Good Morning from a cool Knolltop where everyone is busy with the County Fair!

We took the cows in yesterday, 8 head, and when we got them all settled in, Luke sat down and said, “Mom, this is too many cows!” Of course the bulk of the work is on him because he is in charge of the crew. JW is only providing transportation this week because he will be gone next week to Madison working the Agriprize/Planet Holstein/Global Impact sale(s).

Nana and Joann arrived yesterday afternoon just in time to hear JW sing in the talent contest. I guess he did well…but didn’t place in the top three. It was a good experience for him.

I’m on my way out to the fair after I shower, make sandwiches and gather up everything everybody forgot.

I’m not sure how faithful I’ll be here on the blog….but I’ll try to keep you updated. Show day is tomorrow!

Good Morning from a very sunny Knolltop!

It’s going to be a very busy day. I’ve got to load the truck with our straw and tack for the fair then I have to sound intelligent on Rural Route Radio for an hour. Then I have to head out to the fairgrounds with our tack and on the way drop off a crockpot of cheesy ham and potatoes to the boys at the school for their FFA lunch today.

After making a pack for the cows at the fairgrounds I’ve got to stop and get a couple of things at the store and head back home to try to write something, get ready for a speaking engagement that I have for tonight, get my clothes around for tonight and make dinner. All the kids will be home today since SArah doesn’t have practice because they won last night and Luke has a game tonight. After supper we head to the barn and half way through chores Bobby will head to the football field, JW and I will finish up chores and I will run(literally) into the house get ready to speak and head to Fowlerville, an hour and 15 minutes away for the annual Farm Bureau meeting. They said I won’t be on until 8 pm….thank heavens! Other wise they’d have to take me in my barn clothes!

Then I’ll come back home….I think I’m too old for this, I’m tired already! So….you know what this means……I’m in desperate need of prayer! Pray that my day is ordered, that I speak what those folks need to hear and that I have enough energy to drive home. And thank you in advance.

By the way, I have this BFF Angie who is a farmers wife, a stay at home mom who also homeschools and she’s also an EMT/firefighter. She and her family came down to visit last weekend and brought me some peaches…..she’s a wonder woman! Just though I’d mention that.

Good Morning from another cool morning on the Knolltop.

Well, thank you for the prayer, yesterday went as well as expected. My schedule was only messed up a few times, but everything got done and I made it to my meeting on time. In fact, I had a few minutes to spare and had time to catch my breath and check my outfit in the mirror. It was a good thing I did too. As soon as I walked into the meeting, I made a beeline for the bathroom…it had been a long drive. Looking in the mirror, I fluffed my hair, check to make sure there was no food or manure on my face and turned around to make sure my outfit was complete all the way around. As soon as I turned I spotted a tag hanging from under my arm! I thanked God for letting me see it and ripped it off! Can you imagine walking out to speak with a tag under my arm? What a hoot!

The best part of the evening was the friendly crowd. The worst part of the evening was that almost everyone in the crowd knew me from my childhood. As the emcee introduced me he had no notes, just my name. I took the mic and said, “You don’t know me at all so you have nothing to say, but there are some people in this crowd who know me too well and even have nick names for me….thank heaven’s they don’t have this mic in their hand!”

I have to say it was probably the most difficult presentation I’ve made because I was a known quantity. You remember the saying that you have to get at least 50 miles away from home before you know anything? I was a mile an a half away from home last night….needless to say, I still don’t feel like I know anything!

Moving on….Luke’s team lost their game last night….bummer. But now we have to concentrate on the county fair! Tomorrow we take in our non livestock projects in and Sunday we take the cows in….it’s going to be an exhausting week!

JW rolled in last evening with a very heavy bag….full of awards! He was very tired, but had enough energy to spread out all the awards on the table and tell us all about the contest.

He said he had the highest placing score, but his reasons weren’t as good….that’s why he was third. So, let me list his accomplishments and then I’ll get off my “proud mom” kick.

JW was third high individual over all and his team placed first in reasons, first in Holsteins, first in Jerseys, first in Brown Swiss and first in Ayrshires. They only breed they didn’t win was Guernseys. He came home with two medals, three ribbons, a plaque for the Jersey win, a plaque for the Brown Swiss win, a milk bottle for the Holstein win and a really pretty plate with an Ayrshire on it for the Ayrshire win.

Both the FFA and the 4-H team won the contest but the collegiate teams didn’t fare so well. So as Joe Domecq, the judging coach at MSU, said the future is bright for Michigan Dairy Judging teams!

Renee McCauley took them out to PA and I guess she was as excited as the kids were….which she should be! When they got back to MSU Joe was there to greet them and as only a judging team coach can do he looked at JW and said something like, “I guess you did alright”…..JW looked at him and thought he would’ve gotten a little happier greeting than that for coming home with all this hardware….but Joe said, “Dub, I saw your reasons score, we’ve got some work to do!” You gotta love judging team coaches!

For those of you who get the Farmshine…JW’s team picture should be in there sometime soon, so please look for it and let me know if you see it!

I want to thank everyone who prayed for JW, it paid off for him! By the way, I also received some good news from Sara, who I asked for prayer for over their housing situation. She said it looks like they are making progress with a difficult situation and things are looking up! God is so good!!!!

Today is the rummage sale…I can’t wait!

Well, I had a post all typed out, but I lost it all!

Although I haven’t heard from the horses mouth yet, JW, I did hear from another mom of two kids that are on the same judging trip that the Michigan kids did really well. Ella Mann, mother of Sarah and Matt Mann called and said that Sarah called her all excited because Sarah had won the whole contest! Isn’t that amazing?????!!!!! And then she said that JW was third in the overall contest!!!! Now that is awesome! I’m so proud! That is a huge accomplishment and a great payoff for all the hard work they’ve done this fall.

It seems like this fall they have worked a lot harder on their reasons and have looked at a lot more cattle. I know JW said a couple of times he was tired of looking at cows and giving reasons! I’m just glad they were rewarded for their work.

I just tried to call but all I got was JW’s voice mail, so when I hear more specifics, I’ll post it here!

In the meantime, I finally got all my peaches put up and I”m going to head down to the garden and pick some tomatoes….ugh!

Good Monday morning from cool and waterlogged Knolltop!

We had rain all weekend. Yesterday it just came down in sheets and I wondered if we were going to have to get the ark out. But I see we are much better off than those in Ike’s path.

I have an immediate prayer request just for today. JW is in the middle of his judging contest in Harrisburg, PA. If you would say a prayer for him when you think about it throughout the day, I would be so thankful. Of course, I’m not praying that he do his best, I’m praying that he wins the contest…..remember the free treadmill? He will know how he did tonight so I will give you the results in the morning! Thank you in advance for your prayer!!!!!

Time to take the kids to school!

It’s raining on the Knolltop. I think we’ve got remnants of Ike, but thank heavens we don’t have hurricanes in Michigan!!!!!

Yes, the SBH in his comment yesterday was correct, I was a member of the “Chain gang” last night at the football game. And it was so much fun! There were many comments made and strange looks from the officials as they came up and asked where the clip man was and they pointed to me. After they realized it was no joke, they offered me a handshake and asked if I knew what I was doing. Bobby assured them the newest crew member had been trained and knew what to do. Even though I didn’t really know exactly….yet.

After the first play of the game, I figured out just exactly what my role was and it was a riot standing there on the front lines watching the game and listening to the opposing team coaches talk to each other, discuss plays and tell their boys what to do.

They were all very courteous to one another and to me. I knew of couple of the boys on the team, so I made small talk with them, but then I had to turn from “Clip Man” to the Official Mom.

For the most part the players were very nice and treated their water “girl” with respect. But there were a couple of boys who were very demanding and forgot their manners. When I witnessed this I totally forgot what I was doing and turned into a mom. Before I could stop myself I said, “Hey, you need to be nice to her, she doesn’t have to be out here doing this, she’s serving this team and you need to remember your manners with her. Don’t you treat her like that!”

After watching their expressions change from big strong football players to scolded puppies, I remembered my job and that I wasn’t signed up to be the team mom, so I turned and shut my mouth. But I’m sure if their mothers had seen their behavior, they would thank me for what I did.

The rain held off for the most part and homecoming was a success. Although the Juniors who built their float in our barn, forgot to make arrangements to transport the float from our place to the school. So there were only three floats at halftime. That’s okay, their float was down right awful anyway! Oh and we lost 36-0. It wasn’t pretty.

It’s a foggy wet morning here on the Knolltop. I think the hurricanes are affecting us way up here.

Last night we went to Waldron for Luke’s JV football game. They did a great job and beat the Spartans. Luke played quarterback the whole game, when he wasn’t on defense. I know I’m his mom…but really, he’s a great player!

Jake was the ball boy on the side lines and while he was standing there the boys who were running the chains and the down marker were visiting with him….of course. One of the boys said, “Man, that number 16 is awesome, he should be on varsity!” If that didn’t make Jake swell up with pride… all pumped up he said, “Yeah, I know, that’s my brother.” What a hoot!

Now there is something else I need to get straight. While sitting with my BFF Sue, her mom and my parents at the game we were all discussing the use of “BFF.” Sue came up with a different meaning than the original use which is Best Friend Forever. She said she thought I was saying Big Fat Friend instead of the real meaning. Now, I’ve never called her fat and have no intention of calling her my fat friend. Mostly because she’s not and I would never call anyone fat….unless I had some pit bull coming out and I needed to use it for effect.

Nonetheless I had to get that straight just in case anyone of of you who read this thought I meant Big Fat Friend.

The salsa is done but my column is not….so you know what I’m doing this morning. Tonight is homecoming and JW will miss it because he’s headed to MSU to give five sets of reasons before they leave for Harrisburg, PA this evening. I get to help Bobby run the chains tonight, which means I get to be on the sidelines of the opposing team listening to all their interactions…I can’t wait! Full review over the weekend!

It’s another cool morning on the Knolltop.

Last evening I travelled with my BFF Sue to Sarah’s first volleyball game. They lost. In two games they lost miserably. I think they are too excited about their very first homecoming dance on Friday. As 7th graders they now get to do so much more and dances are just one of the many exciting happenings. What’s funny is, that when the boys lose, they are bummed and it takes a while to get over it. When the girls lose, they don’t dwell on it, they bounce back to the locker room, change their clothes and are looking forward to what the concession stand has to offer!

I finally got my salsa made and was ready to put it into jars last night after the game. When I went to get the lids….no lids! You know lids are one of those things you buy here and there thinking you might need some this year. And then you realize you have enough lids for a small army so you stop buying. And then all of a sudden… no lids!

Needless to say, I’m off to the store this morning for lids and have a couple of other stops. I might even stop at the bakery…I’ve had a hankerin‘ for a big fritter!

Luke has a game tonight so I will start chores with Bobby, JW will take over for me and I”ll go to the game while they finish up and then Bobby will come when he’s done with the milking and leave the rest to JW who has been the best help this fall! Now I know why we had children……they are a great workforce!

It’s a cool, sunny day here on the Knolltop. The winds of Fall are beginning to blow, it was only 44 this morning! I wore shorts under my overalls but I didn’t take my sweatshirt off at all, which means it was cool..very cool.

Okay, yesterday Pryorvu told us something that doesn’t seem to have the rest of the cow world stirred up as much as our news over the weekend. My sister, the horse breeder, music teacher, homeschool mom, choir director, mother of five…..boys….. wife of a cabinet maker and over all wonder woman is now a milkmaid! Well, that makes her sound like she runs around in a skirt with an apron milking cows, which is highly inaccurate.

I told you about her wonderful little retail business where she milks her cows, puts in in jars and sells it to her food co-op customers for $7.00 a gallon. This business began with her middle son and one 4-H cow, like so many dairies around the country, and has now grown to a small herd of Ayrshires, a real live milk house, two commercial size refrigerators and I don’t know something like 200 glass gallon jugs! Not really that many, but there are a lot of jugs!

My parents went out a few weeks ago for a visit and my mother, who loves and appreciates a well designed, clean, efficient milk house, has talked about nothing else since she’s been back. (Another slight exaggeration)

But now the real news is….THEY BOUGHT A HOLSTEIN! I’m so glad they’ve finally seen the light and gotten a real milk cow! (I know, I know, I’m asking for it now!)

The amazing thing is not that they have a Holstein and we have two Jerseys but it’s that we both grew up on the same farm where we had Holsteins, Jerseys, Brown Swiss and Ayrshires. My sister, Ginny choose music as her major in college and went off to be a teacher. I went to college to be an animal science and ag com major and was going to be… well, a wife and stay at home mom. And here we are years later both stay at home moms, with husbands that are both self-employed and we are milking cows! Now that’s a hoot!

I’ve got salsa to make…and I’d better get on it!