Happy Birthday Matthew!

Today is the official 2nd birthday of our youngest grandson. Cute ain't he? I don't know what his turtle's name is, but he's cute too. Happy Birthday little man, we love you.

Gramma and Grampa

Happy St. Paddy's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone.

 Here's what it looked like this morning. Nine degrees below zero. Last year it was Seventy five above. The sap did not run last year.

 Here's my trail out to the "Sugarbush". The snow is still deep and the farmer is still old, so it was a lot of work just to get out to the maples. I put out 25 taps this year, got the last few in on Friday morning and Friday afternoon it got up to 41. Went out late in the day and had about 3 tablespoons in one jug. Saturday it only got up to 28 and 9 below this morning. Supposed to be cold all week. Can't win.

 In other news, here is my new truck in 2002 and....................

 Here is the new one in 2013. Picked it up on Friday.

 

 

It has a lot of stuff that we wouldn't have ordered, but we got it at $10,000.00 under the sticker price, so we actually got about $9,000.00 worth of options for $300.00. It has bluetooth, so when someone calls me or I call them it's all hands free and voice activated. I can put in a phone number and say call Gramma and it does. Whoooaaa Dude! It has a backup camera and sensors so I won't back over anyone's cats or chickens or the garbage can. Whoa! It has the tire pressure monitoring system. How do they do that? 4wd of course and the Z71 off-road package. The engine shuts down some cylinders at cruising speeds to save fuel. It has remote start so I don't have to go out inthe cold to warm it up and too many other options to list here. I am very happy. It's awsome. Be good, be careful and beware of spider monkeys, they bite.

Happy Birthday Corinna Marie

Today is our baby's birthday. Turn around and she's two, turn around and she's four, turn around and she's a young wife with seven kids going out of the door. Happy Birthday sweetheart, we love you.

Ag Report

The ag report is as follows: We have agriculture. You just can't see much of it because of all the snow.

                                          Buddies.

 Abnormal and weird to see these two together on the window sill. So the past month has been a bit strenuous on the old farmer. (Whine) Finally finished the blue print for my sister's new house. Hasn't been easy as I have been fighting back problems and a really bad cold and another snow storm. (Whine) The day I finished I went to the doctor because of some really bad pain in my big toe. In January I dropped a piece of steel on it and was sore and turned black and blue, so I thought that maybe I had broken it and it hadn't healed right. Wrong! X-rays were fine and the Dr. said I had gout. What? Oh yeah. Extremely painful. So he gave me painkillers and anti-inflammatories and yesterday it finally started to feel better. Now I have to change my diet. Less beef and pork and meat in general and more fruit and veggies. No beer. It seems beer is one of the worst things for gout. Good thing I don't drink much any more. Whiskey and pop cocktails are out. So the occasional vodka and  fruit juice will have to suffice. Low-fat dairy products are good, so ........

This is me eating LOW-FAT YOGURT! Yes it is me, not a doppleganger or celebrity look-alike, but the old farmer himself. Not too bad. So, anyway I'm going to get real healthy even if it kills me, and it probably will. Hey, someone has a birthday tomorrow, but I just can't remember who. Oh well, maybe it will come to me. Be good, be careful and be sure not to let your horses step on your chickens, cause it ain't pretty.

Snow

Hey!

                                Has anyone seen my driveway?

Oh, ok there it is. About ten inches fell yesterday through this morning. It was warm, so it was very heavy. Plow truck crapped out before I finished, but at least I got it cleaned out to the road. Worked with the bobcat for a while, but it's low on gas and I'm out. I'll get some more tomorrow and finish. Sure wish I had a snow bucket for it. Hope this is the last big dump. Adios personas.

Happy Birthdday

Happy Birthday Suzie Q! Today is our "Favorite Daughter-In Law's" birthday. Unfortunately I don't have any funny or embarrassing pics from when she was a kid, so we'll just have to say, Happy Birthday and we love you. Hope it's a good day.

Farm Stuff

Hey. Long time no post. Miss me? Of course you did. Well Gramma is in San Fransico for two weeks. I'm hoping I don't overdose on frozen pizza and crackers. Actually I made myself a nice ribeye last night. Yum. In other news Mick went to the vet's on wednesday and had all his teeth pulled out, so he is a very sick puppy. He is improving and eating soft canned dog food, but it will take some time for a full recovery. Heidi is traumatized and I'm traumatized and Gramma is 2,000 miles away and traumatized.

 Here's Ingrid playing Queen on the hill on the manure pile. Aksel tried to get up there too and she wouldn't let him.

 Here's my handsome boy. I think this might be a "Photo Bomb", 'cause take a look at Red Cow behind him.

 Took this pic a couple of weeks ago in the morning. The next morning it was foggy and cloudy, so I didn't get any pics, but there were eight deer behind the house.

Last night there was someone under my bedroom window and it turned out to be this character. The tracks went from the woods to the window and then right to where she was laying. I hope she didn't catch me snoring. There were four out there. This is good. Gramma and I have been kicking around the idea of moving to Arkansas after she retires. Just looking into it right now, but the more they raise our taxes in this state, the better it sounds. Minnesota ranks #7 on the list of states with the most tax burdens. Also, here is some interesting info on population. The pop. of New York City (just the city) is 8,244,910. Georgia pop. 9,919945. Minnesota pop. 5,379,139. Louisiana pop. 4,601,893. Arkansas pop. 2,949,131. Seems like a good place for someone who doesn't really like people. There are less populated states and states with less tax burdens than AR, but I wouldn't want to live there. Northern AR still has four seasons, no Gramma numbing cold and large bluegills and walleyes. We could make it back to Mn in a one day drive and down to the "Big Swamp" in a one day drive. Crazy huh? Just thinkin' 'bout it for now, but who knows? Be good, be happy and be sure to take your meds.