Christmas 2010

Christmas dinner was on the day after Christmas this year. That's the only time our kids could come. The Farmer Daughter couldn't make it cause she still wasn't feeling too good from her recent surgery. : (      But The Boy and the FDL and their kids made it. : )   Gramma made all the Christmas food for one day. Swedish meatballs, Swedish sausage, roasted potatoes and lasagna. Yummy.

Mary and Bubba about to open their gifts.

Mary is happy, Bubba not so much.

Mary is still happy, Bubba, still not so much.

Now the one for both.

Ok, now it's not so bad.

Mary showing me her loose tooth. I had the string and the brick, but she said no.

They brought presents for the dogs. Heidi enjoyed hers in the middle of the floor.

Mick hid his under Gramma's table.

Sunday night some fog rolled in and there was hoar frost everywhere. Very pretty. Pic's a little blurry cause I took it out of the car window. Monday morning we took Christmas dinner over to the FD's and I plowed out the farm with the bobcat so she didn't have to. She's starting to feel better so that's good. : )

Rocks III

Ok. Second grind is finished.

It looks like the granite rocks are going to polish up just fine.

Bubba's.

Fayfie's.

Some of Mommie's. Next is the polish step. Sometimes it has to be done twice. This means two weeks or so. You don't know until you look after the first week. Sometimes it only takes one time. We'll find out.

Does this look like anyone you know?

On the farm

Not much happening around here. The FD spent 3 days in the hospital with gall bladder surgery. We took her home on Saturday and she is doing well. Her good friend Stephanie is staying with her for few days to help out. Thanks Steph, you are a blessing.

Here's a pic of yesterdays sunrise, there was enough haze so you could look right at it. I thought it was cool.

Yesterday I took the snowblower and made a path out to the edge of the woods on the west side.

Then I made a circle and then I dumped all the leftovers from when I butchered the deer. It's sort of a varmint trap. I'm hoping some coyotes or other varmints will come in here for an easy meal and I can waylay them. We'll see. We bought a load of firewood and yesterday we had our first fire of the season. Gramma and the dogs loved it. Mick lays down next to the stove so close I expect him to burst into flames. Anyway it's supposed to snow today, 6-8 inches is the prediction for here. Don't think we need anymore, but I guess I don't get a choice. At least the plow truck works.

Rocks II

Ok. The first grind is done .

Fayfie's rocks on the top left, Mrs. Smith's on the bottom and my filler rocks on the right.

Bubba's rocks top left, Auntie Jessie's othe bottom left and my fillers on the right. I know you can't see any discernible difference in the pics, but there is. The first grind basically rounds off the sharp edges and starts the smoothing process. You can actually see quite a difference in some of the stones especially the quartz and agates. Others don't show much difference yet. The granite ones look about the same. I never did granite before so I hope they polish up, especially cause that's all that Bubba has. Stay tuned.

Snowplow

Well, I finally got the plow truck working, after three snowstorms. Now maybe we won't get anymore snow. That's ok too.

Here's the old plow truck, which I haven't gotten rid of yet.

Piling snow down by the barn. The more snow there is, the harder it is to find a place to push it.

Here's Ingrid wondering why the heck I'm taking her picture instead of feeding her. Whenever I go outside, the horses and pigs think they should be fed. The poor things lead a life of disappointment. On another note, Gramma had to stay in the city for two nights this week because of long meetings at another facility. So me and the dogs were batching it.

Here they are pouting and wondering when "Mommy's coming home". I swear I was nice and never yelled at them once. I missed her too. Glad she's home. Maybe now I'll sleep better.

My Sister

It was my sister's birthday a couple days ago. I won't tell you how old she is cause that wouldn't nice. But she's way older than me. Just kidding Sal. She sent me some pics from Thanksgiving, so I thought I'd post them.

Here's my brother-in-law Stan, my niece Erin and her beau Kenny.

Here's my niece Renee, her husband Aaron and their son Micajah. He's a cutie.

Here's Sally and the girls. Sally isn't really short. The girls are really tall. See the fridge behind Renee? They don't need to stand on a stool or their tiptoes to see what's on top. That must be handy for cleaning the kitchen. Anyway that's my sister's family. Nice. I miss her, but don't tell her that. You know I think she needs to go fishing. Fishing is good for you. Remember you heard it here first.

Rock polishing

I started polishing rocks this afternoon.

Here is the equipment.

Here are the rocks in the barrels.

Here are the barrels with the plastic beads that you use for filler if there aren't enough rocks.

Here are the rocks being polished. This is an action shot, can you tell? Rocks go in, beads go in to fill the barrels about 2/3s full, polishing compound goes in, water goes in. Seal the barrels, put them on the machine and come back and check them in a couple days and take them off in a week. The machine turns the barrels at a medium speed. Then you rinse them, do it again with the next grade of grit and again a week later with the next grade. Then if they aren't polished as much as you want, you do it again with the last compound for another week. So it takes a minimum of three weeks and maybe more. I put Auntie Jessie's rocks in with Bubba's in one barrel and Mrs. Smith's in with Fayfie's in the other. Chickie's will go in with mine after these are done. So it might be two months before everyone's are done. Sorry about that, but that's the way it is, so don't be holding your breath cause you'll turn blue.