Easter/Moving Weekend

Glenn, Amy & the boys were back to Iowa last weekend to pack and load up all their stuff here to move it to their new house in the Dallas area. Amy's sister and her husband came from Indiana to help and then followed them down to Texas to unload.

Glenn has lots of heavy tools and things from when they had their tractor & truck repair shop here so it was easy to fill this semi!

It ended up working out that Mom would be here the same weekend so she got to see everybody at once. She and I made food for the weekend and got air mattress beds ready. Glenn, Amy & boys stayed here Sat. & Sun. nights.









Mom got to take care of Camry while Diane was helping.

They're very lucky to get their house here sold. There are several for sale in the area.











Lots of boots. Amy loves animals and is happy to have her 2 mules with them now to take care of and ride.





They made it down to Texas without any problems and got unloaded in one day. Glenn will have a little shorter drive to work now but still has to deal with lots of traffic and accident delays.

The Rest of the Amana Trip

This is the last of the parts run/Amana trip pictures. This first picture is of boiled eggs dyed with onion skins! They turn out the color of pretty wood. Before dying with the onion skins, they tie on a pressed flower or leaves. These are so pretty too! They are sealed to last for years.



The next two pictures are just of some of the houses in the Amanas. Many of the homes were clapboard. Notice the first one has a wooden frame around it. Many of the houses had it and they're for growing grapes for wine making! There were several wineries to visit and they were giving out lots of samples.









This huge, solid walnut rocker is 11' tall and weighs 670 lbs. Mom, Dad and I visited the Amanas on one of our many trips to Iowa years ago, and I think I have a picture of Mom and me sitting in it looking little. It's next to the Broom & Basket shop in West Amana.

Neat post office.








The last picture was taken at AJ's Copper Garden in Homestead.


This was an unexpected, FUN getaway! Staying at the Bed & Breakfast was sure a nice experience! Everything shuts down in these towns at night so it's so quiet and peaceful. I hope to be one of the many return guests at Rose's Place!

The Bed & Breakfast Stay

This is Rose's Place, the Bed & Breakfast I stayed at in the Amanas last week. This is actually in Middle Amana. The building was an Amana Sunday School building built in 1870. The current owners renovated it and have had the B & B for 18 years.









This is the very white, shiny staircase going up to the five cozy, comfortable guest rooms. I was in Room 1 and had this tall queen bed. There was a bathroom between my room and a 2nd bedroom. There could be two couples and at least two kids in this suite. The day bed has a trundle bed underneath. The glider rockers in my room were very comfortable for reading after a day of shopping!


















































I had such a relaxing night and then a nice breakfast the next morning. The picture with the two windows and the couch is the common area. At the other end of the room is two tables for having breakfast. We had fresh fruit with a cream cheese mixture on top, a puffy slice of an egg casserole, muffins and cinnamon twist French toast. An older woman and two other couples were the other guests that I had breakfast with. Most were repeat visitors.

The picture with the small table with white chairs and white cabinets is a kitchen upstairs for the guests to use. I was able to put my Olive Garden salad in the refrigerator there until I was ready to eat it that evening and water, etc.

I had forgotten to bring in my cell phone and didn't have my lap top so I was really without any communication which seemed strange but nice! Imagine my surprise when I went out to leave after breakfast and had 2 voice mails from Bill saying they were getting 4-5" of blowing snow at home and he couldn't see the railroad track behind our house! We thought I could drive until it got bad and then stop - or stay put and not have to deal with slick roads or worse. So I booked the room for another night and headed out in the cold rain to finish shopping in the Amanas!! Rough life huh? More pictures tomorrow.

My Spring Adventure/Parts Run

Bill & Tim needed some parts picked up at Heartland Ag in Boone so Bill sent me knowing I wanted to go on a road trip in the new SUV.

I'm wanting a new table with leaves to replace the used round one I bought for $50 when I was 20, and I knew that there was a nice furniture store in Boone called Redecker's (click on the name to go to their web site). I will have to look no further! Wow, they have lots of nice tables made by the Amish. You can choose the wood, stain color, pedestal or legs, shape, size, edge, number of leaves and mix and match the chairs. I'll be going back there later this summer. Hope to have a new table by Thanksgiving.


Next stop was Heartland Ag for the parts - the reason for the trip! Then on to Amana. I got there about lunch time and had planned to eat at one of the restaurants there that I had read about on the Amana Colonies' web site, The Ox Yoke Inn. When I travel, I like to eat in non-chain restaurants, something "local". So I had their bratwurst and knackwurst plate but passed on the things they brought to show me on their dessert tray! (I had seen a fudge shop and Chocolate Haus)

After lunch, it was on to The Kitchen Sink store where I knew from the web site that it was the last day they would be dying their special Easter eggs that I had seen at my P.E.O. meeting a couple of weeks ago. (see the April 13th blog post).

This is Marie, one of the two German ladies that were in the back room dyeing dozens of eggs! She has demonstrated this tradition for 30 years! She said that when she was growing up, there was always a bowl of boiled eggs sitting on the table to eat - colored - all year round! They never refrigerated them like we do today. She says her son always says the colored ones taste better than plain white ones.

They said it's not worth the trouble unless you're doing about 30 dozen eggs!





They use a glue called Leim Eier. I haven't found anything about it on the Internet yet. They had jars of the "crystals" of it for sale in the store. The directions say to add water and cook for 40 min. to an hour. Then they pour it into cups (see pictures) and add paste food coloring. Let sit to jell overnight.









Then they boil the eggs for only 7 min. Then remove them to a pie tin with a paper towel in it to keep the eggs hot but dry. They then take a hot egg and roll it in the dye, then shake it in their hand. They are put on a foil lined jelly roll pan to dry. The foil is sprayed with Pam. They dry pretty quick.










I ended up sitting there for a few hours watching and helping them! It was so fun to see how each color would turn out. I especially loved watching Marie do the multi colored ones. This is the neatest thing I've seen in years! Be sure to watch the video at the bottom.


After watching this for so long, I didn't have much time to look in all the Amana shops. There are about 5 different Amana Colonies, or towns, in a 17 mile loop. And I still had to stop in Walmart and Hy-Vee in nearby Iowa City. I decided to ask in one of the shops about the local Bed & Breakfasts thinking maybe staying overnight would be a good idea and fun since I'd never stayed in a B & B before. They recommended Rose's Place in Middle Amana so I went and looked at a room. It was beautiful with a tall queen size bed and everything was so tidy and clean. After heading to Walmart at about 6:00, with a 4 hour drive home after that, I decided to call Betty back and ask if she still had her last, beautiful room available - and she did. Now I could get up in the morning, hit the rest of the shops and head home in the daylight.

I'll post pictures of Rose's Place and my peaceful night(s) there tomorrow!

Happy Easter to you

It's a beautiful, sunny Easter here in NW Iowa.

Glenn, Amy & boys and Amy's sister and her husband are here for the weekend. Yesterday we all loaded up their furniture and all from their house here into a semi. There is more to do today.

VERY unfortunately, I woke up at 4 am with the flu! So everybody else is at church on Easter Sunday and here I am. Very sad. They told me to go back to bed which I did since I don't want to be spreading germs around the house. The the last thing they need is to be sick now. They're going to have even more to do with getting things unloaded after the long drive to Texas tomorrow. Luckily Mom is here this week so she can finish up the meals for today. Mom & I catered the lunch for the crew yesterday so today's lunch will be leftovers. Tonight we're having Honey Baked Ham, deviled eggs, Hawaiian rolls, cheese potatoes, cream cheese cupcakes and brownies and Diane is bringing a salad.

Glenn, Amy & boys stayed in our basement last night on air mattresses and will tonight too. This afternoon they'll be going to Emmetsburg to get Amy's mules (2). She's excited to have them back and to get to ride them year round in Texas.

Mom got to be the on site babysitter of Camry yesterday which I'm sure she enjoyed.

I'm looking forward to posting pictures from my adventure/long parts run and also from this weekend - probably later tomorrow.

Fun Adventure!!

I've been on maybe the longest parts run in Kemna history! I went to Heartland Ag in Boone for parts on Monday (2 hours from here) and had decided to go on to the Amana Colonies (another 1 1/2 hours) to see how those beautiful Easter eggs are dyed (see previous post for a picture of them) - and buy some! Monday was the last day they would be demonstrating how to dye them. To make a long story short - for now - I wound up in a Bed & Breakfast in Middle Amana for the night! Then yesterday, our area at home was getting 4-5" of heavy snow and it was blowing - Bill couldn't see the railroad tracks behind our house! So, it was decided that I would stay put. WOW, forced to stay another night in the Amanas in a wonderful Bed & Breakfast - with more shops I hadn't made it to and a good book with me!!

I am home now but have Mom arriving for a visit in just a little bit and then Glenn, Amy & boys will be here this weekend camping at our house Sunday night. They're coming back to load up all of their furniture from their house here. So it's going to be a busy week!!! My little trip set me back a little here at home - but it was worth it!!! Have LOTS of pictures to share here when I have a chance!

January Get Away

Bill and I went to the Naples/Bonita Springs, Florida area this past January. It's always so good to get away from the cold winter and be able to do things outside, not wear a coat and see palm trees/different scenery even if only for a few days!!! It sure helps the winter to go by faster! Mom spends some time down there every winter so we get to be with her and have a place to stay too.

The weather was too cool and windy most days for going to the beach so one afternoon we took a trolley tour of Naples. Another day we went on a cruise on a boat. The first picture is of a restaurant at Tin City taken as we passed by on the boat trip. Tin City is an area with a bunch of shops that has been there since I was a kid.

The next picture is one of the many big houses on the water - with lots of boating toys.

The 3rd picture is of the boat we went on taken from The Boathouse Restaurant on Naples Bay. I LOVE eating at restaurants on the water. This one has floor to ceiling windows on three sides. We had the BEST table as you can see although all of them would've been good the way it is arranged. I had grilled grouper that night, and we had dessert. Bill had something apple and mom and I had creme brulee - yum! Nice meal, especially the view!!


















Bill relaxing by the pool. Ahhhh.

We changed planes in Dallas and on the way home happened to be a week before Super Bowl was going to be in Dallas.

We got in some exercise walking and had lots of fresh seafood. We were even able to see some long time Indiana friends and their "kids" (our age) at Michelbob's (a ribs place) and then got to visit in their winter home. Don and Bill like talking farming when they get together!

Nice vacation!

Snow in Decorah

Have you been watching the 3 eaglets?? Hope you check in on them today - there is a lot of snow there! Click HERE.

The eaglets are growing fast! It's sure been fun to watch.

Farmers are Busy

Looks like these tractors are ready to go!! The farmers are getting nervous with the date and the rain in the forecast for the next several days. This time last year, they were planting.


The planter - they've been working on the tractor they use for planting (it's in the shed), adding Auto Steer.
(last photo)














Bill went to an auction a few weeks ago looking for some lights for the shop at Tim's. They ended up getting 20 for $20.00 each. They sold 4 and put up 11. They're metal halide lights (big). The shop is nice and bright for working now! They love it.

Notice Tim's up high on the scaffolding held up by the forklift. He seems to like working in high places!


This last picture was taken inside the tractor (JD 8300). The touch screen monitor is for the auto steer, the small black box controls the planter folding and the markers and the other one controls the insecticide. Auto steer means . . . straight rows hopefully, Bill says! It works off of satellites. It means that he won't have to steer until he gets to the end of the rows when he'll have to turn. This gives some drivers time to text on their cell phones, etc. but you have to remember to watch what's going on in the field too.