Warm Weather

Well I am going to admit that I am ready for warm weather. If it had stayed cold I wouldn't have minded however after these last few days of the beautiful weather. I'm ready for it to get warm. Today was awesome, it was warm enough to drive with the windows rolled down and the music blaring it was a good day. The warm weather also has some drawbacks though. I spent all afternoon welding on Sunday and it was to hot to wear long sleeves and my left arm is sunburned. It isn't actually from the sun but since it was to warm for long sleeves the arc from the welder "sun burnt" my arm. It looks a little funny because my left arm is bright red, because it is closest to flame, and my right arm is fine.
Also with the warm weather, work on the farm is picking up so I've started working again. Quite a bit of stuff has been going on since the beginning of December. The guys have been building a new corral and cattle working facility and the last time I saw it, it was just a bunch of posts. Now it has wire, gates, and a new set of alley ways and working chutes. For those who don't know, to have a corral that work wells you have one main alley that comes off of a large pen. This alley way has smaller pins opening off of it. When you haul the cattle in from the pasture you unload them from the trailers into the large pen. Then you drive them into the alleyway where they are sorted, because of the small pens you put one group in one pen and the others in a separate pen. For example when working calves we have to separate them from their moms for a little while while we give them shots. Once the cows are sorted into their separate pens we take the group we want and drive them back into the alley way toward the working chutes. In the working chute we have two options, one run them into a trailer or two run them through the squeeze chute. The squeeze chute does exactly as its name says. One cow at a time enters it and their head is locked into a head gate. We can then clamp the sides down, or squeeze until the cow can't easily move. This doesn't hurt them, actually it helps keep them safe because if they are allowed to thrash, they can injure themselves. Once we have finished working the cow, it is released forward into another pen and the next cow is ran into the squeeze chute. This isn't an easy concept to explain or understand without actually seeing it however I hope it makes sense a little bit. Anyway that is what the guys have been doing, they have built a new alley way and working chutes in the last few months. It isn't quite complete however and I am looking forward to getting to work more now that it is getting warm.

Seasons

I've been hearing alot about how people really want spring to get here and that they are tired of winter. I'm one of the few who doesn't wish this to happen. I don't have any firewood cut for next year and if I'm not able to get some cut I will have some customers who won't have any wood. It's not that I'm averse to it getting warm actually I just wish it would do one or the other. I don't enjoy cutting wood when it is warm however I will do it if I have to. However with it getting warm and then getting cold the ground isn't drying out nor is it frozen. So if it was to get warm I would be alright with that. Anyway enough about winter. I have been thinking about it and I don't really think I have a favorite season. It's true I do enjoy winter and the cold however I like spring because it means farm work will start picking up it also means school is getting closer to being over for the summer. Then comes summer which I also enjoy because of wheat harvest and haying. It is when I work the most which as most of you know I really enjoy. Last of all is fall. I like fall because of football season, fall harvest, and since I really like wearing hoodies I like it when I can start wearing them all day but it is still fairly warm out. I know this post is kind of short but I just wasn't sure what to write about but this is why I don't really think I have a favorite season, I like them all.

Christmas Break and a Little More

I haven't blogged anything for awhile although not a lot has gone on over Christmas Break except for cutting firewood and some other miscellaneous stuff except for when Bethany, myself, Isaiah, and Eli took our Grandparent out for their anniversary. Bethany and I left Riley at 8:00am and arrived in Abilene around 9:00 and picked up Isaiah, Eli, their stuff, and figured out our exact plan.  After we left, my Aunt Annie would call grandma and tell her we were on our way to take them out to supper for their anniversary, which was the next day, and a rough estimate of when we would be there. We would have liked to surprise both grandma and grandpa but grandma is one of those people who doesn't always like surprises so we thought we would let her know. The trip out there was a lot of fun time with our cousins and since it is a five hour drive we got quite a bit of time together. We stopped for lunch in Hays and then continued on our way. Grandma and Grandpa used to live in Lacrosse, ks and we have many fond memories of their house there so we drove by it and recalled stories from their time in Lacrosse. We arrived in Garden City around 3:00 and we were going to surprise Grandpa when he came in their apartment however we were to busy talking to grandma and didn't hear grandpa unlocking the door, so he surprised us about as much as we surprised him. Anyway we set around and talked for awhile and then grandma and grandpa drove us around and showed us some of the sights of Garden City and after that we took them out to supper.  After we got back to their apartment we figured out where the four cousins were sleeping which we ended up pretty much filling their apartment. We left the next morning to head back to Abilene because Grandma and Grandpa were coming to their house in Palmer so Grandma could do some cooking for our family Christmas. Although we didn't stay very long we all had a very special time and their were some tears shed but I won't say by whom.
The rest of my break wasn't anything to spectacular I cut quite a bit of wood and thanks to Weddles I was able to cut dry so I could continue selling this year since I had sold out of all of the dry wood I had. Blake and I did have some mishaps but nothing to major besides both of us getting our trucks stuck. Also we were cutting at Weddles on that first day that the high temperature was like 2 degrees and they thought we were crazy. We aren't really sure why, something to do with the fact it was freezing cold and we were there before 9:00am and didn't leave until after dark. Also something about the truck being crazy full or something.

Another thing I have done over break is construction. John Condrey is framing the hotel on Bluemont near Aggieville and he first called to help shovel the snow out of it so it wouldn't get icy however since then I have built safety rail and done some other miscellaneous tasks, plus shoveled it out a couple more times.  I'm not sure I would ever want to be a framer but it has been fun to do something different besides farming.

The thing I'm most excited about though just happened recently, actually it was Thursday evening. I bought a pickup. I think most of you knew that the motor in my truck went bad sometime in September and I have been using my uncles since then, when I needed a truck. That is his old ford pickup 'Red' as it is named in the picture above. However on Monday I found a truck on craigslist that was priced pretty well, looked to be in good condition, it didn't have any rust visible in the pictures, and didn't have a crazy amount of miles. So Thursday I went and looked at it, bought it, and drove it home.

It is a 1999 Dodge Ram 2500 v10. I didn't buy it for its fuel mileage, everything I have read said it will get between 8-10 mpg no matter what I am doing. However, my old truck was a 1989 Ford F250 with a straight 6 cylinder motor and it only got ten miles per gallon. So I'm getting the same mileage pretty much but now I have a really big motor to boot. And this truck isn't perfect however the problems I have found are cosmetic problems and they're mostly on the interior which doesn't bother me. But the best part about it is that when mom saw it out the window for the first time she said, and I quote "That one doesn't look like a piece of junk, I won't mind having it parked in the driveway."  I'm pretty excited.

That's pretty much what has been going on with me since my blog nothing to spectacular in the middle however the beginning and the end were pretty cool and a lot of fun.

Anybody who reads this probably read the post that Bethany wrote on my blog. When she first mentioned that she might have actually published a post, I didn't really believe her because she can say just about anything and keep a straight face while doing it. I opened my blog though and noticed she had left up a post with some ideas concerning how to make my blog more interesting for others to read because she cannot stand that all I talk about is farming, firewood, and welding, as she puts it.  Well when I saw her suggestions, that is what I thought she meant about her writing a blog post on my blog and I quit looking. After awhile though she asks if I looked at my published posts, which made me suspicious and I looked. When I saw that she had actually published a blog my first response was "I'm going to kill you" and she said I should comment on the blog and say that. However then I read the post, and after reading it I decided I would feel a little bit bad if I commented that on the post. So for any of you who think I'm heartless, this might just prove that I do have a heart.
Anyway enough with the post that doesn't involve farming, mechanics, or firewood. This summer the motor in my truck went bad and since my dad really likes the truck we traded trucks, he took mine and I took his old chevy to sell and then he is going to put a new motor in my truck. Well we started that project yesterday and my truck is know sitting in the driveway with the bed, cab, and hood sitting on pallets with only half of the motor and the transmission left in the frame. It is just a little bit sad. Dad and I are going to spend Christmas swapping motors and putting the new cab on my truck which will ironically be half green and half red once we are done.

Memories- A Guest Post

I'm not really sure who all reads Tyler's blog. But whoever you are, I hope this amuses you.


In our family, there is an unspoken rule about leaving your account open on the computer. It goes something like this: If you leave it up, open, or logged in, you are immediately qualified for a good, creative hacking.

I have to admit, I am the one who has the most fun with this. BUT, I ALWAYS ask one of my parents before I hack anything. So don't think I'm a horrible meany. ;)

Anway, Tyler left his blog up. So he now gets a guest blog post... that he didn't exactly authorize... :) But I'm going to be nice... mostly ;)

5 of My Favorite Memories with Tyler

All those days we've spent playing in the woods. There was the Star Wars stage. You know, complete with "jedi cloaks" Grandma made us and light sabers. And the pioneering. You would leave the playhouse with your trusty hatchet and "work" all day, while I cooked, cleaned, and did laundry. I remember when we got some old carpet for the playhouse. It was SUCH an improvement :) Oh, and I can't forget the Narnia phase. It must have been right after dad read us the first book and we saw the movie in theater. I was always slightly bummed there wasn't four of us. How can you play Narnia with only 2 kids and NO Cair Paravel?!

When we had bunk beds (before Stormy and Kota) and you listened to me chatter every night. I don't remember if you ever did any talking. Seems a little crazy that I was the one talking when you were trying to sleep...

That time when dad tried to jump us over the tree when we were "hooding" in the snow. That memory is so vivid to me. After we ran through all those branches and I opened my eyes, I seriously thought you were dead. I just saw you laying there all covered up in snow. I was pretty scared and shaken up after that. Hooding in general is just a bunch of good memories.

Okay, that time during the ice storm (whatever year that was... I think we were 9 and 11) when mom and dad left us home by ourselves and we made scrambled eggs over the fire. :) We were so proud of our ingenuity. Seriously, cooking over the fire, like dad had been doing, all by ourselves! And scrambled eggs, nonetheless! :) Crazy idea.... it's a miracle we didn't set something on fire.

The last one I'll write about was just last spring. I doubt you even remember it. It was that week when I wasn't eating any refined sugar, just for fun, to see if it really is an addiction. I was going somewhere with you and you bought some gum. When you asked me if I wanted any, I said, "Nah. No thanks." You responded, "I got the sugar free kind." I wrote about it in my gratitude journal, it meant so much to me. I love seeing the sweet, thoughtful side of your nature. It doesn't show very often, but I know you truly do pay attention to other people's feelings.

I could write more and more and more of my favorite memories with you. Just writing these has made me think of so many others that are so special to me. Seriously, you appear in most of my favorite memories. I am truly grateful I have you as my best friend, and am so thankful God gave me YOU as a big brother.

~Beth

Bethlehem Revisited

Bethlehem Revisited of 2013 is officially over. Even with the cold weather things went rather smoothly and a lot of people went through. There were no major mishaps as far as I know however we did have some small problems that we were able to solve quickly. I've been helping with BR for five years and this was the coldest year I have been apart of, there have been individual days in past years that were colder however this year all three nights were freezing. Then on Sunday in snowed. This makes everything really pretty, especially while it was still snowing and with all of the lanterns and other lights made the falling snow really visible. The snow also made things a little more challenging. Walking up the trails isn't the easiest task to begin with but once you had snow to them they get slippery and it becomes even more difficult. BR also provides four-wheelers pulling carts with seats mounted on them for those who won't be able to make it up the trails walking. Without snow the four-wheeler have trouble pulling trailers up the hill, then you add snow and it can be a little bit of a rodeo. We have two four-wheelers with carts and I was one of the drivers, and we never needed both four-wheelers out on Friday or Saturday, so I never drove. However Sunday the first group that went through needed one and I had been using my four-wheeler so it was warm, meaning I drove for that group and it was snowing. I have drove a four-wheeler up those trails a million times pulling a trailer however only once with somebody riding that I don't know. I was a little nervous. Thankfully everything went great and I didn't wreck with a passenger. Even with the cold weather and snow, Bethlehem Revisited was a lot of fun again this year, and I can't wait until next year.

Not much going on this week, we finally finished fall harvest at work. We started cutting corn the second to last week of September, then took a break from corn to cut beans, which is what we had the most of, then we went back to corn and we finished the week of October 20. We were working on these two crops for over a month. Last we had 70 acres of milo to cut but it still had to high moisture content so we left it for a couple of weeks before we cut it. It took us over a week to cut even with only 70 acres because we were also trying to wean calves at the same time. Lets just say there was a lot going on. Now we just have to chop silage.
I also got to do something last Monday that was rather interesting. Floyd Dowell, a friend of our family runs the charity Planting Hope International, and one of the things they do is send grain bins overseas to Laos. You might remember me talking about this in a blog from last year. Anyway on Monday Blake, my dad, and I went to Genesios, Ks and help tear down a couple of grain bins. It was fun. There were a lot of bolts and it took awhile however not near as long as we thought it would. It wasn't the best of weather circumstances, with a cold wind and rain/snow but we managed to get it done. So I can now check, tear down a grain bin, off of my bucket list.
Blake and I are going to start cutting wood this week so you will probably get to hear some stories about that in the upcoming months. Hopefully none of them will end badly. I need still deliver 4 loads of hardwoods which is a problem because I probably only have half of a load that is split and seasoned enough to sell. So Thursday that is what we are going to do. We will have to find dead trees we can take down I'm praying I can find enough to finish out my deliveries this year. That's about all that is happening in my life over the last couple of weeks. It seems kind of slow and boring now that football and volleyball is over. We never go anywhere.