Late April Storm - view from the porch

A long, diagonal line of storms went just to the east of us last night. We sat on the screened porch and watched it for a long time - nice. Bill commented that he'd take the view from our porch compared to the one at my last house any day (no other houses or people, can see for miles, etc.). I have to agree.









They got the field around our house planted and then lined the toys up waiting to see where they'll go next.

This is on the south side of our house.

Planting Video

This video was taken a few days ago when planting corn. Today Carl was working ground around our house, and then Bill has been planting beans. He's almost done at 6:00. It doesn't take long to do a 100 acre field with the 24 row planter! Rain is on the way tonight but they've run out of dry enough ground to plant next anyway.

This morning I was at Diane & Todd's by 7:15 to stay with Lacey. Her daycare lady had an appointment today. Lacey was happy she got to sleep in. I took her to preschool after lunch.

It's been very windy again today and about 80.

The Transformer/Planter

I don't think I had figured out how to do videos by spring last year so this should be the first time you've seen the planter unfold! It folds up to a long, somewhat skinny piece of equipment to go down the road, and then it unfolds when you get to the field. Like Bill's brother says, it's like a transformer! I was amazed when I saw it the first time.

This is Glenn, a faithful reader of my blog! He's originally from Rolfe, but has lived in several other places including Fishers & Marion, Indiana and most recently Maryland I believe. He fixes up houses and had been wanting to see our new house after following the construction on the blog. So we were home and the house was in pretty good shape, so we called to see if he wanted to come over on Sun. for the "tour". He wanted me to be sure to mention that he's a Shriner! He was also a classmate of Bill's dad.

New Rafters

Remember this picture from Jan. 18th of the broken rafters (on left)? This is the shed at Peggy's and the heavy snow on the roof had cracked the rafters.

New ones have been installed this past week (on right).

We had quite a bit of rain over the weekend so no field work can be done yet. Bill worked on the planter this morning getting it cleaned up after almost getting stuck in the mud the other day and changing things over to be ready to plant beans. This afternoon he was going to pick up some seed.

Since it was raining yesterday, we headed to Ft. Dodge. Stopped for the Pizza Ranch lunch buffet in Manson on the way. Bill needed things at Rees Truck, Menard's and Shoppers Supply. I had him drop me off at the mall while he went to those places, and then we went to Walmart together. After 3 years, I still think about and appreciate being able to go places like Walmart during the week vs. the weekend when it's crowded!

Today the sun is out but it's still cool.

Cookies for Confirmation Reception

Since I like to bake, I like to sign up at church when they need baked items. Recently there was a sign up sheet for help making cross cookies for the reception on Confirmation Day. The ladies on the list ahead of me signed up to make 6 doz. but I thought 4 would be good/plenty for me.



Sat. as I was rolling, cutting and icing them (and counting them) I was wishing that Karen & Ryanne were here (they do lots of fancy cookies for a cookie walk every Christmas), or Diane & Lacey (Diane and I used to do cut out cookies when she was little), Terri or anybody to keep me company - or help!



I wasn't very happy with how mine looked - maybe should've done an icing that you pour over them so they would be smooth. But they tasted good. Others had done them all different ways - some had piped their icing on. Wish I had a picture of how many cross cookies there were in the church kitchen but they were going fast when I left!

There were 5 kids that were confirmed Sunday, and the church was packed.

Before and After

These propane tanks are an ugly necessity in the country for gas for heat. I've been wanting to get ours painted for a long time! Toward the end of Fall last year, Bill used the power washer to get a lot of the gunk off of it. I went to the parts store in town and asked what kind of paint would be best. Came home with a can of stuff to spray on to stop the rust and some white implement paint.

We have a tank nearby that's painted like a watermelon so at one point I was excited to paint ours something different like green to blend in with the trees and not be so noticeable. Then I realized that in the winter, EVERYTHING here is white all winter. Then I went in the store and the choices were white and John Deere green. So we'll have a white tank that blends in in the winter - and matches the house.

Last Fall, I sprayed the rust stuff on but the weather got too cold to paint. Finally got the first coat done on Thursday.

It looks a LOT better even after just one coat. Just don't look too close!

More Signs of Spring

Some asparagus is up and ready to eat! This first picture is Peggy's patch. She was nice enough to share some with us! I'm closely watching our wild patch in the ditch but it's been coming up very slowly. I think it's great fun to check it and pick some every day once it gets going! Kind of like mushroom hunting except you know about where it's going to be!

I'm surprised that most of the stalks are always thick but they're as tender as the thin ones. Bill likes it creamed the best but I like to just put a little olive oil & steak & roast rub on it and microwave. Diane says she likes it a little crispy so she grills or bakes hers.




On Wed. I cut grass for the first time this season at the Zeman place (where the big machine shed is). This old patch of rhubarb is there. I was happy to see that some of it was big enough to pick. Bill doesn't like anything with rhubarb in it. I can't believe he likes asparagus but not rhubarb!



We've had really nice planting weather for the past few days although they would've liked some wind for drying. We were expecting potentially 2" of rain today but it held off this morning until Bill could get done planting corn so he's very happy. Even though he almost got stuck in the process.

Now they can use this down time to change over and get ready to plant the beans once it quits raining and dries out. It's very windy today.

Still Planting Corn

Today has been a beautiful day: 70, sunny/hazy, low humidity, slight breeze. Great day for cutting grass and planting! Planting continues although there was a slight delay around lunch time when Bill had a flat tire on the tractor as he was just getting started planting.

Tim has been working ground ahead of Bill today.

I had grilled hamburgers for lunch and had the table in the porch set for our first meal out there this season. The burgers got done. At 12:15 I decided to go ahead and eat. At 12:30 Bill still wasn't home for lunch which is very unusual. Then checked the phone messages - he had called at 11:30 to tell me he was trying to get the tractor to town to get the tire fixed and not to worry about lunch yet. Ooops. He must've called when I had gone out to get the mail. So he called at about 1:30 for me to bring his dry, well done hamburgers out to him!

Thought this picture was interesting! It's the seed corn in the planter. This is looking down in the yellow boxes you can see in the first picture. I called Bill to ask why the seed is pink - told him I was doing the blog post. He's kinda busy but said it's "seed treatment" - for bugs & stuff.

Stampin' Up! Color Renovation Coming Soon!

Stampin' Up! has just announced that there will be a color renovation when the new catalog comes out in July! Thirty of the current colors will be retiring! Click on the link on the right to print a list of the retiring colors. Don't delay in ordering your retiring favorites in card stock, 12 x 12 designer paper, ink refills, etc. They will only be available until supplies last.

Ten of the previous In Colors that were favorites like Wild Wasabi, Riding Hood Red, River Rock, and Pink Pirouette will be returning along with five new In Colors. New In Colors will now be available for two years rather than one. More accessories will be available in all of the colors than ever before. Kits will be available to help you add the new colors to your collection.

Watch for more information to come and for the special I will be offering: a free Classic ink pad in the new color of your choice with a $50 order!

Yesterday

The guy came with the hose to fix the sprayer yesterday morning so that's good. Bill got started planting around 11:00 so he called to see if I'd bring lunch to him in the field so I got the spaghetti, garlic bread, brownie, Pepsi & ice together - and cookies for later. After that, I had one little problem after another seems like.


Before I get into all that, I made these Jackpot Drops the day before. The recipe is here on the blog somewhere in the past. Bill always asks me if we have pie or cake when we're done with a meal so thought I'd make some cookies and freeze some to have on hand. I had also asked him in Walmart Mon. if he wanted to get some cookies to have when planting, but he was hoping * I'd * bake some. So I did. I was having a couple of friends over on Wed. so thought we could have some then too. Turns out neighbor, Amy, brought her * warm * brownies - with the recipe. They are the best brownies I've ever had, and it's hard to beat my grandma's recipe.

Back to yesterday - it was windy like it is here a lot in the Spring but I was really wanting to get some screens washed and put in to have windows open since it's getting warmer. So I found a (very sm.) spot at the back of the house that was less windy and drug the hose, screens, soapy water, etc. back there. As you can imagine, it wasn't fun with the cold water blowing and trying to find a place to prop them up to dry. I was about halfway done with the select few I had decided to clean when it started to rain so I ended up putting them in the windows wet. When tilting in and cleaning the sm. bathroom window, I couldn't get it to close all the way - or get the screen in from the inside (or reach it from the outside) so Bill took care of that later. When putting in the sm. kitchen screen, I had to take the handle that cranks the window out off but first loosen a tiny screw of the handle. The screw came all the way out (it was very short!) and immediately fell into the garbage disposal! Noooo! Happened to find in the tool box the 2 flat, round magnets I had glued fishing line in the middle of once before when something like this happened and dangled that down in there and finally got the screw out but could not get the screw back in the hole. Finally figured out it went in a different hole! Whew. Hot & sweating by this time.

By then it was almost time to watch Survivor so I gave up and cleaned up my mess(es). Bill had had to stop planting due to the rain earlier. He had called in there somewhere asking "whatcha doin' " but I really didn't want to talk about it. He was wondering if I'd want to go to Manson in his pickup to pick up some Aztec and drive back slowly with it. Turns out he did that this morning. They're back to planting today with a really nice weather forecast for the next several days. Maybe I can get more screens washed!

Rain Delay

I woke up during the night yesterday hearing heavy ran so woke Bill up to tell him. Don't think he really wanted to know that at about 3:30 but he did turn the alarm off that was set for 6:00! They weren't expecting rain and after just planting one day.

So Bill and I waited for a while after lunch since it was still storming to the north of us and then we headed for Spencer to Del's Nursery. We took our house plans and pictures of all sides of the house. Dave there is going to put together some ideas & prices for us for landscaping including a patio in the back off of the screened porch. We've tried to make this house as maintenance free as possible so we've decided to go with a patio vs. a deck. We'll spend most of our time in the screened porch but just want the patio to put the grill on and not have to mow up against the house and window wells back there. We really liked the cobblestone we saw there. (should've taken a picture!) So that's the next project around here. The number of greenhouses at Del's full of every plant imaginable is amazing.

Turns out as we were driving north to Del's, the weather still looked bad so Bill headed west and then north so we missed being in the large hail that they got in Emmetsburg. Tim got over 2" of rain at his house, not as much where we are, and we heard about 3 1/2" just north of us. There was still a lot of standing water up there today.

Today I went to lunch at Our Daily Bread in West Bend with my P.E.O. group - had a nice time. There were 8 of us. Sounds like Bill & Tim have been working on their tile problem again. Bill was going to check the field on his way home tonight to see if it was dry enough to plant. (it wasn't but should be tomorrow)

Here we go!

Bill has left this morning to get started planting corn today! He planted the sweet corn yesterday. Now they plant it with the 24 row planter so there will be 24 rows of sweet corn! I bought some Silver Queen seed and another kind in Indiana. Their Pioneer dealer gave them Ambrosia and Tim got another type.
Yesterday the triplets came over for a breakfast feast, and we played a game of dominoes with my new set that Mom gave me for my birthday. They have numbers on them instead of dots! Then Bill & I went to a 50th Anniversary Open House for Doc & Mel who Bill & Tim do some farming for. They own the dairy here in town.

After that it was training for me with the 4 wheel drive tractor, field cultivator and auto steer. It was fun once I got the hang of it. With the auto steer you just push a button and it does the driving down the field which means straight! You do have to lift the cultivator at the end of the rows and make the turn. The seat in this tractor is so much better and it's much quieter in the cab (than the one I had been in to chop stalks). Click on the arrow on the video above - hope it works. You can barely see it but there's an intake off to the side at the end of the video. I ran over one of those early in the season last Fall.

Time to get ready for church. It's been 5 weeks since I've been to church here! Then I have some mowing here at home on my agenda this afternoon.

More Spring Flowers

These pictures are all taken at one house in Carmel but it was much prettier in person. Lots of early tulips blooming, daffodils and others.

I made it home after a long day of driving Tues. I was lucky to not have to drive in much rain. I barely missed the storms that were going through.

I went to Easter service at my Carmel church, Central Christian. Really fun to see everybody and worship is always great! I miss it.

Since I stayed an extra day to watch the Butler/Duke game in Indiana and with Mom, I called long time friend, Marie, for a last minute lunch. We ate at Muldoon's outside and got caught up. Happened to also see cousins, Dina & Debbie there too! Mon. was a really nice day for lunch outside!



Came home to a house that still smells new, Bill had cleaned everything up from whatever he did (or didn't do) while I was gone and had a doz. red, yellow & pink roses on the counter for me! The card said Welcome Home!

Beautiful Day for Driving

These pictures are from Mom's front yard this morning. The Bradford Pear trees started blooming just in time for me to see them before leaving! The blooms started opening yesterday. Mom's subdivision used to have them all up and down the street in front of every house but several of them have split and had to be cut down.

I'm headed home today - looks like it'll be a pretty day for driving until maybe Iowa. We've heard it's going to be very windy to the west.

Mom needs to have her other knee done too so we'll do this all again when she's ready! She's been doing good!

We watched the Butler/Duke game last night which didn't start until 9:20 so I'm not getting a real early start. Great game!! Butler stayed right in there with the big boys - it was great and so close! They should be back even better next year!

GO BUTLER!!!!!!!!!!!

Flowers for Easter

On my drive to the post office yesterday, I noticed that things are really blooming all of a sudden! And notice the green grass! People have started mowing too.

As I've mentioned here before, people in this area really work in their yards and plant lots of flowers! After the spring bulbs and pansies are done, they'll start planting annuals like impatiens, begonias, geraniums and putting out hanging baskets of flowers.


This house has daffodils planted all across the front. Not sure if you can see it, but there's a Colts banner hanging in front of the window on the right!

Right now everyone is all excited about little Indianapolis college, Butler, being in the Final 4 - first game tonight! You could get a free car wash at Mike's this weekend if you had "Go Butler" signs or anything else like that on your car! Lots of free concerts this weekend in downtown Indy and you could go watch the teams practice for free. The stands were full!

Forsythia in bloom.

I'm meeting one of my recruits at 1:30 at a west side (of Indy) Panera Bread to go over some computer things that she needs help with.

Right now, I'm planning to leave for home in a couple of days so time here is getting short. I'm going to miss the peak of blooming by just a few days but should be a pretty drive home.

Nice Day!

Mom got outside for a little bit yesterday - enjoying the sun. I got the rest of the dead plants and sticks ready to go out for trash pickup Mon., washed windows and put in screens and got the screened in porch furniture ready for using! It got up to 82 here.

Mom also walked outside with a cane yesterday (with the therapist). I took a video but it's not loading. She's making good progress especially considering it's only been 2 weeks since surgery!

Bill says it's panic time in NW Iowa - some guys are doing things in the fields!! His e mail this morning said that our neighbor is disking corn stalks this morning. He and Tim got a lot accomplished yesterday - but they're not in the field yet. The Fed. Crop Insurance ok date for planting is April 10th. That insurance came in handy last year when we had hail on July 22nd.