CHRISTMAS

I can't believe it is almost the end of the year and Christmas will be here soon!  I am so not ready !!! This year has flown by so fast ! We were blessed again this year.  We sold all of our hay and ear corn, which was great ! We had a good hay crop for this year . Our sweet corn did well. We all got to freeze a bunch for eating this winter. My husband was up for re election for Walker Township Supervisor. We were glad he made it for another 6 year term. This is his third 6 year term. I am glad the people of Walker Township appreciate all he does  and voted him in again!

I have both my trees up and decorated. The 9' tree is in the living room. The 7  1/2 ' tree is in the dining room. The little grandson loves them.

For years , when our two girls were younger , we would go up our lane to the mountain and cut down a tree. Some of those trees had the biggest holes you had to hide  ! LOL !  But we always had such a fun time. Well, it was fun til we got it into the house and my husband and I had to put it up. That part wasn't as much fun! LOL !

This Fall my parents had an auction to get rid of some their things. They plan on selling their home in the next year or so. With their health not as good , they can't keep up with everything that needs done . Both my brothers and a niece and nephew came up from Florida to help . We had a wonderful visit !! And of course had a picnic here at the farm  and had a campfire.

We are blessed with our two daughters and the five grandkids. And blessed to live on this beautiful farm . There are times when things do not go well, but so many times when we need a blessing, it always comes through ! 

Hope you all have a MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!!

We are having a mild winter so far. They called for snow flurries this morning , but they never came. A little snow for Christmas would be nice. My kind of snow is the kind that lays on the grass , but not the road !  I HATE to drive in the snow, makes me very nervous. 

My house is all decorated for Christmas. I have my 3 trees up and they are decorated with all my special ornaments . The 9' tree in the living room has all our old ornaments from the kids , ones family have given to us over the years and I always put on the ornaments  of the 5 grandkids on that tree . I have special frames for their pictures. I put a new picture  in each Christmas.The 7 1/2' tree in the dining room is my Primitive Tree. It has all my primitive ornaments from over the years I have collected or received as a gift. The last thing I do still have to put under the tree in the living room is the Nativity set. The old barn I use is one my husband's uncle made for us . It was made from wood that was from an old shed here on the farm . I LOVE it !

We are having our Christmas meal here on the farm. We will have it the Sunday before Christmas. Some of the family don't get many days off for  the holidays . So that is about the only day that suits most everybody. We will have a big meal of turkey, mashed potatoes, filling, baked corn, sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top,gravy,pickled eggs, deviled eggs, pies and dirt cake. We LOVE dirt cake !  I told my daughter maybe she should double the recipe this year ! We have a tradition of giving joke presents to everyone at Christmas. It was started by my mother -in-law years ago . And I have continued her tradition. I write down in a little notebook the things each person did to screw up. Like the one year my brother backed his car into the garage door, things like that . But for some reason this year I didn't write stuff down. So no joke presents this year ! My daughter said instead this year we should go around the table  and say one thing we are thankful for. I thought that was a great idea. So we will do that this year. 

Hope you all have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!

Grandson's Decorating

Our grandson decided to help me decorate the tree in the dining room. His help was  in putting his toy tractor under the tree.Thought this was so cute !

Christmas

It is hard to believe it will soon be Christmas  ! This was our first full year without the dairy cows . We still have a few heifers , some larger calves and five small calves. So there is still barn work to be done.  My husband has adjusted to working full time for the township. He doesn't look too good right now ( I will put a pic of his f ace on here ) . Last weekend he fell down out outside cellar steps.  He was carrying a log of wood and lost his footing and fell down 5 stone steps onto the concrete and dirt floor. The log he was carrying hit his face when he fell. We took him to the ER and they did X rays . Luckily nothing was broken. He just has some black and blue marks. Also a doozy of a black eye and scraped up face. This happened Saturday night and he was back hunting on Monday .I have been busy with my crafts for the holidays. I had our Craft Open House in November. It was our 20th Year ! It went very well. We also did a Craft Show at the Eagle Valley Personal Care Home in Milesburg and had a very good turn out. Now I am busy trying to get my shopping all done.
I think we have adjusted to our life without the dairy cows . People still ask us if we miss it. Most times we say no. We don't miss the stress of worrying about paying bills and how are we going to fill the tractors with gas.We still have lots of farmer friends and many have bought heifers, corn and hay from us.My husband always gives them a break on the price they pay. He tells them he knows what they are going through. Especially if the milk prices are down. A lot of  people would not do that. They wouldn't care a bit whether the farmer could afford the prices or not. But that is just the kind of person my husband is. He is a caring person and always tries to help other people . 

I hope everyone has a safe and Merry Christmas ! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I can't believe it is almost Christmas ! Can you ? Where did the year go ? It has been such an eventful year for us . To start off we made the decision to sell the dairy cows. We sold them on Friday , May 13 , 2011 . It was a sad day for us to see our the cows leave . To be sold to someone else. I still wonder how some of our favorite cows are doing ? Did they have a heifer or a bull ? are they giving lots of milk ? Are they doing well in their new barns ? It was the right decision to sell the cows. It was the right time. Dairy farming is such a hard life in many ways. There are many wonderful things about farming, but it is hard on your body and sometimes your spirits . It can be very stressful . Worrying about paying the bills , the health of your cows , your own health and more. So many people have remarked how much my husband has changed since we sold the cows. He is so much less stressed and seems so much happier. I know he loved farming and being his own boss. He had to adjust to working for someone else . He has adjusted to working for the Township. Except the funny part is that he now gets up earlier for work than he did when we had the dairy cows ! We both seemed to have adjusted to living a different way of life. We still crop farm and still have some heifers and calves. So we haven't left farming completely. Which is good.

In August , when we were the Centre County Grange Fair we received ( finally !! ) our Century Farm Certificate . Also at the Fair my Dad had a stroke . We spent most of the rest of the Fair at the hospital . Luckily , it was a mild stroke. It seemed to only affect his eyes and his left arm and hand. ( He already had a weak left hand from an accident with a table saw 25 years ago . He almost cut off his whole hand . It was amazing how they fixed his hand up and he was able to use it .) He was in the hospital and then rehab. He came home and was doing very well. But then he had to have an operation on a blocked artery at the end of September and it did not go well. Then he had many complications with the surgery . He was in the hospital for almost 3 weeks. He went to rehab again. Now he has been at home with my Mom . He has done very well physically . But mentally he has some problems. He can't figure out the computer anymore. He has trouble with dressing himself. He still has weakness in his left hand and arm. Hopefully , that will get better. He is a very strong person, super smart and has done so much with his life , that it is hard sometimes to see him all confused and not able to do things himself.

After Dad's stroke a lot of our family came up from Florida to visit. It was WONDERFUL ! It was the first time in years all my three brother's and I were together. I know it was so special for Mom and Dad to have us all there. Of course we had lots of picnics and lots of good times !

It has been a sometimes hectic ... sometimes long ... sometimes sad ... sometimes such special times that you cry year that I won't forget for a long time !