Bits and Pieces

Nothing too exciting happened this week, and not much planned for the weekend. Read: no grandson visit....

I guess there were a couple of birthdays: Paul Smidansky on Monday, and Elyse Ramseier on Tuesday - that's exciting when you turn 5 years old! I missed wishing Paul happy birthday then, so will do it now - Hope you had a good one, Paul! I haven't been very good about posting birthday wishes on my blog this year.

On Tuesday, we had snow! It was warm enough that it didn't hang around very long, but it was starting to cover the ground. It helped to green the grass up, too. Mucked up my fieldwork, though....

When I could, I got out into the field to chop stalks. So, that means I finished the one field by the Pipe Woods on Sunday morning, and did Harold's yesterday afternoon. Not too much more to chop, then on to digging.

Weaving! Because of the weather, I was able to spend a couple of days out in the weavery. Mary was busy with her house showing on Monday, and general cleaning and packing so I was on my own. It was nice enough, temperature-wise, to not have the heat on. The last day I was out there, I had the windows open - I love that! I missed the banter tossed back and forth between the looms, though. It's been fun to have someone to weave alongside me.

I also missed mentioning the "Dia do Descabrimento do Brasil" on Wednesday! That is the day commemorating the day of discovery of Brazil. It is a holiday there, and I hope all our Brazilian friends enjoyed it!

Oh - a rather big even did take place this week! Linda came back to work for us! She came one evening to try her hand at milking, after suffering a broken wrist and dislocated finger in February. She thought it would go okay, so she was there Friday am for milking. According to Roger, it went pretty well, although she had some difficulty using the rubber scraper on the floor. I would think so! I also wondered how it went for her setting the milkers up. It takes quite a yank to pull the milkers off the jetters (rubber attachments used for washing/sanitizing the milkers). I don't think we realize all the muscles involved in our simple, daily things that we do until we are injured and can't do them. Hopefully Roger and John stepped up to help her out some! Welcome back, Linda! :)

Oh, and Grampa would say that the biggest event of the week was when his oldest grandson, Sam, called him up and said "Boppa"! We have had the opportunity to speak with them a few times this week, and every time Sam gets a little more vocal. We can't make out much of what he says, although Mama and Daddy have a little better luck with that, but he sure rattles off a litany of 'words'! Prior to this, the most we would get out of Sam was 'hi' and maybe sometimes 'da'. He would refer to his Dad, Grampa and the dog as 'da'. I don't think he has called me anything yet. Soon, though, at the rate he is learning!

I have been re-connecting with quite a few old friends on Facebook, and I am loving it! Earlier I found Suzi Sannes, who has turned out to be a real soul-mate! We have such fun conversations! Also Hazel (Christensen) Packer - but she is such a busy lady, I don't hear from her much. This past week I was contacted by Melita Meyer Remsen - my best friend from high school! What fun! Then a couple of days later, Gabby Grimme Hanson - and she is in the state, so may try to see her sometime. Not too far from Sally, I guess. It is rather funny to renew friendships that were between teenagers, or young mothers and now we are most of us moms and some even grandmas! Simply amazing! And of course, none of us has changed and we look just as good as we did 'back then'! ;)

Well, for not much happening, I managed to write quite a bit. I hope you all have a fun weekend planned, with some time for R&R in there. Looks like a good day for a nap, here! Dan's already snoozing, so I have to go and play 'catch-up'!

Easter Weekend....okay, so it's a week later!

I spent the entire last week in the tractor, when I wasn't milking cows, so doing this post got put on the back burner.....way back!

Even though Sam got sick after dinner on Saturday, we still had a pretty good weekend with him and his family here. Between his bouts of tossing his cookies, he was in a pretty good mood, even enjoying the out-of-doors, although he didn't do a lot of smiling - for the camera, or otherwise. Grandma did get in some snuggle-time that she might not have if he was feeling 100%. Then, it's go, go, go!

We did the egg coloring on Saturday night, after chores. I had gotten a packet of tie-dye egg coloring. It made cool eggs, but what a mess! My hands were stained a mixture of all the colors, so pretty much bleah, until Monday! Scott was the best at the technique. Sally had the 'handicap' of Sam between her arms, and I was just not very good at it. Sam fell asleep in my arms, sitting on the couch later - pretty out of character for him, but like I said, he wasn't feeling well. What a wonderful feeling for Grandma, though, warm snuggly little body on the curve of her shoulder....ahhhhh.

Sunday morning, Sam was back to tossing his cookies but that proved to be the end of it. We didn't know that then, though, so my folks sent up our 'share' of the Easter dinner we would have had if we went to their house. I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of Dad and Rob hauling in the basket and tray of food - what a feast! We dined like royalty! Thank you so much!!!

Sam was fascinated by the farm and the animals and the tractors and just being outdoors! When Da hooked a rope to the front of the pedal tractor (Josh's when he was little) he thought he was pretty hot stuff! It wasn't until later that Scott and Dan devised a way to 'steer' the tractor with the rope by putting an eye-bolt through the front shaft. Worked great after that. All of the adults got to have a turn at being Sam's 'mule'.

It was wonderful to have them here, even if the weekend didn't go quite as planned. See Sally and Scott's blog (see link) for more pictures. We know that Josh, Debora and Thomas had a great weekend, too, as they had a 4-day holiday. Check out their blog for beautiful pictures of the Alps! Mara, Mike and Rohan spent the weekend studying and getting in some hiking when they could. They also posted pictures on their blog - check it out! The weather was even more beautiful in MO. We got their weather later last week.

Today they are calling for the possiblity of snow! Yuck! It is 37 right now, so even if snow falls, it won't last. Grrrrr....I don't want any more this spring!

Hope you all have a wonderful work-week! Even with the cooler temps, spring is in the air!!

Oops! Didn't realize that I had posted some of these pictures before.....no wonder they looked familiar!

Surprise Party and Tractor Dog, plus Sam!

Here is a mix of photos from the last couple of days. First off, there is a picture of Toquinho. He has assimilated quite well with our cats, although they won't admit it. There are some rather raucous games of 'chase' every now and then, but I think it is mostly in fun.

Lucy Belle, Mara and Mike's dog that has come to live with us, has proven to be a captital tractor dog! She loves the tractor, and when we went back to the field after dinner on Thursday, she ran straight to the tractor and after I opened the door, climbed up the three steps into the cab and said "let's go!" I thought that was pretty good, because the steps are not solid, and are a bit of a trick for a dog to climb. She moved around a bit, but never whined like she had had enough. When I shut the tractor down, though, she was ready to get out and run around - leaping from the cab. I think I may have a hard time getting out of the yard without her, now.

That was proven when we walked down to the farm this morning, with Sam. Lucy put her head down and charged through the electronic field that was supposed to keep her in the yard. When Jack saw her do it, he figured he should be able to also, so we had both of them walk down with us. We resorted to fashioning a lead for Jack from binder twine, though, as we were afraid he wouldn't stop at the farm. Sam had a good time interacting with his great-uncles and stomping around in the manure. It included a swing through the milkhouse to rinse off his boots - Mama didn't appreciate him 'walking' up her legs with boots covered in used silage. Eau-de-farm!

Last night (so I'm a bit out-of-order in my story-telling) Connie and Stephanie had organized a surprise birthday party for Linda (who turned an undisclosed, landmark age yesterday) at Roger's house after chores. I think we all surprised her! Steph and Tom had told her they were taking her out to supper, and would pick up Roger to go with them. Tom's sisters Kathy and Mary Ann, plus Mary Ann's husband, Steve were there besides all of Linda's siblings: Dan (and me), Connie (and Mike), Alice, John (and Marina), and of course Roger. Sally, Scott and Sam arrived just in time for the party, too. Alice had made a really cute poster featuring a penny issued for each year that Linda as lived, with an interesting fact about the year next each penny. It was doing fine on the table, but I moved it to the back of the couch so we wouldn't get food on it and a handful of pennies fell off. OOPS! Sorry, Alice. Note to anyone who cares: Elmers' Glue will not hold a copper penny to tagboard for very long.

I hope to have some more pictures to post after our Easter gathering at my folks' tomorrow.
Until then - I hope you all are having as wonderful a weekend as we are here!

Congratulations to our New Town Supervisor!

CONGRATULATIONS TO ROGER BACON,

SUPERVISOR, TOWN OF AMHERST!

[Again - he was voted out last time around, but they saw the error of their ways :) and he is once again on the Town Board. ]

Sorry about the old photo - he is difficult to get a picture of!!

Whirlwind trip to Iowa....

Getting ready to hit the road - Grampa is getting the hang of this!

Name that puppy! They are taking suggestions....

Editor's note: They have decided to name him Schroeder - (long "o") like in Peanuts.

Sometimes we do the craziest things!

Yesterday we drove down to Cedar Rapids, IA to spend a couple of hours with our newest grandson, Rohan, and his family. His ENTIRE family! You will have to check out Mara and Mike's blog for the whole story, but the main reason for the trip was to pick up Lucy Belle, their bigger, black dog. She was not adjusting to Rohan being around full-time, so she came to live with us. She has stayed here numerous times, so the adjustment will not be very traumatic - for any of us. Her first night here went just fine. She got the hall to herself last night, with Jack and Dusti being relegated to the utility room. I will probably keep the 'girls' together tonight and have Jack by himself. He is the most persnickety of the bunch.

I was disgusted with myself when I realized that I had forgotten my camera, but didn't want to turn around. The pictures here are ones that I lifted off M&M's blog. Thanks for sharing, kids!

The trip took 4-1/2 hours and we got to spend almost 3 hours chatting, walking and just snuggling that little Rohan! And yes, Mara, having Rohan in the front pack brought back many wonderful memories!! Oh - and thanks for a wonderful lunch! We ate at Panera Bread, a place that Debora had wanted us to try quite a while back, and we just never found one. Very good!

It was a beautiful day for a drive and the trip went very well. Lucy is a great traveller and only got anxious when we stopped to check on the sawdust trailer in Plover. That, and after we came over the tracks as we got off Hwy 10 she sat up and started whining. That is always their clue that they are getting close to the farm. We had a bit of a scare when we pulled in the drive-way - no dogs were there to greet us! Luckily, when we got near the porch we could hear them whining and barking INSIDE the house. Roger had taken pity on them and let them in after chores. Thanks Roger!

We also got to meet the new puppy - too adorable! Personally, though, I would much rather deal with an older dog who is already trained. Good luck with that, kids!