Sinister behavior...

Sometime this afternoon a big ole lion chased away that poor little lamb! He took over and we have had rainy, yucky weather ever since! Sally even had snow! NO MORE WINTER!!!!! I think somebody is trying to pull an early April Fool's joke on us!

Out like a......lamb?

Again, we have a rather nondescript day. I think I will call this one a lamb with a stuffy nose. We have 39 degrees right now, but the forecast calls for rain/mix. I thought that the saying was supposed to be "in like a lamb, out like a lion" or "in like a lion, out like a lamb". We have two lambs, I think.
Anyway, have a great day! I'm off to do bookwork....

Day Off!

Turkeys out my parents' back window yesterday!

Bald Eagle on our drive today, somewhere in mid-Wisconsin!

(back roads between Waupaca and New London)

After sleeping in until nearly 8:00 (what a deliciously, wicked feeling!), we got up and had a leisurely breakfast and then headed out on a "drive". That seems like an extravagant thing to do nowadays, but we don't do too much for entertainment (on purpose!) so we allow ourselves that occasionally. We meandered, in the truest sense of the word, towards New London, with the idea of locating where Dan's cousin, Jim Bacon, and his family live. We found it, and only had to turn around once in the process. It looked rather quiet around their place, and is was Sunday morning, so we headed on towards New London. Of course, our route was spent mostly on back roads, sometimes on roads Dan didn't remember ever being on before. There are some out there yet! After driving past Alice's house - again, it was Sunday morning and besides, we weren't really in a visiting mood, just a driving mood - we stopped at WalMart to pick up a couple of necessities and some not-so-necessary things. Gotta do that once in a while, too! Oh - before that we had stopped at a Dollar Store in New London. Those are kind of fun once in a while to poke around in. Picked up a couple of fun things there, too, plus some munchies for the car. (hee, hee) After WalMart we decided to head over towards Appleton, hoping to find somewhere new and different for lunch. So of course we ended up at Arby's by Kaukauna - we can never make up our mind what new place to try and always end up somewhere we've been a hundred times. Oh well. We had a good lunch in spite of ourselves. After a trip through Appleton and another stop (you didn't really want to hear about every minute, did you??), I talked Dan into stopping for my 'monthly-or-so' ice cream cone from McDonald's. Yum - there is something about soft-serve...We had a pretty uneventful rest-of-the-ride home, with the only highlight being a game of 'leap-car' with a couple of Suburbans. We won.

I have a busy week coming up, something going on just about every day - unusual for me. So, after we got home and had a snack (always end up mostly missing a meal on our day off) Dan headed into the living room and his beloved TV, and I headed in here to my equally beloved computer. Yes, it has come to that....I also have some laundry, etc., going as I won't be home tomorrow - monthly statements for Dr. West.

Hope you all had a great weekend and are rested up to face the upcoming work-week! In spite of how it may have sounded, we had a great day and enjoyed our R&R!

Scrabblin' Good Time!

Had a great lunch (home-made tacos - yum!) at Mom and Dad's, followed by an energetic game of Scrabble. Energetic, you say? You obviously have never played a game of Scrabble with my Mother and niece, Cariann! (or Mary or Lorrie, either for that matter!) This is not a polite parlor game, played the 'Hansen' way. There are 'cheat sheets', a couple of dictionaries, and if that isn't enough you make up words! Of course this goes over better if you can keep a straight face and come up with a plausible meaning. (think Scrabble meets Balderdash!) Needless to say, you would have to do that while 'looking' in the dictionary. [did I give something away here??] Seriously, there are ALOT of 2- and 3-letter words out there that I couldn't make up if I wanted to! My mother is FAMOUS for spelling at least two words in most plays. The trouble with that is that it makes a lot of the other letters useless because they are all blocked in! That is where those 2- and 3-letter words really come in handy. And there are so many of them, who would notice if you used one that wasn't on the list? Me!!! I'll bet that you didn't know that Scrabble was a contact sport, either! Mom accused Cari and me of kicking each other under the table (she might have been right on that...), but I didn't knock my coffee over! I should have gotten points for that!
At the dinner table, Cari and I were comparing notes on clutziness - and I think she wins! She showed me a mean looking scar from pouring hot honey on her hand - ouch!! I don't usually leave marks from the things that I do. We had a great time visiting and as usual, some of the best chatting was over preparing food and doing the dishes afterwards. Men miss out on so much when they opt to sit in the other room!
Oh, the Scrabble game? And the winner is......Cariann!!
Until next time......and there will be a next time!

Happy Birthday Michael Harvey!

Happy Birthday to Michael!

(dejá vu: shown here with his wife, my niece, Kristin)

I wonder if they celebrate their birthdays together or separately, or better yet, from the 25th through the 29th!

This looks like a good place to discuss what you do when you have too many people in the same family with the same name! Personally, I have a brother Mike (we don't very often refer to him as Michael), not sure what Lorrie calls him, other than Mike; a brother-in-law, Michael Onan - again, we usually call him Mike, but his wife, Connie, often refers to him as Michael! - said quickly and include the exclamation point when saying; our son-in-law, Michael Syring - who early on told me I could call him Mike if he could call me Hol - it works - I have heard Mara call him Michael or Mike, amongst other things...; Kristin and Stephanie's dad is also a Mike, but we don't have much contact any more to worry about how to refer to him (you don't want to know what Heather calls him....). So, much as you might love the name, please don't anybody name their baby Michael! Just kidding - it is a great name, and all of the above-mentioned Mike/Michael's would vie for the honor of namesake. I have heard stories that Mike Onan was called Mickey in school, but that just doesn't seem to fit him and I've never heard anyone call him that. Around here, for clarification, they are often named in connection with their spouse: Mike and Lor, or brother/Montana Mike; Connie's Mike, or brother-in-law Mike; Mara's Mike, or son-in-law Mike, sometimes Michael; Kristin's Mike/Michael. The latter one I haven't had the opportunity to get to know very well, but he seems like a Michael. Most of them would probably say, "call me what you want, just don't call me early to rise or late for dinner!"

Hope you are all having a great weekend! We are off to lunch later at my folks, to see them and Cariann, who is having a brief retreat there. I hear rumors that a game of Scrabble will be played - maybe even two! Dan needs to fix the sawdust wagon first and return it - that is, after he wakes up from his morning nap! I think I just heard stirrings in there, now. We have tomorrow off, and I don't know what kind of mischief we will get up to, but I guarantee that you will hear about it. Have a good one!

Congratulations Thomas!

December 28, 2007 - Thomas Costa Bacon is born!
This picture taken on March 22, 2008

Thomas is 3 months old today - congratulations!!!

We will soon not be able to talk about our 'big boy' and our 'little boy', as we will have two big boys! He is growing and changing by leaps and bounds. Mamãe and Pai are doing great, too - getting a good handle on this 'parenthood' thing! We love you all!!

A little humor for your day....

http://news.yahoo.com/comics/shoe

Two Birthday Girls Today!

KATE MARIE KOSTUCH turns 7 years old today!

Happy Birthday Farmer Kate!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO PAT GRANT!

Still looking great, after all these years!!!

(Maybe I need a new picture of you Pat...)

Milwaukee Domes Day-Trip

ATTENTION LINDA: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO READ THIS IF YOU ARE PREPARING FOOD!
Oops! The slideshow decided to post itself before I had anything written!
Yesterday Connie, Alice, Linda and I took a trip down to Milwaukee to visit the Domes. Or was it to go out to lunch. Or maybe it was just to get together and laugh alot! Actually, we did all three plus some shopping, pretty much in that order, although the laughter part was sprinkled throughout the day.
We started out the day with Connie picking Linda up first, and then swinging by to get me (had to give me time to run through the shower - Alice's request!). After I was on-board, we headed towards the valley to meet up with Alice. As usual, we had everything well-thought out in advance, so only spent about 10 minutes trying to find Alice, who was trying to find us, driving up and down a 1/2 mile section of County II, or is it 11? What color is Alice's truck again? Linda thought tan/brown. Wrong. We finally settled on meeting up in the parking lot of a clinic (via cell phone - without which, we would probably still be driving up and down the road!), where we left Alice's RED truck - hoping it would still be there and not towed away when we got back!
Linda relinquished her job as navigator when Alice got in (none of us could read the tiny print on the map!), only to find out that Alice's eyesight wasn't a lot better. Regardless, Linda and I figured we would enjoy the trip better if neither of us was calling the shots! Besides, Alice has one good eye and could see the map okay if she shut the other one - oh, the joys of growing older! (FYI - she will be getting the other eye surgically corrected soon, so next time....)
The trip down to Milwaukee was basically uneventful, with only one potty stop - quite miraculous if you consider our ages! When we got down to where they had to pay attention to what lane we were in, and where to turn off, Linda and I decided that closing our eyes now and again didn't hurt. We also discovered that Connie is quite adept at making u-turns, whether or not they are allowed! She might argue that it wouldn't have been necessary so often if the navigator would tell her what lane to be in sooner, but that is a minor point. We surprisingly arrived at the Domes without hitting anyone/anything or getting arrested.
We toured the three domes - all beautiful in their own way, and made a stop at the Dome gift shop. The only really disappointing thing about the domes was that some of the panes were broken out and had been covered with plastic. Unfortunately, whoever put the plastic on didn't think it was necessary to trim away the excess plastic and the flapping noise from MANY of these was deafening, especially in the dome with the ordinary flowers (aka: ones we actually knew the names of, or thought we did...).
On our way out of the domes, I spied a solar clock on the pavement and just had to try it out. It worked! By standing in the correct month square and holding my arms, hands together, above my head with my back to the sun, it said it was about 12:40 - right on! This dismayed us a bit, as it meant we only spent about one hour and 40 minutes in the domes. It took us longer to get there than that. Oh well. That was only part of our plans for the day. Next up was lunch. Where to? Considering that none of the four of us really knows Milwaukee, we weren't too sure about wandering around looking for something. Plan ahead, you say? Look something up on the internet beforehand? Next time! We decided to head back north and see if something caught our eye. So back to highway 45 - but not without having to make another u-turn! Connie is pretty darn good at that! Finally we were back on the road. After driving for a few miles, we decided to pull off on highway 100 to see if there might be some sort of eatery on that. We were in luck! After eying a couple of places that would have meant "trying something new", and possibly "backing slowly out of the door, after seeing the prices", we settled on the tried-and-true, Applebee's. Do I have to admit it? I'm afraid we will have to add that particular Applebee's to our "banned from" list. I can't help it, when I get to talking, my hands just sort of fly around and knock things over....just my coffee, and who'd a-thunk my table-mates would get so embarrassed?? I wasn't - particularly - and it got me a whole stack of rather nice napkins to take home with me... (oh, the "banned from" list? That now includes IHOP of Appleton (spilled coffee #1 - guess who?), Atlanta Bread Co. of Appleton (a bowl slid right off the tray and SMASHED all over the floor - again, who but me??) plus the Applebee's.) I will have to admit that I tried Atlanta Bread Co. since then, and while I didn't see my picture on a poster behind the counter, I did notice that my salad came in a plastic bowl!
After a good meal, in spite of the entertainment, we headed north again. Tossing around for something more to do (couldn't go home too early, I might have to go to the barn!), I came up with the "quest for a LARGE whisk" (for the guys to mix calf milk with). It was decided that we would stop at the Outlet Mall by the EAA. We managed to pull in there without making a single u-turn! Unbelieveable! We spent roughly an hour checking out the kitchen stores, plus some others. Alice was able to find a few buys, and I saw Connie carrying a bag, also. But, no big whisk. One of the saleswomen told me of a place across the highway "next to Sears", that sold restaurant equipment. So, after we got done browsing the outlet stores, we headed across to check it out. Where the heck was Sears? After going down three frontage roads, we decided to give it up - and there was Sears at the last intersection, but no sign of any other story, of any type. Oh well. Another time. We got back out on the highway and headed north once more, to find out we had already reached Butts des Mortes - we couldn't have gone any further on frontage roads if we had wanted to. Our fearless navigator was able to get us back to the correct turn-off to find her truck. Luckily, it wasn't towed - didn't even have one of those cool wheel-lock thingys on it. That might have been worth seeing....okay, not really. We let Alice out and Linda resumed navigator status. We let Alice back out first. Actually, she backed out, swung behind us and headed out of the parking lot - or thought she was headed out of the lot. She had to pull into another spot and try again - no exit that way! It wasn't exactly a u-turn, but we figured out where we could lay the blame for at least a couple of them!
The rest of our trip home was quite unremarkable, so of course I will have some remarks on it. We had clear skies, actually beautiful weather in Milwaukee (shirtsleeve), but hit clouds and sprinkles at Waupaca. Not bad, considering all the miles we put on.
When we got home, I had Linda and Connie come in and take a look at --ha, ha-- you thought you were going to find out what I was up to, huh? Nope! Unfortunately, when they pulled out, it was only 5:45 pm and my over-active conscience made me go to the barn. The guys were surprised, but not too disappointed to see me. All in all, it was a great day! Thanks girls - can't wait until next time!! Alice's choice, right?? And maybe we can pick a time when Marina hasn't just returned from a week-plus vacation....

Happy Birthday to Kristin!

HAPPY 22ND BIRTHDAY KRISTIN!!!
(shown here with her husband, Michael Harvey)
Hope you had a wonderful birthday!

I was gone all day today, thus the late entry for Kristin's birthday - I didn't forget! I will write more tomorrow....have a great evening!

Easter Weekend Fun!

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We had a fun-filled couple of days this past weekend when our two grandsons came to visit, bringing their parents with them. The only thing that would have made it better is if Mara and Mike could have joined us! It gets a little crazy around here with everyone home, but it is a joyous chaos. There is nearly always a baby that needs holding/changing/feeding/rocking, or just plain loving!
Some of this was mentioned in earlier posts, but here is a re-cap of our weekend:
Josh, Debora and Thomas arrived rather late on Thursday evening. In fact, we were already in bed when they got here and didn't get up. We knew they would get settled in quicker if we didn't, and besides we had to get up and milk in the morning. Friday was a pretty low-key day, with Josh and Dan doing farm 'stuff', and Debora, Thomas and me hanging out at the house. (see the "Gangster" post)
Then after chores on Friday night, Sally, Scott, Sam and Hunter arrived! Besides all of us being excited to see Sam and his parents, the dogs were ecstatic to see Hunter. Talk about chaos! Finally got everybody settled in and settled down. When the kids come home, we end up playing musical beds. We move into the further, big bedroom (has a double-bed); Sally and family take Josh's old room, with Sam using a porta-crib (this room has a queen-size bed, for when Sam decides to crawl in with his folks); and Josh and his family occupy the "mezzanine", where there is another queen-size bed, plus the crib. That may sound like the best room, but anyone staying in the other two rooms has to traipse through the mezzanine to go downstairs, or even use the bathroom. Josh dubbed that room the mezzanine - I'd been trying to come up with another name for it, as it had out-lived it's role as playroom.
Saturday morning was our opportunity for making a big breakfast. That entails pancakes, sausage, etc. and is eaten leisurely - so leisurely that we skip lunch, as it gets to be around 10:30 before we finish with breakfast. Sally and Scott (along with Sam) had a wedding shower to go to in the afternoon. So again, Josh and Dan found something to keep them busy and Debora, Thomas and I went to Kohl's and Walmart in Stevens Point. Lots of fun looking at the sales on baby clothes at Kohl's - and Thomas was perfect - barely rolled his eyes. We got home in time for me to fix supper for the Aho's and us - Josh, Debora and Thomas met up with Ryan and Heidi for supper at the Wheelhouse. After chores we had a quiet evening with Sam and his folks. I crashed early - big day on Sunday coming up - and was already in bed when the Bacon's got back and Debora came up to show me Thomas' big-boy outfit (see picture with Dan, Sally or Debora) - so cute!
Note: John and Marina, with Nicole, got into Mosinee about 10:30 Saturday night - a little later than scheduled, due to the snow and cancelled flights earlier. Glad they made it home safely and didn't have to stay in Chicago for the night!
Sunday morning we were full-crew in the barn to start with, as Roger wasn't 100% sure John was back. He helped out for a while and then went home and crashed. John was full of stories about his trip - sounds like they had a wonderful, magical vacation! I'm sure we will hear tid-bits for quite some time. Memories are like that, they come in fits and starts - glad they made some good ones!
When I got home from chores, I quickly grabbed Sally's bag of Reese's Eggs and hid a bunch around the living room for the "boys" to look for when they got up. We finally gave up on having both boys awake at the same time for this and went for the time that Sam was agreeable. Thomas "participated" by being where everyone had to walk around him in the bouncy seat. The entire egg hunt lasted about 5 minutes, and we were all laughing so hard it was hard to take pictures! (Notice the picture-takers in the different photos.) Debora said that she only remembered doing that one year as a child, and it was such a good memory. We decided after watching Sally (and Sam) and Debora (sans Thomas) that we knew why it was only for one year: the Costa girls are VERY competitive, as are the Bacon girls. It was one of the high-lights of our morning time.
Around 11:00 or so, my folks came so they could have some time with their great-grandsons and families before dinner. We knew that everyone was going to have to hit the road by early to mid afternoon, to make it to their respective homes. We had a good meal, and better conversation/together-time --- the food is generally secondary when there is good company. My mom had brought me a beautiful plant (I should take a picture of it - I'm a famous plant-killer!), and I had some pink roses for her. Note: Friday morning Mom got a call from my cousin Betty, in MN, that her mother (my Mom's next-older sister, Marilyn) had passed away the evening before. She was sitting in a chair listening to music when Betty had left for choir practice, and that is the way Betty found her when she returned. So quiet and peaceful. She had a number of health issues, although one is never really prepared when death comes. Aunt Marilyn will be cremated and they will hold a memorial service for her, here at Riverside Bible Camp, later in the summer when all the family can assemble. Big hugs to Mom!
Before we knew it, it was time to pack everything and everybody up and wish them safe travels! Amazingly, I don't think I have found anything yet that anybody forgot. Considering how everything was all mixed up and all over the house, that's a minor miracle! Of course, they may have gotten home with things that belonged to each other...
We heard from Sally that they had arrived home in good time only to find out that they had to scramble for day-care on Monday. Their day-care worker's son has flu-like symptoms and will get tested today for influenza. (Sam could be a possible carrier of the virus, as he had visited the nursing home just before they had the outbreak) I haven't heard how that came out, hopefully negative, alhtough if caught early is isn't as serious. Scott is taking a personal day today and working at home so he can watch Sam. Or maybe just watching Sam.
I called Debora a bit ago and found out their trip was a bit longer than expected, between occasional bad roads and needing to stop for Thomas. They arrived home around midnight. Long trip. So glad they all came, though! Maybe next time there won't be snowy roads to deal with....
I was able to sneak in a quick nap before chores last night, while Dan had to go down and fix the sump-pump in the parlor pit. It's all good, and chores went fine. The best part? We got to sleep in this morning! I'm spending the day doing up laundry and straightening the house a bit. Once they loaded up their stuff, there wasn't too much out of place anymore, so that was easy. Last night I did my ritual of wiping down the changing mat and folding it up to store away until their next visit. That is when I allow myself to tear up a bit and heave a sigh. And start planning when we can have them come and visit again....

Gatfly Bliss!

I'm in heaven - got both my boys!

Doesn't get any better than this!!

(until the next one....)

On another note: John and Marina should be heading home at 2:25 pm, San Juan time, and getting into Mosinee 8:51 pm, WI time. Hope they had a wonderful time!

Final Cruiser Update

Well, it is official. John and Marina are at sea! Today is the only day that they will spend entirely on the boat - poor babies!
Yeah, right....there are over a dozen restaurants, several movie theaters, clubs and casinos, a cigar lounge, three bars, five swimming pools, six sport areas/spas, six learning areas, two shops, and four areas especially for kids' entertainment! The Crown Princess can accommodate 3,080 passengers! That's about three times the size of Amherst! They should land at San Juan tomorrow morning at the ungodly hour of 6:00 am. I hope they don't expect everyone to be ready to disembark at that time!!
John, Marina and Nicole should be getting into Mosinee somewhere around 9:00 pm tomorrow night. Hope John is ready to do chores on Sunday morning, as I think Roger is counting on his day off! Marina always says that when they go, even for a day or two, John is always anxious to get home to the farm. Can't imagine how he stood it this long, seriously.
We will be excited to hear all about their cruise and adventures of this past week. We are so glad they had this opportunity to go!

Because we have grandbabies here this weekend, this will probably be my last post until Monday. I wish you all a wonderful Easter and great weekend!

"Gangster" Thomas!

HELP!

We are being held hostage by a ferocious gangster! (see picture) He may look harmless, but beware - he will steal your heart and turn you into a melted pool of dribble! He fires at will and you can hear the put-put-put (I mean rat-a-tat-tat) of his "weapon" when you least expect it! His mother claims that he took out everything on the changing table, just yesterday, in one fell swoop. Speaking of his mother, she is completely under his spell. When he smiled at her after the above-mentioned massacre, she smiled back and gladly cleaned up the evidence. There is no hope for the woman, or his father, either. He has everyone mesmerized upon whom he casts his gaze. I fear that we have fallen as hard as anyone, and it is most likely too late for redemption....

Other Stuff....

Happy First Day of Spring Everybody!!!







I've been pretty busy the past couple of days, so haven't written too much. Can't tell you what I've been doing, though, 'cuz it's a secret!
Actually, I have a couple of things I have been working on....and like Josh always says, "I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." Just kidding!!!!! But I'm still not telling you....

Hope you are all having a great week and looking forward to a little extra time off, if you get some. We are looking forward to John and Marina's return, later Saturday night. We get Monday morning in - my favorite!!! But first, we get to have the grandsons and their families come for a visit! Josh, Debora and Thomas will be arriving sometime this evening. Sally, Scott and Sam will come tomorrow night, after Scott gets home from work. The only agenda this time around is enjoying each other's company - that and celebrating Easter on Sunday! We are really looking forward to some time together!!!

Cruiser Update 4

Today, spent on Aruba, will be their last Island stop on the cruise. John and Marina are signed up for the 'Aruba North Coast ATV Adventure'. I think they had to be 18 for this, so Nicole had to find something else to do, with her cousins probably. Two of the things marked in the book were 'Aruba's Natural Wonders' and 'Glassbottom Boat Cruise'. The latter would be especially interesting, I think. I know Marina had mentioned the possibility of exploring some hidden caves by boat, too. Not sure which island that would have been on, but I think they were only accessible at low tide. All of it sounds like fun - hope they are making the most of it!

Cruiser Update 3

John and Marina, et al, are spending a day at the beach on Bonaire! I just checked the weather there and it is 82 right now. Bummer! I hope they took plenty of sunscreen, as the sun is quite intense that close to the equator. In the book they had checked off an Island tour and a visit to a butterfly farm. Those would have been interesting, too, but a day at the beach just sounds like fun! We are wondering if Marina bought John a speedo....he wasn't sure when we asked him. We (okay, I) had also tried to convince him that they were going to lower them over the edge of the boat by rope to small boats below to go to the islands. I don't think he bought that. Thinking of them on their paradise islands reminds us of our trip to Brazil! After you return home, it just seems like a beautiful dream and you can't believe you were ever really there....

Cruiser Update 3

Hello Mudda, hello Fudda.....they are on the isle of Grenada today! I found on some paperwork they had run off for us that they did indeed sign up for the 'Off-the-Beaten Track Island Safari' yesterday. Today, at Grenada, the itinerary says they are doing the 'Morne Gazo Nature Hike & Beach'. They were to depart for that at 9:30 am and return at 1:30 pm. I just checked the WorldTimeServer.com site and it looks like they are just one hour ahead of us, so they should be on the island as I write this. I hope they are taking lots and lots of pictures!!
At Grenada, they will be as far south as they are going to be on this cruise. Later today they will head west. (see 3/16 post)

OTHER TIDBITS:
Our Taxman was here this morning. Looks like the farm is in pretty good shape, tax-wise, but we will probably get hit personally. Oh well. One of the downsides of having the kids get married and move away from home! On the bright side, we should be getting one of the infamous tax rebates, but it will just go in one pocket and out the other! Don Creola (Taxman) said that if they had gotten their 'crap' together they would have just created a line on the tax form and saved themselves a lot of money (over a million to send that out, according to him) and us out-of-pocket money. Go figure, the government goofed again....

Feliz aniversário a Cibele!

Como vai? Espero que esteja tudo bem!

Today is Cibele's birthday! She is Debora's sister and lives in São Paulo, Brazil. In this picture, taken in January, she is holding Thomas as they are waiting at the airport to go back to Brazil.

The just-posted picture on The Bacon Family blog of 'happy Thomas' shows him to favor his Tia Cibele!

According to Josh, it is also Ryan Barz' birthday today - same year, too, so they are twins that just happened to be born about 6,000 miles apart! Happy Birthday to Ryan!

Grandson/Grandpuppy News

I thought it was time to give you an update on our Grandsons.
We were able to connect with the Iowa folk and have a video call last night. What a joy! Thomas is really growing and changing, more and more every day. When we first connected, he was sleeping so we got a chance to visit a bit with Josh. After a discussion on ancestors (Josh had been doing some reading) he took us upstairs with him. His laptop has a webcam built in, so his is mobile. We went upstairs to find Thomas asleep in his Boppy seat. So peaceful and beautiful in sleep! Mamãe had decreed that it was time for him to wake up and have his supper so Daddy tickled him until he opened one eye, then the other and finally both together. (Rather like Gatfly waking up in the morning.) He went through a range of faces and noises and began to get quite active, wiggling and swinging his little arms. (gee, we have a fair amount in common...) It was really cute after Daddy took him out and Mamãe was aiming the webcam at them. Thomas, of course, could see her above the computer and responded with lots of smiles and something that sounded almost like a laugh. He really followed her with his eyes and she must have been speaking softly to him (we couldn't hear her) because it was almost like he was having a conversation with her. (Remember, Thomas is about two and a half months old.) They really have a connection. After Thomas made some particular faces that his Daddy said were accompanied by certain flatulent noises - at one point his Daddy complimented him on his efforts - we followed them all down the hall to the nursery for a diaper change. Oh the wonders of modern electronics! Daddy was proud to show how much Thomas enjoyed getting his diaper changed and having a little "air" time. It was just like somebody wound him up and his legs and arms just started flailing! Funny! After Gatfly expressed concern about the computer getting an unscheduled shower, Daddy finished up the diapering operation. Then another traipse down the hall back to the living room and time for good-byes. Thank you Thomas and family for a wonderful visit - it was almost like being there! Love you much!
We got to talk to Sam on the telephone this afternoon. His Mamma had to go to the Doctor to be tested for Influenza A/B (thank goodness she tested negative!) as she hadn't been feeling well. There had been confirmed cases of both at the nursing home where she works, one fatal, so it was nothing to fool around with. Anyway, because she got off early to go for the tests, she was able to pick Sam up from Daycare early, too. I caught up with her after they had been home for a while and Sam gave me an earful! He was just a-jabbering away, and when he could manage to get hold of the phone, pushing buttons so they would beep on my end. I would push a button back at him and he would respond with more jabbering. I don't know if he really understands that it was me, and later Grandpa, too, but we like to think so. If you haven't done so - check out the Aho family blog for their latest postings. Sam has had quite the week, with lots of accomplishments. For the most part he is a very happy little fellow and a pleasure to be around. When you have been the recipient of one of those big-blue-eyed smiles, you feel like you must have done something very special to be so honored. Keep smiling Sam and lookout Mamma and Daddy - he's on the move!
I haven't had a chance to speak with Mara or Mike since this past weekend, but according to their blog (the Syring family) Lucy had some sort of accident while they were camping. She injured her dewclaw (tried to tear it off, by the sound) and so they had to cut their vacation short and return to K-ville. By the pictures, it looked like she was getting the royal treatment, so hopefully she will heal up well and be herself in no time. I imagine Linus is having a tough time letting her have the limelight. That and after having Mara and Mike to themselves for most of the week, school started up again today. Both M&M are taking classes now, so the puppies will have to adjust. Poor babies! At least it is nicer down where they live and the snow is gone. Not so, here. Heal well, Lucy! And hugs to Linus, too.

Oops - almost forgot!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!!

Cruiser Update 2

6:14 am message on the answering machine in the barn from John:
"Hello. Just thought we'd call you from St. Kitts.
Got a phone card. Everything''s fine - hope everything is good there.
Good-bye."

Either there was a catch in his voice, or it was the connection. My vote would be for the former. This is further away from home than that boy has ever been. Dan figured there was probably a lot of people around him while he was on the phone too - quite a bit of background noise. At any rate, he's still kickin'.
According to the book, the only thing they had checked for St. Kitts (pronounced 'Keats' - on John's message) was a Rain Forest Walk. That should be pretty interesting. They were to arrive there at 7:00 am and leave by 3:00. Roger mentioned, and I recall it, too, that Marina talked about doing some off-roading (bad English, I know), and it appears that the only island that offers that on this cruise is St. Kitts. It is referred to as 'Off-the-beaten Track Island Safari'. I hope they have fun!
Marina left a message on our home phone while we were in Waupaca(over noon). That calling card apparently would only work at St. Kitts, so she was trying us again. She just wanted to be sure that their dogs were being taken care of. Roger had gone up and gotten Patch and Nellie on Saturday (using John's truck - otherwise they wouldn't come), but he couldn't get them to come down with him yesterday. Scott and his girlfriend are there, but we haven't heard/seen anything of them. I had figured the dogs would be down to the farm all the time, but they seem to be waiting for John. I wouldn't dare tell him that - he'd want to come right home! Oh - she also casually mentioned that it was 80 degrees! Tough break...

Cruiser Update

The Cruisers headed out from San Juan last night, and will follow the map above, clockwise. The land mass to the left of Puerto Rico is The Dominican Republic, and the shoreline at the bottom is Columbia/Venezuela (yeah, I had to look at our globe). This morning they were due to arrive at St. Thomas at 7:00 am and will depart from there at 6:00 pm. There is a section in the guidebook that John left for us that lets them chose activities to pre-register for. They had marked off: 1) St. John Trunk Bay Beach & Snorkel, and 2) Skyride to Paradise Point. I would love to see a pciture of John and Marina in Snorkel gear....

DOWN ON THE FARM

Meanwhile, back at the ranch....it is a beautiful, sunny-looking day out there, but the computer tells me that it is only 19 degrees just yet. We expect it to get to 35. Slowly we head to spring. (which is official later this week!) Our snow is settling a little more each day, pulling back away from the roads and trees a bit. With the ground not frozen, it should melt in and not run off - a definite boost for farmers and gardeners alike. Also anyone who usually has to worry about flooding - not too much of a problem here, except we sometimes get water in the basement due to the old stone foundation. [The original part of our house, where the basement is('cellar' would be more appropriate in our case), was built sometime in the later part of the 19th century. I really want to get up to Portage County and get a look at the title (or is it the deed I want to see?) to see when it was built and who all the owners were. I know it was built by a family named Addams, possibly in the 1870's. It'd be fun to find out for sure.] I don't think we will have "Bacon Lake" this year, either. That usually appears east of our house, engulfing the Willow and rushing through the culvert into the field across the road. I believe Josh has many fond memories of playing out in that, re-routing waterways, etc. Early engineering experience, I guess., although he opted to specialize in the mechanical branch of engineering.

I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday - I think we will be rather low-key here, hope to get out for a walk later, though. Enjoy!

They're Off!

John, Marina and Nicole flew out of Mosinee at 6:00 this morning, on the first leg of their trip to San Juan to board this ship, the Crown Princess. They will meet up with all of Marina's family - her folks, Tom and Dorit Seivwright, are treating all of their kids and families to a seven day Carribean Cruise, in honor of their own 40th anniversary (Tom is Marina's step-father, her own father died in Viet Nam). I will let you know each day where they will be. They will be doing island hopping with one full day at sea later in the week. If I am reading the literature correctly, they will embark at 11:00 tonight. I hope they have a terrific time with many new experiences (John's first flight was this morning!) and make many wonderful memories. Roger is sure that John will be hanging over the edge of the boat (puking his guts out), but I think he will be standing back a foot or two from the rail and taking it all in (after getting some liquid refreshments, of course). I rather doubt we will hear anything from them until they get home, next Saturday night, so we will just have to make up our own postings for them (hee, hee).

Silo repair - the fun way!

There is a man in that cage hanging from the crane!

When Dan noticed that there was a ring missing from our bottom-unloading silo, a 65' tall structure, he started looking for someone to come and fix it. Of course, the broken one was only about 10-15 feet down from the top, so there was no question of trying to fix it himself. Other times (at least twice) we had a fellow come who used climbers to shimmy up the side of the silo to re-attach the rings. The last time we had him come he told Dan that he had diabetes quite bad and probably wouldn't be doing that much longer. When he didn't get any answer back from him, Dan spoke to Keith Borgen (retired from Madison Silo) to see if he knew anyone who did that type of work. He suggested this fellow from Plover, so Dan gave him a call. He was going to come last week but the crane he had lined up wasn't going to be big enough. He also wanted to line up a couple of jobs to do while he had the crane (split the cost of the crane for us, too) so put us off until this week. From the time Dan first noticed the missing ring, two more came off, so there were three to fix. They showed up today (at least three men: one operating the crane, one in the basket and one on the ground) around 11:00 am and are still working at it (12:40 pm). The guy on the ground had a rope connected to the basket to help guide it where he wanted to go, and keep him from banging into the side of the silo. The other two rings were closer to the ground and may have been reachable by ladder, but not real handily because of all the snow piled around and the proximity of the barn. It's a good thing to have taken care of, but I don't especially want to see the bill....

They pulled out about 2:30 pm. They'll send the bill....

Happy Birthday Anita Golke!

Happy Birthday to one of my best buddies - Anita!

Hope she has a super-fantastic day!

Congratulations to Heather!

Just got a call from Heather and her Lasik eye surgery went very well! After many years of dealing with glasses and contact lenses she is back to having good vision. Think I will have to start saving my nickels and dimes....can't imagine waking up and being able to see right away without grabbing for my glasses.
Enjoy your new eyesight Heather!

Happy Birthday to Joe Kostuch!

Looking good for his age, isn't he? Actually, this picture is from their wedding day, 10 years ago! I couldn't find anything more recent, sorry Joe....

On a different note, the Amherst Girls' Basketball team is playing at state, starting right about now. We wish them luck! The Maves girls, Ramanda and Ellen are both playing. Mara and Sally both babysat for them, eons ago....[they lost!]

Meet Jack!

Hi! My name is Jack, and I am 5 and a half years old. I have lived with the Bacon family since September 9, 2003 (Dan's 57th birthday). I was 11 months old when they adopted me. My first family was unable to keep me because I didn't get along with their foster son. They had found a home for me, but I had issues with the daughter in that family, and they didn't feel they could trust me. Dan and Holly have no children living with them, so they thought it would be fine for me to come and live with them. Whew! Was I glad to have a home where I felt comfortable! Since living here I have found out that not all children are alike, and some of them are even quite likeable. Even so, Dan and Holly keep a close eye on me when they have company, especially children. I tried growling at Josh once when he came home for a visit, but he growled back at me and we came to an understanding.

When I first came here, I joined another dog in the family, Tira. You have heard a little bit about her in other posts. She loved to run! She was a lot of fun to play with and we would run around the yard all day long. We ran so much that we had trails worn down around the edge of the yard - so much so that when Mara and Mike got married a couple of summers ago they had to do some major work to get grass to grow back on our paths. Oops. I miss her a lot.

(Interruption: My cell phone just rang. It was my husband. He had been up on our roof. Still was, but he wanted me to come and move the ladder for him. Okay, but I had to get my boots and jacket on first. Did that and went out, grabbed the ladder that was leaned up against the back porch roof to move it around by the kitchen window (he had been pushing snow/ice off that valley I wrote about before) - and there he was - wedged against both the storeroom roof and the kitchen roof, on his side, about to fall off the roof! He hadn't wanted to alarm me! I hurriedly leaned the ladder up against the roof, having to brace the bottom as there were a lot of big chunks of ice that he had knocked off the roof that were blocking me from getting as close as I should have for him to use the ladder. He gingerly rolled over and was able to get his feet onto the rungs. Unscathed, this time. Life with Daniel! Not sure why, but he wouldn't re-enact the whole thing so I could get a picture - next time!)

Where was I before I was so rudely interrupted? Back to my story. I have what they refer to as a nervous disposition. I think it is just my breeding. My pedigree is somewhat up-for-grabs: possibly German Shepherd, Malmute(my tail curls beautifully....), maybe a little Collie and lots of cute! It has taken me some time to realize that I like the cold weather. I used to whine and cry if they made me go out in the cold, but now I like to stay out longer and run around in the snow. That doesn't mean I won't come in when they call me. There is always the possibility of getting a treat, you know! And do I ever like treats! I could live on them, if they would only let me. I am quite a talker, too! The vet told Holly that is the Malmute coming out. I'm not so sure about the Collie part, as I never got to save Timmy from the well...

I have favorite people that I like see come visit. First and foremost it's a tie between Linda and Roger: Linda is our caretaker when Dan and Holly go somewhere, so she is kind of like a "savior" to us. She is very good to give us lots of treats and love, too! We always recognize her truck. If we could give Roger a nickname, it would be either "French Fry-Man" or "Cheeto-Man". He has the yummiest treats in his truck! I would love to go in that truck with him and see where he gets all those treats! Next in line behind them is probably Mike Syring. He just wags my tail! Of course, usually with him is Lucy and Linus. Linus is just so much fluff, but Lucy is a challenge! If we have long enough time to spend together, we have quite a bit of fun. There is always that "getting-used-to-each-other-again" time that takes up so much of our play time. Hunter (shows up occasionally with Sam) can be fun to play with, too, but he is so much faster than me. I really enjoy just about any company that comes, and will run out and greet them if I am outside, or sit and whine to be let out if I am in.

Dusti is my constant companion now that Tira is gone. We didn't have too much to do with each other when Tira was around, and it took a while to build up our friendship. She is pretty good company now, and she knows how to get Dan to give us treats. :) Along with Dusti, I have to bark at every vehicle that goes past our house - especially the bus and snowplow! Woe to the delivery truck that pulls into our yard. He will get escorted in and escorted out! I think I really intimidate them, as they slow to a crawl when they see me! (couldn't be because I am in the way....) Our common enemy is the Hoffman pickup! Boy, let me get my paws on that dog in the back of it that dares to bark as he goes by!! John's dogs, Patches and Nellie, are a minor irritation as they don't try to come down here very often. But once in a while, John will stop in with his truck and those two sass-pots with poke their heads out and bark at us - the nerve! This is OUR yard!!!

I don't have much to say about our "walk-about" earlier in the year. Suffice it to say that I am still dealing with some pesky burrs....

Next time you stop in, be sure to look me up! (If I don't look you up, first!) I may play hard to get, but I do love to be petted, once I know you. Just don't come at me too fast, or I will feel that you are being aggressive. I am quite territorial, so whatever you do - don't pee on my trees!

Party Time!

L-R: Connie, guest-of-honor Roger, Linda, John, Dan, empty place was mine.

FYI: There was a lot of left-over pizza - had to save room for birthday cake!

We ate too early (4:15) for most of the spouses and Alice to join us - sorry!

We'll have to get together again!

Updated photo of Stephanie Hansen!

I had asked for a picture of Stephanie, and the family too.

Received this today: Paul & Stephanie, with Julie.

Thanks Lorrie!

(Stephanie had a birthday last week)

Happy Birthday Boy Roger!

Today is Roger Bacon's birthday! He will be here for supper, along with whatever siblings are available (and close). Just pizza and birthday cake - can't over-excite those old folks, you know!

Hope to get some more recent pictures taken then, as this one is from several years ago. He hasn't changed too much in that time, just push the hairline back a bit....

To call and wish him a good one, you can leave a message at 715-824-5619 (house) or 715-824-5664 (barn). Or if you are really lucky, he'll answer!

A couple pics from Sunday....

Sam "hanging out" with his folks!
Sam 'n Grandpa checking each other out....

"Day-off Fun!"

After a rather slow start, our day took off when we headed over to Baldwin around 9:30 to visit Sam and family. We had heard they were working on a kitchen project (see the Aho blog) and wanted to check it out for ourselves. Besides, it was a beautiful day for a drive and I had spent WAY too much time here at home this past week. We got there around 1:00, in time to order a late lunch of pizza, delivered to the door (something we don't get to do, living in the country!).

As you can see at their blog, Scott did a terrific job of pulling out the built-in cupboard to make room for the dishwasher. The counter-top is the same, and he just had to frame it in (beautiful woodworking!) and make back panels to cover up behind the diswasher. There had been an overhang to create a small eating counter, which they lost in the reformation. One can still sit up to the counter with a cup of coffee or whatever, but sideways like you do on the south side of ours. My first impression when we walked in was that there was more room between the end of the counter and the stove. That was just an illusion, as they hadn't changed the counter length. They will have to do a bit of re-organizing to find places for the things that were in that lower cupboard, but they figured they could make better use of the cupboards they have. Where there's a will....

His Mama had some extra milk in the fridge, so I got to give Sam a bottle and rock him to sleep. There is nothing like a sleepy baby in your arms! I was able to get him down for a nap so Mama and I could make a quick run to the grocery store while Daddy and Grandpa finished hooking up the dishwasher. Scott had it all figured out, Dan just provided the extra pair of hands and saved Scott a trip or two up and down the stairs. I think they worked together pretty well. When Sally and I got back (only gone about 20 minutes or so), there was no sign of anybody and the baby monitor wasn't on the counter where she had left it. A quick investigation showed that the two guys were downstairs finishing up the wiring and Sam was still sleeping (they had the monitor with them). Sally loaded up the dishwasher with the dirty dishes she had been stockpiling, to try it out. It worked like a charm! No leaks, and no popped breakers! Scott wants to get some insulation to put on the back to help cut down on the noise before he finishes closing it in, otherwise it is good to go! Congrats to them on their new "addition"! I never had a dishwasher, so I don't miss it but I am sure it will be really nice for them, since they are both working. Everyone who has one says they would never be without one again. I use washing dishes as a way to warm my hands up. I also subscribe to the cartoon I saw years ago: the gist of it was, if you wanted to have some time to yourself (away from the kids) start running dishwater! Poof! There they were - gone! Works every time!

We hung out with the kids until a little after 5:00 and then headed towards home. We got home around 9:00 (stopped for a snack along the way) and Dan visited with Josh on the phone for nearly an hour. We had a call from Mara on Saturday night, so we got to spend "time" with all of our kids this weekend! Sounds like a recipe for a great weekend to me!

A smile for your day....

http://news.yahoo.com/comics/nonsequitur

Electronics - gotta love 'em....or do you???

I hustled on down to the barn for chores last night. Seemed like a good night to get an early start and have a longer evening after chores. So, I guess it's all my fault.
When I got down to the barn the water was just starting to fill the sink (we sanitize the line just before milking), so I thought that's fine, I'll get some of the pre-milking set up done that I can do while that is running. I went into the utility room, hung my coat up and headed over by the dryer to get the towels out. I was just passing the vacuum pump and it started up - or tried to. What it did was emit a high pitch whistling sound - not the proper noise (which is deafening, in it's own right, if you happen to be standing next to it). I ran back into the milkhouse to shut it off. The only problem with that is when you shut it off, the full sink of water (30 gallons of HOT water) runs down the drain. One can save the water by putting a plug in the sink, but at 175 degrees, I wasn't volunteering. So I turned it back on, and the whistling sound resumed. Hmmmm....next plan of action? Go look out the door to see if Dan or Roger is in sight. (okay, so I'm a wuss...) Roger was nearly to the barn, so I left things the way they were to see if he knew what to do. Silly me. There is an electronic control box above the vacuum pump, that normally just tells you how much vacuum pressure is being produced. Instead of that, it read "ERROR 6". Not good. There is a small keypad below the readout - not numbers, but labels like: <,>,stop, prg, and some others I can't remember and it doesn't make any difference, because none of them did anything. How do I know this? Roger pushed all of them, and then so he wouldn't feel dumb, I did too. Repeatedly. About this time Dan walks in (good thing, as I think Roger was starting to look around for a hammer - his preferred method of fixing things). Dan is usually our "go-to" man when things go screwy, so Roger and I gave a sigh of relief and looked for him to fix it. After trying out a few of the above-mentioned buttons, and turning the milkers on and off a few times - all to no avail - he resorted to calling Steve Brilowski, our Westfalia/Surge fieldman. Steve's suggestion was to turn the breaker on and off and it should reset the pump. (oh yeah, one of those little buttons on the control box said 'reset', but it lied) After trial and error of shutting the right breaker off, it was discovered that none of the breakers appeared to shut it off. (they were labeled, but hey...) By now, we had shut off the milkers and the water had run down the drain. There were bigger problems here than wasting water. Another suggestion that Steve had was to make sure that the motor was turning freely. Of course, this required removing about 6 bolts in order to take off a guard. There are tools in the office, no problem. Problem - not the right tools, so it's a trek out to the shed to get the proper ones. (this allows the trekker to mull over the situation, and generally get more steamed up) Finally Dan got the guard off, and the motor turned freely. No problem there. It was already after 5:30 and we hadn't even set up yet (usually the first milkers are on by 5:10). So, another call to Steve who said he would come right out. From Stevens Point. At least 20 minutes. Dan used his time wisely by going through some things on the shelves and throwing out old stuff. I figured that I would hang the milkers up and get everything ready to go for when Steve got things up and running (didn't want to think what we would do if he didn't). Roger decided he might as well go out and chase the cows in and clean the upper barn. Which he did, and then started running feed, for good measure. Finally we heard Steve's vehicle pull in and we met him at the door like a couple of kids welcoming daddy home. He tried the obvious - turning it on and off, and then decided that he would have to take the cover off the electronic box. He had it off and was poking around inside when I reminded him that the power was still on. He got this "oh?" look on his face and asked Dan to shut off the breaker. Well, we had to admit we never really got it shut off because we couldn't figure out which breaker it was. Steve walked over to the breaker box and said "it should be this one" and shut it off, and waited 30 seconds or so until the readout went blank, and turned it back on. Then he walked into the milkhouse and turned on the milkers. Voilá! It turned out that you need to leave the breaker shut off long enough or it would not reset - we never got the readout to go blank when we tried. Duh! After we got the egg cleaned off our faces, we hustled up and got milking started. It was now 6:10. Bummer, that meant we wouldn't get done till around 9:00! Oh well, live and learn.

That should have been enough trouble for one night. But, oh no. About two-thirds of the way through milking, Dan was busy breeding a cow (AI, people!!) so I was getting a group in and prepping and putting on milkers. Before we wash the cows, we use a pre-dip. There are four "wands" hanging in the parlor to handle 16 cows - one per four cows. Well, I had cows walking into the parlor and was pre-dipping as they were coming in. I dipped the first four and the fifth cow walked in, so I reached over to dip her with the wand meant for the first four cows. I'd done it before, as have most of us who milk in our parlor. Well, this time it didn't work - the wand snapped off and I had iodine spraying out the end of the now-broken hose! I grabbed at it quick and place my thumb over the end. That almost stopped the flow, but I couldn't do anything else. Meanwhile, Dan got back to the parlor and wondered what the heck I'd done now! He quickly assessed the situation and found the wand lying on the floor. The broken-off end was still stuck in the wand, and of course he could not just pull it off. He grabbed for his ever-present pair of pliers in his pocket -- not there! What a time to leave them at home! He did have his jack-knife with, so he used that to shave the piece of hardened hose off. So far, so good. Meanwhile, I'm still trying to hold the iodine in. Of course, the hose didn't break off evenly, so he had to try and cut it straight. More fun. Finally he got that to his satisfaction and tried to jam the hose onto the end of the wand, where it would be held on with a compression fitting. Yeah, it wouldn't go on. At all. By now he was getting more than a bit put out (not with me, the situation) and went out to disconnect the dip. That released me to go ahead and prep the two groups that were now waiting to get milked. While I was doing that, Dan went and got the torch to try to soften up the hose so that he could slide it onto the end of the wand. A group of cows or two later and he gave up on that and we finished milking using the hand-dippers to pre-dip. We finally got out of the barn sometime before 9:30! Roger ran up to Brilowski's to pick up a new hose so we would have it for this morning (thanks Roger!). I imagine we provided more than a little humor for Steve and his family for the evening....thank goodness he was a good sport about our mucking up his Friday night. Oh, and probably an after-hours call fee.

Just another day in the life of....

DON'T FORGET TO TURN YOUR CLOCKS AHEAD TONIGHT!!!

Brrrrrrrrr!!!!!

What the heck??? It was -11 when we got up this morning! I am sooo ready for Spring to start!

Speaking of Spring (which doesn't actually begin for another 2 weeks), don't forget that we need to "spring ahead" with our clocks tomorrow night. (well, Sunday morning at 2:00 am - but who is getting up at that time just to turn their clocks ahead??) It is early from what we are used to, but I guess it doesn't really affect us a whole lot. It will still be dark when we go down to chores in the morning, and dark when we walk home at night. Big whoop. Probably nicer for those of you who have to commute, though.

This is my normal day to do Dr. Debbie's (our Vet) bookwork, but she is out of town. Actually, she is down at Branson for an elite cattle sale, in which she is a seller. If she says it is okay, I will let you know what her cow brought next week. She is hoping for the mother lode - the cow is a result of an embryo transplant and has excellent genetics, so will be used for ET herself. Her buddy, Erin Ferg, went with her and they are spending about 4 days being wined and dined, big time. I imagine I will hear all about it next Friday. They were to bring evening wear....and all their expenses for the weekend are paid. Sounds like my kind of vacation! (well, maybe not the evening wear part....)

Hey peeps - I still didn't get any suggestions about the $3!! I'm waiting....
(Last paragraph of the March 1 post)

Happy Birthday to Stephanie Hansen!

Today is Stephanie's birthday! (nephew, Paul Hansen's wife)
They have a cute little daughter, Julie, that I have a few pictures of - but none of her mother!
Stephanie is from the Netherlands, so picture a beautiful, fair haired young woman!
Hope you have a fantastic day Stephanie!

SAM IS 8 MONTHS OLD TODAY!!!!!

Bookwork Day

Today was spent mostly on farm bookwork. I only do it once a month, so it gets to be a full-day's job. Probably the most challenging part is deciphering Roger's handwriting. I am getting pretty good at it, but once in a while I am flummoxed. It's always a good job to have done, and I really do enjoy it - especially when the books balance first try! I sometimes think I deal better with numbers than people...

Had a quick visit from Larry Syring this afternoon. He stopped in to pick up M&M's dog backpack (food/dishes/leashes, etc.) that got left here last week. The Stokes family will be meeting up with them later this month and will deliver it. It was nice to see Larry, even if only for a couple of minutes - I gather he was traveling for work.

Nice sunny day today, although we only topped out at about 28 degrees - good one to enjoy through the window ...

Sam 'n Thomas Time

Sam checking Thomas out - "Can you play with me??"

Sam modeling Grandpa's smelly old barn hat, with Gatfly before they head down for chores.
Gatfly with Thomas, doing his favorite thing - sleeping!

Outfit from Brazil, hat/booties made by his Great-Great Aunt Audry (Bacon) Rasmussen.

With everything going on last week, I didn't take the time to write about our grandsons' visit. It was absolutely wonderful to have them here with us, for those few days! We got in lots of snuggle-time, some play-on-the-floor time and I even fed Thomas his bottle (Mama's milk, of course!) a few times. Oh, and generally somebody had a wet/dirty diaper that needed changing, and who better than Grandma to do it! (although there were more than enough to go around!)

Sam got his traditional bath-in-the sink, administered by his Mama and Aunts. That was while we were milking cows, but they took lots of pictures - too cute! Uncle Josh had messed around with him in the afternoon by putting a bowl on his head, and that showed up again at bathtime. He looks good in a hat! Thomas also got a bath, but his folks brought along his tub as he isn't quite ready for the sink. That also happened while we were at chores. Gotta love those squeaky-clean boys!

Best of all (there are lots of these times), I got to watch both boys while their Mamas went shopping! Luckily, for me (and for them), Josh was around most of the time. I don't know how daycare workers do it! With Josh's help, I was able to do a little baking, but it wouldn't have happened if he wasn't there. I couldn't believe how far - and how fast - Sam could move, without actually crawling! I had to call Josh in from the other room to retrieve him back to where I could see him (I was feeding Thomas at the time). It will be lots of fun later this summer, when both boys are on the move! (I won't even THINK about trying to get anything done then!) Oh yeah, the girls found lots of good bargains, and had fun together.

There were lots of precious looks, goofy faces, wet diapers, warm snuggles, funny noises - both boys are quite vocal at times, poopy diapers, quick grab-for-the-spitrag moments, I-want-my-mama/daddy looks, wet diapers, shhh - Sam/Thomas is sleeping(!), "which baby is that, Dan?" - in the wee hours, "here, let me take him...." - and oh, did I mention changing diapers??

I had better put in here, too, that grand-puppies Linus, Lucy and Hunter were also here for a visit! It was great to see all of them, too. You get 5 dogs together, and you have a lot of energy bouncing off the walls! I think the cats basically disappeared when the dogs were in the room, although Linus gets along good with them. Mara and Mike were barely at our house 12 hours, but they got in some good visiting time with their nephews anyway. And I am pretty sure I caught Mara trying to study! For a brief time we had 10 people, 5 dogs and 4 cats under our roof - not your ideal study environment!

Mara and Mike left from the church, so we said our good-byes there. Sally and Scott, with Sam, headed out after we had left for chores that evening, thus the pictures of Sam in Grandpa's work cap. Josh, Debora and Thomas headed out before we got done with chores the next morning (check out their blog for pictures of all of them in the barn with us), stopping in to say good-bye while we were still milking. There was time for a quick picture or two before we left home, as Thomas was up for his am feeding when we got up.

It was wonderful to have them all home....but we are at that age where we can appreciate having the house back to ourselves, too - once the quiet stops echoing....Wonder when we will get them all together again?? Soon, I hope!!!

Monday Morning IN!

Ahhh......my favorite day! I didn't really wake up until Roger called at 7:19 wondering how many cows were supposed to be going through the parlor. They were short two! One was #35 who was supposed to get bred this morning (AI) and decided to take matters into her own hands and go see the bull. (at least that's where she ended up) Not sure who the other one was, or where she went. They'll figure it out sometime today, I'm sure. She may have been out since last night, as there were a few out taking a stroll towards the end of milking - probably hiding out with the dry cows....

Just heard some thuds up on the roof (no, it's not a late visit from Santa Claus - or worse yet, that missing cow!). Yesterday, as we were grabbing a bite to eat before heading down for evening chores, I went to grab my bagel out of the toaster and got splashed! There was water literally running from the edge of the ceiling, to the window frame and splashing onto the windowsill. It started quite suddenly and threatened to become quite serious if something wasn't done soon. Dan crammed in his supper and headed up onto the roof to chop at the ice build-up. We had been dealing with this for the past week, so knew it was a problem. There is quite a valley where two different roofs meet and it has been a problem different years. Dan had put a heat tape up there a week ago and it just seemed to melt down through the ice where it sat. He was able to chop away some of the ice - nearly a foot thick in places! There is still quite a bit up there, so he is back up there right now. Hope he doesn't fall off! (not funny, as it gets pretty slippery between the ice, melted stuff and snow) He worked away at it last night for quite a while (I had the fourth group of cows in when he showed up in the barn), and had gotten some major chunks of ice pushed off the roof. He was concerned about it raining last night (which it did - even lightening!). He just stopped in and said there is one BIG chunk of ice up there yet.

MARCH BIRTHDAYS

6 - Stephanie Hansen (Paul's wife)

11 - Roger Bacon(Dan's brother)

13 - Joseph Kostuch (Krista's husband)

14 - Anita Golke (my friend :)

18 - Cibele (Debora's sister)

21 - Emily Billington (16! - Mara babysat her...)

25 - Kristin (Wheeler) Harvey (niece)

27 - Kate Marie Kostuch (great-niece)

27 - Pat Grant (my friend :)

29 - Michael Harvey (Kristin's husband)

Other Happenings in March:

John and Marina Bacon are going on a cruise with her extended family!

They will be gone March 15-22.

We wish them a wonderful time with lots of R&R and new experiences!!!!

In Like a Lamb!

I guess we will have to call it a lamb today - only about 34 degrees, but the sun was shining and it felt quite nice out. (I hope that doesn't mean we have to look forward to March going out like a lion!!)

The sisters (and me - oh, and the brothers and Tom showed up at mealtime, and Andrea and Wyatt were there for a while, too) met at the farm house today and went through all the beautiful cards and greetings from friends and family. What a wonderful outpouring! We were able to get most of the thank you notes written and also waded through a few more memories. I'm sure that will happen every time we get together from now on. It is definitely an odd feeling to know that, at least in this family, we "kids" are the oldest generation. Is this when we stop feeling like kids, or does that hang on until there is only one of us left? (I'm not being morbid, Linda, just speculative.) I'm guessing that ignoring our own mortality is a defense mechanism - we'd go nuts if we thought about it all the time. I guess I just need to touch base with reality now and then....

I do have a poser for you and would appreciate any/all explanations: Does anyone know the significance of giving a memorial gift in the amount of $3? We received this in two different cards, and had one like it at Ma's funeral as well. There must be some meaning to this....