Interesting Week!

Oh it's Sunday again! What a week it has been! Okay, so let me first preface this blog by my view right now. Miss Congeniality on TV, blog open, Abilene roaming around and a glass of wine. So anything incorrect in this blog is the wine talking! 

What an interesting week it has been for us. There's a lot of pictures this week so I think I'll let them do most of the talking.

I did 4-H for the about 10-11 years. Recently, fundraising efforts have been happening to raise money for new fairgrounds. This past county fair was the last that was held at these fairgrounds. Next year the fair is to move out to the new grounds south of Holton. I happened to be in town when they first started tearing the old barns down. I wasn't that involved in 4-H. I did it, but it wasn't one of my favorite things. However, when I saw the barns being torn down it tore at my heartstrings a little. Knowing how many animals I had put through those buildings. How many steers I spent hours training and selling them through the ring. I'm sure there's a lot of people in Jackson County that is sad about the barns coming down, people a lot more involved in 4-H than I was. Better things are supposed to be coming, but change is always hard.

We're always trying to do land improvement projects so that the land is left in better condition for our children and grandchildren than it was for us. This next picture shows the haybuster blowing straw out on the ground. (Refer to the blogs about feeding cattle last winter to learn how the haybuster works.) We had a pond built to make it easier for the cows to get to water when fenced in certain parts of the pasture. The dirt that was moved to form the pond was put in to a waterway. After the waterway was filled, Matt spread brome seed on it and then blew straw out on the seed. It's just like when you seed your lawn, once the seed is spread you insulate it with straw or some other sort of insulation. The straw helps to make sure that the seed doesn't wash away the first time it rains.

This week we got to see Jeff! He's a truck driver from North Carolina. We stayed with him and his wife on our honeymoon and had a blast! Jeff has a North Carolina accent so you need to pay attention when he's talking, but he is one of the funniest, kind hearted, caring people I know. He hauls cattle from back east to the Midwest then back hauls with a load of our square bales. The pot only has two doors on each level. The hay has to go in through the side. Then when it is in the trailer it gets hauled to each end and stacked just as tight as it can be stacked. Everything except putting it on the flatbed, that all the guys are standing on, is done by hand. It's a very labor intensive job and the bales weigh quite a bit. It's hard to get help to throw the bales because it's such hard job! This time we had Matt Watkins, who worked for the Pagels before we got married, his son Riley, my dad came up to help, a guy from the labor firm in town and Henry, Matt and I. Jeff always helps. He can keep up a running conversation the whole time he's stacking bales! It's incredible, the rest of us are exhausted, but he just keep telling story after story!

So I really really love Matt. And it's stories like these that remind me of that when I'm furious at him.

Matt and I HATE snakes. Like hate! HATE with a capital H A T E. HATE! Doesn't matter if they are 6 inches or 6 feet, we hate them. Did I mention we absolutely hate snakes? I'm a little worse than him, but not a whole lot. Last winter when we were having mouse problems several people suggested we get a pet snake and that would take care of the mouse problem...it would also take care of us living here.

Matt's been working dipping out a pond. There's been a lot of dirt and sediments that filled it up, so while the hoe was there anyway he's been dipping the mud out and building the pond dam back up. So the hoe has been sitting on the pond dike when he's not working and he'll work on it for a while, then something more important will come up so he'll have to leave, then he goes back and works for a while, etc, etc. Well, he headed back down to work on the pond for a while. He was just getting down there and walking across the dam to the hoe when I called to see what my next project was supposed to be. All of a sudden I heard a lot of not very nice words. I thought he hurt himself somehow, but nope just a snake. Apparently it was laying right outside the door on the ground. So my brave husband crawls up the hoe on the other side and crawls through the window to get in the hoe then proceeds to start chasing the snake with the hoe. All the while telling me the step by step of what was happening. Now, I know some of you don't know my husband, but he's 24, somewhere a little shy of 6' probably, lean and very muscular. He's also very quiet. Matt rarely does unnecessary talking (probably why we have fights). To be having a conversation with somebody like this while he's in the hoe (see the picture below-the yellow thing is the hoe) chasing a snake around after he crawled in through a window to avoid the snake, is frankly one of THE funniest things I have been around. After getting the step by step for a little while he hangs up on me. For those of you that have conversations with Pagels on the phone, getting hung up on isn't that much of a shocker. So I wait a full five minutes. I'm thinking the worst at this point...the snake bit him and now he's dying of poison, he tipped the hoe into the pond (sometimes I doubt his hoe operating skills a little too much) and is drowning because he's trapped in the hoe, he tipped the hoe over the steep part of the bank and the hoe crushed him (again with doubting his ability with the hoe), so at this point I'm paranoid and about ready to start running to the pasture (literally running not driving because I'm not thinking rationally, obviously if I was thinking even a little I would know not to do any running since I hate running) so I call my dear husband back and he doesn't answer. I'm one of those people that if you don't answer, I'll just keep calling because if you don't answer the first time maybe on the 26th time I call you, you'll answer. It's been a pretty effective strategy for me in the past. So anyway, he answers on one of the next 10 tries and triumphantly says, "I got it, sweetie. I killed and buried him!" Oh the joy I felt in that moment. I don't think a wife has ever been more proud of her husband than I was of mine in that moment. (For those that don't know me or can't pick up all the sarcasm I'm laying down with that comment...IT'S ALL SARCASM!) For heavens sake, my dear Forever just killed a 4 foot snake with a piece of heavy equipment AND is proud of his accomplishment! And those are the stories that make my life and my husband one of the best out there.

In all fairness, it really does look like it was a vicious snake. Matt said it tried to bite at him when he was getting in the hoe. (and remember that was through a window!) As he explained to me, those hedge balls beside it are unusually large hedge balls. Those hedge balls are like the size of soccer balls so the snake looks a lot smaller than it actually was. However, I was down there later the same day and found just regular size hedge balls so apparently he buried the soccer size ones with the snake. And yes that picture is deleted off my phone and computer so I don't ever happen to run across it and be terrified and have nightmares of snakes for months like I will for a while.

How about another animal story since we're on the topic of animals. This one, however, is much more pleasant. Our dear Abilene...okay correction...my dear Abilene (Matt doesn't like her) got spayed this week. No more puppies for us...ever again. I wanted the puppy experience and I'm getting it, but once is enough. I'm totally okay with adult dogs from now on. Anyway, she got spayed this week so was at the vet for almost exactly 24 hours. She went in Friday morning and I went to get her Saturday morning. She has shown absolutely no sign of being sore so that's a good thing. Ever since I went back to get her she's been hanging a lot closer than she usually does to me. Abilene goes with me everywhere-tractors included. However, normally she lays on the floor. Well, I spent most of Saturday mowing roadsides and weeds and this is where she stayed for a large majority of the day. The picture isn't very good, but she's laying on my lap. They weighed her when she went in and she now weighs 43 pounds. (She was 15 when we got her.) So I have a 43 pound lap dog that slept quite peacefully on my lap in the tractor for most of Saturday. 

I don't do a lot of selfies, but the sky was absolutely beautiful so I thought I would take a minute after checking the fall cows to snap one. Behind me, you can kinda see the roadsides I mowed. I read a farm blog from a girl that had a top 10 list of things that you got used to being a farm girl and one of those was your hair never being where it's supposed to be. In a bun with a headband on, it still gets in my face! And I even cut it  off after we got married! Guess it's a good indication of what way the wind is blowing. That's important to know when you're spraying? Life is all about choosing the right perspective. 

Sorry if you saw this on Facebook already, but Matt and I were really humbled this week. Things in this life can be gone in a blink of the eye. I went on a rare grocery shopping expedition. I came home to put the groceries away and immediately noticed a power line down to the well. So, I immediately called Matt and told him to come home. (I freak out anytime electricity is involved.)  I went on in to the house and smelled something terrible, a smell I had never smelled before. I stowed Abilene in the pen we have and ran the groceries in the house (didn't put them away) just literally ran them inside and ran back outside. Again, me thinking the worst possible scenario, thought there was a gas leak or carbon monoxide and thought the house was going to blow up. Well, Matt assured me when he got here that something got hit in the house and that was the smell. Did I mention a lightning strike caused all this? Anyway, Matt told me to look up our insurance company's number online. (I don't have a smart phone). Tried getting on with my computer, but the internet wasn't working. So upon investigation we found this....

I know a bad picture. But it's a bag of the tissue paper (the kind you put in gift bags). Half of it is burned. We have NO idea how it didn't burn the house down. It was enclosed in a cabinet with the door shut and I had an extra set of glasses shoved next to it and there was a second shelf on top of it so Margaret suggested it might of ran out of oxygen. Whatever the reason, we don't know it. We're just VERY fortunate to have a house left standing. Other than completely freaking me out and having a complete meltdown (Matt was ready to ship me off), the only other damage we could find was an electric fence charger, garage door opener, internet modem and we're suspecting the ice machine on our freezer but the jury is still out on that one. It's been broke before and Matt's fixed it. I don't think the lightning could have affected that when the rest of the fridge and freezer still works, but maybe so. Other than that all the major electronics work (washing machine, dryer, oven, microwave, dishwasher, freezers, fridge, etc.) Thanking our lucky stars that we have a house to sleep in!

The next morning I walked outside and found this beautiful sight to greet me as I went to check the fall cows. A double rainbow. It was a beautiful and welcome sight!

So it's been quite sometime since I've had a recipe. Probably because I don't do a lot of cooking, but this week I had the chance to make deviled eggs. I love deviled eggs, Matt hates them...so more for me. I'm sure everybody has their own spin for deviled eggs and I would love to know some of the variations. Also, if anybody has an easier way to peel them that works, I would love to know that.

For my eggs I put...

Mayo
Mustard
Ranch
Pickle Juice
Salt
Pepper
and of course...
Paprika on top

I don't measure any of the ingredients as I'm sure most of you don't either. Just mix until it tastes right. As per normal with my cooking, it's not the prettiest results, but they taste pretty good.

So that about wraps up our interesting week. I hope this next week is less eventful! Bad storm coming tonight I hear. There's tornado watches in counties just to the west of us. Take proper precautions and be safe! Talk to you next week. And just to mention again...I did change the comment section so anybody should be able to comment, google account or not. If you are unable to, please let me know and I'll try to fix it.  Have a great week. 

Girls Vacation

Sorry for not having a blog last week. We were gone on our vacation. A couple years ago my mom started the girls vacation. Ever since we've gone on a yearly vacation with just the girls. This year we went to Colorado. So it was my mom, my two older sisters, my oldest sister's daughter and myself. Georgetown was our first stop and Estes Park our second. While staying at Georgetown we did some driving through Loveland Pass. We went paddle boating and kayaking. We went to Breckenridge and road a gondola to the top of the mountain. Once there we went down a big slide on a scooter thing. My niece is 3 so we did things that she would enjoy. But, to be honest it was a lot of fun. Having her is just an excuse to do all the fun things that people would judge us doing if we didn't have a kid.

After leaving Georgetown we took the scenic tour up to Estes Park where we stayed in a condo for five nights. While there we took Trail Ridge Road through Rocky Mountain National Park, go-karting, bumper boating, walks around the lake, lots of swimming and relaxing. As you can imagine with 4 women and a 3 year old that didn't get naps all the time, things were sometimes rather stressful. Overall,   it was a great trip. Saw a lot of things that I hadn't seen before. I missed Matt like crazy though and was very very very happy to be home.

Kristen and Autumn go-karting

Autumn and I bumper boating. I'd never done this before and it was TONS of fun. I want Matt and I to build me some of these to use on the ponds.

Autumn LOVES train so she loved this little train.

Kristen, Autumn and Mom in front of the activity place. Mom wanted to prove that she went go-karting.

There was an elk right in town! Kayla saw it while we were driving. We were one of the first people there taking pictures.

The female elk was there too. 

By the time we left there were like 50 people there taking pictures. It was like somebody put out an emergency alarm that there were elk in town and all the tourists converged. It was crazy!! We have nothing better to do than take pictures of elk in town! It was ridiculous! But incredibly funny. 

And of course we had to go down a giant slide. 

Those are the few pictures I had on my phone. The rest are on my sisters' cameras. That's the very brief synopsis of our vacation.

On the farm, we're gearing up to start fall calving soon. Matt got all the hay hauled while we were gone so we're all caught up on that. The next project is to get the combine out and get it ready for harvest which will be here before we know it.

Hope you all have had a great couple weeks and will have a good week this week!

Apple Pie

Sunday again?! So soon? Back to my phone camera to see what we did this week so I know what to blog about. Well, apparently we have done nothing this week.

I have exactly three pictures on my phone. The first is of the streambank project we've been working on for quite some time. We have some land next to a creek. The creek was hitting the bank and washing it out. Meaning it was cutting into the farm ground and washing soil away. Being environmentally aware, like most farmers are, we decided to do something about the problem. What it detailed is a lot of time, money, rock and labor. It's been a lot of moving dirt, sloping and spreading seed and straw to cover the seed so that the seed grows on the streambank so it doesn't erode away anymore. I think we're ALMOST finished. It seems like we've been almost finished for about two months now, but I really think we're about there.

The only other picture I have this week is something I'm incredibly proud of. I don't bake often and when I do it normally doesn't turn out just quite right. We have 2 1/2 apple trees. I see all the apples and think what a waste it is to just let them go bad so one day this week I got very motivated and made 2 apple pies and another apple dessert. Homemade apple pies, crust and everything. For me, this is a major accomplishment! For all those women (like our Grandmas) who made pies all the time, they are my heroes. It took me over two hours to pick, wash, peel, cut, mix, knead, roll out dough, make the filling and bake the pies! How these women did it all the time is WAY beyond me. The final product turned out pretty good. A little ice cream to cover up some of the imperfections never hurt anyone right? 

That's all I've got for this week. Hope everybody is enjoying the rain we got and hope you have a fantastic week!

Little Bit of Everything

This week we spent a lot of time weaning calves. This means a lot of pipe corrals. Not all the open ends are plugged. Meaning during wasp and hornet season they build their nests inside them and then when someone goes to open the gate next to it they all come flying out and sting you. Apparently Matt is exceptionally delicious to them because he's gotten stung about 5 times in the last week, if not more. So upon getting fed up with them stinging him and him not having the wasp and hornet spray to kill them with, he takes the only weapon he has (the broom for the cattle) and starts beating the fence and trying to kill them with a broom. I wish my reaction time was much faster to have taken a video because it was quite possibly the funniest thing I've seen in quite some time. I did get a picture, though not an action picture. This was mid swing. He said he got them all, but I'm not quite sure.

Add caption

I haven't talked a lot about crops recently. This next picture is a picture of a corn field. I'm holding an ear of corn. The next picture down I'm pointing at a silk. (Ignore the chipped nail polish). For each kernel of corn there is a silk that feeds it. That's why on sweet corn, when you peel it, there are so many silks. One for each kernel of corn. That amazes me every time-that corn grows from one of those little kernels of corn in the first place to a big tall (over 6 foot) corn stalk and grows a whole ear of corn, with a silk to each kernel is simply amazing to me. The process of growing crops is an amazing process and I'm blessed enough to be involved in it everyday. I encourage each of you, if given the opportunity, to go tour a farm and see all this happening for yourselves. Have a farmer talk you through the process, see and feel the corn for yourself, ask the questions you have. Please go do it. It's an amazing opportunity to get to tour a farm.

There are so many things that can go wrong with crops and so many things that need to be done during short windows of time. Most producers have an agronomist. This is ours (on the right). Jason is an agronomist that scouts the crops and tells Matt when they need to be sprayed, with what, and during what period of time. In this photo (Matt on the left, Henry in the middle and Jason on the right) they are doing a guess of what the yield is going to be on the corn field. There are formulas that Jason follows to know how to do this. Farmers are like knowing everything they can about their crops. It's like their children in a way. 

And speaking of children. This is our twin nephews. Matt has Greyson, Henry in the background has Granger. Matt was very happy when Jenny dressed Greyson in grey. After babysitting the twins for about an hour and half before Grandma got home from her meeting, we have decided it will be a LONG time yet before we have children.

But the child we do have (our puppy-correction MY puppy) is growing. Bad picture I know, but this is how she was sleeping-hind legs straight in the air and one paw over her eyes blocking out the little bit of light in the room. She's about 4 1/2 months old now and still has a long ways to go before she's out of puppyhood. She still has those beautiful blue eyes so I'm thinking they aren't going to change. I'm hoping not anyway. She enjoys chasing her tail, digging in the dirt and apparently bobbing oranges. We came to my parents for Sunday evening dinner. Abilene gets to hang out with their dog JJ. My mom uses an ice cream pail to water JJ. Well, from somewhere dear miss Abilene finds an old orange, drops it into the pail of water and proceeds to bob for it. This entertains her for a good 5 minutes, which doesn't sound like a lot, but for a puppy it's a lifetime. 

That's about all I've got for this week. Hope you enjoy. As usual if you have any questions, please let me know. I changed the comment section so anybody can comment. Let me know if it doesn't work for some reason or another. Have a great week!