Michael Jackson....

How sad this is. I know he was a bit odd - but if you look at his life, as a whole - I feel really bad, to an extent, for him. I feel he was in an abused home AND that he was used all of his life. He could never trust anyone and I cant imagine living like that.. Truley a sad thing.... His poor children and I cant imagine what kind of life they are going to live now.. From what I understand he had nannies, BUT that he was the major care giver... There are no words...

He was the Elvis of my generation....

Happy Fathers Day....

Thank you to all the dad's in the world who have stuck by your kids and raised them to the best that you can. I honestly believe that there is no more important role in a child's life than a father....they need moms for things too - but I really believe fathers have a special kind of place in a child's life. Dad's are needed for guidance and discipline - moms can do that too, but if you are honest... Dad's do it better and get better results - at least for boys!!! As for little girls...they need a good example of what a man is so she has something to compare to for a husband... Now, I am sure there are lots of people who don't agree with me BUT - pa-shaw!!
My dad is a great feller - if there is a weeny roast he's there - if there is a tractor ride to be given - he's your man - if there is teasing to be done - he is SOOOOOOOOOOOO willing to be the go to guy... But, all kidding aside - my dad has done his best to be good father and has done things for us that most guys wouldn't. When I was little my dad worked a full time job as a lumberjack AND farmed. He milked cows before he went to work, worked a 10 hour day and came home to milk again - then he did field work at night..... Dad, I love you more than you can ever know and I don't always say it - but your the best!!!! Happy Fathers Day!!

Now onto my father in law....'Dad' - thank you for all the things that you and 'ma' have done for our family. From the constant supply of advice to the endless work you have done to help our family succeed in farming. Your a blessing, even though you wouldn't admit it.

To my lover - There are no words to tell you how much you mean to me on this day. Your the father that I always wanted any children that I had, to be blessed with. Your patient, kind, thoughtful, loving and yet are able to keep them all in line. If there was one word to describe you it is devoted - completely and utterly devoted to your family and our well being. Thank you for being the rock of my world, there is no one I love more than you - except God Himself.

But whats not to love.... I mean come on people....

I also just have to say - Ree - as much as I appreciate all of the pictures of Marlboro Man's chap wearing posterior and his muscly (muscle - eee), vein bulging forearms and although I agree he is verile.... I have to say..... he's got nothing on these baby's....

Ok... Ok - glad you see it my way!

Happy fathers day everyone!!!!

btw - CoffeeMan - your a great dad... and shortie is a lucky little girl!!

Lispy at the Nursing home....

Mornin' everyone. I was running through my pictures this morning trying to think of what to post. SO - I found these from our trip to the nursing home. My sister in law works in the activities dept. of one of the local 'old folks home' and I was asked to make Rumagrot for the Syttende Mai celebration. So these are some picures of that day.. Lispy loved the old people and they loved him and Milk Dud... These ladies are making Sandbukkels... for you Norskies out there, please dont mind my spelling, its bad. These are just ramdom things - but Lispy was helping one of the activity people plant flowers... it was chaos... really.

Last but not least an ole farmer sang to Milk Dud... his name is Arnie and I wanted to scoop him up and bring him home with me. I worked in nursing homes when I was younger and I LOVE OLD people... they have so much to offer and are so under appreciated. so here is Arnie singing....

He is the sweetest ole feller you could ever wat to meet. SO, I leave you with that and I want to say thanks for being my friends. later dudes....

A dear friend...

Ya know we all have those people that we have met bloggin. They seem to be family the second that you get to 'know' them. I have had such an oportunity since I started blogging. People have sent me and my family WONDERFUL gifts, cards, food and most of all wonderful friendships. They have allowed me to be part of their lives and I am so thankful to have them.. Each of you are so important to me, even though we have not seen each others faces at times - but you have all been wonderful to me in so many ways. Today a friend of mine needs a little nudge of support - things are tough all over for farmers or farm workers etc. SO, do my friend a favor and stop over to her place...

http://www.athomewiththefarmerswife.blogspot.com/ I cant get the dang link to work!!

Go there and read what a great gal she is, how AWSOME she sews and what a true friend she is. Suzanne wants nothing more than to be a friend and she is truely that in every sense of the word - SO GO THERE and give her a big hug while your at it!!!

In news around here..... I am putting my children up for sale... The Milk Man says I will have to pay someone to take them.

Sunday Lovin -

Not THAT kind of Sunday lovin....well, maybe it should be **snort snort** Anyway, the Milk Man took me on a cycle ride on Sunday - Have I ever mentioned he's a biker dude...no - ok well he's a HOT BIKER DUDE!!! His chaps are a bit differant than a cowboys, but JUST as tasty, I mean functional....ya functional. I am going to be wrighting daily from now on - What do you mean I have said this before - oh pishposh, you must be thinking of someone else *snicker* - BUT, I want to write about the things I love and biking is one of those. Now, I dont mean biking like this....



The first thought I have when I see those is - get a motor on that thing you poor bugger...

No, I mean THIS type of biking...


MM and I try to go every other Sunday for a couple of hours - when we can get someone to watch the passle of kids we have spawned...brats the lot of them... BUT, in honesty we get to go MAYBE once a month. When we do go, its just for a short jaunt - but it really helps keep us 'hooked'....
While on our rides we encounter people of all differant types... ones who wave, ones who scoul and shake their heads - biker trash ya know - ones who try to get as close as they can to you with their car and then pull up next to you talking on their cell phone and weaving back and forth in the lane they are in... Those people, are MORONS.. sorry - its a fact... NOW, one of the reasons I am writing this is because there is SUCH a sterotype about bikers in general.. When I was little living on the farm we would make a trip to town MAYBE 1 every two weeks and that was a town of less than 500 - when we went to the Big Town (it was less than 8000) we were culture shocked EVERY TIME WE WENT - at least I was.. My folks or grandparents took us to Big Town once every 3-4 months and that was mostly to get clothing becuase we needed it and to stock up on 'sale' items that the grocerys stores had.... gosh, I am getting way to long winded, but you know that by now right.. ANYWAY - the reason I bring that up is because when we would go to town, we would sometimes see Bikers... My brother and I were SURE that they were Hells Angesl because ONLY Hells Angels road Harleys... No one BUT Hells Angels road motorcycles and if you rode a bike - you were 'bad'... LOL that is so funny to me now because knowing the people that I do who bike, they are the FIRST ones that would stop to help an old lady on the side of the road, they are the FIRST ones that would stop at an accident and see if they are needed, they are the FIRST ones to donate their time for local charity's etc. There are tons of 'rides' that go on around here for charitys etc.... yet they are a scorned group of people - what a bad sterotype. Bikers have a 'code' that they follow on and off the road...

1. Always wave at another biker - no matter what they are riding they are your commrade.

2. Watch out for each other. There can never be to many eyes looking out for each other on the road.

3. Be a good citizen because it reflects on the rest of us.

4. Be safe and have a good time...

#2 is VERY important. So many people dont see bikes and dont care if they do. When I say there is a 'stigma' about bikers - there is.. the first thing ya think of is topless bimbo's at Sturgis.. Right???? Or the biker that picked a fight in a bar and beat the crap out of a bunch of people... Well, let me tell you there is SO much more to people who ride cycle's than that.
I am bringing this all up because I have a favor to ask anyone who reads my blog to WATCH FOR MOTORCYCLES... To be more aware of what they need to do while riding and to GIVE THEM ROOM!!! Just because they are small, doesnt mean they need less time to stop or less room to move over - it means that if they dont have enough room and get hit - they will be hurt beyond repair or dead - helmet or not.... The other reason I am bringing this up, is because on Sunday - I was almost hit... we were on a2 lane highway that had a third lane coming up as an on ramp. There was a truck coming up that ramp and didnt even look to see if there was anyone coming. I started to down shift and was watching in my left lane to see if I could get over before he got to me, but there were cars that WOULD NOT LET ME IN!!!! The Milk Man was right behind me and when I looked in my rear side mirror I could see he was worried...there was NO WHERE TO GO! 2 of the cars to my left sped by - on their phones.. oh How I wanted to grab those phones and beat them with them.. OH I MEAN - I wanted to make them pay attention!!! sure pay attention, thats it... anyway - as we went along this guy kept coming and was NOT LOOKING for any vehicles let alone a bike. When I wasy there was no where to go I MEAN NO WHERE - if you are ever in a situation to give a bike some room, please do it - give them lots of space to get out of your way and anyone elses... As this guy got closer, 2 differant cars moved in on the left and totally boxed me in - then the guy started into my lane - he did put his blinker on, but never looked... This all happened in about 7 seconds. The 2 cars that were on my left could have either sped up or dropped back to give me a way out - but didnt... When i tell you I was 14 inches from the trucks bumper please know I am as serious as a heart attack... He didnt see me till I was looking at him in his side mirror, then he about crapped his pants. No, he was NOT an 'older' man - he was someone who knew better and should have been more attentive. I sure hope no one thinks I am making myself sound like the best driver in the world who always does the right thing cuz I am not, BUT I do pay attention and make sure I drive safely so that I dont put someone else in danger.

Well guys, I hope I havent over loaded you at this point, but I really needed to get that off my chest. Most people who ride love to ride for the sake of feeling free for a little while - I cant speak for the speed bikes however - One other thing if you see a biker dressed in all leather - with or without a helmet - they probably NOT Hells Angels.... Oh - and if they are wearing a 'skull cap' its to shear the wind and save the hair that they have left, if they are going bald... ya know...

later....man....

Fried bread....

How many of you have food from your childhood that you make for yourself today? There are so many that I want to make yet, I am afraid they wont taste like the used to... and I dont want to quash that memory.. That being said, there are a handful of things that I DO make that have turned out pretty good and close to the memory that I have of them. Fried bread is one of them.

Its just fresh bread dough fried in butter.... I often brown onions and fry it in that butter OR I fry it in just butter, then sprinkle either salt, white sugar, brown sugar or jam on it.. IT ROCKS!!!
Here is what it looks like and you are gonna have to make your own bread to see what it tastes like!!!

Sometimes I use dipping sauce with it.... yummmmmmy.....



So try it - I know you will like it! We do this everytime I make bread and its still a treat!

In other news Lispy had an ear growth the other morning....

The other night he had a cough, got up and got himself a mint because they seem to help his cough...

And Big Son is now in....

Milk Dud - well, he's tired cuz its hard to be a baby growing into a boy...

Till later.....

Snapin' turtles...

OH Ladies! Thank you from the bottom of my belly for all of those wonderful recipes. I am going to try them one at a time and post on each one of them! *claps hands* this is almost as exciting as catching the Milk Man in the shower... I, I mean ------ oh forget it. SO - yesterday I had to finish my work for NASS... I only work VERY part time except for 2 times per year Feb, March and 2 weeks in April and the first 2 weeks of June.. those are our heavy hitter months. Anyway, yesterday was my last day to get my June area surveys done so the boys and I were on the road by 7.... figure this feed 6 other people, get my work organized, pack lunch's, pack diaper bag, pack book/activity bags for the boys and be on the road by 7 am - YES I SAID 7 AM!!! Today I am bald, in case you were wondering. The reason I am sharing all of this information, yes I finally have a reason and continue to ramble, is we came across a snapping turtle on the road yesterday. We were on a back road that was to die for gorgeous and he was in the middle of it. He is not as big as some I have seen, but he was big enough to take off a finger if he would have gotten a hold of it. Here is a short video - ok its not real short, but its not going to win awards for focus on a subject either..... in other words, you may get motion sickness from watching it. The point was, I wanted to show my boys that you DONT PICK UP A SNAPPING TURTLE!!!! This ole guy had been in some fights by the look of him. He was missing his left eye, his tail was mangled and his shell had marks on it. So here it goes....

This was the most gentle snappin turtle I have ever seen.. I have seen them literally chase someone, not like race horse mind you - but they can move pretty fast for a couple of feet and the second you think they wont snap THEY DO!!... They are much faster than you even begin to imagine..... A guy I went to school with had the end of his finger taken off by a snapping turtle - yes he was old enough to know better - but not sober enough to remember he was old enough to know better. They have also been known to bite people while swimming in the creeks the we have around here. Where I grew up we have the most beautiful creek in the world flowing through our pasture - it has 'mud banks' on it - in the summer you could see dozens of turtles laying out there sunning themselves. Growing up, I saw a snapping turtle that was the size of a large serving platter. Or about the size of a Pappa Murphys family sized pizza or bigger even... not that I love Pappa Murphys pizza or anything... cuz I only buy them when I have coupons... and I love their coupons...

SO, that's it for today.... hope you still want to be my friends after hearing me on that video..... I sound scattered don't I? of course that's not normal - I had already been in the car for about 6 hours with those kids I spawned... wouldn't that make you shaky?