It’s another beautiful morning…a little warmer milking this morning…just a t-shirt under the sweatshirt.

I said it was a small world yesterday…that’s because the other day I was prompted to write a letter to the editor to a Chicago Suburb Newspaper called the Daily Herald. Trent Loos sent out an alert for ag producers about a situation with a teacher in a school district there. I decided I would write a short letter and put my 2 cents worth in.

The next day I got an email from the opinion page editor of the Daily Herald wanting my phone number so he could verify my letter. So I gave it to him and he called a couple of days later. Mr. Beery was a very nice man and we visited for quite a while. I figured as long as I had a journalist from a big city on the phone it was as good a time as any to pick his brain and find out about life at a busy daily newspaper.

In my picking..I found out Mr. Beery grew up on a grain farm in North Manchester, Indiana and his brother taught at Manchester College. My connection with North Manchester is that my brother Rex happened to teach at North Manchester schools and was on the football coaching staff at Manchester College!

So after we talked about his family farm, the price of corn, what took him to Chicago, his family, I can now say I have another friend in Chicago! Like I said, the world gets smaller every day.

More about my Orion encounter later…right now I’ve got to get on my day…grocery shopping awaits!

Good Monday Morning from the Knolltop. It’s clear, cool, but not as cool as yesterday. We’re in for some more warm weather…summer just won’t let go and that’s fine with me!

The milk tester was here this morning, so chores were a little longer than usual…but we got all the scoop on the rest of the neighborhood farms…that’s always a bonus….no we don’t gossip…just “sharing the news!”

JW is still in PA, today is his contest…anyone who wants to… feel free to pray for him..that he sees the classes the same as the judges and gives great reasons. Also pray that he not be nervous.

The kids are off to school and I’m on my way to Indiana to cover that luncheon with Orion Samuelson…I’ll try to get someone to take a picture of us so I can post it here for you all. I’ve met him once and I’ll see him again in February when he comes to our Great Lakes Regional Dairy Conference, so by then he and I ought to be “tight!”

It’s a small world and it’s getting smaller by the phone call I had the other day…I’ll explain later.

Good Monday Morning from the Knolltop. It’s clear, cool, but not as cool as yesterday. We’re in for some more warm weather…summer just won’t let go and that’s fine with me!

The milk tester was here this morning, so chores were a little longer than usual…but we got all the scoop on the rest of the neighborhood farms…that’s always a bonus….no we don’t gossip…just “sharing the news!”

JW is still in PA, today is his contest…anyone who wants to… feel free to pray for him..that he sees the classes the same as the judges and gives great reasons. Also pray that he not be nervous.

The kids are off to school and I’m on my way to Indiana to cover that luncheon with Orion Samuelson…I’ll try to get someone to take a picture of us so I can post it here for you all. I’ve met him once and I’ll see him again in February when he comes to our Great Lakes Regional Dairy Conference, so by then he and I ought to be “tight!”

It’s a small world and it’s getting smaller by the phone call I had the other day…I’ll explain later.

It’s a beautiful, but cool day here on the Knolltop.

Yesterday I bought one of those apple peeler, corer gadgets and Sarah is busy peeling and coring apples for apple crisp. She really enjoys that…I wonder what she’ll say when I tell her she’s got two bushel to peel and core for applesauce.

Applesauce used to be a cinch when I had my strainer gadget that I bought when I used to live in Indiana with the Amish and Mennonite women….but that had so many little parts, that I’m afraid little fingers helped them disappear, so now I have to peel, core, cook and mash for my applesauce.

Before chores yesterday our mechanic stopped by and gave me a little toy tractor model of my John Deere A. This man can be a little intimidating with his beard, mustache and ponytail. He always has a straight face and looks like he’s upset. But he really is a softy. He handed me the tractor in a wooden case and said, “There, don’t say I never gave you nothin’” What a guy!

It’s a beautiful, but cool day here on the Knolltop.

Yesterday I bought one of those apple peeler, corer gadgets and Sarah is busy peeling and coring apples for apple crisp. She really enjoys that…I wonder what she’ll say when I tell her she’s got two bushel to peel and core for applesauce.

Applesauce used to be a cinch when I had my strainer gadget that I bought when I used to live in Indiana with the Amish and Mennonite women….but that had so many little parts, that I’m afraid little fingers helped them disappear, so now I have to peel, core, cook and mash for my applesauce.

Before chores yesterday our mechanic stopped by and gave me a little toy tractor model of my John Deere A. This man can be a little intimidating with his beard, mustache and ponytail. He always has a straight face and looks like he’s upset. But he really is a softy. He handed me the tractor in a wooden case and said, “There, don’t say I never gave you nothin’” What a guy!

You can see Luke driving and JW riding on the tractor with a few girls on the float. I’m not sure what they were actually doing….but whatever.

Today it’s a cool sunny morning on the Knolltop. I even wore a turtleneck under my sweatshirt this morning to milk. In the middle of eating our pancakes and bacon a call came in from a friend and they invited Bobby and Luke to the Michigan State game today. So Luke and I scurried back out to the barn to finish up chores while Bobby mixed a load of feed. Then they got ready and left. While the cat’s away..the mice will play. JW is gone on his judging trip, Sarah has to babysit and Jake and I will do something fun…like go to town and maybe out for lunch.

Monday I get to cover something interesting in Indiana. Orion Samuelson is coming to speak at an Ag Industry Day in Angola. The coordinators wanted me to come to lunch and cover it for the Farmers’ Advance. I’m all for the free lunch and visiting with Orion!

You can see Luke driving and JW riding on the tractor with a few girls on the float. I’m not sure what they were actually doing….but whatever.

Today it’s a cool sunny morning on the Knolltop. I even wore a turtleneck under my sweatshirt this morning to milk. In the middle of eating our pancakes and bacon a call came in from a friend and they invited Bobby and Luke to the Michigan State game today. So Luke and I scurried back out to the barn to finish up chores while Bobby mixed a load of feed. Then they got ready and left. While the cat’s away..the mice will play. JW is gone on his judging trip, Sarah has to babysit and Jake and I will do something fun…like go to town and maybe out for lunch.

Monday I get to cover something interesting in Indiana. Orion Samuelson is coming to speak at an Ag Industry Day in Angola. The coordinators wanted me to come to lunch and cover it for the Farmers’ Advance. I’m all for the free lunch and visiting with Orion!

Yes, it’s that time of year again…the annual Hillsdale College Women’s Board of Commissioners Rummage Sale.

The field house at Hillsdale College is transformed into a huge rummage sale where all kinds of stuff from ice skates to printers, to coffee mugs to treadmills to bed frames to Christmas decorations are put out for people to rummage through and unearth their treasures.

This is an event I look forward to each year. I can get more good stuff, especially barn clothes, at this sale plus other things like an extra coffee pot, white clothes for the kids to show in at the fair and oh so many wonderful finds.

Yesterday I went with Lori from Knolltop Morgans. We arrived 15 minutes after it opened and avoided the opening rush. We went through rummaging around and I found more stuff than I could carry including a brand new pair of white pants for Sarah to show in…tags and all. Anyone who has ever tried to find white pants in the fall can appreciate this find.

Anyway, while in the t-shirt department, Lori and I were looking and laughing but the laughing stopped when we looked across the table and we saw a t-shirt with an old familiar saying….”Milk drinkers are better lovers” We both spotted it at the same time and gasped. Not having seen that saying for nearly 25 years, we wanted that shirt. The college girls who were eyeing it up were laughing at the saying and thought it was the cat’s meow.

In an instant we started plotting how we were going to get this coveted shirt. As we whispered behind raised up shirts, we talked about just taking them out…they were skinny young things, certainly no match for us tough farm moms. Then we thought that might cause a scene…so we thought of just following them around to see if they might drop it while treasure hunting….but we really weren’t comfortable with standing in a jail cell, charged with stalking…so we just kept an eye on them to see if they were really going to keep the shirt. As we sorted through the pile of shirts, we kept one eye on the girls as they meandered away. Our hearts sank as we watched them walk off with a t-shirt that certainly they would never appreciate as much as we would! Then the thought occurred to us that there might be two of their shirts in the pile so we dove into the pile to start our search but came up empty handed.

Leaving with more stuff than two normal people could carry, we slumped out with our rummage sale finds disappointed we didn’t get the one t-shirt that was meant for us. We soon found ourselves drowning our sorrows at the local coffee house Lori with her froo–froo coffee and me with my regular with one cream.

What a great day!

Yes, it’s that time of year again…the annual Hillsdale College Women’s Board of Commissioners Rummage Sale.

The field house at Hillsdale College is transformed into a huge rummage sale where all kinds of stuff from ice skates to printers, to coffee mugs to treadmills to bed frames to Christmas decorations are put out for people to rummage through and unearth their treasures.

This is an event I look forward to each year. I can get more good stuff, especially barn clothes, at this sale plus other things like an extra coffee pot, white clothes for the kids to show in at the fair and oh so many wonderful finds.

Yesterday I went with Lori from Knolltop Morgans. We arrived 15 minutes after it opened and avoided the opening rush. We went through rummaging around and I found more stuff than I could carry including a brand new pair of white pants for Sarah to show in…tags and all. Anyone who has ever tried to find white pants in the fall can appreciate this find.

Anyway, while in the t-shirt department, Lori and I were looking and laughing but the laughing stopped when we looked across the table and we saw a t-shirt with an old familiar saying….”Milk drinkers are better lovers” We both spotted it at the same time and gasped. Not having seen that saying for nearly 25 years, we wanted that shirt. The college girls who were eyeing it up were laughing at the saying and thought it was the cat’s meow.

In an instant we started plotting how we were going to get this coveted shirt. As we whispered behind raised up shirts, we talked about just taking them out…they were skinny young things, certainly no match for us tough farm moms. Then we thought that might cause a scene…so we thought of just following them around to see if they might drop it while treasure hunting….but we really weren’t comfortable with standing in a jail cell, charged with stalking…so we just kept an eye on them to see if they were really going to keep the shirt. As we sorted through the pile of shirts, we kept one eye on the girls as they meandered away. Our hearts sank as we watched them walk off with a t-shirt that certainly they would never appreciate as much as we would! Then the thought occurred to us that there might be two of their shirts in the pile so we dove into the pile to start our search but came up empty handed.

Leaving with more stuff than two normal people could carry, we slumped out with our rummage sale finds disappointed we didn’t get the one t-shirt that was meant for us. We soon found ourselves drowning our sorrows at the local coffee house Lori with her froo–froo coffee and me with my regular with one cream.

What a great day!