For Auld Lang Syne

It is nearing the end and the beginning once again. Some people will stay up late and watch a ball drop. Some people will sleep through midnight, without care. 

I won't be watching the ball drop but I probably will be watching the clock and hanging out with my family. I just made eight cups of coffee and we should be stoked enough to make it to midnight. I used to feel kind of mournful that I'd be leaving something that would never come back again... but I'm past the age where I get sad when change is inevitable. Tomorrow is another day for opportunely. Another day in this incredible, complex universe created by our gracious Heavenly Father.

2010 has been a great year! There was nothing that was too terrible, no mountains too high, or roads too long. 

Speaking of roads, I went on the most awesome road trip with my two awesome friends Courtney and Sandy!! Three of my friends got married and I had the privilege of serving in all of their weddings in some way or another. I graduated from High School this year and was able to share my graduation party with my good friend Norah. I turned 18 this year and I finally got my drivers license.
The only unfortunate event was my brother Daniel & his family moving to Arizona in February. BUT... that has a bit of a happy ending as well. I found out a few months ago that I have unlimited texting and I can text my brother whenever I want! It's great! =D I also have a brand new nephew as of August 10th!!

I've meet some new people and was able to see old friends that I haven't seen in forever. I've traveled places I'd never been before. Learned lots of new things. Enjoyed many great moments with people I care about. 

I can't complain.

So the day will come to a close taking with it the end of a year. We will rise tomorrow to face the adventures of another 365 days knowing that there is "nothing new under the sun". 

And to end of this lovely year with a classic that those in years past have sung.......

A Crappy Day on the Farm. ; )

Yesterday was a rather crappy day. Not for me personally but weather-wise. After all that's snow we've gotten, it's warmed up to 30 for a few days and it's been raining!!! It's a disaster for the farm. The work load doubles because every square inch of the cow yard and freestall has to be cleaned. Also in the midst of preparing for all of this rain and hurrying to get everything cleaned my dad had to replace a wheel axle on the skidsteer and something to do with the gear box went out on the manure spreader (while it was full of manure). I drove all the way to St. Joseph near La Crosse ( 2 hrs away) to get the axle for my dad and the manure spreader is a bad deal.... you leave the manure in the spreader because you can't spread it and then it freezes. It won't thaw until Spring. That means.... no manure spreader. =(

Oh well. That is life on the farm.

But.... we have the most kind friends and neighbors!!! One neighbor offered to let us use his skidsteer and another offered to lend us his manure spreader for the winter!!! That is so incredibly generous! God has blessed us greatly!

....so. Till tomorrow... and who knows it maybe next year before I post again. ;)

Searching

Now that the season to be jolly is over, I'm looking for a job. I've filled out an application for a local grocery store for starters... I will probably get some other applications from around town as well. The goal is to work as much as I can and buy cows.... or use the money for farm related stuff. It's complicated of course, but all of the adults in the family are looking for ways to cut back on spending and make some money to get ahead. These are pretty tough times for farmers. 2009, as I have stated before, was one of the worst years for farming in the past 70 years. In 2010 it was all farmers could do to break even if they were even able to do that. A lot of farms went out of business. We luckily expanded our cow heard in 2008 without expanding our facilities (which we had also wanted to do). It's very likely that it was the extra cows that kept us afloat in a sea of financial distress during that time. 

Now... with a new year approaching and the future milk prices looking grim our family is going to have to change some ways of operating. We've had to think outside the box... and search for alternative ways of making money. It's pretty tricky but I'm confident that with a few strings pulled it will all work out. 

So.... wish us luck. =)

...and...

And I also want to wish you a very wonderful Christmas Eve!!!

.....only 10 minutes till Christmas Day!! =D

The Truth About Christmas

700 Hundred Years and Christmas

According to the calender Winter has finally begun. The shortest day of the year has come and passed once again. Yesterday was different from the last 700 Winter solstices though. Not only was it the winter solstice yesterday, but it was also the full moon and a full lunar eclipse. Unfortunately it snowed and clouds hung in the blue dome above our land. Had the sky been clear we would have all strapped on our cross-country skis at 1 a.m. and headed out into the winter wonderland. It would have been fun. ...but not everything works out, and I do believe some friends/family will be coming out on Thursday and we will enjoy a waning (but still quite full) moon.

I really enjoy the Christmas season. Songs of joy and cheer and remembering the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. I really don't like the Santa Claus songs. They're catchy and all, and easy to listen too but I'm always disappointed that people would let their Christmas be about an old man dressed up in red who doesn't even exist. 

There's something so much more fulfilling about knowing the reason for your celebration has to do with the redemption story. That God became flesh and dwelt among men so that He could give His life in our stead and turn our filth and sin into righteousness, He who knew no sin. 
There's something so refreshing to beginning Christmas day (before opening presents) with a reading of Luke 2:1-22 (something we do every Christmas).

I made a tune (music) for that passage. Actually just to verses 7-14. I was quite inspired. =)

Anyway, it is exciting isn't it??? Christmas is only 3 days away!!  It's flown by so fast. I've been super busy for the past few days cleaning, baking cookies and treats (for the Eve of Christmas and Christmas day), and wrapping lots of presents. 

I like how Dr. Seuss sums it all up at the end of "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas":

Welcome, Christmas, bring your cheer. Cheer to all Whos far and near. Christmas Day is in our grasp so long as we have hands to clasp. Christmas Day will always be just as long as we have we. Welcome Christmas while we stand, heart to heart and hand in hand.

Crazy Things!

These days the time seems to move at a perfect pace. Fast enough so that I'm not bored waiting for the next hour to arrive... but slow enough so I don't get that shocked feeling every time another month comes to pass. It won't be long before Christmas day is here, but it seems like it's been December for a long while.
I'm pretty sure it has to do with how full my days are. With this big snow storm we had and the temperature below zero a lot, there is rarely a boring moment. It seems like there are always cows getting out (why do they always pick the worst weather to misbehave??) and it turns out this storm we had was a record. A lot of the folks who have lived and worked here for decades, even their whole lives, are saying they've never seen that much snow fall on one day.
My sister saw somebody skiing down her street in town the day of the blizzard!! And there were people who got stuck in the drifts on their way home during the blizzard that called for help and couldn't get rescued! They announced on the news that no emergency vehicles would be on the road because it would be to dangerous.
I think it took my dad 2 full days to remove snow enough to make things relatively normal again. He even had to plow paths through the dry cow pasture so that he could feed the cows!! Thank goodness we have a skid-steer!!! The Viking's stadium collapsed, and it sounds like there were other buildings that fell in from all of the snow (15 freestall -cow housing- buildings around our area that collapsed). There's a thing going around on facebook: "I survived the blizzard of 12/11/10"

Nevertheless, on the bright side of things... there is plenty of snow for sledding. My siblings and I were out on our hill (we call it Table Rock) fixing up our sledding hill. We're lining it with tires..... kind of making it similar to a luge track. =) Fast and furious! hehe! On top of that, it is the "most wonderful time of the year!" Christmas lights, decorations.... great songs on the radio (although I'm not very fond of the Santa Claus ones) and.... our X-milk plant (we switched to a different one recently...) just dropped off a Christmas present of cheese!!! =D I don't think any of our other X-milk plants have given us a present after we left. I don't think I'm going to complain.. I love cheese!

Anyway, lots of stuff whirling around in my head.... sorry if it's all kind of sporadic. So now for another full day... piano lessons, shopping for my mom while I'm in town, milking cows tonight.... and who know what else will pop into my schedule. Something crazy always happens.

Until next time...

WARNING: this is going to rip your stitches

You gotta check this out:
http://billboardsandroadsigns.blogspot.com/2010/12/coca-cola-demo.html

Before and After

~Yesterday~

 Snow on the windows!

  Fluffy white trees and snow blowing everywhere...

.

 You can see the bumpy drifts all over the hill!!

 Terrible weather for the cows
because their feed gets covered with snow and then they don't eat. 

Milk production was down, but thank goodness we 

didn't get any DA's (Displaced Abomasum).

 Our poor old barn lost a lot of it's shingles.

  Janelle and our dog Jess came in from playing outside 

(only little children enjoy playing in weather like this)!

~Today at Sunrise~

Don't let the sunshine deceive you.... it was not warm. 

Gusty, driving North winds created a wind chill of -4 degrees.

 Look at all the drifts!!

 It took my dad probably 2 1/2 hours to remove the snow
from the driveway and from the lane where the cows walk. 

(luckily he has a skid-steer that he can use to plow the snow with)

Although I had everything set up to milk,
I wasn't able to start milking until 9:20!!!!! (the usual starting time is 8a.m.)

 "Waves upon troubled shores..."

The FREEWAY, I-94, was closed from Hudson, WI to Tomah, WI.
Minnesota was just as bad. 

There weren't any emergency vehicles
of any kind out on the roads. 

So it was the wrong night to have something serious go wrong.

 

"Have yourself a merry little Christmas...
may your yards be white... 

from  now on the snow will be piled high..." 

Merry Christmas!

Blizzard (and not the tasty kind)!

24 inches in less than 24 hours, and it hasn't stopped yet! The drifts are at least 3 feet high. The wind is blowing at 21 mph with 32 mph gusts! ...it stings your eyes!!! 

We can't see past the creek.... which is only a quarter of a mile from our house. 

white.

white.

white.

 Then....... once it's done snowing and all of the clouds go away, the temperature is going to drop below zero, by 20 degrees. I milked this morning (and as you know I usually only milk once a day) but I'm going to milk tonight with my brother Isaac since the conditions are so terrible. In fact my mom was even telling us what to do in case the electricity goes out and  we're in the parlor. In essance..... we'll be stuck there because if we leave the parlor and can't see the house we could, die! ..... kind of funny, but not really. 

If you look at a weather map in motion for our area you'll see a huge swath of blue......... that is sitting over us, barely moving. 

Right about now I could use some snow shoes, skiing goggles, more gloves, hot chocolate to keep me warm.... the list goes on. But I won't be able to send a list to Santa Claus because the mail man will never be able to get down the roads!!!! 

Anyhoooooo.... I hope you are warm on this White Christmasy night. ;)

Working in the Winter

There is finally a decent layer of snow on the ground. Everyone here has adjusted to winter routine for the most part. Starting your car up 5 minutes before you leave to go somewhere..... and leaving to go somewhere with a little cushion time just in case the roads are bad. Loading the wood stove frequently so that it doesn't get too cold inside. Wearing enough layers to keep warm.

Winter also means extra precautions at work. Before milking we always check the temperature. Is it above 32? Below 20? Zero? A negative temperature........?????  Each degree makes a big difference, believe it or not.

In cold weather it's very important to make sure you switch all the gates... and close doors, or open the right ones. We've had huge nasty problems in the winter time from little mistakes that cost a fortune. Cows can get frostbite which sometimes ruins their teats (which = no milk) or lowers milk production. Doors, when left open even a crack, can cause pipes to freeze. Heaters have to running at all times. You can't use regular teat dip below a certain temperature...10 degrees F. I believe (They make a special teat dip for cold temperatures). Once the temperature drops below zero everything seems to freeze up and brake down. The work load increases. Shoveling, scraping, thawing, fixing, ... taking extra care at everything you do is imperative.

The cattle are indoors all night  usually so the freestall's have to be cleaned every day. 

Right now we are milking about 103 cows. It takes about 2 hours to milk cows when I'm moving along at a clipping pace. Quite often it takes me 2 hours and 30 minutes though.

We're supposed to get up to 130 pretty soon which will be great as far as making money goes.

 More cows = more milk = more money = less stress. 

 Right now I'm milking cows once a day, 6 days a week. I've been seriously considering milking  9 times a week. That would relieve my older brother Jed of the 3 mornings that he milks on. That way he can do other farm work. There's always more work on the farm. Trying to get on top of it all is a never ending battle.

A lot like trying to run a household.

My brother, Isaac, will probably be getting a license soon. Once he can drive himself around he'll probably get a job. Once he gets a job he my want to milk less... and that's probably when I will start milking more.

That's a lot of probably's, I know... but that's just how it works on the farm. ;)

Snowflake Ballet

snowflakes falling from the sky

bring about a blanket, white

that glitters a-million-diamonds bright

when shined upon by pale moonlight

as brilliant as the stars up high

they sparkle and dance to your delight

this is the wondrous ballet of night

Three Things I Love

My family insisted I had to see this video on  YouTube of a choir. Despite being busy trying to get work done I set aside my irritation and the task I was at work on and took a look and a listen.

There are three things that always give me goose bumps.
A good song,
A good story,
and bringing the best out of something you never thought would "rise above it"
(the video below doesn't give you the whole of the story... but look into it more!! It's quite inspiring!!).

This little clip brings together all of the above:



Gotta' love it!!! =)