Misc.

Look!!! We have a lawn!! It is a little spotty in places but we'll sprinkle some more seed around and hope it fills in.

Yesterday a guy came out and ground out a big stump for us. It only took about 5 min.! Now we can finish the driveway. We're going to have it circle around. Due to saving a tree by the road, our new driveway angles and most people really have a problem backing out.

Aren't these pumpkins so cute?? They're made with our Stampin' Up! circle and oval punches and the leaves are made with the bird punch!

It's a place card holder!! But picture pumpkins like these on a card or fall scrapbook page! Let me know if you'd like to order the punches used to make this! This was one of the projects the customers made at the workshop last night.

Bill was able to combine late last night. (still beans) We're lucky to have this stretch of really nice fall weather. Now that my workshop is done and the ground has had some time to dry, I'll be in the tractor doing some ripping this afternoon. That's only done in the corn fields after they've been combined so there is only part of one field to do since they were able to switch back to beans which are usually all done first.

Quick Post

I just came up from an afternoon in the basement. It's too nice to be downstairs!! I've been counting Christmas cards, swapping them and then counting/checking and then packaging them up to be mailed out tomorrow. Everyone is going to be very pleased with the cards they receive. I have a great group of stampers/Demonstrators!

I was in our grocery late this morning. They're now doing broasted chicken and it was smelling good, and I've heard that it is. Hope this helps their business. They're also going to stay open until 9:00 this fall (usually close at 6:00!).

Bill & Tim have been combining beans since late morning. The weather is supposed to be great all week. Lots of wagons full of corn and beans are being pulled by our house. We are only about a mile out of town so we're on one of the main roads to the elevator.

Now back downstairs to work on what I have planned for my workshop tomorrow night with 10 attending. It'll be time to take sandwiches out to the guys soon.

Lights in the Fields Tonight

Finally, lots of combines in the fields starting this afternoon. Bill & Tim got the beans here at our house done, moved to another field and got 65 acres done there. Guys are still working in the field across from our house (at 9:45).

I got Zemans, the bin site and our house all mowed this afternoon. Peggy helped the guys get moved from our house to the next field. I took some sandwiches out tonight and drove Tim back & forth to get the semis moved to hard ground for the night.

The elevator closed at 7:00 tonight so Bill could only combine until he got both semis and the cart filled.

The weather was perfect here yesterday - about 72 & sunny (the Colts won) and another really nice day today.

It's been like Christmas here every day for about 2 weeks! I've been receiving envelopes full of Christmas cards from my downline. Today was the due date. They sent me 15 cards all the same and I will swap them and send them 15 different ones back. Will take a picture tomorrow when I'm doing that. I had 2 groups of 15 so there are 450 cards downstairs to be swapped! I'm also getting ready for a workshop in someone's home on Wed. night.

La Mie Emilie

When I was in Indiana recently, Mom & I had lunch here at the French cafe, La Mie Emilie in old downtown Carmel in the Arts & Design District. We had soup, Quiche Lorraine and tried the coconut cream pie that we had heard was good. It was a nice lunch!

We finally have SUN this Sun. morning but it will take a while for things to dry out enough to start working in the fields. It's looking like a week of sunshine so that will be good.

I'm looking forward to going to church this morning and watching the Colts game this afternoon!

Garlic Parmesan Chicken

We had .6" of rain last night and more today so still not working in the fields. Long rain delay this time. Tonight it has cooled down to 56 and is windy.

On dark, rainy mornings Bill has usually turned off our alarm, but this morning the phone was the alarm shortly after 7:00. John Deere calling about a kit they needed to put on the combine. Bill was to meet him with the combine by 10:00.

After lunch Bill stayed home today. We (mostly he) went through a lot of old pamphlets, brochures, notebooks, etc. that had accumulated in the filing cabinet and a stack on the floor. I have a big pile of recycling now and room in the filing cabinet for the files of current papers we need! For over a year since living in the new house, we've had the wrong toilet seats on 3 of the toilets but finally have the right ones now - think this is the 3rd or 4th set. Bill installed them today. Got a lot of little stuff accomplished!

It's been a while since I've posted a recipe. Diane told me about this one. We had it for lunch. It's very easy and gives the chicken a good flavor. The breasts do not brown much and they don't have a crispy crust but they are good.

GARLIC PARMESAN CHICKEN

3 chicken breasts
1/2 c. parmesan cheese
1 pkg. dry Italian dressing mix

Put the parmesan cheese and dressing mix in a gallon size ziploc bag and shake to mix. Add chicken and shake to coat. Spray a baking dish with Pam. Place breasts in baking dish and bake at 350 for 45 min. to an hour or until chicken is tender.

No News

Not much of interest going on here. Farming is still on hold while we have more cloudy, and this morning misty, weather. We're in a Severe Thunderstorm Watch until 6 pm tonight. Hoping that stays north of us.



Our library has "coffee" every Wed. morning for all to come to. Sometimes there is a program. I went today because a woman (daughter of someone I know) was talking about her and her husband's mission work in India. It was interesting. She had on very pretty clothing that she was given as a gift there, like what the wealthier women would wear. My Carmel minister and a group of others had gone to India a few years ago, and a missionary family we supported in India would visit Central Christian about once a year. Wondering if Laurie here maybe worked with them.



An interesting note - while I was in Indiana I had planned to make a low calorie pumpkin/spice/choc. chip muffin for both my downline meeting and stamp class. I could not find ANY pumpkin at the large grocery stores there. I found a can of it at Fresh Market but it was organic and close to $4 a can. Due to last year's pumpkin shortage, there is a shortage of canned pumpkin! Today I looked at our store, and we have plenty so far.



Bill and Tim are working on the roller. It's taking longer than they thought it would. I'm working on some awards certificates and things for my downline. This is the time of year that I give out awards to the Top 10 in Sales in my Stampin' Up! group.

Misc.

This is a new building in Carmel. It's been going up for a long time but will be finished late fall.

Flowers at Clay Terrace shopping center.









There are lots of window boxes with flowers in downtown Carmel.

One of the bronzes on Main Street.

This last picture shows an addition to Grandma & Grandpa's house which is now a church. Kind of shocking to see at first. Their house is still to the right of this addition.

The guys combined corn after lunch but the elevator closed at 6:00 so they came back to our house and are combining beans tonight hopefully until late. They're worried we may have rain on the way. I'm supposed to be taking them something to eat (Bill & Tim) but I'm trying to decide what. Not much "fast food" in the refrigerator. I need to get back in gear with the "take to the field" evening meals.

Rain Delay

This is what it looks like behind our house today - and will tomorrow. Equipment is here and ready to combine beans whenever it's dry enough. This morning it was drizzly and then ended up raining off and on during the day and tonight.

I did lots of cleaning today - always battling the dust. Bill did some paperwork, replaced an antennae on a semi, went to Humboldt for a part and even watched some TV after lunch - just waiting and bored!

We Have Grass!

Ripping 2010 Day 1 - Bill had trained me to rip back in the spring and I had just a few practice hours. Today before lunch we had 4 wheel drive tractor/ripping refresher class! After lunch I was out there from 2:00 until 7:15 and did get this field done except for the end rows. It was a 75 acre field and easier than many (not many obstacles). Click on the arrow/video below to get a better idea of what I'm doing.

My job has been upgraded this year! Last year I was chopping stalks and had just started doing a fairly decent job. But over the winter, they sold the stalk chopper and got a new corn head that chops the stalks as you combine which saves a step - and fuel, time, manpower, etc.! Makes lots of sense. The new corn head is working well Bill says.

This tractor has auto steer which means you don't have to steer while going down the row but do have to turn it off and make the turn at each end of the field, then turn it back on. It knows where you are in the field with GPS (Bill says it's like a high end Garmin).

Our yard is starting to get green!!!!!

Working in the Field Today

I had 4 wheel drive tractor driving training 101 for about an hour this morning - taught by Bill. We've had lunch and I'll be out there in a nice straight field without waterways this afternoon! Had more typed for this but lost it in the blink of an eye so will write more tonight! Gotta go!

Home

I had a really nice day to drive home yesterday - and pretty Fall scenery. There were lots of combines working. These pictures are of a guy's yard near Lebanon, IN - lots of stuff to mow around! It's been like this for years!

It was very cloudy and a little misty this morning so Bill & Tim decided not to combine today. Bill decided it would be a good day to go to the Clay County Fair in Spencer. I haven't figured out how it works here - this big county fair is AFTER the state fair by about a month. I'm wondering how this county's champion ribbon winners get to take their entries to the state fair. Maybe to next year's? If anyone reading this knows, please leave a Comment!

It was a little chilly at the fair for walking around but that's better than hot. We had a tenderloin for lunch together and then split up. Bill went to look at equipment and I looked in the buildings. It worked out perfect. I had just gotten done looking around and was riding the shuttle all the way around to see the equipment as we went by :) when he called to say he had seen all he wanted to see. We rode the Skytram round trip to see everything from above and left.

Our laundry room fluorescent light had gone out already so we stopped at Menard's for new bulbs and at Sum Hing on the way home for Chinese. For a cloudy day it was a nice day!

Carmel Library

I had read something that Mom sent me that the Carmel Library had a new golden retriever bronze so I wanted to see it. This first picture is part of the outside of the library and the 2nd one is a sculpture outside. The golden retriever is inside at the entrance of the children's section.





The little girl sitting on the bench reading is inside the entrance and is cute.






Today Mom & I went to lunch in old downtown Carmel and got to sit at a little table right by the window. Then we went shopping for a few things I needed and looked for Colts shirts and "stuff". It's been nice weather the whole time I've been here. The Pilot is loaded and ready to leave tomorrow morning. I'm looking forward to seeing all the equipment working in the fields.

Shades of Harvest

On my drive to Indiana last Thurs., I saw so many shades of Harvest - from bright, green beans that were still growing to beans turning yellow, and corn with the top and bottom third dry but the middle still green to corn that was ready and being harvested. I don't think that I've ever traveled back and forth between Iowa and Indiana at this time of year. Loved it! I can't wait to see all of the equipment busy in the fields when I go back to Iowa this week. Really there was almost nobody working in the fields on the whole way here until about 40 miles west of Carmel. I stopped to take most of these pictures over in that area. There were 2 guys in this tractor with the one waving. They looked happy to be going.



Speaking of busy in the fields, Bill and the other farmers in our area have gotten started this week. Last I heard they had started in beans.











It has been record setting dry here in Carmel. I couldn't believe how brown the yards were when I turned in to mom's subdivision. Saw on the news today that there was a corn field on fire and they're expecting lots more this fall.

Back Home Again in Indiana

For the non-Hoosiers, Jim Nabors has sung Back Home Again in Indiana for years during the opening ceremonies at the Indianapolis 500 Race. So Hoosiers that have moved away think of that song when coming back to Indiana. And that's where I am right now. I drove here on Thursday. I knew I was back in Colts Country when I started to see drivers wearing Colts jerseys!

Yesterday I had errands to run for today. I had my meeting/get together/training time for the Stampin' Up! Demonstrators in my downline - or those selling under me that I also make commission on their sales. It was a nice morning with them! I showed them many of our new catalog products, demonstrated some things that they can show their customers, we all looked at the many stamped samples we all brought to share and they made a couple of projects that I had prepared for them. We as demonstrators, love to go to events where SOMEBODY ELSE has prepared fun things for US to make!

This afternoon I stamped color charts to give my customers tomorrow, Mom worked on making files and labels and filing away her new colors of card stock that she recently purchased, and we made Peanut Butter Bars and a cheesecake for my stamp class tomorrow.

Tomorrow will be a busy day going to church, setup for stamp class, class at 2:00 and then out to eat tomorrow night. Can you believe Mom & I will have to watch the Colts game later tomorrow evening??? I can't believe I scheduled a stamp class the day of the first Colts game!

I took pictures on the trip here - I saw many stages of Fall! I've taken some pictures around Carmel already - it is always changing. I took many pictures at the meeting this morning. So lots of blog material for future days!

In the meantime, it has rained a couple of days in Iowa this week so Bill & Tim are having to wait until it dries to get started with our combining. Bill has been doing some other things in the meantime like we needed a supply of water softener salt and our garbage disposal replaced to name two.

These 2 pictures were taken at my traditional stop on the way here, The Beef House, for salad bar and their homemade yeast rolls with apple butter. Yum. It's on 74 at about the Illinois/Indiana line.

Baby Day

I got to babysit just Camry last Thurs. She's a really good baby so it was easy and fun. The daycare lady had to be gone for the day. Lacey is now in kindergarten full day.

Bill has gone to an equipment auction in Pocahontas today. I was hoping to leave for Indiana this morning but still have more to do for the meeting on Saturday and stamp class on Sun. Didn't want to stay up half the night finishing up with a 10 hour drive ahead of me so will now get done today and leave at a good time tomorrow morning. Bill won't be home for lunch so I won't have to stop to cook even.

Our small cafe here in town recently closed so now the only option for getting food out is Pronto, our gas station! They make subs and other sandwiches, fries, etc. plus there is a bar that has food but it's only open at night.

Huge Full Rainbow

On Aug. 10th, we had this low, full rainbow behind our house. You can faintly see that it was almost a double.
Last Thursday we had another full rainbow! I needed a camera that can take panorama shots it was so big - both wide and tall! As you can see, some of it was double.

In the last picture, the end that looks like it ends at our neighbors house was really bright! I called them to make sure they saw it, and Amy said that her daughter kinda wanted to "go out back" to see if there maybe was a pot of gold!

Yard is Done - Let it Rain!

Bill is sitting in his chair relieved tonight. The yard is finally done!! He's been working hard again this weekend with various borrowed pieces of equipment.

In the first picture, he's using Farmer Mike's little blue tractor and tiller to break up the clumps some more.





Here he's using a seeder of Mike's. Mike usually uses it for planting alfalfa. It's made for planting larger seed so wasn't working too well so Bill went and borrowed a different one from Mike! (no picture) The 2nd one required also dragging after seeding. As we started to hear thunder and Bill was still planting, he had me go get the lawn mower (at Peggy's) and he hooked the chain link drag up behind the mower and I did that (no picture). It sprinkled and there was lightning to the East, but we got done - just as it got dark. Now the rain has missed us and no chance again until Fri.!













I'm still getting everything ready to go for my Indiana stamp class and downline meeting. I did get this rag quilt purse finished so that I can show a finished fabric project using the Big Shot.

Be sure to check out the Holiday Mini catalog - just out Sept. 1! (right column - click on the picture to see all of the new products in it).