A new addition to our kitchen...

...arrived today. It was born to a cow out in the cold, wet weather and my family found it freezing cold. SO, it is now residing in our kitchen, beside the boxful of cheeping turkeys, hopefully to return to a healthy, happy calf by morning! The moisture is a great blessing and is what we've been asking God for, but it is also hard on little calves that are being born...

The GREAT news is that Andrew (and the other guys helped too) got my car running this morning and I was able to drive it to work today!!!!!!! :) It still needs a little more work done on it and some new tires put on, but it's drivable now anyway. "Thank you so much, fellas!!!!!!" I like my little blue/grey car!

It was a busy night at work and I'm tired. My dad is still up finishing up some tax work he is doing for the lady we rent some of our land from.... The others are just now heading for bed. It sounds like it's been a busy day on the farm.

Poultry and politics (or: pick a little, talk a little, cheep cheep cheep, talk a lot, pick a little more...)

Actually, the pictures pertaining to politics will be posted first, as that is the way they were loaded. :)

This picture was taken shortly before the ND GOP convention began on Saturday...


After a candidate gave their speech and showed their video (which was designed to promote the person, basically to try and convince the delegates to vote for them), there was a brief set time for them to have a parade.......meaning, anyone who so desired could hold up one of their signs and walk around the room, following the candidate, cheering and waving pom-poms and the like. We learned later that each candidate had a certain set amount of time in which they could do their "Schpeal". If they had someone nominate them; another person second the nomination and give a speech; and then had a third person give a second seconding speech, then the candidate would probably not have time for the parade. Some members of my family participated in a couple of the parades. I walked through Mr. Paul Sorum's parade....

This picture was taken after the convention was going a while and nearly all the delegate seats were filled. Mother and I, along with our friend, Virginia, and 2 more people from our district sat up with other alternates in the blue seats on the North side of the building. We got to be seated as delegates during the last 20 minutes of the convention, so didn't get to vote. :( Hopefully next time things will be a lot different!

We could simply not believe how many signs there were EVERYWHERE (even the bathrooms were plastered, literally, with signs---even in each stall! This is just a tiny sampling of what I'm talking about: Even the parking lot was FULL of signs!

My brother, Andrew, the courageous one, speaking up when things were not fair...

Here is our friend, Virginia... We only first met her at the caucus this year, but like her so very much and are glad she doesn't live too far away! Hopefully we can get together with her husband and children sometime soon.....

I'm not sure whose pickup this was, but i liked it and had to get a picture!

Now on to the turkey pictures...

They arrived in this tiny box and quickly got transported to their new home---a much larger box:

When baby birds first arrive, they need to be shown where their feed and water is. I dipped each of the turkey poults' beaks into the water a couple times until they got some water in their mouths....

Mom thinks they're pretty cute too!

We learned a long time ago that a good preventative of coccidiosis in birds is a mixture of yogurt, honey, brewers yeast, and onion added to the water......

We have not learned yet, though, of a good mixture of grain that has enough of everything a turkey baby needs to keep it alive, so we bought a turkey starter.... Two years ago, I lost all 7 of the turkey poults that our hen hatched out when experimenting with feeds, so we decided to go this way this time.

All 17 turkeys are still alive tonight and looking well. I'm so glad!

The guys just have a couple more days of grain cleaning left it sounds like, unless more people call at the last minute. Mom went to Bismarck today. Jacob stayed home and kept the farm running. I went over and spent the day with "My" little girls. :)

Have a good Friday, everybody! God bless~

A bit of news...

It seems that God has opened a new door for me, as far as work goes...

As you know, a "Neighbor" family (they live 12 miles away, but we still call them neighbors) has asked me to watch their 2 little girls. What I didn't tell you is that they'd like me to watch/care for them 3 to 4 days a week. I enjoy spending time with children so much! I do like working with the elderly too, but the job I have now as a CNA keeps me hopping so much that I don't really have time to spend one on one with the residents for very long at all and the job is rather stressful.

SO, I gave my notice at the nursing home today, that I'd like to go to PRN status (which means I'll work as needed) and will finish out our current schedule which goes into the middle of April, then I'll go over to our neighbors, Tracy and Paula M's every week instead. Some of my coworkers are a little mad at me for leaving, but they can see where I'd enjoy my new work more. :) On April 8th, it will be 2 years since I started working at the Napoleon Care Center (nursing home) and I have learned a lot in that time and have met a lot of people/friends. I'll still be working there a few times every month (more so in the Winter months) so can stay in touch with people that way. I'm so much happier though, thinking about spending my days with little ones, teaching them, working with them, and playing with them.~

I did have a special moment at the nursing home this evening that I thought I'd tell about here... A friendly gentleman resident insisted on giving me a chocolate bar again tonight. He's done this a couple times before... This time, he said,
"Do you know why I want to give it to you?"
When I replied that I did not know but was curious, he answered,
"Because I like how you dress like a lady and how respectful and humble you are."
That put a smile on my face, and I accepted his candy bar and brought it home to share with my family. :)

SO, I will miss several parts of my work at NCC, but will also love the new work God has in store for me. I'll probably also still be working at Helen's Daycare some. She actually asked me this week if I'd come more regularly (3+ days a week) there in a couple months when she's going to have 3 new babies to care for, but I can not be in 2 places at one time, and I'd already committed to caring for Tracy and Paula's little girls---plus they live closer and I really, really like them (and they are very generous....). ;) I think, for the time being, this is best. Paula requested, after the first time I cared for her girls,
"Now please don't run off and get married next week or anything, as I'd like you to stick around here for years to come." :) We'll see what God has planned, but for the time being, I feel that this is where I belong.

So, dear friends, life changes...

One exciting change is the wet weather we had this morning----not only is the wetness very welcome for the moisture it brings to the land, but it also allows our guys some time to work on things like, say, my car! :) Andrew got it taken apart down to the water pump this morning. That was definitely broken. Now he said he just needs to find a new one, plus some other parts, then reassemble it all, and then my car should run, hopefully. Wouldn't that be loverly? :)

Now we can bounce...

...whenever we have a spare minute. :) Jacob and I spent a good couple hours setting up our new trampoline this morning. It is 15' across, and is so much fun! The net is better designed and is made of higher quality material than our other one was, and the metal bars that hold it up actually get screwed together, so maybe this trampoline will outlive our last one? (We figured out we must have had that one for 6 years....)

One of Jacob's cows had twins yesterday evening, so he was/is happy. We're thinking one may have to be a bottle calf though, as it doesn't look like the mama will have enough milk for both....

I went to work at the nursing home this afternoon/evening and only a little while ago got home. One of my coworker/friends gave me 2 baby Spider Plants, as she had many and we didn't have any....

I need to get up early and iron and pack the clothes I want to wear for the next 3 days, as I need to be at Helen's at 9:00AM and will stay there until 4:30, at which time I'll drive the couple miles from there into town and fill Mom's car with gas, then head home to change quick; load up the vehicle; and head for Jamestown to attend as much of the home school convention as possible. Choir practice starts at 7:30PM, so we for sure want to be there for that. All of us, except for Dad (who's going to stay home and take care of the animals so we can go) will be staying with the Stevens family right in Jamestown there. It will be so much fun!!!

You probably won't be hearing from me until Saturday or Sunday night. (Just thought I'd put that here for your sake, Hristiyan, so you don't think that I died. :) )

Good night everyone and may God bless you and give you a wonderful weekend.~

I'm so excited...

...for tomorrow to come! Andrew talked with Mr. Sorum (hopefully/prayerfully our future governor) this evening and learned that he will also be attending our district convention! :) Plus, he (Paul Sorum) was able to smooth out a few details with our district chairman, issues that we were concerned about in the way the convention was being held, so we were all rejoicing and praising God this evening in our little living room...

We'll have a busy morning, making calls to friends and all, and hopefully we'll have some company after the meeting, if the Ron Paul campaign men are able to stop for supper, etc.... :)

It is sure to be a very interesting day! Please pray for all to go according to God's plan. My parents, Andrew, and I hope to become delegates to the state convention. ~

Hope we'll be able to sleep tonight!

Oh, today was busy too... Mom and I cleaned and cooked/baked, etc... The guys went and bought/picked up something for Andrew (but I'm sure he'll post about that another time).

Prayer requests....

I just returned home from working at the nursing home again. Mother sent out the following e-mail to several people (me included) and, as it pretty much explains the highlights of this week, and the need for prayer, I thought I'd just include it here for everyone to read... Thank you in advance for your prayers!!!



Hello everyone,

I’m writing because our family plain old needs prayer this week. If you can cover us with your prayers, that would be awesome, but if you can help additionally, that would be terrific! You’re receiving this email from me because some part of it seems to apply to you so please give it a moment of your time. Here’s a run-down of our upcoming week.

Prayer request: Tomorrow at 9:00 AM Robert will have 8 teeth pulled. He’s begun the work of restoring his mouth to it’s proper function of eating pain free. He’ll also get his temporary bridge. I can imagine that he’ll be needing lots of TLC for awhile.

Tuesday is Super Tuesday. Being Andrew volunteered to help set up for our caucus meeting, we’ll be spending quite a bit of time in Hazelton. PLEASE, if you are a Dr. Ron Paul or Mr. Paul Sorum (who is running for Governor) supporter, PLEASE come to vote for them between 5:30 and 8:30. If you support either of these 2 Constitutional candidates and are needing a ride to the meeting, please let me know as we will do our best to get you to the hall on time.

On Wednesday Cora turns 25 and I believe that we are doing nothing but celebrating her life—at least that’s the plan.

I’ll be seeing clients in my office on Thursday. I have an opening over the noon hour if you are needing a tune-up.

Friday will be spent trying to find more Ron Paul and Paul Sorum delegates to come to our district convention.

Saturday at 2:00 in Wishek is our district convention. PLEASE if you are feeling even a tiny bit led to try to be a delegate to the State convention, you need to come to the district convention and let someone at the Ron Paul area know of your wishes. We will do our very best to help you to get elected. The GOP state convention will be held on March 30, March 31, and April 1 which is coming up FAST. It costs $80 to be a delegate plus your meals, transportation, and lodging unless you can travel from home. I must ask you to ponder this cost as small in comparison with what can be gained when we have Godly leadership at the State and Federal level! Please keep this meeting in your prayers as numerous men of God are trying to get the nomination to run in June.

On Sunday, my dear friend and BodyTalk Instructor, is holding her remarkable BodyTalk Access class in Bismarck. Taking this class in June of 2007 literally saved my life!!! I cannot recommend it too highly and I urge you, if YOU are having a hard time dealing with all of the stress in your life, to take the class. Just click on this link to sign up for the class which costs $125 and runs from 9:00 to 5:00 one week from today: http://www.bodytalksystem.com/seminars/details.cfm?id=17869

I can honestly say that, with the brain damage that I endured in 2006-2007, I’d never be able to keep up with my family during a week like this if I didn’t do BodyTalk on myself daily. It is just wonderful to be able to connect the 2 sides of my brain for greater concentration and less pain! I hope that you’ll get started on your journey of personal growth and discovery by taking Elizabeth’s class on the 11th!

Once again I covet your prayers for our family during this extremely busy and exciting week.

God bless,

Dawn for the Bornemanns

A bit of a Jonah day...

...You know the kind---when things just seem to go wrong right from the break of dawn---or even before it, as it was in my case...

Here is my sad tale:

I was driving my van along in the dark (going the speed limit) and was about a mile West of Napoleon when a deer suddenly ran across the road a little ways ahead of me. I slammed on the breaks, knowing that, where there's one deer, there's often two, but the second deer was too quick and ended up running right immediately in front of me! I smacked into it very hard (right in the front on the passenger side) and literally saw the deer sail up into the air 10+ feet, doing somersaults as it went. (My dad and brother looked for it later and couldn't see it, so they think it is still alive?) I stopped right away and pulled over, getting out to see what damage had been done. When I saw the huge mess and smelled something hot, I knew I'd better turn the motor off and call for help.

I called my dad (it was about 7:10AM at this time) and asked his advice and if he could look up Helen's phone # so I could call her and let her know what happened and to see if she or her husband could pick me up, as they needed to get going for appointments in Bismarck and I was supposed to be there at 7:15... To make a long story short, I called #911 to report what had happened, the Sheriff came out and took down the information (I think that's the first time I've ever been inside a police vehicle, but he asked me in because it was SO cold out); Helen's husband came and picked me up and they left as soon as we got to their place; then Dad and Andrew brought me Andrew's car to drive home and towed my van home.

The verdict on my van? My dad said he'd advise me to try and sell it for parts or scrap and buy something else, as it's going to cost a lot to repair and it already has 203,000+ miles on it...

The part to be glad about? That I was not hurt at all, outside of having a very high pulse rate there for a few minutes! Also, as the guys pointed out, I can be glad the air-bags did not get set off, as that could have hurt and it also would make the vehicle very much unsellable. One more thing to be thankful for is that this happened while Helen and her husband were not gone on vacation yet so that one of them could come pick me up. It still was sad though. We've had some great family times in that van (I think we've had it 8 years)!

I have been battling a cold for a couple days and today I started loosing my voice along with it. Jacob says I sound like he did while his voice was changing. :) It's frustrating to want to say something, but also to not want to say it, as your voice sounds so silly.

Outside of those sad details, my day went fairly smoothly with the 10 small (4 and under) children I cared for all day. Shortly after I got home, Mom took off with the car Andrew let me use, as Andrew had someone very interested in buying it and needed it delivered to Bismarck. He and Dad had gone to Minot (I'll let him tell you what for later), so then Mom rode home with them, after Andrew's car was sold!

Andrew commented that, within 3 days time, we've gone down 4 drivable vehicles (3 were sold and 1 was demolished). It's a good thing that Andrew brought home a----oh, I said I wasn't going to tell you!

Prayers would be appreciated, as I try to get well in a super big hurry and as I now need to decide on what vehicle to buy? Life can take so many unexpected turns sometimes!

Post #1,000!

It seems like forever ago that I started my blog on April 2nd, 2009! The Lord has blessed me ever and ever so much since then with the blessings of friendship and inspiration, encouragement and joy! I hope I've been able to share helpful things along the way for others as well, even if it was just something to put a smile on someones face. :) After all:

"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones."
Proverbs 17:22

One of my blogging friends suggested that I tell you all 10 random facts about myself that you may, or may not already know. I thought this sounded like a fun idea, so the facts are typed out below:

1. My favorite color of cows is red. I own mostly black cows (their calves sell better around these parts) but do own most of the red/tan cows in our herd.



2. I do not like eating tomatoes plain! I will eat them in a sandwich, but do not enjoy it. It has something to do with the texture, as I'm not a picky eater, but tomatoes that way just are not appealing to me!



3. I love poetry! I like to try my hand at writing poetry every once in a while, but especially love reading it. Isn't it fun to read a story in rhyme?



4. I'm shy.... Too shy, sometimes, especially when it comes to talking to young men. God has helped me to work through some of this though since I began working at the nursing home, as I HAVE to talk to the residents (which I enjoy!) and to their family members/company (which is a little harder, as they're complete strangers sometimes), and to my coworkers.... :) There's even a young man CNA working there now which means that I HAVE to talk to him when I work with him, which is a good thing--a growing experience.



5. I/we don't observe Christmas and Easter (and definitely not Halloween), as we've researched the roots of these holidays and don't believe in keeping them the way most people do. We do thank the Lord for His coming to earth and dying for us and rising again, and sing songs about that, but don't believe that he was even born in December....



6. I love playing music on my piano! Classical; Marty Goetz or Lorie Lines music; and pretty hymns are my favorite, although hymns seem harder to play (mechanically speaking) than others, even though most people say hymns are easy to play. Hmmm.... I also own a violin and an accordion, both of which I know how to play a little.



7. I love growing things! You probably know that already though. I have a Rubber plant (that I started from a snip from our big plant) and a Hops vine slip that I'm trying to grow in my room currently...



8. My favorite color is green, a rich, dark green.



9. I'm still working on my one and only quilt. It will be King sized when it's finished. It will be very colorful and has many pansies strewn amongst the hearts... :)



10. I've learned a few German words since working at the nursing home and hope to learn more. It seems hard for the residents to translate the words over into English, so I haven't gotten too far with that. One really good word to know though is "Shlofa"--meaning "Sleep"!

So, now you know. :)

I was thinking of having a giveaway in honor of my 1,000th post, and my family was giving me suggestions tonight for what I could do. I've decided to take part of one of their suggestions, so my giveaway is as follows:

I will be choosing 2 winners.

If you leave me a comment on this post, your name will be entered in the hat for the chance to win your choice of 1 of the following things:

#1. A gift of 1,000 pennies--(perhaps all put together into one $10 bill for shipping convenience!) :)

or

#2. I will attempt to write a poem about you--if I know you well, it will be all the easier, but if I don't, it will be a fun challenge! This poem will be published here and/or sent to you as soon as it's finished, depending on how it turns out! ;)

I would love to hear from you!

~Thank you again to all of you who have come to be good friends through blogging or who have stayed in touch better because of it. You are a blessing from above! May the Lord bless you abundantly in return!

And now, "Shlofa gut!" I'd say, "Sleep REAL good", if I only knew how to say "Real" in German........ :) Does anyone know?

They're home!

Praise the Lord! We're all back together once more. :) I haven't seen the weary travelers yet, as they were sleeping when I got home and I didn't want to wake them. From what my mom wrote on her blog though, she had a wonderful time in class. I only wish my dad had not been so miserable on this outing! Yes, please keep praying for him. I'm guessing that tooth is going to have to come out too once the swelling is down far enough.

I worked in town again today. The boys cut down some hay and now it's thundering and looking like rain again. Hmmmm....

Be looking for a special post tomorrow (although I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do yet!) It will be my 1,000th post. :)

Quite the busy day!

Much happened at our place today.

Dad got up really early and headed over to Grand Forks with a load of grain he was hauling for a farmer.

After the rest of us got up early (but not as early as Dad), Mom and I cleaned the kitchen up a bit and tidied up the house. After Mom and the boys did chores, a man from our local meat locker came out to butcher one of our steers. The boys helped him get set up, and then he was able to do the rest on his own. Once the hide was off and it was gutted, he took the carcass to town, where they will let it hang for some time, then cut it/grind it up for us and put it in red and white checkered packages. :)

At 9:30, Mrs. H., my FSA loan officer came out to our place for my annual record and animal inspection. I was very grateful that Andrew drove us up to the pasture in his 4-wheel drive pickup, as I'm almost positive I would have gotten stuck if I'd been driving, as I'm not familiar with the wet areas up there. All went well with the inspection, thankfully! PTL!

Then it was time to make lunch for the boys. I changed into another skirt and a scrub top and put my hair up so I would be ready to head for town when the time came. I worked there the rest of the day.

From the looks of Andrew's blog tonight, he spent some time working on his car and got it running! "Congratulations Andrew on another job well done. :)"

I'm sure much more was accomplished too, things I'm not aware of just yet. Mother probably started packing for her trip to Montana... She may be leaving tomorrow even, either then or else very early Friday morning. We're not sure yet if Dad or Andrew will be going along, as it all depends on the weather and what all needs to be done on the farm yet.

I look forward to sleeping in a little bit longer tomorrow morning. Working in town always makes me tired, but especially so while on this cleanse. I've actually decided to do what Mom does on days she needs more energy---to drink some protein powder now and then, and that does seem to help me keep my strength up, but I'm still pretty tired.

What is the best thing to do when you're tired? Sleep, you say? Good idea!

I'm a "Sharp-Shooter!"

This morning, I got a call from the nursing home, wondering if I would come in and do a "P1"---the first half of the PM shift, or the 3:30 to 9:30 shift. As it's very wet here and there's not a lot to be done until things dry off, I told them I'd do the P1 shift and then, if they didn't find a 3:30 person, I'd switch over to those duties at 6:30. However, "They" did find a 3:30 to 9:30 person, so once 6:30 rolled around, I was free to go home. :) I was glad too, as it was so lovely outside tonight! After a quick supper, we all went out to do the chores and to round up our 5 remaining geese for someone who said they were coming to get them today (and that person never did show up and now we're wondering if it was a prank call, due to the strangeness of the several calls we got from this person who kept seeming to be lost all over the state today....).

After chores were done and the greenhouse was closed up for the night, Dad and Andrew agreed to help Jacob and I sight in our new rifles. Andrew grabbed some AQTs and a blanket to lay on and we headed for the large square straw bales to set up our targets and to do some shooting. With our new guns, after quite a bit of sighting in with our scopes, Jacob and I both met the Sharp-Shooter qualifications, which we were very excited about, as we had both only mastered the "Marksman" level before! Now to practice some more so as to be able to be a "Rifleman!" Thanks again, Andrew, for the wonderful presents..... Do you need any more chores done? ;)

Tomorrow is a special day....

.....as it is my dear dad's birthday! :) Dad's cousin, Jerome is coming to join us for the day and the B. grandparents were thinking of coming, but now they've decided not to, as I still have this cold and Grandpa has to be so very careful about not being exposed to illness as he's not very strong.....

Today was a special day, as another kid was born! Also, Mom and I got our house cleaned (fish aquarium included) and a feast prepared and the greenhouse watered, and the guys worked most of the day on the corn planter and other things in the shop.....

Yesterday was a special day too! (I was going to write last night and tell you all about it, but Blogger was having complications, so I wasn't able to get on.)

While I was working at the nursing home yesterday afternoon, our Administrator, Mr. R. walked up to me and handed me a booklet and some papers and told me that I'd been nominated for one of the "Caregiver Awards" and thanked me for the good work I do. How exciting!!!!

I remembered then how I'd sat in the staff lounge last year, paging through the 2010 Caregiver Recognition book, wondering if my name would ever be there under the Napoleon listing. Now indeed, it is. :)

My prayer and goal, while working with the elderly, has been that they would feel God's love shining through me as I help them with the every day tasks of living that are now difficult for them to accomplish on their own. The following (by the lady who nominated me), which was written by one of the residents' wives (a mother of 14, whom I've come to know well and love!), was encouraging to me, to see that she is feeling some of that love.....

"She (Cora) is so kind and gentle; she is soft spoken and polite. She always makes you feel like she has time to spend with you and that she enjoys that time."

That really made my day and I still smile when I think of it! :) Isn't it amazing what a few encouraging words can do for a person? Let's remember to pass out some encouragement to someone else today!

Fence fixin'...

Due to the lovely weather we've been having of late, the snow on the south side of the shelter belt has been melting slowly and we can now see the fence posts and a bit of the wire. The weight of the snow has pulled most of the wires down to the ground in some places. It would be easy for cows to walk out if they didn't mind stepping through the snowbank, so after Jacob and I did the morning chores, and after the electric fencer was zapping in the front part of the milk cow pasture, and after putting air in the van tires, he and I went out and pieced the top wire of the fence back together. Hopefully it will discourage the cows from leaving their pasture while we wait for the rest of the snow to disappear!

Once the fencing was done, we still had 1 1/2 hours worth of time until I had to head to town to work, SO we grabbed our 22's and headed out to gopher territory. I shot 2 and Jacob got, I think, 5 in the half hour we were out there. We could have had more, except that we're thinning them out so much that we have to drive around searching for them, whistling as we go.... We headed back to the house then for a quick lunch and I showered and got ready for work and made it just in time.

When I returned home, I found a brand new garden hoe on my bed. Hooray! Thank you Mom! Our old ones have slowly been disintegrating (and one got run over by the tractor, oops!) so I'm excited tonight. :)

It is bed time however, so I'll say good night and I'll "Talk" to you again tomorrow.

The Prairie Days website is updated! :)

I spent some time yesterday (and the day before) getting the new tentative schedule posted on the Prairie Days website and also updated a few other things. If you'd like, feel free to take a look at it HERE and let me know what you think. There will actually be a 1 day Appleseed Shoot on the Friday before Prairie Days (June 17th) this year, so hopefully many people can come for that too! I know my mom's cousin's family from WI (the mother in the family and one of their sons spent a few days with us last Summer) is hoping to be able to come for the whole time, so that will be really fun! Prairie Days is just such a great time of learning and of sweet fellowshipping with others, we've not missed a year since it started 9 years ago. The Dagleys asked me to do an old-fashioned hair-style demonstration again this year, so I agreed to do it for an hours time. Mom and I've talked about maybe doing a hair-cutting demonstration too, but the boys didn't think they'd want to be itchy for the rest of the day, so that probably won't happen, unless someone else volunteers to get their hair cut. :)

I'm not sure what all happened at home this afternoon/evening, as I was working at the nursing home again. It rained for most of the day again, but thankfully it's stopped now. There were 0 new calves today, so in a way, that was a good thing! The babies are much warmer in their mommies' tummies than they'd be out in the great big, wet world.

I hope we can plant a lot more in our greenhouse tomorrow, in the midst of cooking and baking and cleaning and calving........ It is so exciting to finally have a greenhouse!!!!!!!!!

Q: What's black and white and red all over?

A: The view from the "Cat walk" at Kists' Livestock auction.....black cows, white cows, and red ones. :)

After baking bread this morning, I took an unexpected outing with my brother, Andrew!

First, Dad, Andrew, Jacob & I loaded up 9 of our Holstein steers, then the boys helped me assemble a veggie pizza quickly and Andrew and I grabbed several pieces of it and ate on the run. After fueling up at the Coffee Cup in Steele, we made the slow journey West to Mandan. After unloading our babies (only they aren't babies anymore, as they're over a year old!), and after unhooking the stock trailer, Andrew and I climbed the old wooden steps to the "Cat Walk"---a narrow bridge with railings on either side so people can walk over the pens of cattle and have a look without getting in the way of the workers there AND without getting your boots full of, well, you know what. It was fun being so high up and looking down at the cows and calves that were returning our stares! Some of us are looking to buy a few more head of bred cows, so Andrew had his camcorder along to take some footage of what was there....

After we had walked all the way to the end of the little bridge and back (it really is quite long), we went to Eagers Electric to pick up something for Dad; then we stopped at a Rent All place to look at the sand-blaster Andrew was going to rent (more on that later), to see if we needed any more parts to make it work with our set-up here at home; then we went to Menards and bought the needed supplies, plus some safety articles for Andrew to wear while he's blasting, and the "Sand" to blast with; after that we stopped at KT Animal Supply and we picked out 5 more fish for my tank (just in case you're all wondering, I now have 12 fish, as I lost most of them when a certain snail died and am now slowly building up again); then we returned to the Rent All store and loaded the blaster and a huge air compressor that will run it; and to finish our day off with, we met Mom at Sam's club (she had been working in her office all day, but had an hour between sessions for shopping) and then took our groceries home.

Meanwhile, back at the farm....

Jacob kept busy with the list I left him, while Dad went to Linton to do some business. When he returned, they both shoveled off the bit of snow that was on the storage-shed flooring, again.
Then, Dad started work on a project that I'm very excited about!!! He used the loader tractor to push away the tons of snow that were on the South side of our storage shed, so the sun can thaw the garden soil out sooner so we can build a greenhouse on the side of the shed so I/we can use it this year! :)

It's been a great day!

A wonderful birthday surprise!

My mom had a great early-birthday surprise for me today..... Around 3:30 this afternoon, 2 vehicles pulled in our yard, the 1 being the BekTel guy (he wasn't the surprise, as he'd come to answer some of Andrew's Internet concerns) and the other being: A LADY FROM WISHEK WHO TUNES PIANOS!!! She spent over an hour tuning mine and now it sounds sooooo much better! :) She also tuned Mom's piano while she was here, so we can now enjoy playing music the way it was meant to be played!
"Thanks so much Mother for your very thoughtful gift! I'm sure we all will enjoy the benefits." :)

I did make it to Linton today also and made my loan payment. Then I headed to Napoleon to put my calf check in the bank (it had to be endorsed by FSA before I could do so), and then spent some of my money at Nita's Attic, our local thrift store. :)

This afternoon and evening was spent in getting books priced and boxed up to take to the used book sale at the home school convention tomorrow. Mom and Andrew plan to leave after lunch sometime, and the rest of us will head over that way on Friday. I have to work tomorrow; Dad has a bunch of hay to haul home again; and Jacob's going to milk Sally, so that's why it's just Mom and Andrew going--Mom to sell her books and Andrew to practice the 2 choir songs the young home schooled children and adults are going to be singing.......

That all being said, I'd best get some sleep as there's much to be done tomorrow morning to get the travelers on the road. Also, there's the bread that needs baking; clothes that need ironing and packing; the Azure order that needs placing; the piano-top that needs rearranging; the birthday gift for a friend that needs wrapping; etc... before heading for work in town!

A giveaway--and choir music...

I wanted to let my readers know of a blog giveaway that a relatively new friend of mine is doing over at her blog, "Girlish Musings". She is giving away a very cute apron that she sewed--an apron with a beautiful bow! You can visit her blog HERE and enter for a chance to win, but you'll have to hurry, as the drawing ends in just a couple days...

A package came in the mail today, a package containing music for 2 songs that are going to be sung by home school students/young adults at the home school convention in March. Andrew will be the only young person in our family who's able to participate, as he and my mom are planning to leave a day earlier than the rest of us to take in the events of Thursday, and then he'll be able to practice with the other members of the choir. I saw this cute video of a song my brothers and I grew up listening to on "WeKids", and as it also has something to do with a choir, I thought I'd post it here...

On second thought, HERE is a link to the song, seeing as my computer won't let me post it for some reason.

My dad drove over to our hayfields by Hazelton to get a sample of our Organic alfalfa hay this afternoon. He will mail the samples to a place where they test the quality of hay, then we will know what we have to work with. My dad has talked to a potential buyer already, an Amish man whom another Organic farmer friend of ours recommended. How exciting this will be if it all works out---our dream of selling Organic hay will finally come true!

Dad has also talked to buyers for grains and has sold some of our corn and wheat recently. Our goal is to sell directly to consumers, but until we are all set up and have enough people buying from us, we need to sell our grains to the "Middle men".......

I have more I could write, but it's getting late and I must get up earlier than usual to milk the goats tomorrow morning, as we have plans for an outing tomorrow. :)

Play...

Yesterday found us playing a game:

Today found us watching a play: (We were there early!)

My parents planned a surprise for us all--as a belated thank you for all the help we did to get ready for Grandpa's auction sale this summer.

First, they took us out to the Golden Corral for a meal.

Then, they had decided to do something different and to take us to see a live performance at the Bismarck State College auditorium this afternoon. Andrew and I were quite small when we were in Medora last and saw their musical production, and Jacob had never been to anything such as this, so it was quite an experience for us all. :) The actual play, "Comic Potential" was pretty humorous, although it had some pretty weird parts as well that I wish they would have cut out... All the actors did a tremendous job, but I think the farmer was my favorite character--and not just because he was a farmer. He was just very talented and hilarious!

After the play was over, we went to visit Grandma in her/their apartment. She had just been to visit Grandpa and said he's doing better today. PTL! He may be able to go back home tomorrow, depending on how he feels after they do his dialysis treatment again. We decided not to visit him today though, as some of us are just getting over a cold and didn't want to share it with him...

Well, I'm really tired tonight as, for some reason, it seems later than it really is.... :)

Update:

We've heard from our parents twice so far, since they left at 3:30 this morning...

First phone call (around 8:00 this morning):

They had made it to Minneapolis with smooth flying. They had not looked at their travel-guide-book yet.

Second phone call (around 11:30 this morning):

They were still in Minneapolis, as they had boarded their plane, only to have to wait for mechanics to try and fix a problem they were having with one of the engines on the plane. After waiting quite a while, they were finally told to get back off the plane, as the problem was too large to fix anytime soon and they would travel via another, older plane. All the passengers were given a free meal because of this inconvenience... Our parents had looked at their travel-guide-book by this time and, according to Jacob, they were really excited! :)

I'm thinking they're almost in San Francisco by now and am awaiting phone call #3.

And now--for an answered prayer!
You know how last night I asked for prayer about the whale tour? Well, I received these 2 e-mails this morning from the friendly guy at the whale tour place:


Good morning Cora,
Last night I would have given odds of a 1 out of 10 shot at being able to go out tomorrow...as of this morning, it's more like 7 out of 10, thanks to a major change in the direction of this Pacific storm!

Hang in there and hopefully we'll see "Mom and Dad" tomorrow!
Roger

AND:


Dear Cora,

Apparently, our "Columbus Day Storm" which was due to arrive out in The Gulf of The Farallones by tonight and ruin our whale watching plans for Monday HAS NOW STALLED out in the Western Pacific!!!

This is unbelievably great news as this type of major National Marine Weather Service REVISION very rarely happens (they don't like to admit it when they're wrong!), so we are going to take advantage of it and are NOW planning on "all systems GO" for tomorrow's trip.

We will keep you up to speed if there are any NEW changes!

Roger (your VERY happy passenger accounts and safety guy), for:

www.SFBayWhaleWatching.com .


GOD HEARS AND ANSWERS PRAYER! HOW WONDERFUL!!! :) Thank you for joining me in praying for this long-awaited for vacation. I will keep you updated on further news we receive...

And hear at home, things are going well. The boys and I picked a loader-bucket nearly full of field corn this morning, then husked it and laid it out to dry. When it is dry, the boys will run it through our corn sheller and then grind it up for Sally to enjoy with her oats. She really likes it!

Then, we separated cream/milk so we can once again make ice cream (that's still on my list for today...)

Now the boys are out working on the building and I'm baking bread; washing the fridges off and reorganizing the magnets and Bible verses, etc...; and now I'll go get a batch of freezer-tomato-sauce cooking and then work on that ice cream.

What a lovely day it is to be alive!

Get ready, get set...

...and off they'll go early tomorrow morning to:

San Bruno is near San Francisco. We did not pick the location of their vacation where we did because we wanted them to see a big city, to be sure, but for the neat things they can do there... (Much more on that later.) There will be several times when they get out of the city too, so hopefully they won't be too culture shocked for long!

This is the "Book" I put together with their vacation itinerary (with lots of maps included--which is what gives this book it's bulk!)

We 3 younger Bs are hoping our parents' vacation will be as wonderful as anticipated!!! We have not yet told them of all the places they'll be going to, but they will find out tomorrow on their flight. :)

This is a picture I took last night of the program Andrew set up for us to use when they're in CA and we're here--so we can talk to each other and see each other at the same time. Neat!

Here's Andrew on the other end of things...

Mother--learning what she needed to know to import pictures on a lap-top...

Dad, getting caught up with everything before leaving....

This picture was taken this afternoon, when Andrew presented the big book of things to know to our parents...

Most of this afternoon was spent in digging out suitcases and packing them well. This brief-case worked nicely as a case for Andrew's lap-top, plus it holds some other special items as well...

"Hmmmm.... Does that match or doesn't it?" .... "It doesn't...."

Please join us in praying for safety for these two love-birds as they're gone vacationing! Especially please pray for Monday to be nice and still in CA, as we'd arranged for Dad and Mom to go on a whale watching tour, but now hear it might be quite stormy that day, which would mean they couldn't go... There is a possibility they could go later in the week, but that would mess up some of the plans we'd made. God has calmed a stormy sea before, and I KNOW He can do it again!!! :)

Stay tuned for further developments in "The 30th Wedding Anniversary Vacation of Robert & Dawn.

This is Cora B., reporting to you live from ND. Have a good night."