And What Do You Do on Your Day Off ?

So what do you do on your day off ? We seem to have an addiction to auctions. Dave likes tractor, truck and equipment auctions and I like animal and produce auctions. We have been to other types of auctions, but the used equipment auctions seem to be the ones we attend regularly. You never know what you might find.

On Wednesday, we traveled to London, Ohio , just east of Columbus for the Tri Green Equipment Auction. Dave is always looking for used equipment for the farm. He was in the market for a gravity wagon to hold the soybeans and corn that he is picking.

The auction is a very interesting place. It is full of men, not all of them attractive either.

Rough hard working men that are also looking for a bargain.

They tend to be a little pushy, leaving their manners at home. There is chew and spitting involved and eating from one of those traveling kitchens.

There are very few women that accompany these men.

I am one of those women.

Anything to spend time with Dave, who seems to work 24/7 and when he isn't working, he's sleeping. This trip meant I had him in the truck for about 5 hours of uninterrupted time to talk and be with him.

So I gathered up my Carhartts, sweatshirts, & boots, packed some snacks and the dogs

and off we went at 6AM.

While you all had grey skies and snow here at home, we enjoyed plenty of sunshine dotted with a few puffy clouds. It was cold and windy and the Carhartts came in handy but we really did have a good time.

One of the things we saw that was interesting and we tried to bid on was a 3 point hitch, PTO driven Buzz Saw.

We thought this would be great for cutting firewood. The bidding went a lot higher than we were willing to pay.


We bid on several items, but all the prices were higher than we thought we could afford, so we came home empty handed. I think this was the first time we ever left an auction without a thing!


The best part of going to the auction is stopping in Plain City at the Der Dutchman for lunch. Although I packed snacks, and we did a drive through McD's in Delaware on our way in to town in the morning, we are staving by the time we finish the auction. We stopped at about 2 pm for lunch. They have the best fried chicken and hot buffet that I have seen. Plus they have pie. We ate so much at the buffet that we had to take our pie to go. Then we have the 2 hour drive home and all I want to do is sleep. I drove while Dave took a cat nap. A State Highway Patrol car followed me most of the way home on I71.
Through the construction and all the trucks on the freeway.
He made me nervous.
We stopped for gas in Ashland, it was only $2.09 a gallon and filled up. Dave drove the rest of the way home.
All in all it was a good way to spend a day off!

Pictures of Fall

I tried to get some decent foliage pictures, but the trees are not cooperating. This one is overlooking the pastures at the Richfield Farm

The cows were very interested in what I was doing. I also had the dogs with me and the cows were on alert to protect the calf 'Tommy"! Tommy was the calf that was born and caused all the trouble with Mick's torn ACL.

Here is Chris, hard at work in the combine, picking soybeans.

Tommy, our farm manager, is checking the beans as they are unloaded into the grain bins for storage.

The corn is almost ready for picking.

My DIL Tiffany decided that we needed to make caramel apples. Dave loves those gourmet ones that have all the stuff on them and you have to cut them with a knife to eat them.

We decided that we could do just as nice of a job. We found a recipe on line at

www.werthers-original.us Their caramels are so much better than the old square ones we used to use. The recipe was easy to follow and the apples turned out delicious. I wanted candied apples, so we also made a batch of those. All together we made about 3 dozen apples. Tiffany will take most of them to school on Monday, for her teacher friends. The rest we will eat here. They do not store well so we are eating them up!

Ciemen and his Friends

Ciemen The Chicken Dog Beani and Turbo in the snow


Ciemen and Tubo
Turbo

We have two dogs, and my neighbor Kim, has one. They recently lost one of their older dogs, Thor.
We also have neighbors....not always the best neighbors, but we cope. One in particular is lacking any sense when it comes to dogs. Our dogs are well behaved and run around our two adjoining yards.....until crabby neighbor called the dog warden and said there were vicious dogs in the neighborhood. I have a Border Collie who obsessive/compulsive when it comes to playing stick, a small Shepard mix that Mick rescued while he was at college, and Kim has a big and goofy Boxer mix.


We are very good about keeping our dogs in line.....but the neighbor just likes to make trouble.....not only with the dogs, but other things too! Fortunately he goes to Florida for 6 months...BYE BYE!


Anyway we made our own dog park in our back yard and the dogs have a great time running together. They chase the chickens, the bunnies, the ground hogs and the raccoons and swim in the pond. It is a dog's life!


My neighbor Kim is so funny....she made her dog, Ciemen, a chicken costume for Halloween and had his picture taken. Ciemen also has sleep overs with my dogs when Kim has to work nights so he isn't alone.

The Yellow Bedroom

The Yellow Bedroom. The room is finally livable, the painting is done, the blinds are hung, and the bedding is on the bed. Tiffany and Jen helped me put some finishing touches on the walls. It is a product called Tatoauge. It comes in sheets and you can cut it to fit your area and you rub it on the wall with a tongue depressor, pull off the top sheet and it looks like you hand painted the wall.







I love the way the bed frame turned out, Mick did a great job. The bedding is OK, not what I wanted at first, but one that fit my budget. I still need too work an a few more throw pillows.










I am going to stick with the blinds for now, I like the Tatouage over the corner of the window, so I don't think I will do any other kind of window treatment, unless I see something that really sticks out.





























But I love the way the floors came out. They really are beautiful. And yes that is a milk can that I used for the base of the table on the left. I have one more piece that I am working on. I have an old pedal sewing machine stand, minus the machine, that I am painting white. I think I will use it for a TV stand.

More on Bess

Bess was on Chris' Graduation Cake!








Long after Chris left Garfield Elementary, he would bring Bess back to school and share her with the students. This is Mrs. Novotny's 3rd grade class. Mrs. Novonty was Chris' 3rd grade teacher.







Bess with Mrs. Bell at Garfield Elementary





Chris also took the time to take Bess to Canavan Elementary where Tiffany teaches. Bess loved being the star of the show. She is being kissed by Principal Karen McGinty










Chris and Bess at school.







Chris has 2 special girls in his life, one was Bess and the other is Tiffany, his wife.
This is one of my favorite pictures.










Bess was a fine show cow!



We all will miss her, especially her friend Sweetie.

In Memory Of Bess

When you lose a pet, it can be as hard as losing any other loved one. Last night Chris' beloved cow, Bess died. Bess was 15 years old. Bess was born in March 1993. Ten years after Chris was born. They shared the same birth month. He knew she was special! Bess became a part of Chris' life when she was 1 year old as his first heifer project. She was a flashy cow, roan in color.

Chris showed Bess at the Medina County Fair, where Bess won many awards including Supreme Champion Heifer. He showed her at the Ohio State Fair, and other smaller county shows.
Chris spent many hours with Bess, grooming, feeding and taking care of her. In the summer time, Bess lived at our house, and in the winter Bess lived at Grandma's farm, where the barns where bigger.
Chris always took Bess for rides in his trailer. Bess loved to go for trailer rides, from one farm to another. Bess also loved apples.



Chris always made sure he brought Bess a treat, whether it was apples, pretzels, cookies, graham crackers or Pumpkin Pie.





Chris also liked to dress Bess up. The Medina County Fair held a Cow Dress Up Contest every year. I would have to make all the costumes for the cows.

This is the year they went as the "Moos Brothers"





This is the year that they went as Santa Cows, after a book that grandma had bought them

"Mooey Christmas" was on our Christmas cards that year





And this is Chris with Bess. He took his graduation pictures with Bess.

Bess will be buried at the farm, with all the other beloved pets.
She will be missed.

The Earth on Fire

One of my fellow bloggers mentioned the "Earth on Fire" in reference to the fall leaves. Well here are the ones I captured. I'm not sure this has been the best year for color, maybe my timing is off, and next week will be better. Enjoy. These are taken at Plum Creek Park in Brunswick

Just for Fun

I thought I would try to add something different to my blog. I have a unlimited file full of photos and I thought as I go through the week, I will change my heading picture. Some are older, the boys when they were young, some are new. They are all my favorites, so that is why they are kept in a special folder. they don't necessarily have a story behind them, I just like them. The fun part will be, can you guess who they are?

He has Escaped!

Here is a photo ofMick and me. We were at Owen's 2nd Birthday, just 3 days after my shoulder surgery. Everyone says he looks like his mom, more than his dad. I see it now in this picture.

Mick is doing so well with his surgery. He visited the PA on Friday and got a great report and was allowed to bend the knee

40 degrees, and now he can drive. The first thing he did was get together with a few friends and out to dinner they went.

Today he went to work and to the farm......the poor kid was crawling the walls. Tonight he went out with his girlfriend Jen. As long as he keeps to his rehab program he should do well.

Mick, Surgery and Recouperation

Mick before surgery...don't you just love the hat!
He was out of it, that's how I could get pictures like this!









Mick After Surgery







Mick is my youngest. At 22 he still is the baby. He is also the one that is always having some kind of adventure/accident....and a hospital file to go along with it.

So we add to the file today. This was probably one of the larger of his injuries, and just one of the many that have needed some intervention in the surgery/repair department. He had to have his ACL replaced with a cadaver graft. We spent most of the day at the Cleveland Clinic and now as the day ends, we are nursing Mr. Crabby Pants back to health, with Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation.....drugs are also involved with this one!


It all started last month when he was trying to hold onto a cow, while she was delivering a calf. His knee buckled and gave way and the next thing he knew he was laying in the manure. After a trip to the local ER we got on the phone and tracked down the best surgeon we could find.
Dr. Schickendantz is a surgeon for the Cleveland Indians. Well a couple of appointments and a MRI and we were on our way. We are thankful that everything has gone well.

So now we have 2 of us recuperating, me for my shoulder and Mick for his knee.....we make a great pair!

What We Do in Our Other Life

Dave and Turbo on the loader.

If you have been reading this blog you know we farm and raise beef and chickens.....but what some of you don't know is that we also work other full time jobs.

My desk in the scale house

Trucks I weigh









This week I had to lend a hand to Dave, when Shirley, the Scale House Operator, took a day off from work.





Transfer facility
Dave is the Manger for a Trash Transfer Station. They collect trash from local municipalities and then transfer it to the landfill. He is also in charge of "capping" the existing landfill at the facility. They no longer accept trash there and now it as to be covered and sealed according to EPA Guidelines. I filled in for Shirley in the scale house, weighing in trucks. I get to take the dogs along for the day. They like to go to work and ride on the machines with Dave. Mick and Chris also work there, running heavy equipment and making repairs on the semi trucks and equipment.
It is a very impressive operation. As you can see by the photos, you would never guess what was in this building!

Getting Ready for the Cold

Mick and Chris thinking
about cutting trees

Some where in my past life ( before children) I married a man that was frugal. Not a bad move, but sometimes there are weird things that make my life different. Like the time he decided after our first winter in our house, that he didn't want to waste money on fuel oil to heat the house! BRRRR! it was chilly winter, but we were young and in love....we slept close together!




Mick Stacking Wood


The next winter he decided we would try a wood burning stove.
He took two 55 gallon drums and attached them together with some kit and we heated the house, well one or two rooms....just ask my brother in law who was staying here at the time, how cold his room was. Until the day that Dave decided that it wasn't burning well enough and he threw deisel fuel on the fire.....POOF! that was the end of that!
Then he discovered a Brunco Indoor Wood and Coal Furnace.... it will meet all your heating needs...... well it was installed and hooked to the other pipes in the house and as long as you had a fire in the box, the house was warm....then the fire went out! BRRR!
It wasn't long until I took over the job of feeding the fire... I studied the furnace and all the sources of fuel and decided on a recipe of wood and coal and we have been warm ever since.... cooked out of the house more than once , and dirtier than I have ever seen, but warm.




So who would think I would come to love my wood furnace? I still struggle with dirt, and now I understand Spring cleaning.
But in the fall, it is wood chopping.....fortunately I have an unlimited source of free wood, and coal is still relatively cheap, $125.00 a ton, and I have a couple of great guys and their friends that cut and split and stack the wood.
This year they got carried away. Mick is having his ACL Tendon replaced today and he was afraid he would be out of commission for a while and he didn't want us to be without wood if it got cold.

So Mick,Chris, Tommy, Adam and Dave, started cutting a splitting wood like little beavers. We have cellar doors that open to the basement and the area near the wood burner. They loaded several trailers full of wood into the basement over the weekend and now we are set for a while.
I think if it was up to Mick he would try to get one more trailer load of wood in the basement. I'm not sure if there is room, but he would try.