Junk Amana Freezer

Our Amana freezer is only two years old and the top of the door warped downward causing the seal to not seal across the top of the freezer any more.  After having an appliance repair guy out who adjusted the door and the frost inside tripled overnight,  Bill and Glenn did "surgery" and all I can say is, check out these pictures!  They think it's going to work!  Their repair job involved spray foam, heat gun, drills, black tape, pop rivets, 4 x 4's, 2 x 6's, heavy gauge wire. Wish I had a "before" picture.

Amana said we would have to buy a new door for $384 and pay $70 shipping.  Found out today that Amana is no longer making freezers.  This must be why.

Crazy huh?

 

Fast Snow Removal

We were to be in a big snow storm Thurs. night into Fri. morning.  The first guess of snow totals was 20" with high wind, then 10", then 7" and we finally got about 5.5".  Never as bad as they say.  Anyway, around here the snow removal is pretty quick with the big toys the guys have.  We always have a drift on our sidewalk, of course, and this time we had one in front of our garage.  Our driveway had more this time than usual.

Bill does have several places to clear snow at:  his mom's, a couple of people that we farm for, and where we keep equipment.  Usually the main bin site too but this year there isn't any grain stored in the bins so no hauling from there to be done.  Uncle Tim & Bill take care of clearing Aunt Bette Jo's mom's place too.

We're expecting some more winter weather tomorrow and Tues.  This morning we had the beautiful hoar frost with sun, no wind.  I saw 11 deer running south in single file in the field across the road.

Glenn arrived last night.  He swung up this way on his way back to Indiana from checking on his house in Texas so that he can see Diane and the girls.

We just had a group of . . .  looks like 4 guys on 4 wheelers arrive.  They're checking out Bill's shed.

In front of our garage.

 

The driveway.

He started out with the skid loader.

 

Birthday Fun

Wow, it is cold and windy - again today!  The temp was 6 when we got up this morning - with the sun hitting it!  It's so cold that there has been a sun dog to the east.  I took a picture of it but it doesn't show up very well.  This one isn't as bright as some I've seen.  I had never heard of a sun dog until moving here!  Click HERE to go to a site with a bunch of sun dog pictures.  We're supposed to get  6" of snow & wind Thurs.

Lacey was here on my birthday and the night before.  Her birthday was a few days earlier.  She normally doesn't like cake much but had told her mom that this year she wanted to have a cake like a "normal person" so they were getting a Dairy Queen cake.  When I found out she'd be here on my birthday, I told her we'd bake a normal person cake!  We made chocolate cake batter and put it in two heart shaped pans and both decorated our own.  That was fun.  She didn't think I'd have enough room for the right number of candles on my cake!

We had a little tea party with the tea set I gave her on her birthday last year.  She prefers hot choc.

 It was a really nice day which doesn't happen very often on my birthday, so we went outside to see what Uncle Bill was doing in the shed.  She saw our rock pile and had a great time climbing it.  She thought she even wanted to come back the next day to do that again.  Then we went down the hill to the creek and crossed it since it's frozen and walked up the hill on the other side.  She thought the view was "amazing".  I like it too. 

On top of the pile.

Comfy at the top.

No snakes in the winter!  But we didn't mention that!

Even I didn't break the ice.

View of the back of our place from the top of the hill across the creek.  Sure will be glad when our trees are bigger - it's so bare now!

Sunshine!

This is our second day in a row of sunshine!  So much better.  Now I can really see the dust I need to clean off of our wooden blinds we have in two rooms. 

Bill and Tim are off to Algona this afternoon to get our taxes done and find out how much we have to pay.  Farmers have to file by Mar. 1st.  

Bill has a used scissors lift to try out.  It was delivered here yesterday.  He and Tim are thinking about buying one.  Bill is using it to put up lights in the shed and will need one when he does the insulation and some other things.  They've thought of other farming related things they can use one for too.

Our builders, Greg & Bill, are coming to the house this afternoon to work on our drafty windows again.  We are not at all happy with Marvin windows.  It's a good thing we have the honeycomb type blinds that keep out cold and heat in most rooms.

I had a P.E.O. meeting in Pocahontas last night.  It was my month to give the program.  I talked about my return trip from my stamping weekend in Peoria when I came through Eldon, Iowa to see the American Gothic House and The Pie Lady, Beth Howard.  I talked about her book, Making Piece and about meeting three P.E.O. members working there at the visitor center.   You'll have to read her book, but because of pie, her dad married her mom and then she realized making pie comforted her after her husband's death.  

 She gives pie making classes in her American Gothic House and all over.  It's great because making pie is becoming one of those lost arts.  She recently traveled to Newtown, Connecticut to make pie, along with many volunteers, to give to the people there to give them a little slice of comfort after the shooting there.  It is interesting to follow her on Facebook because she tells where she is doing classes, about people peeking in her windows at the American Gothic House, etc.  To follow her on Facebook, search for The World Needs More Pie. 

Biscuits Success

I've never made good homemade biscuits and after watching a couple of seasoned biscuit makers make them who gave me some tips, I've just always wanted to be able to make them right.  Recently I watched a Trisha Yearwood show on Food Network where she made her Daddy's Biscuits.  Her show is on right after Pioneer Woman on Sat. mornings.  I really like both shows.  That got me in the mood to try them again so I picked up an 8 oz. container of buttermilk at the store and printed Trisha's recipe.  

Bill's family tells the story of some biscuits that his mom made once that were really hard.  They gave a couple to the dog who tried to bite into one and proceeded to go drop it in his water bowl to try to soften it up!  Too funny!

Today was the day to try again so I would get the buttermilk used before it expired. How many times have you bought something special like that and didn't get the recipe made before it expired?  Hate that.   My biscuits actually turned out pretty good except I think they needed a little more salt.  Or, we're just used to the canned ones I'm afraid.  Kind of like so many people now that only want "box" macaroni and cheese instead of homemade, canned frosting and spaghetti sauce from a jar to name a few. 

The key seems to be to only gently knead the dough 3-4 times and then pat it out, leaving it pretty thick before cutting them out.

Good height and color

fluffy

We had a rain/sleet mix during the night and have some puddles standing.  Gloomy day.  Oh well, we need to finish our taxes anyway.   

Home Again

I got back from Iowa City Mon. night.  Had a good day to drive home.  A couple days before I left to go to Iowa City last week, there was snow and ice over that way so along Hwy. 380 heading south I lost count at 20 cars and semis that were still off the road.  There had been a towing ban for a while.  So it was nice for me to have sunny, dry pavement for both going there and driving home.

Our friends got to come home yesterday.  They had appointments while there and Todd had radiation treatments.  Today they're finding out about chemo.  It's definitely a very emotional roller coaster and as Terri says, life has changed for them. 

I had taken my laptop with me but the hotel's Wi-Fi connection was very slow so I didn't even try to do blog posts.  I couldn't even send e mails.  I was glad I could with my phone.  

While there and in a Hy-Vee grocery, I was looking at their flowers to see what I might like to pick up for their room and happened to see these adorable "Pick Me Up" bouquets made in a votive candle holder for the vase!!  I wish these were available everywhere!  They're just the perfect little size and really all that is needed.  I sure don't know how they do them for only $5!   

the one I got them - so cute!!

a lotta shrimp!

I stopped in the store on my way out of town to pick up another bouquet that I ended up giving to Terri's mom, and saw this HUGE pile of shrimp!  Everyone was shopping for Super Bowl.  The guy there told me this was 100 lbs.!

Terri is in P.E.O. with me and another one of our friends/P.E.O. members came to Iowa City to help out too if needed.  Sandy was able to stay with her daughter who goes to University of Iowa.  She came home yesterday as our friends were traveling home.  This morning she dropped this one off for me! 

My peaceful river view from my hotel room.

We still have overhead door guys working on the shed but they should get done today.        

Sad Times . . .

Just wanted to let everyone know that I am in Iowa City with my friend Terri and her husband Todd.  He recently found out that he has cancer.  I've been told that they are being taken care of at one of the best hospitals there is.  They've been able to be together at the hotel this weekend and get some rest.  They have an important appointment early tomorrow morning and prayers for them are appreciated.

Meanwhile, while I'm gone, Bill is still playing with electricity in the new shed and making sure Bambi doesn't tear up any more of our new trees.  The overhead door guys should get finished tomorrow.