Happy May Day from the Knolltop! It’s sunny and warming up nicely for the first day of May.

Prom update: JW has the flowers ordered and his shoes purchased. I don’t think I’ve ever purchased shoes like he did. He would find a pair he liked and then take a picture with his phone and send it to his date…she would give the thumbs up or down. I guess they did this for awhile. But the funny thing was, he found a pair, purchased them and then sent the picture…..I think he’s beginning to clue in.

The boys have a baseball game in Litchfield tonight….should be a good one. I think they should win.

I’ve got a bunch of writing to do but I’d really rather be outside working in my yard. Today is the first sunny day that the wind hasn’t blown your head off! I’d like to get some spraying done and then burn some brush…we’ll see. If I keep my nose to the grindstone then maybe I’ll get outside!

Good Morning from a cool but kind of sunny Knolltop!

Well, I know now that one person enjoys my weather report in the opening sentence. A long time friend of my family back in Fowlerville, Don Hibbard appreciates my weather opening. His wife Lou sent along a nice email letting me know they read the blogs and that Don especially likes the weather report. I emailed the Hibbards back and said I just can’t seem to start writing without giving a weather report. Actually, I think that’s why I have a hard time getting my other blog started, I don’t mention the weather.

Anyway, last evening we headed to Adrian for the boys baseball game and they won! Luke went three for three in hitting and JW had a couple of good hits…one was right on the line! They were on fire. It was a great game. And yes, we passed the bus on our way home and Luke was picking the rocks out of his hair!

Sunday morning the skidsteer blew up. And I have to say at 4:30 am, Bobby called Matt Blonde, the sales person we do business with at Wells Equipment and within five minutes he called back and within an hour and a half we had a new(different) skidsteer to use. Now that is service! They called yesterday to tell us what the problem was with our skidsteer and the good news is…it’s under warranty!!!!! There is nothing better for a dairy farmer right now than hearing those words, “It’s covered under the warranty.”

Time to head back out to the barn for more chores and I think I’ll do some raking today…the yard is in a shambles!

Good Tuesday Morning from the rainy Knolltop! It’s supposed to clear off today so that we can have a baseball game!

Speaking of baseball, I wrote a silly post on my Dairy Agenda Today blog, but I’ve got to share it here just in case there are those of you who refuse to head to that site or you don’t have time for one more click! I understand fully and completely!

Anyway, Luke was out in the barn with me as I was milking. He was sitting on a bucket of dirty towels talking about his day when I noticed him picking at his scalp. I asked him what he was doing and he told me he was picking the rocks out of his hair! Of course I ran over to see what in heaven’s name he was talking about and I saw there was grit and gravel in his hair, along with shavings and a little straw chaff, (he had been playing basketball in the haymow).

He said on the bus ride home from baseball games he spends his time picking the rocks out of his hair. Apparently when he flips his mask off it falls into the dirt at home plate and gets grit and gravel in it. Then he picks it up, shakes it out and puts it back on his head. If you think about how many bad pitches get by him or how many plays at home plate there are, that’s a lot of flips into the dirt, shake-outs and put-back-ons!

I guess I need to search for some industrial strength shampoo….maybe Orvus would be a good idea!

Good Morning from a very warm, sunny Knolltop!

I just got back in from doing chores and now I’ll run some errands before the afternoon of working outside. The boys have an away game today and since the gal that comes and milks for us is hurt, Sarah and I will stay home while Bobby heads to the game.

I heard from my parents last night and they were in the U.P. They had found another van in the paper and the guy took their van in on trade! So now they’re in a navy blue Venture and they discovered it has a DVD player in it! The grand kids will love that.

Better get going!

The bush outside my office window is budding and it’s so nice to see green!

Okay, I’ve pulled out a picture from the past. My mom sent this picture to me. It’s probably one of my most favorite pictures of me as a kid.

Yes, that’s me mixing up calf milk….some things just never change. Although I don’t mix it donning striped shorts and spike high heels with an old man’s hat, I do mix it up every morning and night.

I loved those high heels. They were my absolute favorite thing to buy at the dime store in town. They were plastic with elastic straps. They never lasted too long because I liked to wear them all over the farm, but I still loved them!

Now I’m off to the barn to bed the cows and feed the heifers….without the heels!

It’s a sunny, windy day here on the Knolltop. I’ll take it!

Did I happen to mention earlier that my parents were driving to Alberta, Canada to watch my nephew John Stene graduate? I think I did. Anyway, they drove, they watched, they enjoyed and now they called me this morning, stranded in Northern Minnesota!

Their van quit and they are making a decision on what they want to do. But that’s not the half of it!

While they were driving along US 2, talking to my brother on the phone he mentioned that one our old neighbors that lived down and around the corner had moved to Minnesota and he thought my parents were near to him.

Now, these neighbors were actually a family of six. Mom and Dad and four boys. Four big, big boys. The Grill family. The third son, Tommy, was my late brother Tim’s, good friend. They did a lot together growing up and had a great friendship. In fact so good it lasted through a gunshot wound to the arm. Tommy and Tim were out rabbit hunting and Tim’s gun accidently went off and shot Tom clean through the arm. Even after that they were good buddies.

Anyway, my other brother Rex got on the internet and looked up Tommy Grill’s address and low and behold mom and dad were practically in his backyard. So they stopped in for a visit and ended up getting a motel room across from where Tommy works as a truck mechanic.(He always was a grease monkey) After spending the evening with the Grills they were on their way back to town for the night and their van quit. Thank God it was just a few miles from Tommy’s house!

As of right now, they are trying to decide if they will have someone go get them, buy a new vehicle or wait for a new engine. Yes, you know the drill….please pray for them!

You might be wondering how Rex knew Tommy was in northern Minnesota? When Tommy sees a car drive in the motel across from his garage with Michigan plates, if he has a minute he goes over and asks where they are from. One person was from Ovid, where my brother lives now, and somehow they made the connection and that’s how Rex new where Tommy lived.

Isn’t it amazing how God can work this all out? What are the chances of my parents breaking down in a town of an old family friend? Yes, if you haven’t figured it out by now, God is in control.

The weather hasn’t made up it’s mind today. One moment it’s windy and cold, the next it’s still and sunny, we’ve had rain and yes even a few white flakes. And the baseball game is still on for this afternoon….can you say burr?

Last evening chores were finished and we sprung a leak! After wrenching and wrenching and wrenching, a trip to TSC for parts, more wrenching and lots of prayer, the cows had water and my job was done….in the barn.

Coming in at 9:40 pm I sat down at the computer to finish up my other job on Dairy Agenda Today. Getting to bed an hour later doesn’t fly when you get up four hours later! Yes, I got a nap today!

It’s raining again, I just don’t think this ball game is going to go. But I have a crock pot of sloppy joes ready to go to feed the team when they get done, just in case.

Now, more writing!