2015 In Review

This evening, Baba Wawa will be presenting The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2015. Since the year is drawing to a close, I thought it only fitting that I present The 10 Most Memorable Events of 2015. They may mean nothing to you or Baba Wawa, but they are memorable to me. Since this is my blog, I can write whatever I want. Rather than counting down to the Number One Memorable Event, my list is chronological, beginning at the beginning of the year and ending at the end.

#1. Both of my daughters and I went to Arizona in early February. What a treat! We saw my parents; my oldest brother, his wife and kids, and their grandkids; friends from Minnesota who now live in AZ; and an aunt and cousins I hadn't seen in about a hundred years. Every day was gorgeous and delightful and crazy. I love my family.

#2. A beautiful February snow in North Carolina. The snow covers a multitude of sins and turns the farm into a fairy tale.

#3. Roger & Eunice, friends from Minnesota, stopped by for a visit. They just happened to be in the area :) We had a wonderful time together, but they'll have to come back. It was so foggy/cloudy they couldn't see Pilot Mountain - not from the farm and not from the mountain itself!

#4. Rita had four kittens in April. That's not an oddity, but she had them in the attic! Totally not allowed. It's a long, goofy story, but all's well that ends well. They were born in the attic, but they don't live there. Yay!

#5. In July I went on a mission trip (through World Changers) to Philadelphia with the youth from our church. We had a great time, but I think I'm getting too old to be hanging out with these young whippersnappers. My time was spent at a Haitian church and I really enjoyed it—speaking Creole and eating Haitian food.

#6. Also in July, the introduction to my book Crap Happens...Wallowing Is Optional was published in Viga Boland's magazine Memoirabilia. You could say I was a little excited. If you look really carefully, you might be able to see my name listed on the cover.

#7. Vacation! Yes, we went to Minnesota in 2014, but Weldon said we were going again this year. I didn't argue. Like the previous year, we flew into MN, drove to IA where his uncle and cousin live, drove up through WI so I could see some of my friends, and then into MN to see my family. I love my family. Did I already mention that?

I love my family, but the photos above don't show my family :) Except for Weldon, of course, and he deserves a photo in this list of most memorable events. Anyway, it's my blog, remember?

#8. In October, I went to see Katie in NY. We did our usual eating and running around, plus we spent a day working on the cover of my book. I also got to meet her kitty cat, Sugar.

Since I flew out of Charlotte, I got to see Anna on both ends of my little trip.

#9. I became a published author! I published my book Crap Happens...Wallowing Is Optional on Halloween. I published the ebook version on Thanksgiving Day. I've sold over 200 copies, but have only eight reviews on Amazon. Such is life. You can buy it on Amazon. Then you can leave a review ... please :) In December I had my first book signing. It was a lot of fun.

#10. Last, but certainly not least, I got to see my grandson Marshall earlier this month. He'll be 17 in March, but I still make him take the back-to-back photos with me so I can see how he's grown. We had a great time together, shopping, eating, and going to a movie together. I love my family.

2015 - What a year it's been. I'm incredibly blessed and so thankful for my life and the good health to enjoy all I've been given. And a new year lies just around the corner.
2016 - It's gonna be an awesome year.

Crap Happens ... Wallowing Is Optional

Two years ago, I learned of National Novel Writing Month and signed up. I wasn't writing a novel, but I had been putsing around with ideas for a book about adjusting to life on the dairy farm for quite a while. It was time to get serious. At the end of November 2013, I had written 50,278 words and was declared a Winner.

I had written a lot of crap, so now I had to see if I could make some sense of my crazy month of putting words on paper. But, did I stick with it? Of course not. Enter NaNoWriMo 2014. I used the month for rewriting my crap—chalking up 50,611 words edited, moved around, and prettified. I was declared a Winner.

Now I was determined that these words would become an actual book. Almost every day of this past year I sat in front of my computer, honed my words, moved chapters around, ditched a lot of junk, and kept on and kept on. Some days I felt like success was getting close, and other days I felt like I had been sucked into some black hole and would never find my way out.

On September 1, a gal from the King Public Library came into the frame shop and, since I was the only one there at the time, we actually conversed :) I told her I was almost ready to publish the book I started two years earlier during NaNoWriMo and she asked if I'd be interested in being on a panel for the NaNoWriMo Kickoff at the library in November.

Now I had a goal. I was determined to have a copy of my book in hand before November 2. I enlisted my daughter Katie to make my book look like the real deal—from the cover to all the interior details. We spent many hours together on the phone and working remotely on each others computers. She's amazing!

Here's the cover:

I submitted the book files via CreateSpace and, after two rounds, I approved the proof copy on October 30th.

On October 31, I published Crap Happens ... Wallowing Is Optional. Click on the link and get yourself a copy :) and after you read it, please go back to Amazon and review the book for me.

NaNoWriMo 2015 is here. I signed up, but haven't written a word so far. Why? Because I'm exhausted. The next big project will be to make the ebook version available. But before that happens? It's the NaNoWriMo Kickoff tonight! I'll have my proof copy in hand and will be beaming like a brand new author.

I discovered this treasure today:

Thanks for reading!

Hanging On

I guess you've figured out that I'm not a fan of living on a dairy farm. It's hard, dirty work with little return. But farmers love their farms ... and the small family farm is becoming a thing of the past. That aspect of it breaks my heart. It just doesn't seem right that the big business of huge farms can force the little guy out.

The cost for Weldon to ship his milk to the processing plant went from $2500 a year to $7,000 a year, effectively putting him out of business. On January 31, 2015, Weldon sold all of his best milkers. I confess to getting teary-eyed as I saw the truck driving away with our cows. Right now, Weldon is still milking eight Holsteins. Whatever milk isn't fed to the calves or sold as pet feed to our customers is poured down the drain.

For the year 2014, Weldon once again had the cleanest milk in the state, receiving what will be his final Platinum Award. He'll continue to have the cleanest milk in the state, of course, and he'll hang on to the farming life as long as possible - planting corn, raising the 16 new calves, and doing what he loves to do. I think he's adjusting pretty well, but he asked another retired dairy farmer, "When will the pain go away?" The answer: "Never."

There was an interesting article in the Winston-Salem Journal this past week about another North Carolina dairy farmer trying to hang on. You can read Randy Lewis' story here.

"His life has a certain good and timeless rhythm - and that includes square dances...." At the end of the article, you'll find a link to "The Last Barn Dance," a documentary film that has been made about his farm and the dances. Hey! I think it's a pretty cool idea.

Life goes on. Most of the female cats are pregnant, the jonquils are pushing up through anything that stands in their way, and this Sunday we'll "spring forward." I just hope someone has reminded Mother Nature of the event.  

Snow Business

On February 13, 2014, we had a great snow. I did all the things I like to do in the snow:

Use a cookie sheet as a snow shovel.

Make a snow angel.

Make a snow woman.

Make snow cream. Actually, a first for me.

Last night, February 25, 2015, we had another great snow. This time I just walked the farm and took pictures. Good thing, because the snow is melting fast!

This one would make a good jigsaw puzzle.

No kitties peeking out yet.

Some people have to work.

I startled a whole poopy pond full of geese!

Flying to the mountain for protection?

Heading down the road.

Looking across a cornfield.

Pilot Mountain. Always stunning.

Ditto.

The old Rambler Classic has seen better days, or so they tell me.

Keep looking up!

And now ... bring on Spring!!

Chop that Corn!!

Although it was a touch-and-go growing season, Weldon's corn crop did amazingly well this year. When it reached its optimum potential and was ripe for the reaping, the rains came ... and came ... and came. By the time the skies cleared and the ground was dry enough to support the machinery, the leaves had developed an unsightly blight. But Weldon said the corn and stalks were still full of moisture and the browning leaves wouldn't hurt the cows.

In past years I've blogged about harvesting the corn, but today I'm going at it from a different perspective. Like so many things in life, the actual doing of a job is preceded by lots of other jobs in preparation for the real job, so that's what the photos below depict: getting ready to chop the corn. I'll give you the short and sweet version.

Short and sweet. Get it?
Just a little humor :-)

Wagons, ready!

Tractors, ready!

Chopper, ready!

Silo, almost ...

Silo, ready!

Blower, ready!
















Preparatory work, done! Within two weeks, silage chopped!

Heart-felt thanks go out to the guys who helped Weldon: Alton, a long-time friend; and Jamie, a first-time visitor to the farm who offered his help & was immediately recruited :-)

You can see more pictures and read some of my previous posts about cutting the corn and hauling it to the silos by clicking on the links.

Finally, check out the exciting video footage of filling a silo in 2009. Can you believe it: they are still doing it the same way this year!

Life on a dairy farm. It's like nothing else. And that's all I'm going to say about it!