Good Morning…it’s December here on the Knolltop….we woke to 2 inches of fresh snow. I’m convinced it’s still December.

Yesterday was busy but good. Everyone got to where they needed to be and the boys ended up with some surprise awards last night. I even brought home an honorary gift last night.

I don’t have time for that now, though…I promise pictures later. Now, I’ve got to head to the barn, finish chores so we can get to the sale today.

It’s a cloudy morning on the Knolltop. I think we’re supposed to get a mix of weather today…but really, does it matter anymore? I don’t think spring or summer will ever come….I’ve given up.

It’s going to be a busy day here on the Knolltop…and I’m just not sure how it’s all going to work. I think I’ll go back to bed! I’ve got to write my column, take the neighbor’s heifers up to MSU for the show, come back home in time to fix dinner, do chores, fix a dish for the FFA awards dinner tonight after chores and somehow Luke is supposed to do FFA and then have basketball practice. JW also has a game scheduled, but thanks to bad weather we’re almost sure that won’t happen. Watch…it will go and then we’ll have that added into the day!

After the FFA banquet I have to take JW over to Litchfield to pick up Frank Robinson’s car…you know Frank…the Bovine Beautician…. JW will drive it to MSU, (because Frank rode to his next farm with someone else thinking he would come back this way and get his car.) JW will stay up there to help the neighbor with her show string and be there tomorrow morning for the Michigan Junior Holstein Association Semen sale.

And at some point, my neighbor and I have to gather everything for this Fiesta basket that we’re auctioning off for the Jackpot show. You know, if I had gotten that done a couple of weeks ago, I wouldn’t have to worry about it. If I were organized, I’d be dangerous! So many “If’s”!

Good Morning from the clear, sunny Knolltop.

We had a very busy day yesterday. I spent most of the day editing a story I’m doing for Holstein International. Never in my life have I had to work at editing until yesterday. The story was way too long…that doesn’t happen too often. But when you’re writing a feature about one of the most historical Holstein dispersal’s in the world, the Butlerview Parade of Perfection Sale it’s difficult to stop writing. I had to trim the story from 1650 words down to 1300. It was actually fun to be challenged in this area of trying to say the same thing and convey the same feeling with fewer words. But I got it done…it’s exactly 1300 words.

Then when the kids got home, I fixed dinner, had coffee and took Sarah, Jake and Sarah’s four year old charge, Alice, to get some volleyball shoes. When we got home, I went out and finished up milking for Bobby so he could take Luke to basketball practice. When I got in from the barn, Sarah had Luke’s cake in the oven and we were wrapping presents. When they got home we sang, opened and ate birthday cake and ice cream. Boy was it good too!

Today, I’ve got to get a fiesta basket together for a silent auction at the Michigan Spring Jackpot Holstein Show this weekend. My neighbor and I are in cahoots about it.

Later!

Well, I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter yesterday. We sure did. After a great service at church..you know the church is always full on Easter…. we came home and I took a short nap and started on dinner. Of course, the Easter candy was gone by dinner time..around here, candy doesn’t last long.

I cooked the traditional Easter ham, cheesy potatoes, corn, homemade rolls and the coconut cake for dessert. Although the cake was supposed to be made four days earlier… Sarah and I made in Saturday night and miraculously…all that sugar, sour cream, whipped cream and coconut tasted just grand! After we all laid around absolutely stuffed to the gills, we watched a little more basketball until the neighbor called with her good news.

It seems the bred heifer at Knolltop Morgans, who is bound for the Michigan Spring Foundation Sale this week, and who wasn’t supposed to calve until the end of the month…had an Easter baby! Rodney as they affectionately refer to him, was born yesterday while the neighborhood was all gone to church. So, the new mom, Rhoda, was delivered here just in time for milking and is coming along quite nicely. Whoever ends up with her at the end of the sale on Friday, will have a very nice fresh heifer.

And the other sweet weekend happening was MSU beating Pitt! Although Pitt was favored 3 to 1, we pulled out the win….beating them by 11! Now they will take on Memphis on Friday night…I can’t wait!

So much to do this week while we get ready for our Michigan Junior Holstein annual meeting, the Spring Foundation Sale, the Spring Holstein Show on Saturday….it makes my head spin!

Okay…this has got to be a first. We have a foot of snow and it’s Easter weekend! God has a real sense of humor doesn’t He?

I really didn’t think we would get as much snow as they had been predicting all week but we did. The wind blew all night and now we have drifts everywhere! The big boys are out playing in the snow right now…they had Brad spend the night last night, after they got home from the movies…much earlier than last week. I guess they had quite a time getting through the snow drifts on our road. They had a good time and were safe under my roof by 9 pm…..that was good.

So today, I’ve got to run to town…if they ever plow the roads…and get a few things for Easter dinner and then we’ll be home for a night of what else? Basketball! MSU takes on Pittsburgh tonight and everyone I talk to says we will lose. But hope springs eternal!

Good Morning from the cloudy cold Knolltop. They are predicting we will have 4-6 inches of snow today…how fun. So, no peas will be planted here.

So, Beth is confused and I think Mel at Pryorvu helped her out quite a bit supplying us with the scientific rendition of why we should plant our peas by Good Friday. Now I’ll offer why I say it. When we lived in Goshen, Indiana, we lived among the Amish and Mennonites. They were fantastic gardeners. I learned a lot from those ladies down there on how to garden, how to be more efficient with my time, how to be thrifty and how important it was to cultivate good friendships.

Down there, everyone had their peas and potatoes in by Good Friday, except me. The garden centers where you bought all your seeds and plants…if you didn’t start them yourselves…opened up on March 1st and closed down on June 1st. Imagine how surprised I was when I went to get my tomato plants on June 3rd and they were closed! Down there, if you snooze you lose. That is my only reason for planting by Good Friday. I hope that helps you Beth!

For anyone who cares…my Spartans beat Temple yesterday…now they take on Pitt. Don’t worry, they’ll win! This March madness is great, isn’t it?

It looks as if we will have a traditional Easter here since Luke’s basketball tournament was cancelled. So now I’ve got to get my four day coconut cake going..it will only be a three day cake now….but I’m sure it will be just as good.

Tell me what you’re having for Easter dinner? I’d love to hear of some of your traditional foods and fun on the wonderful resurrection day!

Good Morning from a finally very clear, very sunny Knolltop.

The moon was full and bright this morning as we went across the road to milk. And now it’s given way to a beautiful sunrise! While we’re supposed to have our peas in by tomorrow…Good Friday…mine aren’t even close to being put in. The ground has not been touched and the first pea hasn’t even been purchased. And they are predicting a snowstorm for tomorrow…yippee…how fun.

The All American Beef Battalion is on its way to it’s first steak feed! I’m not sure how many of you know about this effort, but I wrote a story on it recently. Bill Broadie, a cattle buyer for Superior Livestock, yes the same one that has the auctions on RFD-TV, is a Vietnam vet and came up with the idea that the U.S. beef producers should feed every member of our troops a steak. He and his board of directors are running a campaign to collect funds to be able to put on a steak feed for troops that are coming home, or being deployed and for all those all over the world fighting for freedom. His desire is to show our troops that we support them and that we are willing to feed them good American beef!

You can read more about this effort at their website, www.steaksfortroops.com.

What’s exciting is that they are going to put on their first steak feed in Olathe, Kansas in April and it’s going to be quite an event. They are still ironing out all the details, but as they become available, I will provide them here, or you can visit there website. It’s an exciting venture!

Better go get breakfast!

Good Morning from a gloomy day here on the Knolltop. It’s raining today…but that means it’s warm…so I’m not complaining!

Yesterday was both busy and rewarding. After morning chores, I had lunch with a civic group in town and spoke about agriculture. I can’t think of a better topic to talk about than agriculture..well..yes, I can…God is a pretty good topic too!

What I had to say was very well recieved…except by one gentleman in the group who wanted to spar with me. When I opened the floor for questions…he wanted to discuss farm subsidies and how farmers get rich off the government. I thought I answered his question sufficently, yes, I put a positive spin on my answer simply because he wanted to turn it negative. When the meeting was over, I was overwhelmed by the nice comments and especially by one 92 year old man who wanted to reminisce about his youth on the farm. As it turns out, he grew up on the Knolltop…it was fun to listen to his stories.

But as others kept visiting with me, the fiesty man who wanted to argue with me kept trying to interrupt and get his point across…he wanted facts and figures. He wanted dollar amounts pertaining to the farm bill. He wanted to twist what I said around and make farmers the enemy.

The funny thing was, since I had just written a column on the farm bill, the numbers were kind of fresh in my mind…I said, kind of. I knew if I wanted to get him to leave me alone I was going to have to start grabbing numbers out of the air…and by his arguement, I knew he wouldn’t know if I was clutching at fact or fiction. So just when I was about ready to nail him to the wall once and for all, a Knight in shining armor came to my rescue. That dear old 92 year old man walked up and said, “You just leave her alone, she doesn’t have time to talk about that foolishness with you.” After wiping my brow, I snickered under my breath and then asked him for another childhood story of life on the Knolltop! What a great day!

I don’t know if we are just trying to be good parents or gluteons for punishment…but last night I took Sarah to sign up for AAU volleyball. Now she will have practices two nights a week and tournaments on Saturdays from now until June….it makes my head spin…who’s got time to milk cows? They need to learn to find their own food and milk themselves….but I just don’t think it will be that easy. You just gotta love parenthood!

Time for chores…

It’s a cold, raining morning here on the Knolltop.

I just got my story done and sent it off, now I’ve got to head to the barn and think about what my talk at the luncheon today. I’m looking forward to a quiet evening tonight.

I just want to say thanks to all who have commented, especially the Robb sisters, Susan, Patty and Julie…you guys are great! This blog stuff is so much fun!

Well, better go..chores are waiting. If anyone feels inclined to pray for me today while I’m speaking, that would be great!

More later…