With the new year came nine inches of snow last night. It began about 10 pm and didn’t quit until this morning. Bobby is plowing snow as I type and it’s pretty slippery out there….but it sure is pretty.

Yesterday was a great day at my parents celebrating Christmas with my family. Like I said we would do, we ate until we couldn’t eat anymore and then we ate some more! When I arrived I made a pot of coffee so we could have some with the hot cinnamon rolls, muffins, cookies and cheese and crackers that mom had spread on the kitchen table. After downing my first cup of coffee and several goodies, we opened presents. After enjoying all of our new things the little boys went out to sled on the “mountain” and we began making dinner preparations while the big boys cleaned up all the wrappings.

Things were going along as expected until Jake came running in to tell us one of the cousins had a crash on the mountain and then it was all down hill from there….well, it wasn’t really, but I couldn’t resist the pun.

The littlest cousin hit his head and was pretty miserable. By the end of the day he was fine, but he gave us grown ups a bit of a scare….so much so his parents decided to play it safe and take him to the ER. A good report this morning shows he’s back to normal….thank God!

We enjoyed a dinner of ham, cheesy potatoes, Amy’s homemade rolls, fruit salad and pumpkin pie, lemon pie and pumpkin cheesecake for dessert. Yes, I ate too much again. We got home just in time for chores and then because the snow was coming I made Bobby go with me to the store for some “snowed-in” provisions. I hate being snowed in when I’m low on the essentials of life….like butter and coffee!

When we finally were in for the night, we enjoyed lots of football!

So today we will continue with our New Year’s Day tradition of eating nothing with any remote hint of nutritional value. Chips, dip, candy, pop, pizza, whatever we feel like eating and we will graze all day long while we watch football!

My house is a total mess and totally out of control…so I think that will be something I will try to tackle…ha! I’m on a run! I did it again!

Have a great day!

It’s snowing here on the Knolltop and it sounds like we’re going to have a good storm tonight. They are predicting anywhere from 6-12 inches…so we’ll probably get 2.

Today we will have our last Christmas celebration with my family. We will get together and open presents, eat and fill ourselves til we’re miserable and then eat a little more…small bites don’t have any calories you know. Then we’ll watch and help the kids play with their new toys. My brother and his wife and two boys will be there along with my crowd. My sister said she just can’t make it from Montana to here this morning…so she will miss out. She’s got cows to milk anyway…she can’t be gone all day!

The bad thing is, I messed up, I didn’t even think about asking what I was to bring for the gathering today until last night. So I will show up with the strange combination of fudge and cheese and crackers. I made the fudge last night while I was wrapping the last of the presents. And what a blessing…we ran out of scotch tape and had to use masking tape! We are such a mess around here!

Well, better get going to grandmas house!

Okay, since Linda brought up the question of how Don Imus got on RFD-TV, we’ll visit that issue.

I don’t know why he ever got on…their publicity was that rural America called in and wanted him. I’m not sure why. My question was, who knew Don Imus before he got into this trouble over his racial slur? I didn’t but I guess those who listen to a lot of talk radio did.

After investigating him and his Don Imus Ranch for kids with cancer I was unimpressed. Why? Because his wife, Deidre, serves all vegan food. Which means there are no animal products used in their menu. She doesn’t believe that animals should be used for human benefit. Okay, is anyone confused yet? Why would RFD-TV put anyone on their network that is totally against their network audience? RFD-TV is for rural America…they have farming shows, horse shows, equipment shows, tractor shows, everything to do with agriculture and yet a three hour time span is devoted every weekday morning to a man who’s wife is against animal agriculture. That’s a problem in my book…how about yours? Besides, like I said in Rural Route Radio, he has an ego as big as this galaxy and has a face for radio….not TV!

Because I believe in being the squeaky wheel, I wrote a letter to RFD-TV about my concerns and asked them to take him off the air. I never heard back from anyone from RFD-TV. I’ve only heard that people in the industry think that Imus will bring RFD-TV down. He’s already done that in my book!

Okay, off to the day’s events. I have to take Sarah to a friends house for the day and then do a little shopping! And JW’s team lost yesterday….they just weren’t themselves. So we’ll look forward to next week when hopefully they can get back on the winning track!

Well, from what I hear from Pryorvu, Four Dot Dairy in Joliet, Montana is back in the milk peddling business….yeehaw!

My nephew, Tom, and his family support system have been selling fresh milk out in Montana and making a killing, I might add. Well, it’s a killing compared to what we sell our milk for, I don’t think my brother in law is ready to sell his custom cabinetry business and become a full time dairy farmer with two cows just yet.

Now after having both cows dry for a spell…(get it? dry spell?…HA!) they are now back in business with the new heifer delivery on Christmas Eve. How fun for them to have a new Ayrshire heifer! As Pryorvu described, I’m sure it was a beautiful sight to see this newborn on Christmas Eve, with fresh snow. How nice of you to create that word picture for us!

Now for the Knolltop update….yesterday JW’s team lost to Jonesville, I think they just had too much Christmas fudge and eggnog. They just weren’t playing their best. Today they will play Reading…hopefully they’ll come out with a win.

I made my final guest appearance for 2007 on Rural Route Radio with Trent Loos and Kyle Bauer yesterday and of course it was a total riot. We discussed everything from the tiger attack to the mistake it was to have Don Imus on RFD-TV. I love doing radio!

Now, I’ve got to play catch up, a column to write and laundry to do!

Good morning from the snowy Knolltop. The snow is coming down and it’s sticking which makes for a pretty morning. But I don’t think it’s going to stay, we’re supposed to warm up today.

JW has a basketball tournament today and tomorrow, so we are back on the bleachers at noon in Jonesville. I’m so excited because it’s not at chore time. We can actually see the game from beginning to end without missing any of JW’s fouls! Win or lose they will play at least one more game tomorrow, if they win they will play two games tomorrow.

Yesterday Luke and Jake spent the day on the ice. Luke got new hockey equipment for Christmas and headed out to see if there was enough ice. Remarkably there was…so he and Jake invited Brad over and they played most of the afternoon. Right before dinner the phone rang and it was Luke (he had my cell phone) asking me if I wanted to come out and play….I hated to refuse, but I had to, it was dinner time. They needed one more player to make the teams even, so when I couldn’t come, they called in their friends and all of a sudden I had a three extra bellies at the table for dinner!

After dinner they were headed back out to the ice til dark, but then the neighbor needed help loading hay, so they all went down to help load up some hay and by the time they got done it was nightfall. A little darkness didn’t slow them down, they headed for the hockey arena anyway and had a great time. They got back just in time for some snacks and a little game of ghost in the graveyard. While they played outside, Bobby and I sat down in our quiet livingroom with a bowl of popcorn and read the paper.

Better get breakfast on the table!

I had every intention of getting to this computer yesterday but between the downloading of songs in multiple mp3 players, this computer was occupied most of the day. So Merry Christmas a day late and several dollars short now!

Was anyone else as tired as I was yesterday? It seems like for a week I’ve been on a napless, sugar high. Then I stayed up late working on Bobby’s gift, which was worth every lost wink. He loved his year of Holly in a frame…her winnings, her ribbons, her pictures….he really loved it. It was probably the least expensive gift under the tree besides the Texas Longhorns baseball cap that JW and Jake were fighting over!

After baking several batches of goodies for the neighbors, I was actually able to save some to give away to the neighbors. You see I would bake, kids would eat, I would bake, kids would eat…and on and on. I hid some goodies away and then I brought them out on Monday to put in pretty little gift bags and put a Martha Stewart bow on….but I didn’t have any bows or bags….I hid those too, last year, when I bought them on sale and couldn’t find them. So I pulled out the paper plates and zip lock bags. I packed my pack mule up with several plates of goodies and sent him out the door for delivery. Jake walked down the road with his basket of treats handing them out to the neighbors. I loaded up JW and Luke for the distant neighbors and sent them out for their deliveries, they got to drive.

After a Christmas Eve of eating too many shrimp, drinking too much eggnog and the last present wrapped, I fell into bed. On Christmas morning we got the milking done and the kids came out to help finish up the rest of the chores so we could open presents. With all the work done, we sat down to listen to Bobby read the Christmas story out of one of Bobby’s grandfather’s Bibles. Woodrow was a baptist preacher and this summer his widow gave Bobby one of Woodrow’s old Bibles with all of his notes in it. Boy is that a treasure!

Then we opened gifts one by one and it was a great time. Then with the house in complete disarray, I put the pumpkin and pecan pies in the oven along with the ham and laid down to watch a movie with the kids. Boy that was all it took, I didn’t want to move after that. But Sarah and I went to the kitchen and got to work. She set the table and got the stemware out for the sparkling grape juice and together we put dinner on the table. We had ham, creamed potatoes, corn, baked apples, sweet potatoes, pistachio salad and rolls. We topped it off with coffee and pie and then laid back down til milking time!

It was a great Christmas, I’ll share pictures later, right now I’ve got to get the biscuits and gravy on the table!

Just a quick note…so many things to do today!

Luke’s team remained undefeated with their last win against Pittsford. Luke was high scorer with 16 points!

JW’s team racked up another win against Tekonsha. JW had 6 points and 4 fouls. Yes, you know we count his fouls.

Today we’re getting chores done and then off to shop then I’ve got play practice at church. So it will be another busy day, but hopefully I’ll get all my shopping done today!

Off to the barn….

Good Morning from the Knolltop. the sunrise is beautiful this morning and if I didn’t look at the calendar I’d think it was early March. You can smell the warmer temps coming…it just feels like a typical spring day.

Well, today is the last day of school for the kids. Jake took cheese and crackers for his party, Sarah said she doesn’t get a party…just work ….all the time! Luke has a party in third hour…that teacher must be a party animal and I have no idea about JW…JW doesn’t have any idea about JW…..he couldn’t find his backpack this morning and when he went to start his truck, it was dead…he came in and I told him to just wiggle the battery posts, the clamp thingy probably came loose… he did and it started! Yes, just give me a master mechanic certificate!

After school today, Luke and Jake will ride the bus to Pittsford for their final game of the season and JW will head to Tekonsha. We will start chores early, run to Pittsford and pick up Luke and Jake and go west to Tekonsha for the last half of JW’s game. Because Luke’s game is at 4 pm, we won’t make it. They just didn’t think about dairy farmers when they set that game up! 🙂

Well, I’ve got baking, wrapping and running to do today…better get going!

One more thing…my column finally ran in the Farmshine…Bobby read it last night, I didn’t believe him until he showed it to me. I sent that column in back in July….I guess they just didn’t have room until now.

So Beth from PA… now you can email them and tell them how much you enjoyed it and how you want it to run every week!

It’s foggy on the Knolltop this morning.

Yesterday started out just fine…but as I got to the end of chores I was trying to decide which direction I should go to do my shopping. I wanted to go to Adrian…but it was getting late, so when the van just started driving to Hillsdale…I just rode along.

I did somemore Christmas shopping and feeling very satisfied as I went over my list because I only had a couple of more things to get, I checked out and headed out to my van. The van came into my sights and so did the flat tire on the front. We’ve needed new tires, but I just thought I could hold out til after Christmas…NOT!

Normally I would be happy to spend more time shopping while the service center put new tires on my van…but since it was Sarah’s birthday I had to get her birthday treat to her class…they were expecting it! Asking how long it would be, the young, unenthusiastic mechanic just mumbled about an hour an a half. AAAHHHHH!!!! I gently said, “Oh, well, I guess I’d better call my daughter at school and tell her that I won’t be bringing in her birthday treat.”

As I walked away I began to pray that somehow, some way, God would make this go quickly. A few minutes later they called me back to the service counter…they needed me to tell them where my van was parked. I thought this was strange since my van was the only one out there with a flat tire….but I did it anyway…and then when the guy saw the van said, “Oh, that tire sure is flat!” I shook my head and then said, “Did you think I was lying? Or are there relative degrees of flatness?” He didn’t respond.

To drown my sorrows of not getting Sarah’s treat to her, not getting my gifts wrapped and not getting Sarah’s cake made, I bought a sweetroll and sat and ate it while I watched people hustle in and out of the store. That helped. No sooner did I get the roll eaten, they called me and my van was done! Praise God! I quickly drove to the school and dropped off Sarah’s treat and boy were they happy!

Then I rushed home to start dinner, hide the presents and put away the groceries. I picked up the kids from school and when I got home I put everyone to work. Luke made coffee, Jake put some groceries away and Sarah started making her birthday dessert…which wasn’t a cake but a torte. Oh was it good. We ate dinner, birthday cake and watched Sarah open her presents.

After chores we watched Luke’s team win again and came home to collapse with a bowl of popcorn and watch MSU slaughter San Jose State! It was a good day!