Okay…I’ll admit it, I’m finally feeling the fair crunch. Could it be that not a bovine is clipped yet? Could it be that not a project is started? Could it be that I’ve been gone two days from home this week, have three stories and a column to write all today, after the neighbor and I take some things up for the fair this morning? Could it be that my daughter was nearly in tears last evening while working on her homework because she knows she doesn’t have her projects started, she’ll have home work from what she will miss next week and she hasn’t washed or lead her heifer in two weeks?

Okay, yes after writing all that now I’m an anxious mess! No, not really, this is the mode I work best in…down to the wire with a deadline lurking around the corner.

I had an interesting time yesterday at a meeting hosted by Monsanto with dairy producers and industry people discussing the push to stop using rBST. What made it a little more interesting was the fact that on my way up to the meeting in Lansing, I was on Rural Route with Trent Loos and Kyle Bauer and our topic was…you guessed it….the use of rBST in the dairy industry.

I did my best to come up with any silly arguement to disagree with everything they said, but they still accused me of having no convictions. I do..I really do. I have strong convictions like…you should never wear white before Memorial Day and after Labor Day! And when setting the table, the blade of the knife should always be towards the plate! And…umm….there are no calories in a nibble of cheese cake…only when you sit and eat the whole piece at one time.! See…I do have convictions!

I’ll probably end up writing my column this week about the meeting. So you’ll have to read about it in the Farmers’ Advance.

Good Morning!

Well, JW got home last night and boy were we glad to see him. All the time he was gone his grandma had tried to call him, I tried to call him and his daddy tried at least twice a day each day to reach him but we had no luck! There was a reason he wasn’t answering his phone…he left it in the truck! And when he got back to MSU, he had to get a jump because he had left the lights on in the truck….oh that’s my Dub. I wouldn’t expect anything else.

Today is busy, I’m off to the rBST meeting in Lansing with Dr. Terry Etherton, tonight Bobby has to run the chains at the Jr. High football game while the kids and I milk and then I have to do an interview for a story with Jerry Jorgenson about the Holstein Top Ten Sale Ri-Val-Re Farms are hosting in December.

I’m off and running…Orion comes tomorrow…I promise!

Good Morning!

Well, JW got home last night and boy were we glad to see him. All the time he was gone his grandma had tried to call him, I tried to call him and his daddy tried at least twice a day each day to reach him but we had no luck! There was a reason he wasn’t answering his phone…he left it in the truck! And when he got back to MSU, he had to get a jump because he had left the lights on in the truck….oh that’s my Dub. I wouldn’t expect anything else.

Today is busy, I’m off to the rBST meeting in Lansing with Dr. Terry Etherton, tonight Bobby has to run the chains at the Jr. High football game while the kids and I milk and then I have to do an interview for a story with Jerry Jorgenson about the Holstein Top Ten Sale Ri-Val-Re Farms are hosting in December.

I’m off and running…Orion comes tomorrow…I promise!

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!

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!