Freezer Full of Fresh Chickens

It was chicken butchering time at Diane's house again.  Her husband's dad likes to raise chickens as a hobby.  They have a flock for laying eggs and every fall they raise some for butchering.  Back in Oct. 2012 I went over and took some pictures for a blog post that you can see HERE.  It was the same setup basically so I didn't take the same pictures again.  We did have the feather plucking table and packaging sink and table inside their shed since it was really windy and a little chilly plus chance of rain.

Diane's husband gutting and trimming

It took about 4 hours or so to do 32 chickens.   With several helping and having done it a few times before, it wasn't bad at all.

 



This time they used a Foodsaver to package them rather than the huge Ziploc bags.  This should work better with getting all the air out.





The kids helped some, mostly plucking the few feathers that were left and played on the trampoline.

This picture was taken last night.  Bill and Tim were out combining beans until about 8:30 or so.  Some of the beans in a field will be ready but not all of them so it's a frustrating Fall to not be able to get complete fields done.   

Pretty Southern Indiana

I've been back to visit in Indiana the past few days.  We've been able to visit some relatives we haven't seen for a while.  Glenn, Rob, Ross, Reed, Mom and I met Uncle Neal & Aunt Jan for supper one night.  We met Uncle Dale & Aunt Dana and two of my cousins for lunch another day. 

We had not seen most of my dad's relatives since he died seven years ago so we went down to southern Indiana and had lunch with several of them and got to visit  two of my cousins and five of my aunts and uncles.  Unfortunately, I didn't take the picture before Uncle Wayne and my cousin Paul had left.  Uncle Rich and Aunt Lois are the ones I've talked about here who used to grow melons and tomatoes to sell in the Knox County area which is well known for having great cantaloups.

cousin Cheryl, Aunt Vera, Aunt Sharon, Mom, Aunt Lois, Uncle Rich

It was a perfect Fall day to travel south from Carmel to the Freelandville and Vincennes area.   We stopped at an Amish store which is always fun.  The further south we went, we started seeing lots of combines working in the fields - working in both corn and beans.  

I think these farmers (above) are the family that now live where my grandparents did.  They farm lots of acres.  The house and buildings sure look different.  A new machine shed is in the place of two of the old barns.

We were able to visit at Uncle Wayne & Aunt Vera's house.  I love their old brick house that's back off the road down a long lane.  Uncle Wayne and Aunt Vera farmed together all of their lives until just a few years ago.  They're very happy that I'm doing the same with Bill in Iowa.  It's fun to talk farming with Uncle Wayne.  Wish he could come to Iowa.

We also visited long time friends, the Walters (they read my blog - hi!) and Dad's cousin, Liz in Freelandville where dad was from.  The Walters have a nice house with big yard and an amazing view.  Liz is busy right now feeding the crew that is harvesting her ground.  She takes them hot sandwiches for tailgate lunches and goes back out with cookies for them at 2:00.

Mom and I even got to stop at Gray Brothers Cafeteria on the way home.  It's a favorite restaurant of people all over.  We used to make a special trip there a couple of times a year.  Grandma & Grandpa Randall really liked it too.

It was a really nice day and I was teary a lot of the time.  Lots of memories of times there and knowing that I won't be back much with living so far away now.

Carmel Dairy Queen is 54!

Mom, former employee Karen King, me

My mom & dad owned the Dairy Queen in Carmel, Ind. from when I was age one to 17.  I recently went back to visit and planned my trip so that I could go to the Carmel Historical Society's program on the Dairy Queen being 54 this year.  It was to be an employee reunion too - fun!  The Dairy Queen is one of only about two businesses in Carmel still in business!  Back in the day, it was the first fast food restaurant in Carmel and became "the place" to hang out.  At first it was a small walk-up DQ.  They soon added indoor seating and sandwiches and added a putt putt golf course next door.

The Historical Society did a good job showing old pictures of it that mom had provided and telling about the owners since Mom & Dad sold it.  The current owner and manager have had it for 19 years.  

Mom said that the first day the store was open, she was being trained on how to make cones when a school bus full of kids came on the last day of school!  She said she quickly learned how to make and sell cones!  She also says she would put me in like a pumpkin seat by the window while she waited on customers.  

We mostly remember Glenn filling out his order for a tenderloin and fries and sending it down the line!  We made ourselves lots of extra thick shakes and hot fudge sundaes with extra squirts of hot fudge and ate lots of "mistakes".  Glenn and I worked in the back from a young age doing things like dipping Dilly Bars and Buster Bars, weighing out servings of french fries and breaded mushrooms, etc. and during busy times we cleared tables.  I worked there as a real (paid) employee a couple of years before they sold it when I was a sophomore.

The current owners invited us to come to the DQ after the program and see if we still remembered how to make a cone with the signature curl.  None of us had forgotten!  They all looked good!   We took some pictures with the original DQ sign (top picture).

The kid in the blue shirt at first thought Mom needed instructions!  ha ha! 

nice cone Mom!

my cone

People always asked us if we ever got sick of ice cream and all of us answered "no way"!  And we still love ice cream - especially soft serve.

Special Day

Recently we went to Blue Earth, MN for a special day - our niece and nephew's First Communion.  

Dave & Karen (Dad & Mom), Ryanne and the twins

the twins with Memaw (Bill's mom, Peggy)

After church, we went back to their house for lunch, cake and opening gifts.

Jim & Bill, Taylor & Matthew

 The kids did really well and were also very patient with all the pictures!  Nice day!

Winter Continues

I had never heard of sun dogs until moving to Iowa.  With the super cold temps. this winter, I've seen a few.  Most of the time it's hard to take a good picture of them since they're usually not real close to the sun.  This week, they were especially pretty one night at sunset.  Not the best picture since I just took it from inside the house!

Yesterday the roads were good so we were able to go north to Blue Earth (MN) to watch our niece play basketball.   She usually does the tip off at the beginning of the game.  (below - Ryanne in the dark uniform #33)  Unfortunately, her team lost but it was fun getting to watch them play, and Ryanne does a good job!  Bill's mom went with us and brother-in-law Dave's dad and significant other came from Omaha to see the game so it was a nice size cheering section for Ryanne!   After the game, we all went out for supper before we headed home.  

Ryanne, #33

We got 1-2" of snow overnight and this morning.  It's 17 degrees now at 4:15  and the sun has been out, but going to be well below zero again the next couple of nights. 

 

Dangerous Job

My brother and two of my nephews are trucking these days out of the Indianapolis area.  The roads there this week have been bad enough that the schools have remained closed after Christmas break all of this time.

Glenn was driving his semi south yesterday and saw all of these wrecks that this trucker took pictures of and made a YouTube video of.  My nephews were back on the icy roads yesterday too after some days off due to the weather in Indiana.

Last winter I went to Iowa City a day after weather like this and saw lots of trucks and vehicles still in the ditches like this.  After seeing something like this in person, it really makes you think twice before going any place during bad weather.   And makes me worry more about our guys out there every day.

Great Labor Day Weekend

I'm so far behind on getting pictures posted of things we've been doing this summer that I hardly know where to begin.  And Bill says he doesn't know what he's done unless he reads it here!  ;)  

This past weekend was really nice.  We were invited to friends' lake house which was only about an hour away.  It was a nice, quiet lake with not many boats out and not very many houses around it even.  They grilled hamburgers and provided some other things and those of us that went pitched in.  I took deviled eggs and cream cheese cupcakes.  Peggy took a lemon fruit salad (got that recipe!) and a macaroni salad.  

Uncle Tim checking out one of the docks

We got to sit on their deck and enjoy the view and then those that wanted to went for a boat ride to see the area (really nice pontoon boat that holds 13).  Later those that wanted to go fast (me!) and kids that wanted to have fun went out again.  Nice, nice day.

kids riding on Big Mama (not really, but Big something - I forget)

sunset from the deck

The rest of the weekend we both got a lot done around here.  Bill has been moving rock up to the shed entrances now that the concrete is done.  Yesterday he got everything moved out of it to be ready for the spray foam insulation guys to do their thing in about a week hopefully.  He trimmed some dead branches from a big tree.  This tree got a little hot when we burned our old house so some branches died.   

I'm working on painting our screened porch that was painted yellow, when we built the house, instead of a tan that I wanted.  I'm having a very hard time getting the right color of paint.  The woman at the hardware warned me that it's very hard to get the tan color you want without it being pink and she was sure right.  Right now we have a pinkish tan screened porch - which is still better than yellow - I think.  Not sure what I'm going to end up with.

One of my stamping/demonstrator friends from southern Illinois is coming to visit me this Thurs.  Lots more summer fun on the agenda while she's here for a few days.
 

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

Back in Business!

Yesterday Bill and Tim found a couple of fields dry enough to work and plant so they got busy, and we have 70 more acres planted and two more fields worked and ready to plant finally!  It got down to 31 last night but we didn't see frost when we got up.  We just need a few good days that are dry!  Housework is done (is it ever done?), meals are in the freezer, our bookwork is ALL caught up (it's a Miracle!) and I'm ready to be put to work in the tractor!

Unfortunately, this means our plans for an early Mother's Day brunch today in Clarion with Bill's mom got scrapped.  But being a farm owner, she says it's ok, planting is a good thing!  Now she's going out for lunch with a friend.

Happy Mother's Day to my mom in Indiana, my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law, Karen, and some of the other moms who read my blog - that I know:  my IA mom, Marge, cousins Pam L., Kelly and Dina, Aunt Lois, Aunt Jan, Anna Ruth, Suetta, Pam L., Phyllis, Lois S., Marie, Marilyn, Sandy, Luan, Sarah, Cindy.   

Some of my favorite pictures of my mom:

At Daisy's on Main in Clarion this spring.

at Mom's

Me, Mom & niece, Diane at the P.E.O. Wine Tasting here.

Mom & Camry

lunch on our porch

Trip To Omaha

Right after Mom was here and Bill got back from his hunting trip, we headed to Omaha, NE for the funeral of our brother-in-law Dave's mother.  She had been battling broken bones every year for 13 years and lately infections too.  Her message to me - one who doesn't like milk - was "take your calcium".  I'm hoping all that DQ ice cream we ate growing up helped!   Jo and Dave's dad were active in their church so the church was full and her service was very nice.  She will be missed by many. 

Bills' brother, Jim, was at the funeral too.  Peggy was unable to go as she was on a bus trip to Hershey, PA, New York City, Niagara Falls and a few other places.  

Here are some pictures of windmills we saw on the way down and a shot of the Loess Hills.  There is a big wind farm about eight miles south of our house too.  Makes sense since Iowa can be pretty windy.  We enjoy the summers when we don't have much wind.  

Loess Hills

Uncle Bill and niece, Taylor

Uncle Bill and niece, Ryanne (LOVE her outfit!)

Uncle Bill with the twins (blurry)

  

Bill's Birthday

Yesterday was Bill's birthday and to celebrate, we went to Okoboji to the The Fisherman's Wharf.  It's fun to eat there because you can sit and watch boats going under the bridge right below the restaurant.  It was entirely too hot to sit outside yesterday so we found a nice table by the window.  

Then we went to the amusement park, Arnolds Park, to catch a ride on the Queen II at 7:00.  The boat ride was about an hour and 15 min. and 18 miles of narrated history of the lakes.  I kind of wanted to ride the ferris wheel but by the time we got back to the dock the park was closing.  

Our thermometer is saying right at 100.  Des Moines is supposed to get up to 105 today - whew!  Thank goodness for air conditioning.  Bill & Tim are working (slowly Bill says) on putting a new tarp on one of the semi trailers.  It's the kind that rolls itself automatically which will be nice.  For the non-farmers, the semis have tarps to cover the corn or beans when you're driving down the road so it doesn't blow out - or get rained on.  With our old tarps, the guys had to manually unroll the tarps or roll them up.  It's hard on the shoulders, backs and arms especially when they're frozen after cold nights.

I've been doing laundry, fixed pork loin & corn, etc. for lunch, watering flowers, plants and our 4 new trees in the yard but now heading to the cool basement to work on stamping projects.