Country Girl

      

It's the Fourth Sunday of Advent and this is my last Christmas present to wrap.

 

         While checking out one my favorite online fabric shops on Black Friday, I came across this Sasparilla line of fabric on sale.  Instantly, I fell in love with the cute cowgirl print.  So I decided to make a throw for my brother's wife, who loves horses.  The Sasparilla line's color palette was more yellow, gray, and light blue with one red and navy print. Since my sister-in-law decorates with much more of a country theme in her house, I added some brown and tan prints from the Honky Tonk line.  Luckily it all went together nicely. 

        It's actually been finished for a couple of days now, but the lighting in the house wasn't favorable to taking pictures.  Last night's freezing rain topped off with an inch or two of snow provided the perfect background this morning. Then I just had to sweet talk my husband into holding it for a quick snap shot and by quick I mean quick.  Hopefully she will enjoy her new quilt on Christmas Eve!

     

 

Winter Wonderland

        Yesterday around two the snow started coming down.  The early predictions said we should expect 2.5 to 3 inches. 

         It stopped snowing just a little bit ago.  To my best guess, I'd say we got 9.5 to 10 inches of snow.  It's such a beautiful snow.  The only bad news is my Sunday school class won't get to present their Christmas program tomorrow, because the roads are too bad for everyone to travel for practice today. 

       My husband is out helping the township clear the roads. Since the road commissioner has the snow plow truck, and another guy has the maintainer, he gets the backhoe.  From the sounds of it, he is having all kinds of fun.  He has used the backhoe twice to get himself out of the ditch and is on his way to push the snow plow up a hill. 



   I was supposed to take these pies to church for a funeral dinner, but I'm beginning to think I might not make it there.

           Guess I'll just stay home, listen to Christmas music, do a little Christmas baking, and work on wrapping presents.

O Come, O Come Emmanuel

        O Come, O Come Emmanuel. 

        During this Advent season we are using a Jesse Tree to get us ready for Jesus on Christmas.  Each day we learn about a different character from the Old Testament.  It helps to remind us of all the promises God, the Father, made with his people, how they broke those promises, and how Jesus fulfills each and every covenant. 

        Friday, we read about King Solomon.  It's hard to believe Sunday starts the third week of Advent.  Christmas is coming quick!

New Look

        Our computer/craft room received a refreshing new coat of paint a couple weeks ago.  The creamy yellow gives the room a calming cheerful feel, which is exactly what you need when you are paying bills and keeping the farm books up-to-date.  Just in time for our 2013 tax appointment. 

        The other side of the room is dedicated to my sewing obsession.  I spend a lot of time here making baby quilts for expecting family members and friends.  I have four safely tucked away for my aunt and a good friend due in January and February respectively. Neither of them are finding out what they are having, which is why I have four made.  Once their bundles of joy come, I will post pictures of the blankets. 

Giving Thanks!

        As we take time this weekend to spend time with family and friends to give thanks for the many blessing we have, I am especially grateful our kitchen remodel is just about complete. 

 

         It's been a busy week.  Our counter tops and kitchen sink arrived on Tuesday afternoon.  Then that evening my brother came over to install the rewired light fixture above the kitchen sink.  It was the one thing from the old kitchen we reused in the new kitchen.  It used to be central lighting for the whole kitchen, but we installed a new fixture that would give off more lighting for that. 

       We decided to take out the fluorescent light above the sink to use in the dark basement and install the globe light above the sink.  It turned out pretty nice even though my husband had his doubts.  Don't look too closely. I still have to paint the metal parts.

        Watching my almost three-year-old nephew try to be apart of the action was funny.  He had to be right there holding a screwdriver that he snatched from his dad's back pocket. 



         My dad came over on Wednesday to help us finish up the rest of it.  We started by measuring and cutting out the hole for the sink.  Then we glued the 45 degree seam that connects the sink piece with the bar piece.  Next we set it back on top of the cabinets to attach the sink to the counter top.  Now it was time to screw all the counter tops to the base cabinets.  While Dad and I were working on these steps, my husband was finishing up cutting and nailing the trim pieces. 

       After work my mom came down to see the progress and bring pizza for supper.  The last time she was over everything was torn out and only the soffits were built.  She was impressed with how it turned out. 

       As soon as they left I started cleaning up the sawdust mess for the last time.  Since the next day was Thanksgiving I didn't get much accomplished on putting things back together.  I spent all day Friday cleaning the sawdust out of the cabinets, cleaning the dishes that have been stashed around the house for the past seven months, and putting everything away. 

        Now to decide on what kind of window treatments to hang up.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Harvest 2013

         Monday, November 11, was the perfect day to finish picking corn.  Our last field we custom harvested for a neighbor.

        It was 20 acres of bottom ground that was planted with a four-wheel drive tractor and a 6 row planter just to make it through the mud this spring.

        It produced some very nice looking ears even with a short growing season.

       By this time in the season, the combine needs some TLC. Look at all that dirt!!

        The corn head picks the ears off the stock and sends it through the combine to shell out the kernels from the cob. 

       After the separation takes place the kernels travel to the hopper, while all the trash flies out the back.

        Ace enjoys riding along. Watching for wild animals that get scared out of their summer resting places.

        Since this field was a mile down a winding lane followed by a steep hill, the semi could not fit back there.  We needed to take the Grain Cart to the field and shuffle the grain to the semi.  

         To stay off the road, we used a neighbor's bean field to fill the semi.

 

         The auger at the bottom of the grain cart carries the corn out the bottom up a second auger to the semi.

 

    

       It doesn't matter what tractor he is in, you better not leave home without Ace.

       We loaded the last semi as the drizzle moved in.  By the time we moved all the equipment home and took the last load to the elevator, it was snowing. 

Our Lady of Snows

        Last Saturday a group of ladies from our area churches took a day trip to Belleville to visit Our Lady of Snows. 

Here is the icon for Our Lady of Snows.  It was too difficult to snap a shot without a glare.

        The devotion to Our Lady of Snows is tied to the miraculous snowfall in Rome on August 5, 352 A.D. on a hot summer day.  It was brought to Illinois by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and the work of Fr. Paul Schulte, O.M.I.

        The grounds include many devotional areas.  There was the Agony Garden, Annunciation Garden, The Church of Our Lady of the Snows, the Lourdes Grotto, Christ the King Chapel with mosaics of the Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious mysteries of the Rosary, Our Lady of Guadalupe Hill, Resurrection Garden, and the Way of the Cross. 

        It was a beautiful day to walk the grounds and get lost in prayer.  With all the scale models of church history it was like visiting Mexico, France, and the Holy Land all in one day.  Plus, we had the best guide, our Pastor, who has a close connection to the area.

       Starting next week I hear they have an amazing display of "Christ"mas lights. If you happen to be near St. Louis in the coming weeks I highly recommend it.

Birthday Wishes

        When you ask my husband what he would like to do for his birthday, he always says to be in the field.  His wish was granted on Tuesday, but because of the drizzly day, we did make it to town for dinner and to pick our last new stove.  The first one we purchased in late August. We discovered last week when we went to install it, it was damaged.  We thought the dented-up back would be fine, but when we turned on the oven for the first time, we found out differently.  A loud pop resounded and a spark flew.  Yikes!! Luckily they replaced it even though it had been over 30 days since the purchase date. 
       Anyway, I'm getting off topic.  Here is my husband doing what he loves...farming. 

        Saturday was a beautiful fall day perfect for cutting beans.  No dew, wind out of the west, we should be able to start long before noon and finish our last field of beans.  

         Nice thought anyway ,the combine was having starting issues. So the morning started with a trip to John Deere, 30 minutes away, to get parts for what we hoped would fix it.  Then, I went to the field with him to turn the key, while he primed the fuel pump by the engine. 

 

      First go around was a failure. Now it's a phone call to John Deere to get some advice on what to try next. There was one more thing we can try before running to get more parts. I head back for the cab while he starts fiddling with the injectors. As I try opening the cab, I realize that I did not fully unlock the door earlier and now the keys are locked inside. Oops, one more call to JD to see if they have a key that would work. Luckily they do, but it also means another trip to JD. 

        My husband says he was irritated, but I would say he was more than irritated because we sped pretty quickly out of the field and not a word was spoken on the 30 minute drive. After getting the key, and driving back, we try this last trick.  It worked. She fired up!

        Now that it is noon and we lost all those extra hours. We head into the field to get started again.  The beans are cutting well and his eager mood returns.

         As you can tell from all the pictures of my husband, he is on the phone. Well, yes, he is quite the social butterfly, but it's also the only time he is distracted enough that I can take his picture. 

         We fill one semi and borrow a neighbor's grain cart for the rest.  The beans are yeilding about average which is good.

       Once we finish, it's time to head home while I follow behind in the truck with the head cart.   Two loads of beans to dump at the elevator and the 2013 bean harvest is complete.

I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane

        Ok...so not really, but it sounds like it around here.  Our new grain bin's heater has a jet plane engine.  Every few minutes for about five minutes it sounds like we live next to an airport.  Even our neighbor, a couple miles away, can hear it.  Sorry :(
        After Thursday's inch and seven-tenths in a half an hour, the wind blew down all the corn tops in one field.  Even though it is still too wet to store, it's time to start picking.  Good thing our new bin has the ability to dry it down and store it safely.

        As you can tell, it's not that bad because you can still row it, but since it is nonGMO corn the bugs have compromised the corn stocks integrety. NonGMO means not genetically modified.  Besides for keeping weed and insect resistance down, it gets a higher premium at the elevator.  On the negative side bugs burrow in. 

        Corn yeilds are much better this year, which means the combine fills up quicker and more semi loads to haul.  It also means we will be hauling more to the elevator this fall once the bins fill up. As supply and demand goes, though, that means lower prices.   Currently we are getting half the price per bushel as last year. Later this winter or in early spring, prices should rebound a little.           

        The first of many beautiful sunsets in the field.  Four hopper fulls equals a full semi.

       Our first load from earlier today means my husband is the black blob on top the bin opening the lid. 

        Grain flows from the hopper on the bottom of the trailer to an auger that takes it up to the top of the bin.  The tractor runs the PTO, power take-off, that turns the auger. 

       My job was to climb to the top to make sure the auger was hitting the spreader evenly.  Since I climbed all the way up, I might as well snap a shot. 

       Later on, the sun goes down on another day.  From the top of the bin you can see the cows cleaning up the corn we left behind.  The field in the distance we finished last week so we could put in some dry-dams to hold back rain water and make more ground farmable.