Good Wednesday morning from the Knolltop!

We’ve still got snow this morning, but it’s warming up a little, I had to take my sweatshirt off during milking….so I know there is either no wind or it’s warm.

It’s time to get ready for Thanksgiving. Yes, I may sound a little late, but I’m not cooking it this year, we are traveling over the river and through the woods to grandmothers house! Which means I haven’t even thought about cooking or cleaning or even shopping yet! I’ve got to get two things at the store today and then I’ll be good to go….this is a nice reprieve. My mom loves to cook and really enjoys hosting Thanksgiving dinner. The other day she was absolutely giddy about the linen table cloth and matching napkins for 12 she found in her linen closet! She commented on how much she enjoyed starching the napkins and I had to agree with her, ironing and starching napkins is a very satisfying job. When you end up with sharp, crisp edges and creases it’s very gratifying to put them on your table. Are we weird? Does anyone else enjoy this?

I’ll be on Rural Route today with Trent Loos and my favorite host, Kyle Bauer. Trent is traveling to Chicago to be in the Thanksgiving Day parade with his chuck wagon…check out his website www.facesofag.com for more info…after the event. I’m sure he won’t have time to post on the site before the event…Trent is just not a planner.

Better get!

It’s a very snowy morning here on the Knolltop. It’s started yesterday morning and made drivers start creeping down the road and now we’ve got a couple schools closed this morning. Much to my children’s dismay, our school is in session today.

I have a new milking partner. She wears a pink Michigan State hat and a pink sweatshirt and I call her B.J. She’s probably… no she IS the best milking partner I’ve had. She’s easy to get along with, she keeps up with the milkers and is not easily distracted. She takes direction with respect and keeps her mind on her job. She even keeps me on my toes.

Last evening while we were milking I changed a milker and stepped back into the center isle. She looked at the cow that was just milked and then looked at me and asked, “Did you dip her?” Indignant, I replied, “Of course.” She said, “Oh, well it just didn’t look like it.” I turned and looked and was confident that I had dipped her even though she didn’t look like she had a drop of dip on any of her four teats. I slid a little closer and then bent over to inspect my dipping job and discovered she was a clean as a whistle…no dip at all.

I looked at B.J. and said, “You were right, I hadn’t dipped her, thanks.” She just smiled.

Then I gave her a new name. That beautiful daughter that was born almost 13 years ago that delighted my life and has made my world a better place and consistently keeps me on schedule, on task and on time was now going to be known as B.J…..Bobby Junior.

Good Monday Morning! It’s breezy this morning, but not as cold!

Everywhere we go it’s John Deere!

Over the weekend, Sarah and I went to a craft show and we found the cutest earrings. We found a pair of John Deere earrings and a pair of Oliver earrings. We were so excited we just had to get them. We’re going to wear them to Thanksgiving on Thursday, my dad will love Sarah’s Olivers!

Then yesterday we had to stop at TSC on the way home from church and I saw a John Deere t-shirt that said, “My tractor can beat your tractor.” I held it up for Luke and told him he needed to buy that for me for Christmas. He refused! He knows his tractor can beat mine, but I like to talk trash.

Then while I was checking out another blog last night, I noticed her template was really cool, so I found a place where you can change the “wallpaper” on your blog, so I browsed through the choices and found this John Deere wallpaper! How fun!

If your a Case fan…please don’t run off! I’m not against Case, but I love my old John Deere A and the great sound it makes! Just thinking about it makes me want to run down to the tractor barn and start it up.

I know that’s not Tina the fat lard, because Tina is a llama…but I think we could call this cow Tony the fat lard…what do you think?

It’s a breezy Knolltop this morning, but not nearly as cold as it was in the deep south yesterday morning according to my sources….and in laws! Boy, temps in the 20s in the south is reason to get riled up and throw a sure ‘nuff fit!

First off, thanks Marsha for the nice comment about the meeting that I spoke at. Wish you could’ve been there too! We had a great time…except for the lady that was carried out on a chair! I’m glad you heard good things about it.

Secondly, I don’t know what they fed me, but I was sick all day long yesterday. After I blogged and got the dishes done, I laid down until my phone rang…it was Bobby asking if I had a pulse. I said, “No, I don’t think I do,” and went back to sleep.

I managed to dragged myself out of bed long enough to do some laundry and get a shower and then plopped back down for my afternoon nap. I’m beginning to sound like my grandmother now. And then after chores I came in and yes, flopped on the bed and snoozed for another hour…then got up, tried to talk with my children, said goodbye to Bobby and the boys who were headed to a Hillsdale College basketball game and as soon as they left….yes….it was the bed again!

I feel 300% better today…..sometimes we just need to know when we need to rest!

Good Morning from another cold knolltop. We have a little dusting of snow which fell between 3:30 am and 5 am….in case you wanted to know that.

Last night we had another first in the family. I had to speak at an annual meeting in Ohio and of course I had to leave during chores. I got started milking the cows and about 10 cows into it, Bobby said, “I think I can probably go with you tonight if you still want me to.”

I jumped at the chance for him to go and we started facilitating our departure right in the middle of chores. Of course this meant the kids were going to have to take over and with one getting home from basketball practice and another heading into practice it was tricky. But they got it done.

Bobby and I had a very nice time at the dinner and all the cows were milked. I almost felt like normal people who actually get to go together to events even during chore time.

The emcee for the evening was a man who had been in broadcasting for 30 some years and he was a hoot. He spent his time insulting almost everyone in the room, including me and I was a complete stranger to him. But when I finally got a hold of the mic, I made him pay….and boy did I have fun.

Another first for me was having an ambulance arrive during my speech. I was going along, telling a story about Rural Route when all of a sudden several men who happened to be volunteer fire fighters, started to crowd around this elderly lady. Because every eye in the room was on the commotion of the “rescue squad” I finally stopped in the middle of my story and watched too. All eyes were on them and we were waiting to see what happened. The emcee, who happened to be the county dispatcher called 911 and suddenly they carried this little lady out on her chair to the back of the room with her elderly husband following behind. Compelled by a immediate urge to pray and not giving any thought if I would offend anyone, I just asked the crowd to pray with me for this lady.

Trying to recover after that was a trick, but I carried on and got it done. At the end of the night, the news was that they lady just got low on oxygen. She was refusing to go to the hospital, but they took her anyway…kicking and screaming! No, not really.

All in all, it was a fun night…but now I’m paying for staying out past 10 and I don’t feel tip top. I think I’ll go lay down! Carry on.

It is way cold now! A chilly 24 degrees this morning when we walked across the road!

Yesterday on my way home from town I noticed some tracks on the road….lots and lots of tracks. They seemed too big to be deer tracks and they were all over the road, not like deer who are just crossing from one field to another. So I slowed down, opened my door and looked at the tracks and just as I suspected they were cow tracks!

Those heifers that were out yesterday morning when we went to the barn had been out all night long, or at least long enough to run up and down the road and tromp through the wheat fields. It looked like they had a grand old time! There must have been no traffic because I didn’t hear any banging on the door or anyone yelling, “Your cows are out!”

Actually, this is a case of “What you don’t know won’t hurt you.” I’m glad I didn’t know, if I had known, I would’ve been out there chasing them around instead of slumbering in my nice warm bed!

We had a birthday celebration last night for Mr. Kyser. I made a German chocolate cake and bought some ice cream. It was fun to pig out on all that sugar, but I of course I ate too much and felt like a fat pig!

Today is a monumental day, we’ll have another legal driver on the farm. Luke is getting his permit! I can’t believe I’m old enough to have two drivers! They were just little tikes not too long ago!

Breakfast is waiting!

Good Morning from a partly cloudy knolltop. It’s getting colder and we had our first snow shower yesterday morning on the way to church.

Over the last couple of weeks we’ve had a couple of heifers calve and they were heifers we didn’t raise ourselves but purchased in a sale. They both had heifer calves and they are so little. But size means nothing with Susie and Sizzle, they are big eaters. Sizzle(Sarah named her) was coming to the gate to eat the second time I fed her. And now every time I go back to HeiferWorld (the place where all the heifers are kept in pens by age) she gets up and runs to greet me! Then if I don’t feed her she just paces in the pen mooing at me trying to convince me that she’s famished and needs nourishment! Those are the kind of calves that are easy to grow!

The weekend was busy, but the workforce was weak. The two older boys left the knolltop and went to my parents farm to clean out their chicken pen. Grandma called and was very pleased with their work. Her words were, “I could just eat those two boys up with a spoon! They are so special!” What do you expect a grandma to say?

I’ve got errands to run….gotta go!

Good Morning from a warmer Knolltop on the day before opening day of deer season. Yes, that is a big deal here in Michigan, practically a holiday! Celebrate away, just thin out this deer herd so I don’t have to be so paranoid when I drive after dark!

This morning when I came in after milking Luke was sitting in the kitchen on the stool waiting. What was he waiting for? His brother, JW. You see these two boys love baseball. They love it so much they are willing to get up early three days a week and go into school to practice. Basketball season hasn’t even started yet, but JW is single minded when it comes to baseball. He’s a pitcher and Luke is a catcher. This year they will be on the same team again and for this mom, there is nothing more fun than watching these two boys play together.

But what gets me is, on their way to bed I can hear them making plans to get up the next morning and go pitch. They’ll be walking up the stairs and JW will say to Luke, set your alarm, we’re going in to pitch in the morning, Luke replies with an obedient, OK. When dawn arrives here’s Luke waiting for JW to get up. JW finally gets up, goes through his routine of gathering his clothes, drinking two glasses of milk and putting his shoes on all while Luke sits on his bench and waits. This will happen all winter long until baseball season finally arrives. I know they would never admit is out aloud, but those boys have a great relationship that is centered around a brotherly love for each other. And my heart melts every time I witness it.

Okay, enough gushing, time to finish my column!