Mission Greenhouse!

The guys at last had a break from all their other work and covered the greenhouse frame with plastic today (no small job, I assure you, and not a very safe one either!). They secured the plastic better this time with added boards on the top and sides, so hopefully it will last longer than it did last year as the plastic covering will not be flapping in the wind. :) HOORAY! They still have a couple doors to reinstall, but it got too late to finish that tonight, so the plan is to finish up on Sunday. I can hardly wait to dig in the dirt again! While out helping the guys with a couple parts that they needed help with, I was pleased to see how well the strawberries (I planted last year) are coming up---many more plants that I planted... I was also very happy to see that the Lily bulbs that Sarah K. shared with me last Fall are now peeking out. Spring is so wonderful!

Tomorrow ought to be fun... We've been invited to a bowling party for some new friends of ours' sons' 9th birthday. As we haven't bowled in 7 or 8 years, our expectations of knocking down lots of pins aren't too high, but we'll have lots of fun trying, I'm sure. ;)

I had to make an addition to our turkey pen today, as their current home was getting quite crowded for 15 quickly growing birds. They've now taken up strutting and fighting. It's pretty cute to see a tiny little bird, half feathers and half fluff, strut around like he owns the world! I added another large box (the other half of the box that our trampoline came in) and it didn't take long for the turkeys to realize they had more room and they went fly-jumping from one end to the other and back again. Silly birds!

Mother had quite the adventurous day.... To make a long story short, the guys thought they'd found what was wrong with her Pacifica (when you fill the gas tank, it says it's full, but when you drive a while and it gets down to about half full, all of a sudden the gauge reads "Empty" and you only have a couple minutes before you run out of gas entirely!). Apparently, they didn't get the problem fixed however, as Mother was in sight of the gas-station this morning when her car died... It was out of gas (or actually, it's not drawing from the other half of the tank). She had clients to meet, so Dad called a taxi for her and later this afternoon, when Mom was done at her office, some dear friends came and picked her up; took her to her Pacifica; put a little gas in the tank; and Mom then was able to drive to the station and fill up. I guess her car still needs a little work?

Well, friends, those were the highlights of our day. There was much more that happened, but that was all the usual kind of stuff that occurs on a farm......

Until tomorrow then,
~Cora

Tomorrow is my last day...

...as a part-time CNA at the Napoleon Care Center. I'll still go in on a PRN basis----as needed, as I have time to do so. It's sad in some ways and exciting in others.... :)

I took my car to town to work again today. It purred right along all the way there and all the way back home, the return journey being made in a little misty rain shower. I'm so thankful to have my own vehicle once again!

The turkeys are growing and growing. It's about time to make an addition to their little box house! Hopefully the days will be warm enough soon so we can get them outside. They had started to fly out of their box (which is in the kitchen), so I had to get a piece of a metal-bar kennel to lay on top so they can see out but can't get out...

Well, I need some sleep, so will say goodnight to you all. "Good night". ~

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.

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? :)

Come see us in Hazelton tomorrow evening!

If you're wondering why we'll be in that small town, you can visit Andrew's blog HERE to learn more!

Also, if you wish to see Mr. Ron Paul, you now have another chance to, as he'll be speaking at the Fargo caucus tomorrow!!!!!! I hope I'll get to meet him someday in person! So far, the 2 times that members of my family have gone and heard him/talked to him, I've had to work, and now tomorrow, my family and I'll be helping Andrew and Mr. M. with setting up/running the Hazelton caucus point, so won't be able to go again. God knows best though, and so I'll wait some more...........

Jacob did a nice post today as well about all of our vehicle "happenings" of late. : ) You can go and congratulate him (HERE) on his purchase of a pickup of his very own!

Thank you so much for your prayers! My dad's tooth-pulling and replacement session went quite well today and, so far, he's not been in too much pain. Praise the Lord!!! He's even been doing quite a bit of talking----AND his smile looks great! :)

Mother bought a cake for me today while in Bismarck (as she won't have time to make one as we'll be very busy tomorrow, and she refuses to have me make my own!), and she had "Them" write "Happy 25th, Cora" on it. While she was checking out, the man at the counter asked,

"What does that say?"

Mother replied and he said he thought that's what it said but wanted to make sure. He told her then that his oldest daughter is named Cora too and asked her to wish me a happy birthday. :) I still have never met another "Cora", although I hear that they're out there, somewhere......

Well, it is time to get some rest, so I shall go and do that little thing. Good night everyone.~

I bought a car!

I'll show you pictures at the end of this post. First, though, I'll share a few other pictures that were on my camera card.

Our guard dogs, keeping watch: :)
Dad, Andrew and I went to Selby to buy my car this morning/afternoon.

On the way, we stopped by one of our hayfields and Dad ran through the snow to some of our few remaining hay bales to get a sample. A gentleman in Oklahoma wants to buy whatever we have left for sale (which is all of about 2 loads), but would like to know the quality of it... Hay sales have been such a tremendous blessing from God this Winter!!!!!

I paid for my car with cash, so if you can figure out how much money I'm holding, you'll know how much my car cost! :)

We dropped the hay sample off at the post office in Linton. This house was right by the post office... It used to be a church and I thought it looked really neat now! I wonder how they'll use the bell tower?

The wind was really blowing when we headed South and by the time we were on our return journey, the roads were getting very slushy and slippery. The last 30 miles of our trip were especially icy and Andrew had to drive very slow and, even then, we slid a little bit a few times....

We stopped in Strausburg for a few minutes so the guys could look at some other vehicles at Kens' Auto Sales (cars and pickups that need repairing). There was quite a bit of snow there!

And FINALLY, here is my car!

It's an '04 Stratus; it needs new tires; and will need quite a bit of work under the hood----replacing the water pump and a couple other things.... It was very reasonably priced though and Andrew says he will not charge me what it would cost if I took it into a shop to be repaired, so I hope this was a good choice! :)

The ad had said the car was silver, but the more we look at it, the more we say it's a bit on the blue side of things. What do you think? I'm excited to have a car!!!

This morning, I found a nice surprise in my aquarium! When my parents and Jacob were in Bismarck yesterday, they'd bought me a few new fish as an early birthday present. :)

Andrew arrived home this morning around 10:30. He had spent the night over in Fargo (with Jared and Trevor at a hotel) and had lots to tell us tonight at the supper table. I guess there were 9 district conventions going on all at the same time, so they all had their hands full! Andrew said he's known there (to the Ron Paul team) as "The milkman", as Andrew (or my mom) takes milk to the Bismarck Ron Paul headquarter/office whenever possible and I guess some of the other guys on the team have been there to taste it as well. :) Funny!

Well, I think that is all the news I have to update you with for now. We're looking forward to a day of rest!

Blessings~

My van now has a new home...

The man from Driscoll came and picked it up tonight (and paid for it too). I was so glad Andrew had taken the time to clean everything out of it for me while I was away for most of the day at the Daycare. Speaking of which, I just have one more day there (on Monday) before Helen returns. I think this was the best day so far, as everyone got along with everyone else pretty well and most everybody took naps when they were supposed to.... :) 4 days down, 1 more to go.

This day started out on an extremely sad note when I read about a friend of mines' siblings being in a car accident yesterday----4 of them being in the hospital, and 1 more sister died as a result of injuries!! I can not imagine what they're going through right now. Please pray for the L. family from ND. They're also planning a wedding for their oldest (my friend) for March 3rd. What a difficult time this must be for them............ I just can't imagine.........................

I'm so thankful for my brother tonight!

I'm actually thankful for both my brothers, but tonight I'm especially glad to have Andrew in my family, as he posted my van on BisManOnline this morning and tonight it got sold! He was on the phone with the gentleman who wants it when I arrived home from working half a shift at the nursing home (Mom let me drive her car) a couple hours ago. This man owns an '01 Town & Country van also that the tranny just went out on, so he wants to buy my van and replace his tranny with mine---plus then he'll have extra parts for his van in case something goes wrong. He was especially excited about the heated seats! :) He didn't even try to get Andrew to back off on his asking price of $750.00, so I'll now have that money to stick into whatever other vehicle I find to drive. PTL!

I need to go to Helen's early in the morning again tomorrow, and this time I think I'll leave extra early so I can drive slower and be able to watch more diligently for deer!

Thank you for your prayers on my behalf! I have half my voice back today. :)

Learning the rest of the ropes...

This morning, I went to Helen's house (Daycare) so we could go over some menus and so she could show me where absolutely everything I might ever need was at. :) The reason? She and her husband will be leaving on vacation soon and I will be in charge of her daycare for a few days... If she did forget to show me where something is (and I forgot to ask), then I'm pretty sure the children can help me find it, as they know the ins and outs of the place (and all the rules) better than I do. :)

I got a phone call while at Helen's from one of my coworkers at the nursing home who was wondering if I could come in a couple hours early and take over for her, as she had an appointment to keep, so I agreed to do that as I was going to be going there to work the rest of the day anyway. It ended up being a rather long day.

When I got home just a bit ago, I rolled up the garden-hose that was in the milk cows' tank yet and took it in the house, locking the door behind me. All was still in the house. I figured everyone was in bed already. I had just taken my shoes and coat off when I heard the dogs bark and then, a little later, the entryway door opened up. I turned the light on out there and peeked out the door into the entry---and there---was my dad, coming up the stairs! I let him in. :)

Apparently, they had posted an ad on Bis-Man to try and sell our old car (one that we've had for almost as long as I can remember). Within 3 hours time, they had a call from a man in Bismarck who wanted to buy it. His car broke down this morning (for the last time, I think) and he said he'd willingly pay the full price my dad was asking (in cash) if he'd deliver it to Bismarck. SOOOOO, at 8:00 this evening, he and Andrew took off with the old car and Andrews' car. After making the delivery, while filling gas in Bismarck, they ran into (not literally) some friends from Edgeley, so that was neat.

And that, my dear friends, was our day. ~

Is it Spring already?

This has been like no other ND winter that I remember! Today the thermometer registered the temp. in the 50s (F) and there was mud on the driveway. It was so lovely, in fact, that I decided to clean out the greenhouse a bit so as to be ready for spring when it truly does come! The warm days are so wonderful for the 10 or so baby calves that have been born as of late too...........

Mother and Jacob spent quite a bit of time on Jacob's school lessons. Andrew was in Bismarck for most of the day, as he took his black Charger police-car up to get the wheels balanced and to get some fancy lettering done on the sides where the word, "Sheriff" used to be. :) (I'm sure he'll be sharing pictures soon.)

Dad spent a good part of the morning in Napoleon, getting supplies and doing some banking business.

Yes, once again I'll say, "It was a good day!"

Day #9

Tonight, I just want to say how thankful I am for modern transportation methods! These days:

...would have been fun, but a lot colder and we definitely would not travel around the way we do nowadays if we were still in horse and buggy times!

This morning, my brothers got up early and did chores and then I joined them on a road trip to Bismarck. Andrew had sold one of his cars and wanted to deliver it, but needed someone to pick him up and bring him back home after the delivery was made. Jacob rode along because he needed to renew his drivers' permit before it expired tomorrow. We also ran around town and did some errands for Dad and for the farm (ex: we bought gunny-sax for the potatoes). Then, Andrew took us both out to eat at Pizza Hut, which was a very thoughtful treat. :)

We arrived home just in time for me to change into my work-clothes and to head into town to work at the nursing home. I just got home and am very tired, so I shall bid you all a good night.

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!

The surprise...

Well, as you may already know if you've read my mom's or my brother Andrews' blog posts, the surprise was a "New" (to us) vehicle. It is, I think, the nicest vehicle we've ever had, although I was quite partial to Dad's big red pickup at one time. :)

The reason for another vehicle? Dependability! Mother does a lot of driving now and Dad wanted her to have something more dependable than the van. The van has served us VERY well in the (hmmmmm, is it 7?) years we've had it, but it's getting up in mileage (nearly 200,00) and can now take it a little easier. :)

We all hopped in the "Pacifica" today to get acquainted with our new family vehicle. Those of us who wished to, took turns driving as we went around through Braddock and then on the Hwy, back through to Kintyre and home again. Here Andrew's taking his turn:

Dad testing the overhead vent system. :)

Mother, enjoying the view from one of the middle seats...

Jacob, having fun testing out the DVD player! We probably won't use that feature too often, as we like to visit or read books when we're driving, but for long trips, it might come in handy?

I checked out the headphones too...

And here is "Its" new parking place...

~I was very happy when I learned of my dad's offer to sell me the van for a reasonable price, plus I'll trade him my old pickup (seen in the background), which doesn't currently run....... Dad hopes to get it working again and use it around the farm.

I really like our van and it will be so nice to have a vehicle of my own to run to town with instead of always borrowing my parents' car (or van) or Andrew's pickup! So you see, our faithful van won't quite be put out to pasture after all. :)

Heat wave~

It reached about 90 degrees here today--one of the warmest days we've had all Summer here in ND. The weather this year is so strange, but we're not complaining about the cooler days at all. It really makes haying much more pleasant!

Mother picked this Zinnia from the garden yesterday and I thought it was so pretty that I took a picture of it, and, of course, as long as I have a picture of it, I might as well share it with you here. :)

Our day was spent in doing odd jobs around the place. My dad and Jacob got our Merry-Go-Round set up again (now that the lawn's established around it.)... I hoed our little garden across the road... Mother got a package and some letters ready to go out in the mail and took care of other things that needed doing... The guys worked on Andrew's new pickup quite a bit--fixing the seat; removing the decals and trying to find what was wrong with the window. Oh, Andrew has posted pictures on his blog now of his pickup, so I guess it's safe for me to post some on mine now as well. :) Here it is:

Andrew worked many, many long hours cleaning grain this Spring and we're all so happy for him to have a pickup of his own now! God worked it out so well---that this pickup was very close by and was a reasonable price and everything...

I took this picture from the back seat--as we were getting our first ride in Andrew's "New" wheels.

This is a picture of the inside of the pickup--plus some of my family members. The seats are in really good shape and, even though the previous owners both smoked, it doesn't smell at all in there. :)

Tonight, shortly after we had headed out to do the evening chores, we had a surprise visitor... My dad's cousin, Jerome (from Jamestown) was on his way to pick up something in Napoleon and thought he'd drop in to say hi. He visited for over an hour, so that was nice.

I just thought I'd give you a quick update on Lewis, my calf. He has things pretty well figured out now and, as soon as he sees me coming with his bottle, he starts licking his nose! He is SO cute, but then, I think all babies are!

Our busy Friday...

After breakfast yesterday, Andrew had to head out to finish his grain cleaning job from the night before. As the job was almost an hour away, instead of bringing the cleaner home, the farmer let Andrew drive one of his vehicles. This often happens, so we look forward to seeing what kind of wheels he'll come home with next. This time, it happened to be this tiny thing that Andrew said was like a golf cart with a top on it! The guys wanted to check the oil before my brother took off, but there was one slight problem... They couldn't figure out how to open the hood! After a few minutes of trying different things, my dad finally found the lever underneath the front end. Soon, Andrew was off--only to return in a few hours because of getting rained out. It was nice to have him home again, helping us with all that needed doing. He even still remembered how to milk his cows!

But, let me back up to morning chores again... Dad helped us with everything and then he and I had to catch a couple sick calves to give them Vit. C shots and one also needed a shot of Oxytetracyclene. We don't like using drugs, but we've found that there is a time for it.
Then we had to go around the electric fence, because the cows had been out in the alfalfa field AGAIN. They had broke the barbed wire this time and then tangled the electric fence in several places. Dad thinks we need to hook up a more powerful fencer so that the cows know we mean business...

Once we got done with that, I had to quickly change my clothes and head over to our neighbors' to meet with the wife and discuss babysitting. She had called the day before, wondering if I could help her over the Summer, as she'd like to get back to her work as a Medical Transcriptionist. She'd be at home all the time, but really would like some help with her 18 month old girl and her 2-month-old twin boys! I spent about 2 hours over there visiting and holding baby Michael. I'll be doing my first job over there on Thursday, as she has a meeting in Bismarck she'd like to attend and her husband works 'til 6:00. If all works out well, I'll be pretty busy over the Summer with caring for these little ones. I'm just amazed at how God has been opening up doors for me to be with little children, as I love them so much! The really nice part is that all the families I'm babysitting for are within 2 miles from our farm!

When I returned home from my pleasant visit, we had lunch and then started the task of cleaning the house and preparing a lot of food, as we're getting company this afternoon. For supper last night, we made Deviled-Goose-Eggs! We were wondering how many other people in the USA were eating such delicacies for supper last night? Dad said you'd probably have a greater chance of being struck by lightning than of finding others who ate that kind of eggs. :) So, if you were eating Deviled-Goose-Eggs last night, please leave a comment--and we'll be shocked!

My dad went and got the last load of hay from our hay land that's 20 miles away. He got some exercise, as when he was driving in the field with the semi and trailer, all of a sudden his front wheel sank down to the middle of the tire in mud! It didn't look wet there at all, but apparently it was! Dad had to walk quite a ways back to the tractor, but thankfully he got the truck pulled out and soon was on his way home.

In the afternoon, Andrew got out the weed-eater and trimmed up the place real nice; Dad worked on equipment to go out in the field with; I had a call from a neighbor who was calling for their church, as they need some cakes made for graduation and confirmation the end of May; and then Mom, Jacob, and I worked in the house 'til chores time. We were ready for a good nights sleep after all that--and so we all slept happily ever after. The end~