New Year's Eve

It's about 0 tonight - a good night to stay in! We've had pizza, watched a couple of shows about climbing Mt. Everest, going to watch The Proposal and the ball drop. Here the ball drops at 11 pm which really seems strange to me, but guess that just means we can get to bed an hour earlier!

Last Christmas Diane & Todd gave us a Netflix membership that we've just now started using - and are enjoying! Very convenient to be able to choose movies online, receive and send them back by mail!

It was dark when I took this picture of the Blue Moon rising (beautiful) but my night camera setting makes it look lighter. The Blue Moon isn't actually blue - it's just the 2nd full moon in Dec. or 1st full moon of the winter season. The next time we'll have a full moon on New Year's Eve will be 2028!

Happy New Year to all! ~Cindy www.CindyKCreations.com

Christmas Snow

This was the view of the pond in Mom's back yard on Sun. It was a pretty snow!

When we got home Mon. night, Uncle Tim had made a path for us to get in our driveway. This area had gotten about 18" of snow while we were gone.

This drift was in front of the old garage and across the front of the house. The video at the bottom is Bill getting his truck out. He shoveled some of the drift and then just backed through it. He went and got the snow blower and moved the snow back to make room for more.

Christmas Gathering

Mom had her side of the family at her house this Christmas day. We usually have mostly appetizers, ham and a couple of vegetable type dishes and homemade candy like toffee, buckeyes, "meat", peanut brittle and haystacks. Desserts that are tradition with us are persimmon pudding or date pudding. Some of you know some of these people. In this picture is cousin David, Kim, cousin Scott, Uncle Dale, Todd & the back of cousin Dina's head.


In this picture is Aunt Jan on the very left edge, cousin Debbie's husband's nose (Jerry), cousin Debbie, Aunt Dana, Uncle Neal, cousin David, Tammy and the back of cousin Dina's head.

Making and pulling taffy used to be a tradition but we haven't done that now for a few years. This year almost everybody took a turn at playing dominoes.

Christmas in Indiana

We've been in Indiana with Mom & my family for a week - Bill, Rob, Ross, Reed and I. Wow, is that drive loooooong in the winter!!! We just got home tonight after leaving at 9:15 this morning.

We had a very nice Christmas including some snow which is kind of unusual for Indiana at Christmas time. This is my favorite day and picture(s) from our trip. It was yesterday: church at Mom's church, quick lunch at the DQ, snow coming down, pictures at Clay Terrace's Santa house, went to the movie Blind Side and watched the Colts game! The boys hadn't seen the new Dairy Queen (rebuilt after a fire this past summer). We were all disappointed that the Colts coaches decided not to play Manning, Clark and others so they didn't have an undefeated season but it was fun for me to be able to 1) get to watch the game (not always on in Iowa) and 2) and see it with other family/Colts fans! We were all in our Colts jerseys, shirts, pants, etc. - except Bill. :)

Bill and I have unpacked and HOPE to sleep in tomorrow. We've unplugged/turned off all of the phones (we think) and surely with all the snow around here people won't be out and about - at least to our house! Will be posting more pictures this week. :)

Christmas in Snowy Iowa

With it being the first Christmas in this house, decorating for Christmas was a little different. This is our entry. No mantle to hang the stockings on but we do like our cozy stove vs. a drafty fireplace.

I hung a wreath on our pantry door instead of our front door since it has the decorative oval glass.

The reindeer are above the door to the basement. I'm collecting different sets to change the plates seasonally.



The trees have been frosty a couple of days recently. Right now Iowa has a mix of ice, snow and wind making travel difficult.

Merry Christmas to all from both of us!

Nice Weekend Away

We've had a busy but fun weekend away from home! We left for Kansas City Fri. morning to help Bill's younger brother move from apt. to his first home. Bill's mom went too. The move, including king size bed, big couch, cat and fish went better than expected! Here are a couple of his pictures to show what a nice place he's bought - congrats Jim! I totally forgot to take any pictures during the actual move.



Since Kansas City is known for its barbecue, we requested that he take us to the best place he knew of so he took us to Smokehouse BBQ last night - yum! This morning we went to Corner Cafe for a very good breakfast - best pancake I've ever had. They have huge cinnamon & caramel rolls which we brought home. Should've taken a picture of them but thought of it after chunks from both had been eaten. (still some left!)

It's a 5 hour drive from here to Kansas City. On the way home today we saw these pretty, frosty trees for quite a while, lots of turkeys and deer in the fields. Unfortunately, it was icy for a ways especially around Des Moines where we saw several cars that had just slid off the road (people still inside vehicles). Glad to be home!

More of Lacey

Here are a couple more good pictures of Lacey from Thanksgiving. She has on her mom's high heeled shoes in the first one.


In the 2nd one she's playing a Wii game - love this side view - kids and their little noses are so cute! These fake glasses she was wearing made us laugh too. Guess she wears them all the time. Watching her play Wii was more fun than playing!

Blowing Snow

I had the annual eye dr. appointment in Ft. Dodge on Mon. On the way there it was snowing some and slick in spots but mostly blowing out in the open areas. This picture sort of shows how the snow blows here. The ditches and fields fill up. From then on whenever it snows it blows across the road. There are white outs a lot too.

Besides the eye dr., we also went to the mall, had lunch and made a few other stops including getting some spare intakes due to one getting torn up by me with the stalk cutter this Fall. (they're "only" $22 - whew!) As Bill said, at least it was one of the plastic ones instead of the galvanized steel. I was lucky that only the intake was torn up and nothing else!

I'm going to call this a gingerbread man - made of baled corn stalks. It's on the way to Humboldt. I'm not sure how long it's been there but I had seen it before. I finally had my camera with me to take a picture today. It has a couple of Christmas packages on its leg.

Good Videos

Here are my videos that I couldn't get uploaded earlier in the week! The first one is of the bunny that somehow got in our window well even though it has a cover. Here Bill is trying to get it in a box but ended up having to grab it's neck and carry it upstairs and and back outside! We've been checking the window wells now every day to make sure the bunny hasn't returned - or any friends. (Bill had me check the language before posting!)

How 'bout this snow blower! Gets the job done in a hurry.

Wildlife

Bill called last evening before he pulled into the driveway and asked if I had looked out a back window - 5 deer! This is taken from our bedroom window.


I don't think my outside Christmas tree has seen this much snow before but it's kind of pretty lit up at night!

For some reason I can't get my videos to upload to the blog anymore! I have a good one of the bunny trying to jump straight up when Bill was trying to catch him! Will keep trying.

Rabbit in the Window Well!

Oh my gosh - I went to get a couple things from my basement pantry and after passing the window, thought something "extra" was maybe in there so went back to look!! There's a rabbit down in the window well! Wonder what Bill will do about that!? :) Always something . . .







We were happy that the snow blew away from our garage doors . . . this time! We really didn't know what to expect as far as drifting around this house. The driveway isn't bad either.










Bill's mom was snowed in with snow deep in front of her garage doors and little access door. The last picture is more drifts at her house.

Time to get lunch going. Making homemade bread to have with baked minute steaks (with cream of mushroom soup and mushrooms). Bill only likes chili on very cold days and thought that it would be ok to have it yesterday during blizzard conditions! We like to eat chili with Fritos rather than crackers - yum!

It's nice and sunny here today - the snow makes it extra bright and cheery. But it's very cold.

Blizzard of 2009

I got Bill to go out with me and drive around to see the drifts and see if anybody was out. His truck is about 19 years old so we can do whatever in it. The strong wind had blown the snow off our road so we made it into town. Found this guy that was stuck trying to get from a side street on to the main street through town. Here Bill's truck is crosswise across the main street! Kinda funny we could do that but no traffic!



They're saying the path of the storm through here got 8-12" of snow but this was our biggest drift. There was really nothing in front of our garage doors and the new driveway isn't bad. The wind does weird things.

They're saying travel in all of Iowa is still not advised. Our big ditches have filled up with snow that most likely won't have a chance to melt so any snow storms after this will cause drifting. We found several today that Bill didn't want to try to go through.


Snow piled up at the post office. Looked like the bank was open with just a couple of employees and also the grocery. I remember when I worked at the bank in Carmel, I had my dad take me to work the day after a blizzard in a tractor - didn't want to miss work!

Bill went to clear the end of friends' driveway but called to say he had been at a house fire instead and wouldn't be home for a while. Brrr. The sun had come out and we had a pastel sunset but it was about 5 degrees going down to -10 tonight. We're amazed that the furnace in this house has actually been off and on vs. running continuously at the old house. We found that there was NO insulation in the old house when Bill tore it down!

Have a good video of our drive but can't get it to load yet. Will try later.

Blizzard

We've had lots of snow and are in a Blizzard Warning until 6 p. I've finally gotten Bill talked in to going out with me to check it out! Hope to get some good pictures/and or video. Our road looks like the wind has blown it clear so just want to go until we find a drift we can't get past!

Snowing

We have snow this evening with the potential for quite a bit along with wind which makes it a lot worse here with drifting. We are lucky that we don't have to drive in it to jobs.

Deer season started yesterday. We've really been seeing them (deer) around a lot.

This week Bill has been taking duals off 2 tractors so that he could put the loader on the tractor that has a cab and snow blower on another one.

He selected seed varieties for the various fields next year. Believe it or not it took him a couple days to do that! I never knew there was such a thing as planting a bunch of different kinds of seed. He tries to pick the right type of seed for the soil type which varies from field to field and there are other things to consider. He's also been catching up on paperwork. The farm office is at Peggy's which he likes. He says it helps to have to "go" to an office. Today we cleaned off both of our desks here at home. Lots of papers were thrown away and some filed. We're kind of still getting organized with combining our "stuff" - Bill had his filing system and I had mine - and we're thinking about working on tax returns soon - ugh . . . Farmers have to file and pay taxes by March 1st.

Bill put up a motion light on the old garage today for lighting the way between it and the new house. (he parks his truck in the old garage)

Today was Holiday in the Heartland in the RAM Event Center (vendor booths, Santa, meal of oyster stew and/or baked potato bar) which I checked out. There was also a tea at the library.

Will be interesting to see how much snow we have by morning!

www.CindyKCreations.com

1st Christmas Tree

We had snow yesterday and today but this is all that stuck. It finally got us in the mood to get our Christmas tree put up! There was a nice, pink, snowy day sunset when I took this picture of the tree. I'm having the Dec. P.E.O. meeting here next Tues. night so getting ready for that. It's a potluck so I have plans to make some good stuff like maybe homemade rolls that will smell great, a white chocolate snack mix and choc. chip cheesecake.

We've received our first 2 Christmas cards - both handstamped! I haven't started making mine yet.

More Thanksgiving

Mom, my assistant, is resting before everyone arrives. She did lots of dishes especially - couldn't have done it all without her! She left for home today. As Diane & Glenn say, she never stays long enough. We needed a few more days to make our Christmas cards!

Mom, Bill & I took the triplets to Pizza Hut and DQ Fri. night along with a stop at the grocery. Mom bought the boys some of their favorite cereal and snacks.









Two of our desserts on Thanksgiving - apple crisp and pumpkin pie. Peggy also brought a Layered Pumpkin Pie that is Dave's favorite. It was really good. Sat. night our desserts were French Silk pie and pecan pie.

The boys loading their plates. Our peninsula was great for a big meal - lots of room. I totally forgot to take people pictures on Thanksgiving.

1st Thanksgiving in New House - Twice!

Wow it's been a busy last few days! We had Lacey a couple of days and nights. She was a little helper with cleaning and cooking/baking. I was sure she wouldn't want to eat any turkey after seeing it thawing and the meat being taken off the bones but she tasted a first little bite and said "this is delicious!"

Her favorite - blueberry pancakes.









Lacey's teacher French braided her hair and she loved it so the next day, Lacey asked her to do it again. She had to tell her that she would do it for her once a week!

We had Bill's family minus Jim here on Thanksgiving and mine on Sat.

Deer in Town

I was coming back into town yesterday and saw 3 deer below the house Glenn & Amy used to live in. The one on the right is a buck - I had never seen one up close before!

Bill has been power washing equipment still but we had rain last night and it is off and on today so now he's doing bookwork and met with a seed corn dealer this morning.

Diane, Mom & I went to Algona for lunch at Maggie B's and looked at the shops today. Maggie B's is a tiny place with only 4 tables but very busy. Maggie and her two helpers make homemade pies of all types every day. Seems like the cream pies with meringue are the most popular (the cream pies were sold out by noon). Lots of call in and large carryout orders while we were there plus a line out the door.

Have Thanksgiving dinner both Thurs. and Sat. and a stamp class Tues. night to get ready for.

Sunny Days

Wed. we headed to Mason City for some shopping. We keep a continuous list going since shopping is not close and we don't go very often. We needed some counter stools and Shopko had some that we thought would be ok. Farm & Fleet is also in Mason City and they have a great toy section so we got some Christmas shopping for the small nieces and nephew done! Bill is excited about what he found for Matthew since so far he likes farm stuff! While he had fun looking at F & F, I got Thanksgiving stuff at Walmart.


I'm taking advantage of the nice, sunny days we're having to get some cleaning done. Today is a good day for scrubbing some things outside and washing windows. Had a couple of very small nicked spots on the marbled walls to touch up. The painting gals had left a piece of sponge for me just in case. Glad to finally get that small thing done.

Bill is still cleaning up equipment but glad for the nice days to do that icky job. Tim's back pain has gotten worse so he's had some dr. appointments and is supposed to take it easy and see the next dr. on the 30th.

Reed called me as he and Ross were headed home for the weekend (with lots of laundry he said). They want to have breakfast here tomorrow so Aunt Cindy needs to go get a couple things at the grocery!

Bunker

The national weather maps have shown rain for Iowa the past 2 days but we've had nice, sunny days with beautiful sunsets.

Today the elevator was open until 2:00 but there sure weren't as many trucks and wagons going by as there were yesterday.

This is a picture of the bunker (the white thing on the left). It's a pile of corn on the ground basically covered with a tarp that usually gets torn and blown off during the winter! Expensive temporary solution. This was taken several days ago so it's bigger now plus they're putting up a 2nd one.

Baked bread again today (this is after rising and before baking). I really like this pumpkin - it was a gift from Uncle Neal & Aunt Jan when they stopped to see us 2 years ago. I'm getting back in the routine of cooking again now that we're done with Harvest - gearing up for the big Thanksgiving feast! All the years I was single, I had all these great kitchen gadgets that I never used (like the Pampered Chef loaf pan). I'm getting to use them now! There are very few restaurants around here so people just don't eat out much - which isn't all bad.

Bill is at a fire mtg. tonight - they're burning an old house in town.

Appetizer

We had a really nice day of laziness yesterday. In the afternoon, we napped during the NASCAR race and then had pizza. Then the wait for the Colts game to start. They didn't play as well as they should've, won by 1 point at the last second, but they're still undefeated!

Today is sunny - rain to the south of us per TV weather. Bill was here with the ripper this morning and going to a couple other farms to redo some of the areas that had the worst tire ruts and the areas that have been muddy. There were lots of loads of corn going toward town at elevator opening time this morning.

He's going to Algona for a hair cut late afternoon. Farmers don't stop for haircuts during harvest. Mine actually looked really bad this year too! Diane has been busy running the mail route just about full time lately - the full time guy is getting ready to retire so seems to be using up some days. She didn't have much time left for her hair customers. Plus she's pregnant and tired (due June 20th).

With the holidays coming up, thought I'd share this recipe I got from my Aunt Jan. I served it at my last stamp class and everyone loved it!

Corn Dip

2 cans Mexicorn or Fiesta corn
1 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 c. Hellmann's mayonnaise
4 oz. grated Monterey Jack cheese
4 oz. grated Pepper Jack cheese (or all Monterey Jack)

Mix together and bake in casserole dish at 350 for 30-45 min. until slightly browned on top. Can be served hot or cold with Doritos or Fritos.

(I have pie pans that are like crock material and a little deeper than a regular pie pan - that's what I use to bake it in)

Celebrate!

Bill was home before me tonight - he is done!!! He says he's taking the anhydrous rig back tomorrow and not doing anything else but watch the NASCAR race! It's been a long, muddy fall this year. We are very lucky to be done thanks to friends and family helping.

The elevators around here were not open today. I saw lots of tractor lights in the fields when I came home tonight. I also just about hit a deer. Luckily it got halfway across the road and decided to turn around as I was braking.

I went to a NW Iowa Women's Conference at church today. After an opening session, they had a nice lunch of turkey salad, potato soup, muffins and decorated cookie for us. Cindy Finch was the speaker with music by Jill Pearson and her band. Tonight we had another meal of a very nice salad, pork loin, baked potatoes, cinnamon apple ring, green beans and cake. There was a concert open to everyone at 7:00.

Bill's Dad

Bill's dad passed away 2 years ago today - a day after his birthday, just a little over 4 months after we got married and just 3 weeks after my dad died. It was a rough Fall!

He had supposedly retired from farming but still helped a lot with spring planting and he was the combine operator in Fall. Bill and Tim have had to change how they do things including different equipment so that 2 of them can do what 3 did.



So I didn't get to know him very well (and I don't have many pictures of him) but do know that Bill does some things just like his dad. I used to think Tim looked like him - and he does walk like him when he's in a hurry. :)



Here he is with Peggy and the twins and ready to go on a tour around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with Peggy & my parents when they came to Indy- to see where I came from.

Stamping Excitement

Demonstrators are all excited today - we can see the upcoming Occasions mini catalog online (demos only). There are a couple of new products that we're going to be selling that everyone's getting excited about! For now, our newest product is My Digital Studio. With it you can do scrapbooks, calendars, cards, videos & more using our colors, papers, etc. - and your pictures you have on your computer! Go to my Stampin' Up! web site (top right here) and look under Products to learn more about it!

There is a long line of trucks and wagons at the elevator today - and we're glad we're not in it! Bill, with Carl's help, started putting anhydrous (fertilizer) on the bean fields yesterday. The corn fields don't get it (don't ask me why 'cause I don't know yet!). Took food out to Bill last night. He got home after 9:00.

Bill & Carl had lunch here today. I made a frozen hash browns, ham & Swiss cheese casserole, green beans, homemade honey wheat bread and pumpkin pie. The house sure smelled good this morning!

Will probably be taking food to Bill tonight. He doesn't want me to ride with him when he's doing anhydrous. It's kind of dangerous. When I just Googled it, one site says "The properties of this fertilizer make it one of the most potentially dangerous chemicals used in agriculture. If a hose ruptures or a valve is unintentionally opened, the high pressure from the tank can cause ammonia to spray into your eyes, face, and other parts of your body before you can react. Anhydrous ammonia is caustic and causes severe chemical burns. Body tissues that contain a high percentage of water, such as the eyes, skin, and respiratory tract, are very easily burned. Victims exposed to even small amounts of ammonia require immediate treatment with large quantities of water to minimize the damage."

Starting to think about Thanksgiving. Having Bill's family here - first time to have Thanksgiving in our new house and only my 2nd turkey ever (the 1st one turned out ok but that's been years ago) so I'm THANKFUL my mom will be here to help and supervise!!

Happy Veterans Day

We got finished with combining and stalk chopping Mon. night! Carl finished the ripping yesterday. They all got started on cleaning up equipment including vacuuming inside the cabs, power washing the outside, scraping mud off, etc. I caught up on paying bills, laundry, etc. and met Bill, Pam & Carl at Ropa's for lunch, then went to my P.E.O. meeting at 1:30.

Bill's planning on getting started applying anhydrous to the bean ground today which I think he said is about 900 acres and would take him 3-4 days to do with the right weather. They get the tanks from West Bend. While Bill is applying one tank (pulls it with the red 4 wheel drive tractor), Carl or Tim go get a 2nd tank with a pickup so that it'll be waiting when the first one runs out. Then they go back & forth getting them refilled. Depending on how many other guys are needing them, they can maybe get 3-4 at the end of the day so that Bill can run with them after closing time. This all needs to be done before the ground freezes.

The following is being shared on Facebook today.

To all our fighting men and women: "A Veteran - whether active duty, retired, national guard or reserve - is someone who, at one point in their life, wrote a check made payable to "The United States of America", for an amount of "up to and including life." That is Honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it." - Author Unknown...

Almost Done Combining

80 acres to go! We could get done today but Bill is not betting on it. Will depend on the elevator. Bill called Dave last night to come down and run the ripper today. We are so lucky to have the help we do.

This is the little ladder on the side of the grain bins that the guys have to climb up and down quite a bit. This year a guy from our town fell from the top and last year someone form our church did. Imagine how they'd be slick if it's raining or on a frosty morning. There are a lot of dangerous things about grain bins.

Yesterday Carl, Kyle, Bill & I had an omelet, sausage & cinnamon roll lunch at the community center put on by the Shared Ministry Church. I stopped chopping stalks about 6:00. I was only able to do 7 rows at a time (instead of 8) and in A4 instead of B2. This variety of corn just has a lot of leaves and tough stalks. Bill says he won't buy it again! The rest quit at about 8:30 after filling one drying bin all day and then moving the auger to another bin.

We had 70's weather which was great but warm weather causes other problems for farmers! My tractor started overheating and so did one of the semis. Tim says we normally don't have warm weather for Harvest and that things work better in the normal cool Fall temps.!

Guess I missed a nail biter Colts game but they won and are still undefeated! I'll watch it at some point!

The End is in Sight

This year I learned how to fuel up the tractor. The gas cap is on top of the front of the tractor so filling it involves finding a way to climb up on top of the tire so that you can see in when it's full! You can't just listen for it to get full because the gas tank is too loud when running!


Bill & Tim put little cameras on the back of the grain cart and on the end of the auger. Pam can watch a TV screen in the tractor to see when her cart is full and also see where she needs to dump in the semi and when it's full.

Got a lot done the past 2 days with being able to haul to West Bend's elevator after Rolfe's closed. Rolfe closed at 2:00 Fri. and noon yesterday. West Bend stayed open until 7:30 and 6:30 so that really helped. Both are closed today so will be going to 2 drying bins which usually takes longer.

We'll be working in a field with about 100 acres left so won't get it done today. Jim has ripped all weekend keeping that caught up and Kyle will be today. I'll be chopping stalks right behind the combine.

Bill is getting equipment greased, serviced and ready to go. I'm going to church and hope we all meet at the community center for an omelet meal for lunch, then get to work in the field. Taping the Colts game!!