Green Christmas

Even thought there was at least 10 inches of white snow on the ground at Christmas, I also had a GREEN Christmas. Everyone that knows me, knows I love the color green. Tracy & the boys gave me a BEAUTIFUL green purse that has 3 clear window slots for my adorable grandchildren pictures. Tracy even went the extra mile and added more pictures for the different seasons so I wouldn't have to. (I think she knew I probably wouldn't get it done right. Remember we have to coordinate our pictures. I am one of those eclectic people (anything goes). I have had several compliments on it. (Thanks Tracy)

My mother gave me a new moss green winter coat, green gloves, green sweatshirt and some green washclothes.

My father gave me a green $100 bill.

And my other daughter, Trisha gave me some fold down tomatoe cages. This is where my green thumb comes into play.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas whether it was white, green or brown.

Small Scaled Farm Progress Show

For anyone that has NEVER been to Iowa or a FARM should have been at our house this past weekend. We had a lot going on the same day.

1. Mike was COMBINING wheat. (Combine)
2. He hired a couple friends to MOW the wheat straw. (Tractor & Mower)
3. One of them RAKED the straw. (Tractor & Rake)
4. Mike ran the BIG ROUND BALER and bailed the straw. (Tractor & Baler)
5. We had a neighbor come over with his SMALL SQUARE BALER and hay racks and bale some. (Tractor & Square Baler) There was a couple of pickups pulling the hay racks.
6. Somone used the tractor and moved the big bales off the field. (Tractor & Bale Stinger)
7. And last Mike PLANTED seed beans (soybeans) where the wheat had been. (Tractor & Drill)

It was a very BUSY day at our farm. I served them cookies & lemonade. I didn't think to take any pictures because this farming business is an everyday occurance for us and has been for 35 years so I apoligize for not having any pictures.... BUT IF ANYONE WOULD LIKE TO COME AND STAY WITH US (OUR HOUSE IS ALWAYS OPEN) WE WOULD BE GLAD TO LET YOU ENJOY ALL OF THE FARMING EXPERIENCE AND TAKE YOUR PICTURE. (Just think you could mark off on the map that you have visited Iowa for the first time.)

Summer is here.

I haven't posted for awhile ... can't say I'm busy after reading everyone else's blogs ; my life seems pretty boring and slow. I will admit that my noon hour goes by pretty fast while I'm on the internet trying to catch up.

We keep getting rain almost every other day. This is good for some things but for others it's a hinderence. Mike should have mowed hay over a month ago but the weather is not cooperating. He needs a window of good weather to do this. After the hay is mowed, it should lay on the ground to dry for a couple of days and then needs to be racked in windrows and finally bailed. Hay is better quality if this can be done without being rained on. Since it keeps raining/pouring every other day this has made him very irritable. Remember this is our livelyhood and we need the hay to feed the cattle & sell for the income. There has been several fields mowed for a couple of weeks and with all the rain, the hay has turned to mush and does not have the nutritional value it should. Another draw back about not having made hay yet is instead of three cuttings of hay we will probably just get two and that will make a shortage of big bales of green stuff. Another thing you may not know is that the hay has to be dryed cause if it gets baled to green it can catch on fire.

The corn and bean fields do look half way decent but there is not the rootstock on the corn and there is a big chance of strong winds laying it over or breaking it off. The fields are very weedy and need sprayed also but you can't take a sprayer in the fields with mud puddles/rivers everywhere.

My garden is in the same boat(very weedy) but I am still able to get the yummy vegetables picked to eat. We have had lettuce, spinach, new potatoes, onions, radish, kolarabi & strawberries. I made a spinach, strawberry, poppyseed dressing salad that was delicious.

I know I should blog about my trip to California but Tracy's blog puts mine to shame so I will probably let her have the honor.

Hawaii 2009

How can life get any better than this..... I received an all expense paid vacation to Hawaii & enjoyed my grandsons and their mommy & daddy for a week. Michael had to report to Honolulu for work and Tracy, the boys and myself tagged along. We had a wonderful time! We stayed at the Hilton and was in the rainbow towers , it was awesome and we had a lovely patio view. The boys enjoyed watching the koi, ducks, goose, pink flamingos, pigeons and the penguins.

I

Listening to the man talk about the penguins and how to feed them. They even petted them.

While Tracy & Michael went out on their special date nites (to nice restaurants) I had the fun of watching Mikie & Zachary. The boys and I had picnics in the hotel room or went by stroller to some of the other fine dining places in Oahu. (Cheeseburger in Paradise & McDonalds.) McD's was a backup because the nice aquarium restaurant we walked to needed reservations to sit next to the glass & see the fish at tableside. Since we didn't know this we decided to go elsewhere and McD's was the first stop in sight. I think this was a blessing in disquise...because how was I suppose to go through a wonderful buffet with two small children and get 3 plates of food?!?! I sure don't know how all you mommies multi task all the time. I ADMIRE YOU!!!!

At the zoo it was fun to crawl thru the tunnel in the fish tank and look out the different windows. You could even stand up in the middle of the tank and be surronded by all the fish.

We had a great time at the pools & beaches. Zachary didn't really care for the sand between his toes.


There is so much more to write about but I am using my lunch hour at work for the internet and I still have not got the hang of publishing these blogs yet. You can tell...some of the pics are little and I don't know why my text is underlined. I know Tracy will describe more in detail so you'll have to read her blog.

I just want to thank Tracy & Michael from the bottom of my heart for giving me this wonderful memory. Thank you Mikie & Zachary for being such good boys and letting Grandma Boagie have a fun time with you! Can't wait till we go to California in a couple weeks.

Calving season has started.

Yesterday our first cow went into labor. This morning she had a still born calf. (very sad) Mike knew this cow was probably going to have twins from the size she was. He watched her all day and nothing else happened. Around 3 pm he took the chain and tractor and pulled the other calf. It was also still born. (very sad again). Just to let you know we have had several sets of twins before. Some are healthy and nurse ok, others die, one might nurse ok and the other has to be bottle fed. As far as I know there is no rhyme or reason for it.

This is not a very good way to start out the calf crop for the year. Let's pray that it gets better or the finances will be low.

We're also hoping that all our cows will have babies because our good young red bull got hit by lightning last year. That left only our older black bull to do the job.

Spring work has begun.

"Put the lime in the coconut and shake it all up" This isn't the type of lime Mike put on his fields. Last week he put the powdered lime on 300 of the 1000 acres he farms. The reason you have to put lime on the ground is so it nuetralizes the ground. Plants take lime out of the ground and after so many years there is none left. The acid in the ground will burn the plant and it will not grow. (The lime is similar to taking tums for indigestion)

That is why you need to apply lime every 3 years. The cost this year is $12.50 per ton and you need to apply 3 ton per acre. $37.50 per acre. The 300 acres cost $11,250. That is why Mike does only 300 acres each year. Next year he will do a different 300 + acres and the following year the other 300+ acres and then it will be time to start all over again.

Birthday Surprise.

Another year older... more gray hairs, added inches and memory loss but hey it's still a great sunny day. At least I'm able to write this.

Today at work the lady from our local grocery store brought me in a cake. She informed me that my grandson, Mikie, told his mommy "Boagie needs a cake today for her birthday." Seems Tracy didn't think she could bake it, fly and deliver it in the same day so she did the next best thing and called our only grocery store. They do not have a bakery but they do have frozen cakes. They even took the decorator gel (green, my favorite color) and wrote Happy Birthday Boagie on it. I was also told I needed to call the Jones family when I got my cake. I did and they sang Happy Birthday to me. Mikie then told his mommy they needed to come to my house to eat a piece of cake (if it was only that easy.)

An old friend of mine took me to lunch today. When I returned I checked my email and face book and there were so many good wishes from a lot of friends and family. I also have received several cards in the mail and hand deliverd. I guess it's ok to get older when there is such special people in your life. Thank you to everyone for your kindness.