Goodbye 2015

365 days already over. Well.... almost. There's only 4 hours left of the 365th. Good old December 31st, always bringing about a nostalgic, bittersweet end of a year.
I suppose some people will stay up to watch the clock change from 11:59pm to 12:00am, thereby heralding the beginning of a new calendar. But really, isn't that all this is? The celebration of removing a filled up and used old calendar for a new one with new pictures and altered numeric arrangements? I can't understand all the hype over such a simple and mundane ordinance.
Yet, maybe it is a big deal. After all, if we're here to put up a new calendar, we've just lived through 365 more days of living on this earth. That's 8,765 hours we've just survived. 525,948 minutes we've managed to encounter. That's 31,556,926 seconds that passed while our hearts ticked on.

Yes, I supposed it is something to celebrate, the closing of a chapter in the time table. We've made it this far... so here's to the next 366 days... Yeah we have to make it through that extra day thanks to Leap Year landing in 2016. 

Here's to the rest of 2015. May this next year bring us closer to God, closer to our families and closer to our goals. Happy New Year's Eve! Cheers!

A Christmas Song

We listened to a number of Spotify playlists during our Christmas celebration yesterday. We all really like this song by Bahamas.



It was a very nice, relaxing Christmas day for my family.

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house...

....not a creature was stirring, all except for a Chocolate Mouse!

Here are a few tips on how you can spend this Christmas holiday, from none other than a mouse:

1. Make sure you have all your presents wrapped and ready to go...



2. Eat a candy cane. 



3. Get out the mop and broom and clean up the house. Your mom will be impressed.



4. If you're getting tired out or anxious, be sure to stop and smell the poinsettias.



5. Hit up as many parties as possible...





6.  Dress up and do a little Christmas caroling... if this mouse can sing, so can you.



7. Be sure to spread a little peace and joy...



8. Hang out with a friend you haven't seen in a while.



9. Greet strangers with as smile and some small talk... it could make their day!



10. Be thankful for your blessings... like a warm house.



11. It's okay to dream of a white Christmas, even if you live where it's warm.



12. ...and if you do have snow be sure to enjoy it!!

13. Play lots of Christmas music.

14. Above all spend time with your family...

15. Oh... and make sure to dance, and sing praises to our Savior with a heavenly host.

Here's to you and those you hold dear....
Have a very merry Christmas full of laughter and cheer.

 

When Your Neighbor's Barn Burns Down

Well, it's been crazy. Not just the usual kind but the wacko kind of crazy. Our neighbor's barn burnt down. 

We could see the huge cloud of smoke from our house.
Here's a picture I took from my bedroom window:

We rushed over there to offer them our farm facilities since they'd be needing somewhere to milk their 130 cows and we have 130 empty stalls. Ever since last Friday it's been a constant buzz of vehicles going up and down our driveway now that there's a huge herd of someone else's cows being milked on our farm. Holsteins, nonetheless. ;) We've had to change a few things in our parlor to make it fit the bigger cow breed, but otherwise it seems to be working out. 
Here's a picture of the other farm's employees milking.... I was helping out, showing them how to operate our parlor set-up.

Today the concrete company my dad works for came and they poured some concrete walls in the parlor. They'll hold the big Holsteins in better than the old, metal railings we had in place before. 

 Hopefully this cement wall will hold the cows in better. ;) Anyways, I thought I'd share this poem I wrote back in 2010. It seems to fit well with the circumstances right now.

The Farmer
 
the farmer labors harder and harder each day
he can't go on vacation when there are bills to be paid
the weather it seems just ain't on his side
when the corn needs rain the ground is dry

the house wife continues hard at her work
sweeping the floors and moping up dirt
her mind is always thinking and planning ahead
working out problems and fighting off stress

with the bank at their heel's and over-due bills
there's always that feeling of climbing up hills
there's never rest nor enough time to relax
just a glass of wine to get by or a power nap

reliable help is seldom to be found
and the few hired-hands are rarely around
they have their own lives and don't understand
the drive for the farmer to hold onto his land

holidays are simply icing on the cake
a bit of cheer to disguise the chances they take
a time to forget the problems outside
and visit with the family be it December or July

winter it seems is constantly hard
things never start up but instead fall apart
the farmer sees the sun coming up at dawn
and knowing it'll be 30 below, puts more layers on

every day he just keeps on moving forward
with his wife by his side and his kids for support
and through the moments of good and times of bad
the farmer cultivates the dreams that he's always had

If you need your heart melted...

Excuse me for not posting more often. ....and while I'm at it, excuse me while I melt your heart with this little Android commercial: