Veterans Day

Happy Veteran's Day. Dennis went to breakfast this morning at Hy-Vee, because they were offering free breakfast to all Veterans. I didn't go since Zach had spent the night and didn't wake up until about 8 AM. Zach and I made cookies again, and he rode his motorcycle. It was 33 degrees when he went out to ride, and the puddles on the ground were iced over. Nevertheless, he rode for almost an hour. When he came in, we had eggs, hash browns, sausage and bacon. After eating we played Trouble before he left to go skating with his friend.
This afternoon, Dennis went out to tear out more of the old fence, and worked at cleaning up the area where he is thinking he'd like to put a new building. This little shed has been used for many things. We bought it at an auction way back in '82 and Dennis dragged it home on skids. It served as a playhouse for the boys and then we used it for bottle calves, hogs, and most recently a doghouse. Today it was consumed by fire! It was still a decent little building, but of no use to us. The skids that were used more than twenty years ago had rotted away, so there was really no good way to move it to a different location, so the firebug torched it.
I stayed out there with a rake to make sure the fire didn't spread and was amazed at how quickly it burned! I told Dennis that there must be about a hundred pounds of nails in that pile of ashes.

November News

Since the last post, we've enjoyed Indian Summer and are now headed back to more normal weather. In fact, it's snowing in northern Iowa, and we're expected to see light snow or sleet. I say, bring it on!
We've really been keeping busy so far for the month of November. We started off on November 2 meeting friends at Ogo's for supper and then staying for the music. If you've not been to Ogo's on a Thursday night, you just don't know what you're missing! It's "Chicken and Pickin' Night", meaning all the chicken you can eat and music from 6-8PM all for less than $6! What a deal!
Friday, November 3rd was the first time Zach had come to stay overnight with us in four weeks. We enjoyed having him. We played "Walkie Talkie Hide and Seek". Each of us had a walkie talkie, and we took turns hiding. When you were the person hiding, you had to tell the other person what you could see from your hiding place, and then they tried to find you. It was fun. We also baked cookies, painted and rode the four wheeler and motorcycle.
Sunday night Wyatt stayed overnight. We had a great time with him too. He's funny without even trying! He played the PlayStation racing games, and although he can drive pretty good, he prefers to go into the infield and crash. He also likes to go the wrong way and run into other cars. Hopefully, this will not carry over when he drives a real car on the real highway. He played and played, and fell asleep on the kitchen floor!
We've been having lots of work too. So far, we've had eight burials for November. In addition to that, Dennis has done a couple small excavation jobs, plus we're trying to tear out the old, falling down fence on the north side of our pasture, and replace it. All the crops are out, but they still have a lot of ground work to do. And of course, there are lots of things we can help with on the house building project.
Next week looks to be filled! Today is Friday, and is the beginning of a long weekend for me. I'll be going to Iowa City Sunday to meet friends from New York. We'll go to lunch and just hang out for a while. There's no school Monday, so Dennis and I made an appointment with our attorney to update our wills and get things in order. We're not sick, but just figured that it's better to make decisions now rather than let someone else (like the state) decide who gets what when we're dead. On Wednesday, Dennis has an appointment in Iowa City. Several years ago, he had a melanoma cancer taken off, and he's way overdue for a complete checkup. Then I'll be going to Iowa City (well, Coralville actually) Saturday to meet up with the "Nelson girls". That's sure to be a good time. Before we know it, Thanksgiving will be here! I've been stocking up on the groceries in preparation for the big feast.
My, oh my....how I do tend to ramble on and on! I think this LOOooooooonnnnngggg update should suffice, so I'll quit for today and try to keep up better in the days to come!

What a Week-end!

Thursday the harvest came to a halt, because one of the big tires on the combine was punctured. It had been a very productive day up to that point. Travis shelled 6ooo bushels of corn that day in spite of a two hour delay to replace a broken belt. They all thought that was a pretty big accomplishment with that little 4 row corn head. Travis and I spent most of Friday trying to get tires. He ended up ordering a new set and thinking they'd not get here until today. What a pleasant surprise when Menn's called and said they had the tires and would get them mounted Saturday. They're back to beans again and if the weather holds, they should finish on beans this week.
Today Wyatt came to "help". He rode in the combine, and then hauled grain with Popo. He even ate some of the beans! He also ate the entire lunch I'd packed for him, which included a peanut butter sandwich, an apple and two cookies. Well, actually he saved one cookie for Travis. He had a pretty big day and was so tired that he fell asleep in the car on his way home.
I spent much of the weekend driving the bus. Friday night I took the Central Lee varsity football team to Durant. We got back to Donnellson at about 1 A.M. and I hurried home to sleep fast so I could be back at school by 6 A.M. to take the middle school marching band to Ottumwa for the Oktoberfest Parade. By the time I got home Saturday evening, I was pretty much good for nothing. I fell asleep quite early and missed the movie Dennis watched. Of course, he might have slept through it too! In fact, I'd almost bet that he did. He probably had his ice cream while watching the movie, and then ten minutes after the bowl was empty, he was probably snoring in his recliner!
On Sunday we went to Mom's for dinner. Mom invited everyone over because Valerie and Shane were here for the weekend. Shane is leaving tomorrow for a six month stint on border patrol. Shane's parents were there also, and we all had a nice visit, and naturally, an excellent dinner! That just about brings us up to date, so now I think I'll go catch up with Dennis and ride along in the grain truck this evening.

Wednesday Update

I have a peach pie in the oven and thought I'd take a few minutes to update you with some new pictures. Harvest is going well. They switched from corn to beans on Monday. The yield seems to be pretty good, so far. They're still working in the bottom grounds. The yields won't be so good when they get up in the clay.

Progress continues on the house. Thankfully, Lynn and Dad are helping out so Travis and Dennis can keep the combine running. It's clouding up here and looks like it could even rain. I thought that would be bad, but the guys said it's so dry that they'd welcome a little rain. In fact, it would actually help!
Here you can see Lynn and Dale carrying plywood up the roof. They finished sheeting the west side yesterday and got it tar-papered just before dark. Today they'll be working on the east side.
I'm starting to smell the pie, so better go check on it. I'd sure hate to burn it after going to all the effort to make it. With a fresh baked peach pie, I could probably get away with serving peanut butter sandwiches for supper, but I'm planning on home-made pizza. However, if it rains, and Dennis is not working, I'd let him take me out to Ogo's tonight!

What A Difference A Day Makes!

Here's what the house looked like at quitting time. I just thought it was pretty impressive what the crew got done in a day. If only the harvest goes as well!
I'm expecting a little visitor soon. Zach was planning to spend the night, but had a birthday party to attend first. I'm thinking if he doesn't get here pretty soon he may not be coming tonight. It's already past his bedtime. After all week at school, he usually is ready for bed before nine o'clock. If he doesn't come for the night, he'll call for me to pick him up in the morning.

Frigid Friday

It's Friday! Where did the past week go? It feels like winter outdoors, but the woolie worms are still saying that winter will arrive on or about December 21, with Christmas to follow in about four days. As I'm typing, the horse is running, kicking and bucking all over the pasture. She's beautiful when she's running. I guess the cold air must have given her a burst of the friskies. Burger King, the angus steer, is frisking too, but I think he's just trying to stay out of the horse's way.
Travis, Dennis and Gail are shelling corn this morning, and I ran to Nichtings for parts. When I got back with the part, I took a few pictures, but it was beginning to rain. Gail was driving the tractor with the auger wagon, so Travis could unload the combine without stopping. Dennis was taking the corn to the elevator. Yesterday, they skipped the field work and put rafters on the house. They had quite a crew there. Dale and Becky, of course, plus Dad and Lynn, and Dennis and Travis. Mom came with lunch, and I stopped by to take some pictures. When I came back home this morning I found Perry Harrison here engraving our name on the big rock in our yard. I think it turned out pretty nice. We found the rock here on our place and moved it up to the yard, so I could mow around it. My original plan was to collect a whole bunch of rocks and make a waterfall, creek and pond in the yard. I've pretty much given up on that idea. Can't see it ever happening, but I still gather rocks whenever I can! You can see from the picture that this rock is split in half. It was that way when we found it in our creek.

Time for Keokuk's 2nd Annual Geode Fest!

Today between morning and afternoon bus runs, I was invited to go "scout" out one of the sites that will be used for the guided hunts during Geode Fest. What fun! I enjoyed it very much, and even brought home a few geodes! The leaves seem to be turning more colorful by the minute. It was a gorgeous day. After school, I went to Ft. Madison for a mandatory training session for bus drivers. Several from Central met at Vel's to eat prior to the class. I still have no harvest pictures. They've been working long days though, and things have been going quite well. Dennis just got home, and I expect he's very hungry! Better get that casserole out of the oven. Oh, that big black looking thing in the boat is the geode I brought home!

It's Harvest Time!

I have tried and tried to delete the double post, but can't seem to get rid of the extra one! So, I give up, and we'll just go on. Yesterday the guys got started shelling corn. They didn't really work yesterday, but they got everything in place and ready to go. Travis shelled just enough so that they could park the trucks off the road. They got an early start this morning, and hopefully things are going well. I've not had time to check on them or get a picture. Since they're busy with harvest, I'm the one that gets to do the rest of the work. Today I went to Hamilton to take care of backfilling a grave, and tomorrow I'll be back over in Illinois...same thing-different place. Between that and the bus route, they'd better just be exceedingly thankful for a meal...whether it's good or not! I'll try to get a picture added tomorrow....but right now, I better get to the kitchen and start preparing something edible!

Another Typical Saturday

As usual, Zach spent the night with us. This morning, Travis, Tyler and Dennis were all working on the big truck. Wyatt came over with Tyler and brought his bike. He was riding it all over the place and only crashed twice! Zach rode his bike too, as you can see him in the background. The dog is just trying to stay out of the way!
All the big guys were under the truck most of the time. I fixed chili and cornbread for lunch, for which they were very thankful. They're working on the semi that's used to haul grain, getting it ready to go. When I was out there to see how they were doing all I could see was legs sticking out from under the cab, and tools everywhere!
The little guys went to school to help me wash my bus. It's now the cleanest bus on the lot, and looks great. I'll be taking it to Mount Pleasant later this evening for a High School Band event. That's about all that's going on around here. We expect to be starting harvest very soon. Travis and Gail's house is coming along. They're ready to put rafters up next. Once that's done, it won't take long to get it all enclosed, which will be nice!

Something To Think About

The following story seems doubly appropriate since elections are just a few weeks away. Read it, and ponder!

While walking down the street one day a US
senator is tragically hit by a truck and dies.

His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter
at the entrance.

"Welcome to heaven," says St. Peter. "Before you
settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom
see a high official around these parts, you see, so
we're not sure what to do with you."

"No problem, just let me in," says the man.

"Well, I'd like to, but I have orders from higher
up. What we'll do is have you spend one day in hell
and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to
spend eternity."

"Really, I've made up my mind. I want to be in
heaven," says the senator.

"I'm sorry, but we have our rules."

And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the
elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell. The
doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a
green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse
and standing in front of it are all his friends and
other politicians who had worked with him.

Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They
run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce
about the good times they had while getting rich at
the expense of the people.

They play a friendly game of golf and then dine on
lobster, caviar and champagne.

Also present is the devil, who really is a very
friendly guy who has a good time dancing and
telling jokes. They are having such a good time that
before he realizes it, it is time to go.

Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves
while the elevator rises...

The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens
on heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him.

"Now it's time to visit heaven."

So, 24 hours pass with the senator joining a group
of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud,
playing the harp and singing. They have a good time
and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone
by and St. Peter returns.

"Well, then, you've spent a day in hell and another
in heaven. Now choose your eternity."

The senator reflects for a minute, then he answers:
"Well, I would never have said it before, I mean
heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be
better off in hell."

So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes
down, down, down to hell.

Now the doors of the elevator open and he's in the
middle of a barren land covered with waste and
garbage.

He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking
up the trash and putting it in black bags as more
trash falls from above.

The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around
his shoulder. "I don't understand," stammers the
senator. "Yesterday I was here and there was a golf
course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar,
drank champagne, and danced and had a great time.
Now there's just a wasteland full of garbage and my
friends look miserable. What happened?"

The devil looks at him, smiles and says, "Yesterday
we were campaigning......

Today you voted."