Snowmen Prophets of Doom

 



If you would have visited my town this past week you may have thought it was the middle of January. Yesterday huge snowflakes fell from some heavenly storehouse, littering every scape. It seems as though winter may never leave since it has been here so long and continues it's cold vigil.
As I brought in a group of cows yesterday morning, I heard a strange sound. A flock of geese flying over head! Though the steady wind bent them in a westward direction, it was clear they were headed North. I now know how Noah must have felt, standing on the ark as the dove flew back to him with an olive branch in it's beak. Even now the weather man predicts two more snow-showers this week. Yet, as the birds fly Northward, there is hope for Spring.

A fellow from my church lamented the prolonged winter in a rather amusing fashion. I think his Psalm pretty much sums up the mood around here:

"A Psalm of Jordan in the Valley of Chippewa, when snows fell in April.

Lord, why dost thou mock me! Will I not glorify thy name when thou sendest the snow in his season, yea the plentiful powder, that I may snowboard thereon? Wherefore must I eat the bread of sorrow, and drink the wine of mine iniquity? For thou hast caused the snow to cover the spring lily, yea, thou wilt not suffer the tulip to rise by reason of the untimely flakes. Behold! My head have I shaved in preparation of summer, to cool mine head when the summer sun sends forth his heat from on high. But now, Alas! for in the midst of this whiteness my head is shaved in shame. Oh Lord, my God, thou sendest the snow upon the snowboarder and the skier, the just and the unjust, in season and out of season, still my soul shall praise thy name forever! Only my heart might be found a little more merry, if thou wouldest pay a little more attention to thy calendar. Amen."

What I really love about Wisconsinites is that a little bit of sunshine can rejuvenate their spirits! It may only be 35 degrees out and they roll down their car window as they go for a drive, leave their coat in the closet or feel alive again as they tap their feet to Kenny Chesney's song No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem. Silly little things like that. Quite an optimistic group of people! Then again, you'd have to be optimistic to live in a region where you may seriously have Christmas in July. 
...it's a real possibility this year, folks. 

The Last of January!

And so it is the last day of the first month! Nuts! And how exciting at the same time. So much fun to look forward to this year.
...anyways, I thought I should jot something down before the opportunity has escaped me.
Tomorrow is my brother Isaac's birthday. He'll be 19. Which is actually good because up to this moment I seriously thought he was turning 20... which is impossible considering he's two years younger than me.
OH, of course, how could I forget?! I turned 21!!! .....legal to buy alcohol and hand guns! Haha! I did NOT go out and party, or get wasted or any such retarded thing. I did have a small glass of Merlot with my parents. (Psalm 104:14-15)
I went skiing and snowboarding the other day. Skiing was a cinch! So much fun! Snowboarding? ....I cannot wait till I get it down. I'll be lucky if all my bones aren't broken before I get to that point! It's quite the humiliating sport to learn.
Whether has been very ridiculous. In the 30's one week and -0 the next..... and back and forth again! Such extremes! As I always say.....  this is Wisconsin. Anything can happen.
Anyways... that's all for now. I'll write again next month, Lord willing!

Skiing Into A New Year

Happy New Year!!! It is finally 2013. Time sure seems to fly but I do not regret that it does when the days are so full of productivity and happiness. ...then again should the days be full of unpleasantries it is also nice if the time flies for who likes to dwell in such an unfortunate state?
Time is an interesting thing. On one had you look back and think, "that happened only 5 years ago?!" and on the other hand to say, "2 years? That is a long time!" I suppose part of growing up is learning to be more moderate about the passing of time and the future to come.

On December 31st, after a fun church party and milking cows, I came in from the barn and my brothers Channing and Patrick and two church friends who were spending the night, Mark and Malachi, put on layers of clothes, strapped on our skiis and ventured out into the moonlit night with a temperature of -12 degrees! Chilly! We skied around a small block on the farm. There had been a fresh snowfall a few days before so the snow was sparkly under the glow of the moon. Our feet were FREEZING by the time we arrived home. And we got back just in time to watch the clock turn from December 31st, 2012 at 11:59 p.m. to January 1st, 2013 at 12:00 a.m.!!! It was quite exciting!!

We of course made sure to document it all:

 The New Year... Right on the dollar!

 Ready to go on our ski!

Proof!

And so it is the new year..... which means... well, that work continues and so does the rest of life. I'm looking forward to a dear friends wedding this month. Hopefully I'll be able to post pictures of that too.
And now I'm off to milk the cows. =) Cheerio!

These Days

Life has been interesting lately. Work, play.... all sorts of good stuff. 
I had a little birthday party with a bunch of my friends! Sandy, Stacy and Matt make this huge cake that looked just like a guitar!!! It looked great (and tasted delish) and I was very impressed. You could definitely tell they'd been watching the TV show "Cake Boss" alot though. ;) We went bowling.... ate pizza, drank root beer, and went out to Culver's for ice cream afterwords!! It was a great birthday party!!

Finally we have entered that point of winter..... the halfway point... when you can start to notice the days growing ever-so-slightly longer. Only two months to go. But you never know.... we may have an early Spring!!! =D Winter isn't all bad though. Sledding parties, snowboarding..... skiing by the light of the full moon!!! I get to make a lot of cakes this time of year too. Not including my own birthday, there are 5 birthdays in my family, between the beginning of February and the beginning of March.... and I just love baking.

Winter is also a nice time to curl up on the couch and just study the Bible. I'm going through all the times the word "walk" was used in the Bible. Its very good for instruction because usually when the word walk is used it has to do with what and what not to do. So I'm calling it the study of the "Walk and Walk Not's". 

I've also been working on a quilt. I have all the blocks sewn together. Now I just have to learn to "square up" so that my quilt isn't lopsided or awkward.

Until next time..... = )

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.

By the Light of the Moon

What do you do when the moon is full, there's a nice layer of snow, ice.... and more snow, and it's only two degrees out?
Why, you go cross-country skiing of course!

Which is exactly what I did tonight with three of my brothers, Isaac, Channing and Patrick. =)
We journeyed down our back driveway, and then proceeded over a barbed wire fence (skis still on) and down a steep hill (where I made the mistake of actually going down the steepest part -after being warned not to- and there hit a small piece of wood or something and belly flopped). Then feeling like I just lost a few brain cells in the crash, we crossed another fence and slid down Kay Road. Then we found an opening into on of our fields and glided across the snow to my cousin's, the Meyer's house.
Well before we got there we carved "♥ 2010" into the snow... boy that was tricky on skis! lol
Soooo.... when we got to the Meyers we snuck up to a window and started singing "Hark the Harold Angels Sings."

Uuuunnnfortunately... they were gone. =(

...but they happen to have a great tubing hill so Paddy and Channing decided to go for a couple trips down it.

By the time we proceeded homeward... we were all getting a little cold and anxious, and attempted to hurry back through the field, down the road... and up and then back down a hill. lol

This is my family's winter tradition.

...and now here I sit drinking hot cocoa.

So if you ever come visit me in the winter and there's a full moon, you can be sure to come along on a swell adventure like this one. =)

Over the Creek and Through the Snow

It was 8 o'clock when we started. Only 6 degrees Fahrenheit outside. The moon was already up and just a few wisps of clouds here and there. Nonetheless we were going to go cross-country skiing! It was totally grand... until our legs got tired. =) The moon shown on the snow to make it look like God had sprinkled a million diamonds all over the ground. I wished I had, had my camera to take pictures with. All along our journey down Kay Road there were trees covered in snow... you know, the ideal wintry look... just lovely. But it felt like it was broad daylight with the moon one day after it's fullest. There were five of us, Em, Isaac, Chan, Paddy and myself. Little Paddy looked so cute all bundled up with is little mini skis and polls. The poor guy, he crashed so many times! We had a little train formation so to speak. Em plowed the way for the rest of us with Chan right behind her. Isaac was all over, sometimes making his own trail, or in the back of the train or somewhere in the middle. But usually he went right before Paddy and I followed up in the back. As Paddy would tell me, "Hurry up caboose!!!" He definitely wasn't having much trouble keeping up with us bigger kids. And when we would ask him, "Are you tired Musky?" he would immediately answer "No!" as if to not let it show how much work this expedition really was. In our journey we went up the driveway, cut across the front corn field (along G), went all the way down Kay Road, and then cut through another corn field, after which we across a couple fences and the creek, and then went through the horse pasture (of course the horses ignored us as they munched random stuff in the moonlight) and then through the cow pasture... till we made it back, sore but it one piece to our glowing little house, which reminded me of a little ginger bread house. When we got inside it was almost ten... not bad timing for an over-a-mile trek. Thank goodness Dad and Mom had some hot water on the stove for hot chocolate to warm our gizzards. =) Which I am currently drinking as I right this.
And thus ends my tale of our recordings of our late night, cross-country skiing trip on Christmas Eve! =D
Merry Christmas you guys!