We're so blessed to have people around us who are so willing to help with our kids. 

Today, we've got more help coming again.  My cousin Savannah is coming over to help for the day; I think Matt's going to have her help haul manure and they can finish spreading on the field they're on.  Andrea (Mark's girlfriend) is coming over again, too.  I think Matt's going to have her fill creep feeders for the calves.  The kids and I are going to walk a fence and get it working, then pick up all the junk in the yard that needs to be thrown away.  So, we're hoping to have another productive day.

Well, I hope I can get back into the swing of things and update/write on here a little more.  I'll try, people, I promise.  :)  Have a wonderful, productive Tuesday!

Supper in the Field

Grandma Muriel brought us pizza and pop in the field. I had been out all afternoon chisel plowing, Matt was driving truck, and Clarence rode with Grandpa Lowell in the combine while Adina accompanied me in the tractor.  It was a long four hours; when Grandma came, the kids were happy to have a picnic in the field.  And we played and collected soybeans, just for something to do.

 The kids were chasing each other around grandma's car.  And, Clarence was happy because Grandma brought him POP!

 She was mad; Clarence had pushed her and she was crying.  She's still cute, though.

 Matt visiting with Grandma Muriel.

 Playing some more; they're good buddies.

 Matt, Grandma and Clarence

 At home on the deck with all our pumpkins.  The kids love the pumpkins; mostly they like rolling them around, so any attempt I've made at  "decorating" has been ruined over and over.  Oh well, they're enjoying themselves, I guess.

 My pretty birch tree.

The  kids again; they didn't feel the need to look at me and smile. Oh well, I guess.




Well, we've been busy running around today; I went to Hallock and made a bunch of errands.  Matt was at my dad's helping his brother with the shop.  Now he's out drilling in posts for our next round of fencing.  Clarence is napping; he's had a busy day "working hard".  Adina's just her happy self, busy making a mess in and out of the house. 

Yesterday we were driving home and Clarence told me, "Mom, mommy a farmer guy, Dia a farmer guy, me a farmer guy, Daddy a farmer guy."  I guess we're all farmer guys.  He makes me laugh.  He's been telling people that he works hard, too.  "I work hard, Daddy works hard, Chuck works hard, Laverne works hard."  He's adorable and makes my day.  I've been busy with beets for over a week (we're done now, though), so the kids have been bounced around.  I feel like Clarence is saying so many more words and speaking more clearly than just a week ago.  It's crazy how fast they're changing and growing up!

Have a wonderful day! Enjoy the beautiful weather!

A Website

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This is a website I need to post on my website so that I can  use the music.  More interesting posts to follo, I promise! :)

La La La

I don't really know what to write about today; I guess I'll just ramble. 

I don't know if I"m going to church or not today; I don't really think I am.  I have to go out to the beet field at noon, and I need to get some stuff done around my house before I leave.  The kids are coming home this afternoon. I can't wait to see them! I hope Matt will bring them out to ride with me later; I'd love that....those cute little helpers of mine!

I've been searching the internet for songs that our church choir could sing on Reformation Sunday.  I am at a standstill; what justifies good music - good enough to sing in choir for church?  How do I know what I should pick?  AHHHHH - I just really don't know what to do with myself.  It seems at times that I overwhelm myself a little with all the little extras I add to my life; however, this is the extra I'm definitely most excited about......once I figure out where I can find music and stuff, things will go great.

In the beet cart tractor, I've been reading non-stop, except for when I'm getting loaded and unloading my cart.  I guess I should pay attention at those times.  Since Wednesday, I've read two John Grisham books; I love the suspense and seeing what's going to happen next; sometimes the language is a little above my head, all that lawyer mumbo-jumbo, but I figure it's a good way to expand my vocabulary.  So, I keep reading.  And, in the end, I get the point, and I still love his books.

My sister, brother and dad are leaving on Friday to go mule deer hunting out in Montana.  I'm slightly jealous; not of the hunting part, but just the Montana part.  I absolutely love Montana; in another lifetime, that's where I'd live;  it's so beautiful, no matter where you go.  I hope they have fun, and I hope Nikki behaves (as in doesn't overdo it), with that sweet little baby in her belly......she won't, I'm sure. 

That's another point I'd like to make today, since it's a rambling day - I can't wait to be an auntie! She's due two months from now - the 17th of December.......I can't wait to have a new baby in the family to love and spoil.  It will be so much fun!  Clarence and Adina will be a little jealous at first, I'm sure, since Nikki has always given them all her attention and spoiled them non-stop.  This will be a little eye-opening for them, but I'm sure she'll still try to make lots of special time for them, as I'll do her for her baby. Can't wait!!!

Well, that's enough for today; I'd better get something done before I go and spend the rest of my day in the field.  Have a wonderful Sunday! 

And the days go by......

The days are flying by.  This last week has been non-stop busy.  Monday I went to church and cleaned, had piano lessons, and put together the bulletin. 
Tuesday, we went to Thief River in the morning, and I stayed home and cleaned the house the rest of the afternoon. 
Wednesday morning, I subbed in Pembina.  From there, I went to the beet field until about 8:30. 
The next morning, I got up and subbed all day.  From there, I went to the beet field until midnight. 
Friday, I got up and subbed all day; then I went to the beet field until 11:30.  I slept in this morning.  It was wonderful.  I haven't slept in for years (at least it seems that way!). 

In between all of that, we had the kids to juggle around.  I'd get them up and ready in the morning and to the babysitter; Matt would pick them up and bring them out to see me, then take them home and put them to bed.  He'd go to bed with them because he had to get up at midnight and work a beet shift until 6 a.m.  He didn't have to work last night, so he went to bed early and got a full nights' sleep finally.  The kids went to Roseau for the weekend.  I'm so glad; they have someone who will play with them, talk to them, and people who love them!  And I can sleep in.  (selfish little me, but I was exhausted!)  I can't wait to see them again on Sunday, though, and kiss their cute little cheeks and see how much fun they had at grandma Carmen's house. 

Well, beyond our hectic schedule, I don't have much to tell you; we've been so busy we haven't done anything fun (at least fun as a family). 

Have a wonderful weekend!  Drive safe if you live around here with all those crazy beet truck drivers on the road! :)

Our Fencing Crew

Here are some pictures I took on the day we finished our first quarter of fence.  The kids (as usual) were quite helpful! :) Clarence isn't bad....he can entertain himself pretty well; he likes to "make cakes" out of mud;  Adina on the otherhand, not so much.  The taller grass is hard for her to walk in, so she gets frustrated easily.  It's understandable.  She rides on the 4-wheeler with Matt stringing out wire, or plays in the cab of the pickup, until she's unbearable and it's time for me to take her home.  They're great kids, and we keep them safe out doing stuff, but I want them to grow up knowing all the aspects of our life; I don't want to keep them from being a part of the everyday life we live.  Because, I hope someday, they'll want to come back to hang out with us, or help us, or (preferably) take over. :)

So, here are the pictures I captured from that night! Enjoy!

 Buddies hanging out in the pickup.

 My handsome husband hard at work!

 One of the many corners we made for our first pasture.  Lots of digging, lifting, packing, and sore arms. :)

 This picture is just to show you what I am generally in charge of while Matt and the kids string out more wire.  I use the little clips to "tie" the wire to the post.

 Adina the cowgirl helping her daddy.

I was trying to get him to smile for me, and he took off to go help Matt instead.



There's a glimpse for you looking into an afternoon of fencing.  Come join us sometime if you're bored...we can always use extra help!

My Weekend

Thursday afternoon, my pastor called and told me that the classes I was taking next weekend were actually going to be this weekend; uh-oh.  I panicked a little, made a few quick phone calls, and got everything lined up so I could head to Fargo for the classes.  For those of you who don't know, I got a job at my church as the worship and music coordinator.  I was excited before last weekend about the job (although I didn't exactly know what the whole job would entail for me), and after going to the classes, I am even more excited than I was before.  These classes I need to take are specifically for people who want to enhance worship through music.  It's wonderful!  By the end of 2 years (10 weekend classes), I"ll be certified and could do it other places, too.  I was given so many wonderful resources and ideas to use for church, and I can't wait to share them with my pastor tomorrow when we meet.

For church today, we had the Woodpicks come and play.  It was our harvest festival; they did a wonderful job.  Adina danced on and off the whole service in the pew;  Clarence ended up being a little naughty towards the end of church (for example, while we were praying, he went down our pew and spanked my dad, my mom, my brother, and me....then I had to hold him the rest of the service), but he was good most of the time, I guess.  A potluck followed the service; I just love potlucks! Lots of delicious food and fellowship.

Adina fell asleep on the way home from church, so she wasn't hard to lay down, but when we got in the house, Clarence decided he needed to move his bales (little round chunks of a tree limb - about 35 of them) once.  I told him one time; I came back in the room, he had them loaded on the trailer again;  I said he had to get them stacked and then we needed to get to bed; so, he stacked them on the outside of his big red barn.  I came back in and said he'd done a great job. The next time I turned around, he told me he had to move them again because the cows in his barn got out and messed the haybales up.  One more time, Clarence moved the bales; by the time he finished that, he stood up and said, "done, Mom."  (Oh, the life of a working man! Work always comes before rest!)

Now the kids are napping, and I am allowed a few moments to myself. :)  It's pure bliss.

When the kids wake up, we're heading out to cut wood.  Matt keeps trying to think of other things we can do this afternoon besides cut wood, but last year we survived from pickup load to pickup load (meaning we'd throw a pickup load into the basement, use it up and go cut another load when we had the last logs in the stove)....I didn't like that much, and I'm hoping we can get off to a better start this year.  Plus, it's good exercise, and I can always use a little exercise!

Hope you have a wonderful Sunday!  I have some fencing pictures of the kids I'm going to post tonight, so check back tomorrow morning!

I'm a canner, I can

What movie is that title based off of?

Here are some pictures of canning at Grandma Juli's house;  I took a lot this day;  the kids were funny, Nathan was funny, and we had fun playing outside, too!

Enjoy!

 Taking a break mid-afternoon.....

 Looking down Mom and Dad's driveway.

 I was chasing her; she love to be chased! She kept running a little, then turning back to make sure I was still chasing her.  She resembles a goose when she runs: she puts her head forward and keeps her arms close to her sides.....it's very comical.

 They love Grandma's tire swing!

 Clarence wanted a chance, too.

 Adina was helping put the lids in the pan.  She loves helping can!

 You can see she's very good at her job.

 This is Clarence's choice activity at Grandma Juli's house: playing with all Uncle Nathan's old farming toys.  He makes fences all day and feeds his cows all day.  It's the first thing he plays with when we get there, and the last thing we put away before we leave.

 One of our two roastersof salsa.....YUMMY!

 I'm the only one who really does anything....:)

Just kidding.

 Then Uncle Nathan came in and thought it'd be fun to teach Adina some dance moves......

 It was cute!  She loves dancing (so does he) and loved the extra attention!

Clarence wanted a little of the action, too. 


I know this was a while ago, but thought you'd enjoy the pictures.  More to come soon!  I've found out the best way for uploading a whole bunch of pictures is to get it set up at night and finish it in the morning, like I'm doing now.


Have a wonderful, fabulous, super-fantastic day!  Enjoy the wonderful weather!

I am frustrated today;  the only reason for this is because six of my thirty-one jars of tomatoes unsealed after a week of being sealed.  What is it with me this year?  I can't seem to have a positive canning experience!  (Well, I have, but it's like every other one is bad.) GRRRRRR!  I don't know what's going on.  The last batch of just tomatoes I canned were from tomatoes I'd picked from my garden (green and everything) before the freezes a month ago.   I wonder if there isn't some bacteria on them that isn't killed through a hot water bath?  Don't know.  Last year, I actually washed my tomatoes in a bleach/water combination.  It helped keep my tomatoes clear from spots and helped them turn red faster.  And, none of those tomatoes un-sealed.  So, maybe that's the trick? The bleach helps kill the bacteria that the boiling water can't? Well, today I'm going to wash the rest of my tomatoes I have in that bleach/water solution.  I'm hoping that will be my answer.  Wish me luck!

In other news: 
Matt will finish combining our soybeans today;  it's going okay, I guess. We're borrowing our neighbors' combine and he's had to fix a lot on it, but oh well, at least he knows how to fix stuff!  Yesterday,  he had a lot of help;  our neighbor from the north, Arne, came by and helped him fix the header (really nice!) and then he gave us two more watermelons he'd grown in his garden......; he also had help from Laverne, the man who sold us our farm.....Laverne came out after lunch and said he was wondering if Matt had anything he needed help with, like discing or cultivating - Matt used him to help dump trucks in a bin so he could keep on combinbing.  Thank God for neighbors! We're lucky!

Clarence was "shopping"  last night with Adina's shopping cart; I asked him what he was shopping for and he told me, "tractors, pickups, loaders, trailers, fencing gloves". I thought it was darling.  He was shopping for those things that would obviously never fit in a little shopping cart, but the idea was that he was shopping.  He makes my day!

Adina is learning how to say some "B" words.  We've been working on baby, which she can say ok; brother, which she starts with a "b" and then rolls her tongue around in her mouth a little; bath, which she just says baaaa;  and, she can also say hot....she says ha.  But, she knows what hot means; when I'm baking or something and she's around in the kitchen, I say, "Stand back, Adina, it's really hot."  She just backs up and smiles and says, "ha, ha, ha."  She's learning so much right now; she understands almost everything I tell her, but she just can't say much. 

Today, we're going to play outside, feed Dolly, and I'm hoping to bake a little something (I've been wanting to try scones).

Hope your day is fabulous! I've got a whole bunch of new pictures to put up, but it seems to take so long to upload that I haven't found the time to do it yet.  Stay posted, though...I'll try do it soon! :)

Updates

Well, it's been quite a few days since I've written again; it seems that blogging has been put on the back burner and my priorities have taken over.  That's ok, I guess, because that means I'm actually accomplishing something. :)

We had a full, busy week.  We finished fencing our first quarter of land; CRP came out yesterday (Saturday), so now the cows are free to graze inside the fence.  The cows aren't getting out much anymore, either, which definitely helps keep my stress level low.  The piping for our water tanks was dug in on Thursday; it took a couple hours......they (as in the equipment) knife a trench in the ground, lay the pipe in, and cover it back up.  Then, we go lay the tanks (huge old tires) out; later on, we'll fence off paddocks so we have another rotational grazing system. 

I was supposed to start beets yesterday.  Due to the warm temperatures, that has been put on hold.  Well, the day shift has been, anyway; the night shift has been working, I guess.  This is all okay with me; yesterday, I had to play piano for a wedding in town in the afternoon, so I would've had to leave beets to do that;  today, we had church and family sunday school, and I wanted to be there to do a fun project with the kids.  So, it all worked out. :)

Matt's starting to combine our beans today; hopefully he'll be able to get it done quickly.
Clarence woke up this morning (I was already downstairs starting breakfast), messed around in his room for a while, then came downstairs with no pullup or jammies and holding the clothes he wanted to wear for the day.  It was darling. He's never done that before. What was really cute was the outfit - undies, khakis (nice ones), and a stained t-shirt.  He told me he wanted to be a "farmer guy" today and that he wanted to go outside right away.  I didn't know what he had planned for outside, since Matt was still in the house; they went out together and checked pastures to make sure all the cows were in.  That made Clarence feel better.

Well, tomorrow I start my new job as music and worship coordinator at our church....I hope it goes well and that I'll be an asset to the church;  there are some classes I'll be taking to help benefit me.  I'm glad; I wouldn't really know what to do right away otherwise. 

I also start piano lessons tomorrow.  That should be interesting! :)


Have a fabulous day!