It was cold this morning, much colder than it’s been and I guess we’re in for another bout of wind. But then we will get our January thaw…in February. I really don’t care what month it is…as long as it doesn’t wait until June!

Does anyone feel like praying? I have a couple of requests if you’re in the mood. If not, then skip to the next paragraph. I’ll be leaving for the Great Lakes Regional Dairy Conference on Thursday morning and will be gone until Lori from Knolltop Morgans brings me home on Saturday. This will be a nice break for me, but the rest of the family will be home….so I don’t have to tell you how to pray for them. AND, I don’t have the foggiest idea how I’m going to get to Grand Rapids on Thursday morning. I need a ride, but haven’t found one yet. Please pray for that!

We had another heifer calf born yesterday. Her name is Kooper. I know, that’s wierd, but it had to start with a K and that just popped into my head. So her registered name will be Knolltop Roy Kooper…..wasn’t there someone famous with the name Roy Cooper?

Time for chores!

It’s kind of a foggy morning here on the Knolltop. The weather has decided to straighten up and give us some warmer temps. I can actually see dirt on the dirt road!

Well, the computer has been acting much better in the past couple of days, we may be on the road to recovery here. Although it was nice to have a week off from being on the computer, I have to say, I’ve missed all of you!

Who was rooting for the Steelers? I wasn’t. I like Kurt Warner so I wanted the Cardinals to win and so did everyone else in our house except Jake. He made himself a megaphone out of paper yesterday afternoon and used it through the whole game.

Sarah put out a spread on the table for us so when we got in from chores we were treated to a superbowl feast! I ate my way across the buffet until I was miserable. And this morning before chores I downed a couple more brownies and some chex mix. I know, I know, I need to get on the treadmill.

I hear the back door opening, time for more chores! Later!

Well, this computer is still not working properly. I just got the thing back and right in the middle of something important, the thing shuts down due to overheating! This thing had never done this before….now I have to take it back to the computer guy. I’ve had enough!

So, I have no idea how long I will be out this time, but I’ll be back…at some point! I hope!

I’m here in the computer store working on their display model…my computer is corrupted! So I won’t be posting here for a couple of days….I’m trying to get the guy to get my computer done pronto!

Okay, so see you in a couple of days….

now the guy is asking me about church…gotta go!

It’s another balmy morning here on the Knolltop. I love this warm weather!

Because many of you don’t get the Farmshine, the Farmers’ Advance or Farmworld, I think I’ll put my column in today.

But before I do, I just wanted to mention the games last night. While Sarah was selling baked goods at the FFA bake sale, Luke’s team beat Pittsford and JW’s team got beaten. Jake will have his first game tomorrow, he’s so excited!

Okay, here’s my column from this week.

Truth from the Trenches by Melissa Hart

I want to be a farmer.
Waking up to -20 degrees this morning the words coming out of my mouth are not “I want to be a farmer.” Rather, “I don’t want to be a farmer today” is more like it. But after reading an essay written by a six year old little girl in the most recent issue of the Michigan Farm News I can see again why farming is a special way of life.
Addy Battel of Elkton, Michigan wrote about her desire to be a farmer when she grew up. Like many children her love for farming is rooted from watching and helping on her grandparent’s farm. The enjoyment she experiences from helping feed calves and wanting to be outside along with the wonderful smell of maple syrup boiling and the crunch of a fresh sugar beet are all things she mentioned in her essay. But what sealed the deal in her piece was how much she liked the smell of manure in the dairy barn. Now there is a true farm girl!
How many other kids are out there with this kind of desire? How many kids are out there who have been to our farms, helped with our chores and have developed a desire to want to raise livestock or plant crops and watch them grow? How many other kids are out there who have a passion for farming and may never get the chance?
We’ve discussed this before, but the dead of winter may be the best time to ask ourselves, if our kids want to come back to the family farm are we going to stand at the gate and chase them away to look for a more lucrative career or will we open the gate and let them in?
Looking down the road in the dairy industry there seems to be nothing but doom and gloom. Who in their right mind would encourage their children to come home to that? But who in their right mind would discourage a kid from doing what their passionate about? The passion for a career is what will fuel the learning process and will keep the determination on fire to be successful.
While there are millions of people around the world who are suffering from one thing or another, dairy farmers could teach “Suffering 101.” But remember, suffering produces perseverance and perseverance produces character and character results in hope and hope never disappoints us.
If there was ever a career that instills perseverance, character and hope into a person, it’s got to be farming. If our children venture down the farming road then these attributes will also be instilled in them, if they haven’t already been developed by simply being raised on a farm.
I’m not saying that if we want hope, character and perseverance then we need to be a farmer, but I am saying that farming is more than high debt loads, broken equipment, rising inputs and volatile income.
It’s a desire that is infused into some people. It’s a way of life that some will never want to leave. It’s passion that will never wither. It’s a responsibility that we have to take seriously. It’s a privilege that we shouldn’t take for granted. And on a day like today, it’s a testing ground that will use up every bit of grit, determination, tenacity and strength in a man. But it’s also a place where we can be renewed, refreshed and recommitted by the smell of boiling sap, the crunch of a fresh sugar beet or the unique smell of manure.

Oh my heaven’s it was in the 20s today when we walked across the road to milk this morning!!!!!! A virtual heatwave has hit the Knolltop!

Now I have to brag about my husband a bit…so please indulge me. Because men today get a bad rap about everywhere you turn, I like to make sure we highlight the great things they do to make our lives so much better on a daily basis….but I know I’ve not always done that.

The other day when I had a meeting in Lansing, I knew I would be sliding in right at dinner time so I made sure I had the main dish in the oven with the timer on it so the oven would turn on automatically when it needed to so we would have a hot meal when I slid in. I just happened to mention to Bobby that we would be having leftovers for dinner and that I would pick up the kids and be home just in time to put supper on the table. (Yes we eat early, before chores so I don’t have to cook afterward)

I had the table set before I left but that was it. When I got home with Sarah, the only one who came home with me that day, I walked in and much to my surprise, the whole meal was on the table! The chicken, stuffing, corn and even rolls were hot and steaming, just waiting to be eaten. When I asked if I needed to make the coffee, he said it was already made! WOW!

Now to some of you, this may not be a big deal, but because my love language is acts of service and I practically melt into a puddle of tears when someone does something for me….this is HUGE! And the fact the Bobby hardly takes up space in the kitchen unless it’s to have his midnight snack.

So, now….on to Patty Hyde’s wonderful brownies….I must clear this up. She was so kind to make brownies for her husband to bring to the MHA meeting the other day and what did she get in return????? Let me straighten this mess out for you Patty. I may not get the words exactly correct, but this is how the conversation went: Dick asked if anyone was going to eat the brownies that HE made for the meeting. Knowing full well that he didn’t make them, I thought I would give him a jab…and I said, “They’re too dry.” Then I laughed and said, no, I was just joking, they were wonderful! Then he admitted he didn’t make them and I said, don’t tell Patty I said that! But nothing is sacred…..he just had to tell you didn’t he????!!!!! BUT Patty, your brownies were wonderful!!!!!

It’s a clear, sunny morning here on the Knolltop….and not to mention cold.

It seems there is a conspiracy to beef up the Michigan Holstein Board of Directors…or so it seems to me. Between the President and Executive secretary of the association and Mooville Creamery, owned and operated by the wonderful Westendorp Family of Nashville, Michigan the MHA board is sure to gain a few extra pounds by the time their board term is up.

The first line of attack was the seasonal favorite, Eggnog. Yes, at the November meeting, Mr. Doug Westendorp came in carrying a cooler full of not only fresh milk from the creamery but wonderfully thick chocolate milk and yes bottles of fresh, creamy, thick eggnog. I went to the cooler and without a thought I picked up a bottle of eggnog and downed it in no time. After enjoying this dairy treat I decided to see what was in it. After further inspection I noticed the caloric content and was astounded when I read that one bottle has 800 calories in it!

No, that is not a typo…I wish it were, especially after I consumed half a days calories in one gulp! My eyes just about fell out of my head and my mouth sprung open…then I remembered I was at a meeting and promptly gathered myself again and pondered whether to have a second bottle or not.

Yesterday was even worse….because it was going to be an extra long meeting, lunch was served. Our wonderful Exc. Sec. brought BBQ sandwiches, the President brought delicious brownies and yep…there on the table sat not only a gallon of white and chocolate milk…but two containers of Mooville ice cream!

Don’t worry, I ate a sandwich first…but then I got up and had a helping of brownies ala mode! Oh my was it good…so absolutely yummy! Then about an hour after lunch….I couldn’t help myself….before I could stop and get some sort of self control I found myself bellied up to the buffet table again filling a cup full of ice cream pouring a can of Pepsi over it making myself a coke float! Oh it was sooooooo gooooood!

See, I told you….it is a conspiracy….I must have gained 10 pounds from yesterday’s meeting! I wonder what Doug will bring next month????

It’s another clear, cold morning here on the Knolltop.

Has anyone ever had an owl in their stable before? The other morning when I was absolutely freezing to death while milking I saw this bird fly through the stable. We have birds come in during the spring and summer, but not in the dead of winter so it kind of took me by surprise. So much so that I stopped what I was doing to follow the bird. It landed on the waterpipe and I moved in closer for a better look. It was a bigger bird and as I got closer I noticed it was an Owl!

I don’t see owls up close and personal so this was really cool. I ran into the milk house to get Bobby and by the time we got back out it was gone. I looked all over the barn but couldn’t find it. When I noticed the cows with milkers on had their eyes sucked back into the eye sockets, I thought I’d better get back to the job at hand.

I’ve got a meeting in Lansing today for Michigan Holstein Association, but no games tonight. Last night Luke’s team won and Luke had a great game, but JW’s team lost…in overtime. What a heartbreaker!

Time to head back over to the barn to bed the cows…..later!

Oh, by the way….the other day when I said I was going to do a “Mandy Nunes” and go curl up with a cup of cocoa…I didn’t mean that’s all she does on cold days on her farm in Wisconsin….she took exception to that comment so I thought I’d better clear that up….she said she wanted to do that….not that she actually did it….Sorry Mandy, didn’t mean to make you out to be a couch potato!

It’s a clear, cold morning here on the Knolltop and I’m waiting very impatiently for the 50 degree weather that Pryorvu said he was having in Montana! It’s got to come here…it’s just got to.

I’m done with winter, officially. I’ve had it with cold weather, wind, frozen water bowls, broken waterlines, hair dryers, endless buckets of hot water, flooded mangers, flooded gutters, wet stalls, paper bags stuck in cracks and crevices, screw drivers, ratchet wrenches and mooing cows. All I’m going to say is that Saturday except for about 3 hours in the middle of the day we were in the barn from 4 am – 10:30 pm thawing and fixing and plumbing and milking and bedding and feeding. That’s it…that’s all I’m going to say…..I refuse to relive that day.

But I will say this, I’ve got to have the four most tenacious, determined farm kids in the world. They stuck with us all day long, never wavering, always keeping a good sense of humor and rejoicing in a thawed pipe or water bowl.

Today is a much better day. Even though it’s Martin Luther King day, they still had school and will play basketball tonight. But right now, I’ve got dishes and oh my yes….the laundry. You could hit your head on the ceiling if you were to stand on top of the mountain of laundry! No, my pride won’t let me show you any pictures….sorry.

Can you say FREEZING? That’s the only word that would describe the barn this morning. Well, actually the milk house. The stable was fine….a warm 35 but every hose and pipe in the milk house was frozen. Even with the frozen pipes I was still only 15 minutes late milking! So with a temp of a -15 and a windchill of -25 we only had three frozen water bowls! Now that’s a huge praise!

The kids are home from school because it’s too cold to teach and learn I guess. I have one question….what do I have to do to get into a union like that?

Last night Bobby, Luke and Jake went to the Hillsdale College game and Sarah, JW and I went to the home girls game because Sarah washelping with a bake sale to raise money for FFA. I really wanted to stay home and snuggle under a blanket, but I also wanted to support Sarah…after all she baked half the stuff they sold and she supplied the ONLY homemade goodies…all the rest was from the store!

While I want to do a “Mandy Nunes” today and curl up with a cup of hot chocolate, I’m destine for other duties. I’ve got a column to write, cows to bed and then it’s lunch with the local funeral home director and his wife…..NO….I have no plans for my funeral (or Bobby’s) in the near future, they are just really good friends of ours. Bobby and Tim have breakfast periodically, but today the wives get to horn in on the fun!

Everyone keep moving…that’s the only way to keep warm in this weather!