Uh Oh!

Sneaky snake in the landscaping.

Almost every day, if I have my camera with me, I run across something fairly interesting to take a picture of and blog about.  I was surprised at what I found yesterday!

You might want to skip to the bottom of this post if you REALLY hate snakes!  Skip to the picture of the sprayer and the blue type.

I was mowing at our house yesterday and scared this snake from the grass into the river rock!  (makes me thing twice about walking around in flip flops like I always do!)   I took his picture and then kept driving by watching to see where he would go (so I would know!).

First he slithered under the hose reel box (great) and the next time I went by, into a little hole next to the box and house (not good!)!  The next time I went by he had his head (& tongue) sticking out of the hole taunting me.  The next time he was back out in the grass so . . . I had to do it . . . I ran over him!  Then got the heck out of that area!  But had to go back a while later (still on the mower) to make sure he was dead - he wasn't. He had a bad head injury and was mad it looked like and still moving!  Ewww! 

I had to go somewhere for a few minutes in the car and decided that when I got back I better run over him with the car tires once and for all!  I will spare you all the details - but I was then scared to look to make sure he was dead!  Bill did when he got home - and he is dead.  Whew.  Just worried if this one had friends in the area . . .   Since I killed him, I think the least Bill can do is get rid of him!  It's still out there so far . . .

We are all happy.  Tim, Peggy & I all got all of our mowing done, Bill & Tim got fields and other weedy areas sprayed and now it can rain which it did overnight and this morning.  So far we got .3".  In this picture and video Bill is spraying just the edges of the field to keep the grass on the sides from going into the rows.   

This morning he's at an appointment at the FSA office in Pocahontas for something he has to do farm related.  It's only 54 so I'm thinking about chili.  As all the kids say now - jk (just kidding).    

Today is my triplet nephews' 22nd birthday!  Happy birthday Rob, Ross & Reed! 

Bill in the sprayer.

Memorial Day

Avenue of Flags in our cemetery - 50 flags

 Some pictures from our cemetery . . .


There is usually a memorial service in the cemetery and the Lutheran Church ladies VFW Ladies Aux. serve a Maidrites or ham sandwich lunch after at the Lutheran Church.  Maidrites are similar to sloppy joes depending on the recipe used.  Maidrites all taste different - lots of variations that you will see if you Google them! 

Bill is hoping to do some more power washing on the quad trac that I got oil all over that the dirt then REALLY stuck to.   I plan to mow our yard again and a couple other places.  Unfortunately, the wind is picking up.  Bill needs to spray some corn but can't if it's too windy.  We did get .25" rain during the night.  A huge amount of rain missed us. 

My Dad's grave in Carmel, IN - picture taken by Glenn today

Bill's Dad's grave here

Race Day - Indianapolis 500

Bill grilled these T bones to perfection for lunch.  We had baked potatoes, broccoli salad, iced tea and apple pie while watching the race.  Bill said "it can't get much better than this"!

It's very hot and windy here today.  I have several friends and family who are sitting in the hot sun with record heat at the race in Indianapolis.     

Holiday Weekend

Last night we both had the idea to go out to eat (we think the same a lot) so we went to Storm Lake to Boz Wellz and had steaks.  Bill had not been there and he liked it.  It has a nice atmosphere compared to most places around here and a big menu with lots of good sounding choices.  Then we stopped at Fareway for meat for the freezer and Walmart to get charcoal and a few other things.  Nice date night - for us.  :)

You can see what I made for Bill - again - today.  Over dessert he proclaimed that he is very happy - to be eating my apple pie and with a little rain the other day and a little last night, the beans are out of the danger zone and now have a chance to live and grow.   

He's working on equipment today, and I've been cleaning, weeding and card making.  I also planted another hosta on the north side of our house.  Now that it can really be seen by passers by with our old grove gone, I thought it would be good to fill in the landscaping a little more on that side. 

Have really been enjoying watching the Orioles at the feeder outside the great room windows.  Wish they were around all year!  We have some hummingbirds at the feeder that's outside the screened porch on the back too.  

Looking forward to watching at least some of the Indianapolis 500 on TV tomorrow. Will  miss hearing Jim Nabors sing Back Home Again in Indiana this year.  I guess my cousin Paul has always wanted to take over that job.  Dad always sang it too.


The cemetery is just to our north, and I've been noticing that it's very busy with cars driving in and around.  I went by there earlier and see that lots of flowers have appeared along with the Avenue of Flags. 

Hope everyone is having a nice Memorial weekend!  

New Bobcat

Bill used the new Bobcat to put some dirt in a hole in the waterway here at our house the other day.  He says the old one they had was about 40 years old.  We got just .3" of rain early this morning.  At least most of today wasn't as windy as it has been!

Today I tried two new recipes - Bacon Cheeseburger Pasta and Easy Chocolate Pie.  The pasta was pretty good but definitely not real healthy.  I'll keep that recipe.  The pie tastes kind of like a brownie but not good enough to make again.     

It's a Little Windy Today

Yesterday and today we've had really strong wind.  This afternoon it's been 29 mph with gusts up to 39 and 93 degrees.  Bill had to get up on our roof again and stick down a few shingles.  We're sure hoping for rain tonight that there's a 95% chance of!

Very Dry

We need rain!  You can see in the second picture that our yard is cracking.  The newly planted beans are starting to poke through the ground, but they're sitting in very dry dirt.  

Before we got all of our new trees, Bill ordered this water tank.  It sure makes watering trees easier than carrying buckets!  With no rain for quite a while, we had to water the trees last week. 

Camry sure likes watching Uncle Bill do things outside.  Here he's cultivating between the trees to keep the weeds down.

You can see all of the new growth on the trees - exciting!  

Yesterday we went to Cedar Rapids (3 hours from here) to the memorial service of a lady we farm for.  Bill and his dad have farmed for this family for years and had never met them in person so it was nice for us to get to meet them all.  

It's supposed to be very windy here by noon today so I'm going to get started mowing early, and Bill is going to be spraying weeds around fields.   

Planting is done!

This is what I've been driving - field cultivator - folded up for going down the road.

Tim with the roller going over newly planted beans. 

Lunch on the porch yesterday & today!

Oriole at the feeder.

We got done with planting, spraying and rolling this week so now on to other jobs.  I got our mowing done.  Bill got a call today to spray some hay.  I'm planting flowers.  We also watered our 150+ new trees (new grove) this morning.  Pictures of that later.

I have an Indiana stamp class and downline meeting to get ready for.  That's coming up in June!  

Planting - almost done

I

Bill planting

Bill's Mom's house & barn in the distance

The weather is perfect here this week.  I finished the field cultivating yesterday.  Bill hopes to finish planting today. He's doing the field around our house and has one more.  Then Tim will spray them and be done and Carl will roll them.  It's strange that they roll over newly planted beans with big, super heavy rollers!

Now there is mowing to do, laundry, and we need to water our trees/new grove.  I bought flowers this morning and plan to plant them this afternoon. 




These pictures were all taken several days ago.

I like all he changes of the colors of the landscape and even now when the dirt is dark brown when newly worked and planted.

2 deer in the field

These 2 deer were in the little field Bill was moving to next.

One day I shared a field with about 6 deer for a while and several  mice. The deer were laying in a weedy  area I had worked earlier.  I guess it was maybe cool for them. 

Moving Right Along and then . . .

Looking out from inside the cab - Bill & Carl working

 Yesterday was going to be a good day with all of us smoothly getting a lot done.  My biggest worry was moving from the first field to the second - ON THE ROAD ! ! !  They've been having me move myself the past few days and it does make me nervous.  I don't mind the driving on the road part but my fear is meeting cars or especially other big equipment.  There isn't room for both of you on the road.  What I'm pulling takes up about 3/4 or more of the road.  You have to be constantly looking for some place you could pull over even if just a little bit.  Most of the time the edge is not very wide and there's a big drop off into the ditch.  Most people in cars just speed right by and have no patience.  There are a few that know better and they find a spot to get out of your way - but very few.  It's scary.  Thankfully I haven't met another tractor yet this spring.   I told Bill there should be a flashing sign that says "Beware - Driver in Training" on the front of my tractor! 

Working near the train track

So I got moved to the second field without meeting anyone and all was going well until I was almost done in a field about 4:00 and ready to move to the next field when a transmission hose broke.  It sprayed oil all over and took the guys about 4 hours to fix and it wasn't an easy job. They got done right before dark.  They said it would've happened to whoever was driving (whew!) - the hose had rubbed on something and wore through.


 We were working right next to the train track west of town.  Two trains went by during the day there.

Today we have visitors coming.  Our little twin niece & nephew & their sister.  Matthew REALLY likes farming and will be riding with Uncle Bill and asking LOTS of questions.  Jim is back this weekend.  Peggy is having lunch for us.

Today I'm going to start in a field that's the main corner into town.  Hopefully most of the farmers will be busy in their own fields and not driving by.  :)  (when you're a rookie you don't want people critiquing how you're doing!)   I think I'm still supposed to be babysitting Diane's girls tonight.   Busy day.

The new hose (Bill & Uncle Tim)

Good Weather!

We finally have a stretch of good weather and just got done with planting corn this evening!  Now on to the beans!

In other news, the NEW Stampin' Up! catalog can be ordered from beginning June 1st!  My customers will have theirs by then.  It will also be online through my web site, above right.  Lots of our stamps and accessories are retiring to be replaced with exciting new product so be sure to check it out!  You can always order by e mailing me or 24/7 on my web site.  


The Rolfe Sesquicentennial Cookbook proof arrived today!  Very exciting!  We only have three days to look it over. 

Rain Delay

We had almost another inch of rain Fri. night so I've been doing some cooking.  I made shrimp stir fry.  It's really good and a good way to get Bill to eat a bunch of vegetables!  Then in honor of the Kentucky Derby running yesterday, I made Kentucky Derby Pie.  There was a horse from Iowa, Dullahan, that came in 3rd.

 KENTUCKY DERBY PIE

1/2 c. butter, melted
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 c. chocolate chips 
3/4 c. chopped pecans or walnuts
9" pie crust


Combine all ingredients and bake at 350 for 45 min. or until brown on top.  Good served a little warm with a dollop of Cool Whip.  It's rich so start with a small slice!  Note - those in the South add 2 T. bourbon to the pie.

 

Dallas - Part 5

Glenn with FJ Cruiser

Glenn's House

One more set of pictures of our Dallas trip after this.  (go carting) 


I liked driving Glenn's FJ! 




 

Dallas Highways

Glenn's house has some land with it.  He has a hot tub in back, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths and a nice size living room with fireplace.










We were a little worried about driving around Dallas, especially from the airport, but the Garmin came through again for us!  I love that thing!  


Tuesday night we got 7/10" of rain so no field work yesterday.  That night Bill got within 6 rows of being done in some fields of his mom's before the sideways rain started.  Due to the warmer temps, we have a chance of storms every night this week.  They missed us last night.  Today is nice with a little breeze.  

Happy May Day!

Prom Kids

I've always liked the month of May.  When I lived in Indiana, besides the weather being so nice with no bugs yet and nice temps, we had all of the excitement of the Indianapolis 500 Race.  Here in Iowa, some people still do May baskets.  (see my post where we made some last year)  The lady who taught us how to make some with milk cartons and tissue paper last year brought this surprise to me today.  She used a plastic champagne glass upside down with the newer, pretty tulip cupcake liners and a white paper cup inside to hold the candy.  She added some silk leaves with floral tape.  Cute!  (pictures below)


The above pictures were from church Sun.  Prom was Sat. night so the kids who went always wear their dresses and tuxes to church the next day.  It was also Confirmation Sunday.  One of the families serving refreshments after church made ALL of the cross cookies this year!  They were all the same (which looked nice) except for the color of the flower.

Bill was able to get back to planting after lunch today.  Tim worked ground.  It's very windy though so the spraying probably won't get done.  Were supposed to have storms this evening. 

I'm still trying to figure out this new Blogger format and haven't figured out how to move the pictures around yet.