Life on the farm

It’s cold outside

Posted on December 9, 2013 by farm2011

Have you ever had one of those times when you know something, but at the time you just can’t figure it out? Well, that’s what happened to me after work tonight. I had the laundry line full with clothes on Saturday, and with the snowfall that night- I just left them out there. A little bit of snow won’t kill anybody if the clothes stayed out there. So that’s where they stayed for the night. We got home late Sunday night, so once again they stayed out on the line overnight. I figured that they’ll really smell fresh Monday night after work. Well I got home tonight and walked up to the line and just stood there. I KNEW that there was about 10 shirts missing and couldn’t figure out where in the world they went. After standing there for awhile trying to figure it out, the only logical thing was that they blew off the line in the crazy wind this weekend and are in the snow someplace. So I started to dig around in the snow piles and low and behold I find a black work shirt. SCORE! But where in the world were the rest? I was so glad that no one was watching me because I was so confused looking in all the snow for my shirts. I finally gave up and went into the house. Daryl came home a little bit later and I asked him if he saw any of my shirts blowing around in the yard? He said that they were off the line so he picked them up earlier and hung them up in the basement because they were all snow. Whew! I thought I was loosing it for awhile there.

And how did we end the night? Well, since it was soooo cold outside and poor Reno hasn’t been able to come in since I got the new floor rug. Yea, you guessed it. In she came after I put down some old blankets in the living room. Neither one of them made a sound all night. I’m just hoping that she’s not thinking that she’s in because of that old dead raccoon!

Reno and Little Kitty enjoying being in the house

Posted in Family, Farm animals | 2 Comments

Christmas concert at Iowa State

Posted on December 8, 2013 by farm2011

This morning I needed to get all the candy and extra stuff done and packed up so we could head down to Ames to see the Christmas concert at Iowa State. William is again singing in one of the choirs and it’s been a tradition for Daryl and I to spend these past years going to a Christmas concert of some sort around the Holidays. We first started out going to the Christmas concerts at our public school, but soon added Central College to the list when Kyle was in college. And now that William is in Iowa State we have the opportunity to go and listen to the choir and other choirs at his college. We really love the chance to spend a couple of hours listening to the kids sing. But this year, the weather wasn’t supposed to be so nice, and with all the candy and stuff I made I really was hoping that it wouldn’t be too bad and we could deliver it to him and his friends and go to the concert. OK, so I think I might have gone a little bit overboard with the food. But it’s the first candy of the season, and it’s always fun to get it made and delivered. And I’m pretty sure that they’ll eat it! Check out how much we were bringing down to college with us.

I hope they’re hungry!

All package up and ready to go

So we watched the weather and decided that it wasn’t going to be too bad and we were off. We were surprised though when we saw some cars in the ditch and another one spinning out behind us and landing in the median of the interstate highway. Weird. Daryl said it didn’t seem that bad, but it might have been the first really snow fall of the season and people get a little crazy driving. Not sure, but since we didn’t end up in the ditch all was good. We did make it in plenty of time to find our seats for the concert in the auditorium and it was definitely worth the trip. The kids sing so unbelievable that it almost sounds like your listening to musical instruments. I have to laugh when we’re sitting there watching it. We always try to find William and we think about 90% of the kids look like him. But all of a sudden you find him and you can then sit back and enjoy the rest of the program. I tried something different this time. I always see people taking pictures and video taping with their phones, so I gave it a chance at this concert. I even left my camera in the car. Who would have thought! But after taking a couple of pictures with my phone, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to know that phones Do Not take as good as pictures in a large auditorium as a camera. Lesson learned.

The choir William sings with - Statesman Choir at Iowa State

The choir William sings with – Statesmen Choir at Iowa State

The night ended with all the choirs getting together and singing some songs with the wind ensemble. And the one song that I liked the best had some of the kids in the aisles with bells surrounding the audience. Just beautiful.

All the choirs combined at the end of the concert

After the concert and delivery of the food to the dorms, off to a restaurant we all went to have a quick supper. Then dropping William back off at his dorm and we headed back home. What a great concert, and we wouldn’t have missed it for anything in the world.

Posted in Candy, Family | Comments Off

Turkey River Mall, Elkader Iowa

Posted on December 7, 2013 by farm2011

With it being Saturday, I had one goal in mind. And that was to get as much done as I possibly could in the morning, and then just bum around in the afternoon for awhile in Elkader. I had it in my head that I wanted to go to the Antique Mall in Elkader, Iowa and for some reason I just couldn’t get rid of the thought. So after getting tons of laundry done, the house somewhat picked up, and some things made in the kitchen, I jumped in the shower and then headed to the mall. Now there really wasn’t anything in particular that I wanted or needed, it was just that I wanted to go and see what treasures that they had. I was hoping not to spend more than $40, so it wasn’t like I was going to plan on buying anything big. Now it took about an hour to get to the mall from the farm and it’s just crazy how the landscape changes in such a short time. The closer I got to Elkader, the farmland changed from pretty much flat where we live, to rolling hills. The hills are kind of cool to look at, but I couldn’t imagine baling hay on them. Your wagons would always be leaning down hill with the bales falling off. Well, I finally found a parking space and I’m out of the car in a flash. I don’t know if I was thinking that I couldn’t get to all the vendors in the 2 & 1/2 hours or maybe it was just that I was excited to see what they had. Either case, I was on a mission.

Outside of mall taken from their web page

Picture of the mall taken from their web page

When I opened the front door, I just knew that it was the right decision to go. I first checked to see how long they were open, and it was until 5 pm. I was hoping that I wouldn’t stay that long, but who knew right? I slung my purse behind my back and off I went. Now this isn’t a small antique mall by any means. It has over 100 vendors and 14,000 square feet so there’s a lot to look at. And when I was walking around looking at all the treasures, I decided that I really like how the style was back in the 50’s and 60’s. If there really is reincarnation, I bet I was someone from that era. So I’m checking everything out and taking note of the things that I want to go back to look at when I hear this kind of creepy voice coming from one of the rooms on the third floor. I make my way to the room and find out that it was an old Winnie the Pooh Bear saying that it was 5:00. What 5:00? Well, he must not have gotten his time changed this fall, but the funny thing was that I didn’t think anything about a bear saying the time, just that I might be out of time. Now with only an hour to shop, I had to make up my mind. Was I going to buy anything and if so, what would it be? I finally bought an old shotgun cream can. Even though Daryl knew exactly what it was, I checked it out on the web when I got home to see if I could find out anything more on how it was used. They were used to hold milk and then placed in cool water baths. The cooler the water the better the milk and cream would separate. Now when we were kids, I don’t ever remembering using these cans. We milked the cows twice a day, but put the milk into the milk tank. Then you’d turn on an agitator to keep the milk stirring and cooling until the milk man came. But if you needed cream to bake with, you’d shut the agitator off and the cream and milk would separate. You’d use some type of a scoop and skim the cream off the top. I think that was better cream that you could ever buy today. So getting back to my little cream can. I had paid for it in the mall and just as I was leaving, I saw that they had a basement filled with stuff. So I put my cream can down by the check out desk and down I went into the basement to see what other treasures are waiting. And guess what I found? 2 more pulleys for my collection. Now I have no idea why I have to have more pulleys, and my collection is only now a total of 4. But I really like how they look for some reason. So with my cream can and pulleys in hand and the time so close to 5 o’clock, I head to the car. What a fun afternoon and I even had some money left over for a Diet Coke for the trip home. Yea for me!

Shotgun cream can and pulleys.

And when I got home I found this ‘present’ on the steps. I think it’s an old dead raccoon or something. I’m guessing it’s Reno’s way of trying to bribe me to let her in the house and lay by the fireplace. It didn’t work.

From Reno

Posted in Places to visit | Comments Off

Holiday Parade in Decorah, Iowa

Posted on December 6, 2013 by farm2011

The morning started out COLD and from what the weatherman is predicting, it’s supposed to get even colder as the weekend goes on. When I was heading to work I checked out what the temperature actually was, and the air temperature was below zero. Yea, no wonder I was cold!

During the day I had heard about the Holiday Parade that Decorah was having tonight and started to do a little investigation on just what this was. Since I’ve never been to a Holiday Parade before, I was definitely interested. I couldn’t find out how many years this parade was actually going on, but it must have been awhile because quite a few people that I talked to knew about it. OK, I was going! Before I got ready, I decided to grab something quick to eat. After rummaging around in the cupboard, I decided on buttered noodles. They didn’t take much energy or time. So after I inhaled them, I put multiple layers on of everything I could find for clothes and off I went. Without having any expectations on what I would find, I was open to anything. I did get to town a little earlier than I needed to be, and really didn’t have anything downtown to shop for, so I found a back parking lot and decided to take a quick power nap. Last night I went to bed late and also got up early, and mixing that with my belly full of buttered noodles, yea you can see where a quick nap would feel good. So I turned the heater on full force, turned on my butt warmer and closed my eyes. Man did that feel good! I didn’t really nap, but just hung out for about 10 minutes. Then I shut the car off and opened the door. REALITY check!! Now you can about imaging how warm it was in the car and it was not warm outside last night at all. I don’t know if this is why I was so cold during the parade or what, but I was so cold that I was literally shivering and almost shaking. But I was there and I was committed. The parade started with the normal police leading the way with their lights on, and then all the kids literally came out of the woodwork. There were kids dressed up with so much clothes on, they really looked like the kid from the movie ‘Christmas Story’ – Randy. They has scarves around their necks and were really bundled up for the cold. I think I was more jealous than anything on how warm they looked. There was this one little boy that was standing by me that was maybe 5 years old ? and kept yelling to absolutely everyone ‘Merry Christmas’ as loud as he could and they would just shower him with candy. Literally shower him with candy. As since he was so bundled up, he could hardly bend down much less pick any candy up. But you know what? It was really cute.

Winner of Best Themed entry – It’s a Wonderful Life

After about 15 minutes of the parade, I made a quick dash for the car and cranked up the heater to get warm again. Now even though I had two thick pairs of gloves on, my hands were very very cold. I had kind of frost bit them and my feet when I was in high school and it doesn’t take much to make them cold anymore. Once I got warm again and stepped back out, it didn’t seem as bad as the first time. I think it was just too much of a shock or something the first time around. But I made it to the parade just in time to see the ending . Which was Santa Claus of course! As I was driving away, I had time to think a little bit more about the parade and how really cool it was. Here was a town that put lights on their cars, firetrucks, tractors, and even horses to ride in a parade during the most busiest time of the year just to share some fun and Christmas spirit. To be honest, I felt like I was transported back into time about 60 years and I loved it!

Off to get more groceries for candy making tomorrow. I have almost everything that I need other than a visit to the Amish to pick up some chocolate and pecans.

I almost got everything that I should need to have a good start on this Christmas candy season

On the way home from town I stopped off at this one local tractor supply business to snap a picture of a tractor hey decorated. Take a look

Posted in Community, Places to visit | Comments Off

Daryl singing at the Rotary Club

Posted on December 5, 2013 by farm2011

Daryl was going to give it a try tonight and join the group that he sings with. They were going to perform for a Rotary Club Christmas party. I had my doubts that this was going to work for him, but it has been three weeks and he would know best if it did (or didn’t ) work. But as the night went on, it seemed like he was feeling a little bit better and could move around even a little bit more. I don’t know if it was just getting out with his friends or maybe that he’s starting to see the Rehab specialist, but either way.. I can see that he’s definitely on the mend. I’m also thinking that he’s going to be pretty tired and sore on Friday

Fusion singing at the Rotary club

Posted in Family | Comments Off

♪ She’s making a list and checking it twice ♪

Posted on December 4, 2013 by farm2011

Tonight’s plan was to start to make some Christmas candy. But I thought I’d ‘quick’ call the cell phone company with a question that I had. Yea, you can about imagine how the quick part turned out. My quick call had me on hold for over an hour. All I have to say is that when God was handing out patience, I think I was in the bath tub or something. I did stick it out and what was happening with my cell phone was when I updated the last software for it, it made it go a little crazy. It kept downloading all these old emails and stuff from months ago and I had no idea if anyone had called or left a message. Also for the last week or so I had to delete everything on my phone maybe 8 to 10 times a day. So like I said, tonight I finally bit the bullet and talked to them to find out how to fix it. The bad thing is that I did have it half fixed, but didn’t repair both emails that I get on my phone. Oh well, it’s fixed now.

So since it took much longer than I had expected on the phone call, I decided to gather my candy ingredients and see just exactly what I had and needed to get yet. And I guess the saying is true, that everything happens for a reason. For me tonight, I found out that I’d better be making a list of everything that I needed and check it twice before I get too far into the candy making season. I know that I’ll need to go and visit the Amish to pick up some more chocolate (probably 20 more pounds) and buy some more pecans and butter before this Christmas is over with. But on the bright side, I do have enough to get started and that’s good because some of William’s friends at college are looking forward to getting a platter of candy this weekend. But for now, I’m thinking tomorrow night would be a much better idea to start anyway. So what am I going to do tonight instead? Well I’m thinking I’m going to see about running a nice warm bath 🙂

Just checking out what I had on hand for candy supplies

Posted in Candy | Comments Off

December 3rd

Posted on December 3, 2013 by farm2011

Now to most people, December 3rd is just another day in the beginning of the month. But to my family growing up, it meant two things. The first thing is that it was my brother’s birthday, which then lead to the second thing. And that was that we could finally put up the Christmas tree! As long as I can remember, we’ve always had an artificial Christmas tree growing up. So that meant that we could put it up whenever we were allowed to and that was usually on Bob’s birthday. I’m not sure why or how this all got started, but I think I can guess. With 6 kids growing up on the farm, there was I’m sure a lot of questions when we could put up the tree. And just knowing how kids are, the question was probably asked more than once. So my folks picked a day.. and that day was December 3rd. So I laugh when we talk about putting up our Christmas tree in our house. The conversation usually goes something like this. ‘Well Bob’s birthday is next week, so when do you think we should get our tree?”. Too funny! We have gotten a real tree for a very long time and continue to get a real tree. So now our tree is now up but it’s not decorated yet. We’re waiting for Kyle to come home to help decorate it the weekend before Christmas. Now that’s also one of our traditions. If the boys are home, they are the ones to put the decorations on the tree along with setting up the train under the tree. And even though the train and the track has seen better days, it doesn’t matter. It’s just one of those things that they do. I feel kind of sad sometimes if families don’t have traditions to follow around Christmas time. I mean, how would they know when it’s the right time to put up their tree and everything? Well, I guess if they just remember December 3rd, they’ll be able to start their own tradition.

The tree is up and waiting for the boys to decorate it

Posted in Family | 3 Comments

Sunday, a shopping day

Posted on December 1, 2013 by farm2011

Mom was trying to get to a larger town these past few weeks to do some shopping, and it just didn’t work out that well for me until today. She wanted to come early this morning to meet me at our farm, but I knew better. I knew that I was going to be tired with the late nights that I’ve been having lately, so she came around 9 am and off we went. I thought for sure that town was going to be packed because the weather was perfect. Warm and sunny. But we both decided that there weren’t very many people at all in town. It was really noticeable when we got to Olive Garden for dinner and didn’t have to wait at all to get a table. What? On a Sunday? SCORE! I think we got most of everything on her list and on the way home I asked what she was going to do when we got home? It was around 4 pm when we pulled into the farm, and she said that she was going to go home, unpack her car, and head out with the ladies to play cards in town for the night. Guess what I did? I got into the house, took a hot bath, and put my jammies on for the night. I told Daryl that I knew that it was only 5 pm, but I didn’t care. The only thing that was kinda strange about it, was that the night lasted really long before I’m going to head to bed. And really I don’t think that’s such a bad thing at all!

Posted in Family | Comments Off

Celebrating St. Nicholas Day!

Posted on November 30, 2013 by farm2011

Celebrating St. Nicholas Day today with my family! This is a tradition that our Mom and her family did when she was young, we did when we were young, and now us kids share the tradition with our families. The afternoon was spent with everyone showing up for about an hour before the special guest arrives. When our family gets together, not only do we just like hanging out, but we also like to eat good food. And since this was going to be a pot luck, there was just as much food coming in the Roadhouse and there was kids. Tables were set up for the food and soon the kid’s coats were off and then they went off running and playing. There was ping pong, ball games, Wii, and just about any other type of toy that you would want. We keep a couple of totes of the boy’s old toys in the Roadhouse and I think when we have kids come over, they get played with quite a bit. You know when you’re cleaning the toy room and it seems like you should just pack them up and give them to Good Will? Well, I’m glad that I kept some just for these times when we have kids here.

Getting the toys out to play

Next thing to do? St. Nicholas of course is soon knocking on the door. It’s so fun to see the little kids try to act cool, but you can see inside they’re really almost busting at the seams.

Taking turns on St. Nick’s lap

After all the little kids take turns sitting on Santa’s lap and reading what they had on their Christmas list, it was time to take some group photos. This is always interesting with my family. It seems like about half of the group is paying attention and the other half is not. But we do eventually get everything together and pictures are snapped. Now we are also trying to hurry because St. Nicholas isn’t used to being inside so much and with all the people sitting on his lap and the heater not too far from the chair that he sits on, well it gets kind of warm. But he stuck with it and did a fantastic job! After a couple of songs sung by the kids, off he went for another year. My families presents were handed out and I think they all like them. I was kind of nervous that they would think that they were weird, but if they did think that, no one said it out loud. After the gifts were done, off to making Christmas ornaments for Ma. My sister and niece organized everyone having an ornament to make and then they went home with Mom to put on her tree. What a great idea and it gave everyone, both kids and adults something to work on before we ate.

Everyone making their own Christmas ornament for Mom’s tree

Speaking of eating, we ended up with a couple of tables of food and what a variety. With no one knowing what anyone else was bringing, I don’t think we had any doubles of anything. I do know that I think I tried everything, and it was all really good.

Good fun and good food!

With our bellies full and with having a fun afternoon, everyone packed up their cars and headed back home. I know that I’ve said this before, but I just would have loved for Daryl’s parents to have seen the good times that we’ve had so far in the Roadhouse. Or how they remember it, the Farrowing house.

Posted in Family | 2 Comments

Friday, getting ready for St. Nick’s & Festival of Lights

Posted on November 29, 2013 by farm2011

I spent most of the day today just checking my lists to make sure that I had everything done for tomorrow. I’m feeling pretty good about how the Roadhouse looks and even the house is coming around. I made another Walmart run because the photo that I had made into a poster was too small. I learned something the other day. I learned to always check which way the measurements go when you order a print. I ordered a poster the other day of the same picture from Walgreens, and found that the picture didn’t fit. Too short. Not cool! The only good thing about that picture was that there was a photo promotion going on and it didn’t cost that much. But I did like how it ‘could’ look, so I ordered another one from Walmart this time. I really was trying to get it ordered Thursday night, but their website kept crashing. And after getting my order all the way to the final click of the check out for the 3rd time, I decided that I better wait until today to order it. Otherwise I’m thinking that I will need to add a new computer to my wish list!! Have you even been in one of those situations and when you know it’s probably not going to work so you hurry and hit enter and not look. Thinking, yup… this time I’m SURE that it worked. Well, I tried that and it didn’t work. OK, so the picture finally was ordered and picked up today. Love it! I’m sure that it doesn’t mean that much to most of the population, but I really like it. It’s a picture that was taken on last Sunday when William went to help me cut down our Christmas tree. I swear the weather was sub zero (that could be a little bit exaggerated) so I hurried and snapped a quick picture. I also had this old window, and when I put both together it turned out nice. It’s hanging in the Roadhouse for the weekend and then I’ll bring it inside the house. As for the rest of the afternoon, I worked on getting the final things done in the Roadhouse. Reno and Little Kitty just couldn’t understand why they couldn’t come in and help, but all the pillows and throws were washed and dried, everything was vacuumed and Fabreezed, and the floors were scrubbed. Nope, nobody was getting in tonight!

Cutting down the Christmas tree – 2013

I wanted to get to West Union to the official lighting of the Christmas lights at the park. And I was so glad that I went because it was amazing! I couldn’t even imagine how many lights or hours are spent putting up this display every year. I know that they pretty much work on it year round and it shows! There were so many people and kids there, and when Santa arrived on the fire truck with the horn blowing, the lights flashing, and the kids cheering, it’s almost overwhelming. It’s also just plain cool. When William and I were walking on the path by the lake, we over heard some boys say, ‘This IS a winter wonderland!” I think that pretty much sums it up. I took some pictures, but they didn’t turn out as good as I would have liked them to be. So if you get to West Union this Christmas season, you’ll have to stop in and see for yourself. It’s awesome!

When I got home from the park, Reno was able to spend quite a bit of time with me putting up our outside lights. When I was putting on my trusty Insulated Overall, William snapped a quick picture. I almost died when I saw it. For some reason it really looks like I don’t have legs or something. Not sure whats wrong here, but pretty funny! I bought extra lights when I was in town this morning , just in case that I would need them. Well, I used 4 out of the 5 reels that I bought for spares. I tested all my old lights before I put them up and if they even looked like they might go out by flickering a little bit, onto a pile they went. I was soooo glad that I had bought the extra ones this morning. With my snow cap pulled over my face to keep the cold out and all the lights up, I called it a night. I just can’t wait to see how my home made gifts go over tomorrow at St. Nicks. I had so much fun making them, I hope they like them.