This is the photo of the day. In the winter, my livingroom is transforms into a basketball court. It was a wild game the other day with the extra boys from school. They have a great time, I’m not sure how well this old farmhouse will hold up though.

Trent Loos called and needed a standby for Rural Route today, so of course I said yes because he’s always so complementary when he’s begging me to be on his show. I’m a push over and I know it and so does he!

The only interruption I had was when the school called 10 minutes before the show and said Jake was sick and needed to come home. I had no vehicle so I had to call the neighbor to rescue Jake. So while I was discussing global warming and trying to understand why I care about 650 researchers who don’t believe in its effects, I had to get Jake settled in for a day on the couch and then head to the barn to finish up chores. If you listen you’ll hear all the sounds of the barn, including the scraping of the floor and the heifer in heat. Yes, it was truly a place where Rural and Urban met today.

This is one of our favorite cows, Blanche. She’s an 89 point Outside due at Christmas time to Goldwyn. Bobby said if she has a heifer her name will be Blessing. And he might even bring her in and put her under the tree! For those of you who aren’t familiar with Bulls, Goldwyn is a really good sire who just died recently.

This is “Bud” our 19 year old cutting horse. He spends most of his time with the dry cows and heifers. He loves to chase them around, but doesn’t do much of that in his old age. He’s a great horse that we bought when he was just 2 years old and JW was 2 months.

Okay, so I’m not a photographer, but I try!

Good Morning from a chilly, clear Knolltop! The moon is full and was so bright this morning when we walked across the road to milk. In fact it was bright when we got done with milking last night too. It’s so nice to have that bright light even at night.

Yesterday was a busy day that started out just a tad behind. Our alarm clock decided to quit working and of course we didn’t find out until I woke up at 4:30 am….a time when we are normally a third done with milking! Jolting out of bed and dashing to the barn, it was a welcome relief when we turned the radio up and heard the kids didn’t have school because of the icy roads!

For the rest of the day, we were behind. Every time I thought about posting on this blog, I realized I had something else to do. So I just never got to it causing alarm in the South. Getting a call from my favorite mother -in-law at 9 pm last night was a little disconcerting, I automatically thought something was wrong when I looked at the caller ID. She was just calling to check on us because I hadn’t posted! It’s nice to know we’re being looked out for….actually, I was surprised my mom didn’t call, she always calls when I don’t post. Maybe I’d better call her to make sure everything is okay!

From the comment left yesterday, I see old Pryorvu is getting things ready for Christmas….glad to hear he’s not slacking off out there in the foothills of the Rockies!

Today is the Michigan Holstein Association Holiday sale. JW and I have to sell concessions at it since the Juniors are using that as a fundraiser. This evening the kids have their Christmas concert. So it’s never a dull moment on the Knolltop.

By the way, at the game on Tuesday night, the JV’s beat Climax-Scotts but the varsity lost.

It’s an icy morning here on the Knolltop. We’re getting rain right now and the road is a sheet of ice, I’m assuming the paved roads are fine since the kids had school, but I”m glad I don’t have to leave the comforts of this little farmstead.

Last night we slipped our way to Jonesville to watch the boys basketball game. The JV team won and the varsity lost, but it was close. They were both really good games and it was fun to watch the first game of the season.

This evening Bobby will ride the bus with the boys to Climax. It’s over an hour away so Sarah and I will stay home and milk the cows. I’m good with that, it will be nice to spend the evening with just Sarah.

I think I might try to get some Christmas cards sent today…maybe…who knows. I’ve only had one year when I was on time, I was organized and sent them out the day after Thanksgiving. I haven’t been that organized since. But since I love to get them, I need to send them!

Or maybe I”ll just bake Christmas goodies today. That sounds way better than writing out cards. The taste of an envelope doesn’t even compare to chocolate peanut butter fudge!

Good Monday Morning from the Knolltop!

I don’t have much time this morning, I’m late for coffee and Bible Study with Angie!

It was a fun weekend, Sarah and I decorated the house for Christmas, I made yummy Christmas cookies last night with eggnog…it’s all gone. The boys had an FFA lock-in Saturday night while Jake, Sarah, Bobby and I had a great game of charades.

Tonight is the season opener for the boys at Jonesville. And I might find myself in divorce court over the Capitol One Bowl where Michigan State will take on Georgia. Yes, that is making a major division in our house! The Spartans will take on the Bow Wow Brigade of U of G on New Years Day. It will be one fierce day here on the Knolltop!

Good Friday morning from a cloudy, cold Knolltop. It was 18 when we crossed the road to milk the cows…and boy it felt like it!

Last evening Bobby, Luke and Jake wanted to go to the Hillsdale College mens basketball game. They were playing the Lake Superior State Lakers and Micah Hudson who plays on that team is a boy from our church, so naturally I wanted to go see Micah play. So I told them I was going too. Jake was seriously disappointed that I would even think of horning in on the “Three Amigos” fun time at Jesse Phillips Arena. But I went anyway.

I asked who was going to get the popcorn and I was told that doesn’t happen until half time. When they finally visited the concession stand, I was really looking forward to some good popcorn. They came back with three bags of popcorn and three drinks and I got the message. They were generous enough to share their popcorn, but I still knew I wasn’t a part of the clan.

Sitting on the end, Jake took pity on me and came over to sit down by me. As he was sitting down he said, “Since I know you don’t know diddly about Chargers Basketball, I’ll sit down here and clue you in on what’s going on and who’s who on the team.” Acceptance was all but had at this point. So I proceeded to act like the dumb mom and by the end of the game we were sharing snickers and M&Ms. But I’ll never go again.

I was going to talk about the photo shoot, but now I’ve got to get to the barn and help get the cows in before the water bowls freeze!