As we say Good-bye to 2011

As we say goodbye to 2011 I will share another post card from Grandma Lucy's album.  This one was sent over 100 years ago.  It may have been from a boyfriend.  Walter is not a family cousin and he indicates he has not got a reply to an earlier postcard.  

Merry Christmas

As the days wind down to the 25th, I feel the thrill of not having to be ready just yet. The Four Monkeys from California will arrive in Iowa on the 26th and our home late on the 29th.  We get three whole days with them.  Warren and I are planning to do minimum of work.  We plan to pack in a maximum of play those three days.  Having all four grand kids here and their parents will be our best gift this season!!!

A post card from my Grandmother Lucy's post card album. 

Sent to her in 1910 by a cousins Mae and Genevieve.

Seventeen Days

Our California Grandkids are hoping for this - every time we talk with them they ask if we have snow.  What little we had has come and gone.

Count Down to Our Family Christmas

Today I changed the writing on the chalk/bulletin board in the laundry room. 

(Really it was yesterday - post is going out late - what more is new.)



The CA family, affectionately known as "The Four Monkeys", will be visiting us on the 29 through the second of January.  The little monkeys are hoping for snow.  Between Stacey and my stash of used clothing saved from Kelsey and Hannah we have outfitted Samantha in winter gear.  Sage has the needed Iowa requirements too. Now to check on sleds and wish for snow.  I can not imagine I wrote that last phrase.  Snow looks lovely in pictures and when I look out of our warm snuggy home on a sunny winter day but in reality I really hate find winter to be my least favorite season.

My wish for snow has lots of parameter as I do not want it interfering with any of their travel plans and I only want enough so the kids can go sledding and make snow angels.

I Painted This

Last year we got a new stainless steel frig. It matched none of our other appliances but as the ones we saw that we could use our wood front with were way out of our price range we elected to slowly change out the appliances to stainless. About that time I read in a blog about painting with a stainless steel paint. The stove, frig and dishwasher all looked good in the blog so I ordered the paint. Well, that was over a year ago. Last week I finally got brave enough to try this. Warren took off the metal front of the dishwasher for me. It was a bit of a task but not too hard of a job. Then it was up to me to see if this would work. I figured I could always remove the paint and spray paint it black again if we did not like how it turned out. The kit came with a small small brush that fit into the paint cans.  The directions said that the bigger the foam brush the easier it would be to apply the paint.  I figured it would be just as easy to use the brush it came with and not mess with pouring the paint into something bigger.  I used the can of spray paint that came with the kit first.  Then using the brush in one direction I added three coats of the stainless steel paint before applying the top coat. The directions said to use very light coats.

We are both pleased with how it turned out. It updated our 5 year old appliance and when our 25 plus year old stove quits the kitchen will coordinate.

We Woke up to This

We had snow last night.  I am certainly not ready for this but at 32 degrees it will not last long. 

It may be time to take down the fall decorations.

But what do I put up when I do not want to do Christmas yet??

The wet and heavy snow has caused a power outage.  With a whole farm generator we hardly know there is a problem.  When we first moved to the farm Warren had to hook up the generator to a tractor when our electrical service went out.  That was never a fun task as it was almost always bad weather when our juice went off.  He would have to check it constantly to make sure all was well and to refuel, by caring 5 gallon containers from the fuel tank to the tractor. Later we got a new generator that has an automated switching system. Nice.

One summer Sunday morning around 15 years ago lighting hit the generator shed and caused a fire and disrupted our electrical service.  We had the fire department quickly on the scene and the fire was soon out.  As our livestock buildings are fan ventilated we quickly had to remove the fans (they pop out rather easily - well if you are a guy) to get air to the hogs.  By the time the guys got to the last rooms some of the animals were showing signs of stress.

The Last of the Summer Flowers

My friends, Barb & Bob gave me miniature roses for several years for my birthday. One hardy plant still gives me pleasure. 

Just before a frost a couple of weeks ago I picked the last of the roses to enjoy indoors.  It was a beautiful reminder of a beautiful friendship.  And a testament that the gifts we give others is a lasting  tribute.

From Facebook I want to share this tribute.

OK everyone ... let's turn Facebook into a sea of red until Remembrance Day ... please like and post on your wall ... Lest We Forget ...

By: Joe Hache