Almost Done Planting for This Year

Last night Bill got another field of beans planted at about 11:00.  I've gotten to work ground some the past couple of days.  Today, they got the weeds knocked down and the ground worked ready to plant the last 40 acres tomorrow.  At that point they're going to quit even though we have a couple more fields that are not planted.  It's just getting too late for them to have enough growing time before cold weather and these fields are still muddy.  Today we even had a couple of short, light showers - and then sun.  There have been very few days without at least a little rain.

Our 6th anniversary is tomorrow (time flies!) - who would've ever thought we'd still be planting on June 30th!  We had tried to pick a time of year to get married that farming friends and family could come to our wedding and a nice weather time of year that we could get away and do something fun for our anniversary.  Usually the last day of June is a good time of year for that!

Our town has it's Sesquicentennial (150 years) celebration coming up mid July so there have been lots of things going on leading up to that.  I need to get 4 doz. muffins made and frozen for the firemens' omelet breakfast that weekend, make a trip to Hobby Lobby and a couple of other things. 

Here is a beautiful sunset we all loved and took pictures of a couple of nights ago!!  Wow!

 

Farming Update

Yesterday we had the biggest day of planting beans we've had so far - Bill planted 160 acres in three fields starting at 3:00.  According to the radar and the skies, we were going to get a lot of rain - again.  Lots of it went around us but lightening and light rain started at about 8:00.  He kept going until the field was done.  I rode with him in two fields and got to see how muddy it is.  We about got stuck a few times.  He had to lift the planter and skip spots - not good.  Tim and Brian were trying to work ground ahead of us.  We have 500 acres in five fields left to do.   

We ended up getting 6/10" of rain last night so no field work today.

I served refreshments after church with two other couples today.  I made about 9 doz. Jackpot Drops.  Lori K. made about the same amount of cookies and Lori J. brought 5 lbs. of cheese curds and cucumber sandwiches.  We just had a few cookies left and sent them with the kids who were getting to go boating this afternoon. 

After lunch I had to run to Ft. Dodge because I got my cell phone wet last night and it's not working.  They ended up suggesting that I put it in rice for 24 hours to try to dry it out.  Sure hope it works.  On my way to Ft. Dodge,  I saw lots of other unplanted and weedy fields on my drive and lots of drowned out spots.  They say that Illinois and Indiana crops don't look any better than here. 

The Awesome Carmel Farmers' Market

It was nice to be back in Carmel during the summer to be able to go to the Farmers' Market.  This market started out much smaller but is now big with a huge attendance.  The day we went, it was sprinkling, but almost all of the vendors were there.  Lots of good looking stuff.

Lots of fresh radishes.

Nice rhubarb, zucchini and asparagus.

Mom waiting to buy kale.

Mom really likes Kettle Korn.

Dad used to talk to this guy in the hat all the time.  Every year he is selling buttons that the proceeds pay for the July 4th fireworks display.  In this picture, he's telling this kid all kinds of stuff including that anything he wants to buy all day at the market, he gets to go to the front of the line for buying a button.

Farmers' Market from a distance.

So Cute

Monday was Diane's little one's 3rd birthday, and we were invited for supper and cake.  Diane said I could come early and help with the cake as Camry wanted a Barbie cake.  But it was actually going to be a Tinkerbell cake because Tinkerbell was one of her birthday gifts.  Diane had me Google Tinkerbell doll cakes, and I saw the one she wanted to try to make:

Then I Googled fondant icing and told Diane I would try to make some so we could make these leaves.  A recipe I found was melted mini marshmallows (in the microwave), a lot of conf. sugar and some kneading.  So I made the fondant and thought it seemed like it was right and took it over to Diane's where Lacey & I rolled it out and cut the leaves out by hand and made marks for the veins with a knife and she snipped the edges of some with kitchen shears.  Diane matched more icing to the fondant color and frosted the cakes and wrapped Tinkerbell's legs with plastic wrap and stuck her down in the cake she had made in a Pampered Chef batter bowl.  We were quite proud of how ours turned out!

 

 

with her guitar on her back

In other news, we had another dry day today.  Here is Bill and Brian leaving to go try to work a field to plant and then Tim leaving to roll a field so I assume some beans have been planted.  I haven't called to see what's going on since the conditions they're working in are not good.  ** He just got in and said he got 90 acres done - out of 950 that needs to be done and the rest of the fields are too muddy.  Not good.

Bill & Brian with field cultivator

Tim with roller

Fun Trails

I had a Christmas gift suggestion a couple of years ago for Bill to get me a bike since I can always use more ways to get some exercise.  He said I needed to just go pick one out myself.  So while at Mom's in Carmel, I asked Glenn if he would go to Walmart with me to get one.

There are lots of miles of FUN trails to ride on in the area so Glenn and I rode a couple of days on them and he, Mom and I rode around the neighborhood too.  The weather was perfect for riding.  There are sections of The Monon Trail that are really crowded especially on the weekends.  Mom says they are cracking down on riding fast on the trail and there are actually speed limits posted.  Another dangerous thing is dogs on leashes.  They can all of a sudden cross in front of a bike rider.

Check out this LINK to see better pictures of the trail!   Like when we were snowmobiling through such pretty areas in Wisc. this winter, you don't take the time to stop and take pictures of the pretty scenery often enough.

We have a great trail that starts a mile from our house but you could walk or ride for miles and not see anybody which kind of scares me to be out there alone.  Not to mention the mountain lions that are occasionally seen around here.  Bill's birthday is coming up next month, and I keep asking him if he's sure he doesn't want a bike??! 

near downtown Carmel

Glenn on the newly opened trail bridge over 146th St.

lots of trees/shade in many areas - nice

Love these little flowering trees or bushes

 Some pretty sights along the trail:

park area behind the mayor's office

the pond there with lily pads

Wanted to be sure and tell about our bike riding after all the pictures of us eating out!!

More Rain and Standing Water Plus Damage

After having another half inch of rain this morning, Bill came home for lunch and I suggested that we go up to Emmetsburg to Sum Hing for lunch - nothing else going on with all this rain we've been having.  So we did, where we had some good Moo Goo Gai Pan and Sweet & Sour Shrimp.  Then we went east to Lost Island Lake.  I had never seen it.  Always fun to drive around and watch people having summer fun at a lake at their campers or lake houses and dream about living somewhere with a view of the water and riding around on jet skis.  Today it didn't look like so much fun with all the mud everywhere.

Lost Island Lake, Ruthven, IA

Came across this cute little church.






Then we drove back south - and west of Pocahontas - just west of Diane's house.  She had told me this morning that there were straight line winds during the storm last night ( we got .8" with that storm) and quite a bit of damage to places that had been destroyed only two years ago by a tornado.  Sure enough, some of the same people who are rebuilding were hit again.  In this first picture is a new house under construction where their house and a greenhouse was destroyed before.  They say they'll have to start over on this house now.

Shed destroyed and pieces scattered.

The right end of this building is torn up.

These people go to the church I do.

Lots of debris scattered in fields again and some was still on the roads.  This next picture is not part of Lost Island Lake - it's in a field.  We saw lots of this today and worse in this area around Pocahontas than ours.

There are lots of lakes in the fields.

We had company from Indiana yesterday - Bob & Judy Huber.  Bob farmed for years and had hogs so he's been wanting to see our operation.  Mom has known them since her school years.  (I forgot to ask if I could take their picture)  We showed them around, had lunch and they were off for Omaha.  We checked the radar which showed purple where they were going so called them and they came back to wait until the storm passed.  We hope they didn't still drive through bad weather on their way southwest.

Glenn is driving a semi in the Colorado Springs area where there are wildfires.  This weather is crazy.

Meals in Indiana

Now that the triplets and Glenn are back in Carmel, when I show up there and get to be with them, it's a good reason for us all to go out to eat, and partly because we don't have these restaurants anywhere near here.  You all know we do lots of cooking here because of that.  So it's a treat for me to get to go out and the boys love it and mom too.  Except it's hard to lose weight - or maintain - eating out so much.

The first place we went was Bub's.  It's along The Monon Trail in downtown Carmel and it's fun to sit outside and watch people walking or biking on the trail.  Mom and I like to get the kid size burger which, as you can see, is the size of a dill pickle slice - about 3 bites - perfect!

tiny burger

The next place we went was McCallister's Deli where we sat outside too.  They have great sweet tea.   

One morning I met a long time friend, Debbie, at Petite Chou for breakfast and another evening friend, Erin, at Puccinni's where she and I used to go for their Greek salads and pizza. 

Mom made our all time favorite, fried chicken with mashed potatoes & gravy and we ate out on the porch.  Another night Glenn made taco salads.  (I need to make them at home) 

We checked out the new City Barbecue in Carmel.  It was very similar to a barbecue place we went to in Dallas last year.  Went to MCL Cafeteria after church Sun.  It was as busy as ever.  I used to go there quite a bit with Grandma & Grandpa R.    My favorite is Outback, and we didn't make it there.  The last meal was Texas Roadhouse to celebrate the boys' 23rd birthday.  

I could honestly say by the end of the stay that I was tired of eating out for a while!  But it was fun.

Super Bright Rainbow!

I'm getting ready for a P.E.O. meeting here tomorrow afternoon so you all know how that is.  Busy, busy - cleaning and dusting, making food, etc., etc.  Bill is out doing my job for me - mowing the lawn so it will look nice.  He's expecting me to have the wild look in my eyes tonight that I get when I have a lot to do and time is running out!  I think things are moving along pretty well though!  

It is STILL too wet to plant . . . unbelievable.  Tomorrow is supposed to be hot - almost 90 - and sunny, we think - then rain again Wed.  Ugh.  Bill has been keeping busy though, as usual.  He finally got his weather station put up that I got him for Christmas.  Obviously the ground was frozen until about April so he couldn't put the pole in the ground, then it's been too wet to do anything.  He found that his mom's shed was sagging and caused by two rotted poles so he's been working on that.  And lots of other stuff.  He and Tim always have a To Do list.  

Check out this super bright rainbow we saw behind our house last night!  This is looking east from our kitchen window and screened porch.  I like our view.  I should probably change my blog header to this although I love the current one.

Yesterday I heard scratching on the front storm door.  I had the inside door open to let the SUN in and our storm door is all glass.  Couldn't believe it when I saw what was at the door!  It scratched again and when I went to get my camera, it waddled down the sidewalk.  I peeked around the garage corner and saw him standing up in the middle of the concrete in front of the garage!  He didn't seem scared of me at all - so I went back inside!  

it's a woodchuck

Back Home

I traveled home yesterday after being at Mom's in Indiana for a week and a half.  The weather there was so nice and so not nice here that Bill said I might as well stay longer as we were still unable to plant!   We "might" be able to tomorrow if we have some sun and warmth today and a breeze.  I'm hearing on the news this morning "brief shower possible" today.  More rain forecast for later tomorrow.  Not good at all.  As Bill says, the farmers are grumpy and have lost all patience.

Will try to get some posts with pictures done later today.  I got to celebrate the triplets' birthday with them, see family and a couple of long time friends, went to my cousin's son's graduation open house, rode bikes on trails with Glenn (perfect weather for that), pedicures and shopping with Mom, went to a concert at the Gazebo, Farmers' Market and more.

Today I need to catch up laundry, get groceries, and start getting ready for a P.E.O. meeting here next Tues. - but hope to be in a tractor soon!

This is exciting - a robin built a nest and has four eggs in Rob's tree that we moved here a couple of weeks ago!   

Back Home Again in Indiana

They told me to take the bad weather with me and go to Indiana - so I left!  They were hoping if I went too far away to help it would turn nice.  Unfortunately, it's still kinda wet there.   They haven't been able to get back to planting beans yet.  Bill tells me that today has been a nice day.

Things are looking pretty here in Carmel.  This gorgeous tree is in front of a house here on Mom's street.  The blooms are light pink and so is the house.  I wonder what kind it is.  I love it. 

There are two of these at the entrance.  They look sort of like lilacs and smell like them too.  I'm seeing them in several places.

The blooms up close.

There are so many restaurants to choose from and new ones opening all the time so we go out to eat a lot when I'm here since we don't have any restaurants in our town any more.  This was at McCallister's.  We've been able to eat outside twice which I love to do. 

Mom, Rob, Reed, Ross, Glenn