Y'all ready for this?! AKA "Shockin' y'all!"

So, it's been a while. And, as fate would have it, I find myself blogging from Dallas, TX again. Just not at the airport this time - rather, right next to the LBJ Freeway in a hotel room, complete with noisy drunks running through the hallways. Did I mention I'm starting this blog posting on a Monday night? Do these people not have to work tomorrow morning?!

Whatever. Speaking of LBJ, I told you I would post the picture I took from our Dallas office overlooking the LBJ Freeway (BONUS POINTS for those of you who actually know what LBJ stands for...), so here it is. Fabulous, huh? Or not...

Since I last posted, SO MUCH has happened. It's been a veritable cascade of fun-ness! First and foremost I got to visit the long-lost Tennessee relations. Let me clarify the long-lost - it was ME who was long-lost, not them. They've been in the same place forever, it's just that I took a long time getting back. You know, like 10 years. Honestly. I was 16 the last time I saw those folks - do you know how much STUFF happens to a person between the ages of 16 and 26? Sit back and think about it for a while. It will astound you!

But the trip to TN, though LONG overdue, was well worth wait. The weather was wonderful, the days were full of fun stuff to do, and - oh, yeah - the people weren't half bad either! :) I got to go to a couple of antique stores in Goodletsville, got the grand tour of the drastically different White House proper, listened to great music, oohed and aahed over a spectacular fireworks show, snooped around in the relatives' houses (thanks for the tours, y'all!), took a couple dips in the pool, went golfing in Kentucky, and cheered loud - and probably fairly annoyingly - at my cousin's baseball games (x3!) It was a busy couple of days, but it was absolutely awesome to see everyone again, and I SWEAR it will not be 10 more years until I return!

My cousin, R3 or R4, batting. There are four boys, all with names starting with R, and the youngest two are twins. Can't ever remember which is older (and I think I've asked about 20 times) - sorry guys! If you follow the yellow top line of the fence across from left to right, you'll see the blur of the baseball as it came in, about 7/8ths of the way across.

Little Sister and the other half of R3/R4. Can't you tell they're both intent on watching the game?!

After getting back from TN, it was just as busy at home. Before I even returned to PF, I had a message on my VM asking if I could help organize the Variety Show for the annual Prairie Farm Dairy Days. And because I have nothing better to do, of course I volunteered. For those of you who remember "back in the day" when Conway and Loretta brought down the house (or at least Neumann Auditorium) during Homecoming at Wartburg College, you will be happy to know that Loretta is still performing, garnering rave reviews at each subsequent appearance. Except this time, it wasn't "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man," but rather a song normally performed by a "friend" or Loretta's - Juice Newton's Angel of the Morning.

Ms. Loretta, getting her groove on. Notice the awesome picture taking abilities of B - I didn't marry him because of his skill with a camera...

Yours truly, expressing my happieness on finally having the Variety Show behind me!

All in all, the variety show was a train wreck with a Hee Haw theme. Some of the acts were good, but others not so much, lead in part by a poor girl of about 6 who did a piano solo of the children's song E-I-E-I-O.

ALL THE VERSES.

Ad nauseam.

It was pitiful, especially considering the audience started clapping before she was done, wishfully thinking they had reached the end of a particularly painful auditory assault. She, however, was completely oblivious, hesitantly plunking away until she reached the end. Oh well, for all I know, she may turn out to be the next Van Cliburn.

Dairy Days was the weekend of the 13-15, but earlier that week the oats were ready for swathing and shocking. If you are unfamiliar with the way in which grains used to be gathered, let me enlighten y'all. When grains mature today, they are typically run through a swather, which produces windrows which are in turn run through a combine. However, in the days before combines and everything, more steps were needed to process, dry, separate, and bale grains and grain by-products. Stands of grain were processed using a grain binder (or just binder), and unusual looking contraption that used a sickle bar (similar to a long rod with multiple pairs of scissors attached) to cut grain stalks, which were laid - always grain-head side up - on a conveyor. These stalks were then sent through the conveyor system, which processed the loose grain into small bundles, tied with baling twine. The bundles are then set up into little piles, called shocks. The shocks consist of 7 bundles: a pair in the middle, a pair on the right, a pair on the left, and one bundle spread over the top. The bundles are arranged so that each is standing upright, with the grain heads tilted toward the middle, forming a sort of tunneled pyramid under the bundles. Seasoned shockers will tell you the two signs of a strong shock are a formation tight enough to support the weight of a person sitting on top, and a tunnel wide enough for a small dog to run through. After the grain has dried, the bundles are fed into a threshing machine. This machine separates the grain heads and stalks from the kernels. Kernels are kept in a hopper on the thresher, while chaff (the heads and stalks) are blown out the side or top. Once enough chaff accumulates, the extra materials is baled into bedding for animals, so that no part of the grain is wasted.

Since you're all experts now, here are a couple of picts of PF family and friends binding and shocking. Threshing happens in late August/early September . My family holds an annual event called the Turtle Creek Thresherman's, with the centerpiece of the festivities being my late grandfather's early 1900s threshing machine, usually Labor Day Weekend. This year the date is Saturday, September 1st. Typically the day is marked by antique machinery, antique people, and antique jokes. But, truthfully, much fun is had by all, and there's always something to see, someone to talk to, and pie to eat.

Cousin Goober running the binder (funky looking thing running behind the tractor) while our friend/neighbor Leon keeps it between the lines. Goob tries to gather 7 bundles on the binder before releasing them

My Da, gathering bundles

Bother #2 sets an end pair in a shock

Leon, taking a coffee break, letting B run the binder tractor.

Grandma N, bringing refreshments to the field. Lemonade and fresh (read: still melting chocolate chips) chocolate chip cookies! Grandma's cookies are so famous, they were even mentioned on Moose Country (check out the May 2007 posting entitled Holy Cow - the World's Longest Blog for more on how much of an honor it is to be mentioned on Jay Moore's morning show).

Leon, Bother #1, Grandma, Me, and Bother #2, with a shock in the front.

Who's that stud shocking bundles? Oh, wait, it's B! He's spreading the stalks on the 7th bundle to cover the six bundles underneath from excess moisture.

Three stages, right to left - standing grain, piles of bundles, and finished stocks.

Goob, say hi! B and Bother #2 in the background.

The newest member of the family, Cheeseman, shocks his first bundles. Doesn't he look like he's having the time of his life? I don't know - sure beats making cottage cheese...

Then on Monday it was back to Dallas for a presentation on CPNI (customer proprietary network information) and the new rules the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) has implemented regarding that information's use and protection. Yeah, if you're not in the industry, it's a complete snoozer of a topic, but within the industry, as I found out during today's (Tuesday's) session, it certainly is the source of a lot of strong feelings.

Also, regarding the telecommunciations industry, as couple of the TN relatives were looking for the National and State Do Not Call list numbers, to help block telemarketer calls on their home lines. The National number is 888-382-1222 or click here to register via Internet. You can do this for residential or personal wireless phones. As far as the Tennessee state list, the number to call is 877-872-7030, or register online here. Again residential land lines or personal wireless phones. It doesn't hurt anything to register in more than one spot, but just remember different states have different rules regarding length of registration, so your number may be on your state list for a longer or shorter time than on the national. When you register, the site or phone number should tell you the length of time for which your registration is valid.

Business aside, tomorrow (Wednesday) I head to Lubbock, where I'll get to meet my colleagues in that office for the first time, and then I give the presentation to another group of clients on Thursday. After that, home and more landscaping await. I'll be sure to post the before and afters. It should be quite the project.

Everything's Bigger in TEXAS

Greetings from the President's Club at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport! (DFW, to those "in the know") I'm sitting here in relative quiet, getting free internet service and charging my laptop due to the good graces and benevolent kindness of my boss. She flies INCREDIBLE amounts of time during the year, and is able to gain access to special little enclaves like this, and she brought me with her this morning. She actually already left to board her flight, so now I'm sitting in here, feeling slightly naughty, knowing I don't BELONG... :)

But anyway, the trip to Dallas went well. Did some running around in WI before heading to MSP. It's a good thing I left plenty early to catch my flight, too. I stopped in Menomonie to meet with our printing company and go over proofs for a project, and when it took a shorter amount of time than expected, I thought "Geez, I'm going to be there WAAAAY to early." But as I was driving towards MSP on I-94, just before the River Falls exit, and just after the New Richmond exit, I encountered a HUGE accident. I can't find anything about it on the MSP news sites, so I'm not sure exactly what happened. But what I can tell you, is that it looked like one of those bales of insulation blew off the truck that was carrying it, hit a couple other trucks, smashed into a passenger truck - flattening the cab - and causing a chain reaction. There were Troopers all over the place, and traffic was backed up for miles on BOTH sides of the highway, due to debris.

When I finally got into the Cities, I headed for Bloomington, stopping at the Mall of America to pick up a rolling laptop case, which I hadn't had time yet to do and needed badly, and then to the airport. Parking was a hassle, but I actually got through security without issue, leaving me with nearly an hour and a half before boarding. I was thinking I was doing okay, until the announcement came over the speakers that our crew was flying in from Chicago Midway, and that they would be delayed. Cue mass groaning on the part of all passengers. Long story short, my 5:16 flight left at closer to 7PM. As my ever-so-caring boss put it, "Welcome to the glamours of business travel!"

Once seated on the plane, things really went from bad to badder. One of the NWA crew members ended up being placed next to me, in a middle seat. And man, he was NOT happy about it. According to him, they oversold the flight, and crew members should never have to sit in middle seats - they should always have aisles, and the booking staff was all a bunch of idiots. And it only got better after we got in the air. Mr. Happypants decided to talk to yours truly. And not about a nice, pleasantly neutral subject. No, he went right into a rampage about reading material, stating that Playboy writes the best articles of any magazine in the US, and that he's always been a subscriber and always will be, and that anybody that disagree with his beliefs on the subject is a complete idiot. I was too shocked for words. And if that wasn't enough, he segued into a total lambasting of his wife, saying she was a terrible mother, and that their son was a worthless loser at 23 because his mother didn't raise him right. At this point, I was contemplating asking for $150/hr to be his therapist. I finally pulled out my laptop out of complete desperation (and before he tipped me over the edge and I had to kill him) and worked until our descent.

Once I collected luggage, transferred to the hotel, got checked in, and keyed into my room, it was close to 10:30PM and I was bushed. But I was too tired to be tired, if you know what I mean. So I went to the (very crappy) gym at the Hyatt Regency DFW and worked out for a little while. I was proud of myself. :) I missed out on my weight lifting class back home, but still managed to get in a healthy workout, which is a goal of mine as I start to travel more for work.

Thursday brought the meeting for which I had traveled to Dallas. It was my first time meeting a lot of my colleagues, since I work remotely, and everyone was really great. I did take a picture out the window of the conference room window, which I'll post when I get back home.

Which reminds me - I **finally** got a digital camera, for those of you who have been astounded at the fact that I still used a regular one up until now. I have a camera function on my digital camcorder, and that's what a lot of my pictures on the blog have been up until this time, but now I'm moving a little further into the digital age. For those of you who are curious, it's a Canon PowerShot 750, and it's cute as all get-out.

Last night we ate at a Saltgrass Steakhouse, which from what I gather from all the Texans at work, is a Texas institution. The food was great (I had a steak, of course) and the atmosphere was fun, too. We had a great waiter named Alex, who we could barely understand, due to his Hispanic accent. He was really funny, though, and kept us entertained throughout.

After a somewhat scary cab ride back to the hotel, I settled in for a movie, since I was so full I could barely even think about going back to the (very crappy) hotel gym. I picked Pan's Labyrinth, which turned out to be a great, but somewhat freaky, choice. It's a Spanish film by Guillarmo del Toro, it won a ton of AA's last year, and it's a great story, but probably not the thing to be watching in a hotel room, late at night, by yourself, before you go to bed. The special effects are awesome, but they're also part of what causes nightmares.

Oh, well, time for the flight to start boarding. I'll post pics later.

Daiquiri or Margarita?

MAN, I hate the tough decisions in life...

Food for Thought

Invariably, the universe throws more at you than you expect during the week. It's just the way my weeks have gone lately. Granted, the learning curve associated with the new job, the general busy-ness of summer life on a farm, and the mundane day-to-day chores are enough to stave off boredom, but this week's additions took things a little beyond the normal range of activity.

I'm REALLY trying to hit the gym on a more regular basis, and this week I did fairly well. Besides my regular Mon/Thurs kickboxing class, I've been eyeing another class by the same instructor on Wednesday nights. It's called Body Sculpt, and I finally made one of the sessions this week. And holy crap, did I feel it Thursday. And Friday. And Saturday. And part of the day Sunday. We used muscles of whose existence I was unaware. This coming week I'll be in Dallas, TX, during the class, and after that is Fourth of July, but hopefully I'll get back on track with it after that.

Yes, there is more traveling in my future. I leave Wednesday night for Dallas, returning Friday morning. It will be a quick trip, but Thursday promises to be a full day, packed with meetings and chances to meet a lot of the main office coworkers with whom I've only ever emailed before. If I get a chance to do anything fun as far as site seeing goes, I'll post some pictures.

The family took a bit of a hit this week with the passing of my great-aunt Mable. She's been health-questionable for the last several years, due to heart problems and her advanced age of 90, but a series of small heart attacks last week proved more than her fragile system could handle.

Her death marks a milestone of sorts for our family and also for the community. PF's not a big town, so each passing creates a ripple effect for the rest of the residents. Mable was the last of the 5 original siblings of my grandfather's family, many of whom played key roles in the church and community in the area. Mable, Willis (who died in February), and my grandfather John(who died last July) were the last of their generation in our family, and to have them all die within a year of each other has made the adjustment difficult.

Her funeral also marked the last one performed by our pastor of the last 22 years, Oz. He's been a fixture at community and church events, and since his kids were close in age to my cousins and I, a family friend as well. He's retiring and moving to a lake home in Minnesota, and yesterday was his last Sunday. I've never seen so many people crying - not even at a funeral.

You may wonder why I'm putting this on a blog posting - most of you as readers don't know either Mable or Oz, or if you do, it's just as an acquaintance. But the bigger issue that hit me as I was sitting in church this afternoon is the matter of influence: how each of us does what we do, whether knowing or not knowing the effect it may have on others.

If you were suddenly gone, whether you died or had to leave, would others cry at your departure?

Thought for the Day

(courtesy of Queen)

"It's a beautiful day,
The sun is shining..."

The week in pictures

I LOVE the MSNBC feature called The Week in Pictures. I am a big fan of the multitude of photography projects out there: A Day in the Life, Project 365, MSNBC Photoblog, etc. But the Week in Pictures is still one of my favorites.

But TWIP's 5th picture broke my heart today. There is little wonder it's winning the weekly vote.

What happens in Vegas.. (and in Prairie Farm)

Okay, enough with the calls and emails. Here's your dumb blog posting.

Between the last post and now, I've been busy. I've really had a chance to get into the full swing of the new job, and so far, it is everything I hoped it would be. Which is to say, I'm very happy with it and things are going well.

Last week I went to Las Vegas for work. I had to attend the Annual Meeting of RICA, as CHR coordinates and manages their association. This means, basically, CHR staffers do the leg work of getting the hotel contracted, lining up speakers, paying bills, ordering booklets and awards, etc - you name it, we do it. It was work, but it wasn't ALL work! :)

Thursday night I got to go out with with a couple of people from CHR: Paula from IL and Stan from TX. The ultimate goal of the night was to see Cirque du Soleil's Beatles-themed show, LOVE. But before that, we did a little sightseeing. Well, actually, I did a little sightseeing, since Paula and Stan had been to Vegas before, and I hadn't. Here's a couple of shots.

Yes, that would be yours truly in front of the fountains at Caesar's Palace.

And this would be yours truly in front of the fountains INSIDE Caesar's Palace. These are the ones that come to life and spout fire and water and steam and stuff. Pretty creepy, actually.

After the sightseeing, we headed to the Mirage and ate at STACK, which was absolutely wonderful, and the source of a couple of recent culinary experiments here at home. Then it was the show. This is a picture of me (being dumb as ever) in the hallway leading to the LOVE theater.

Isn't the floor groovy?

The show itself was AWESOME. For some clips of LOVE and to get an idea of what Cirque is like, click here. For anyone who loves Beatles music, or even knows a couple of songs from Sgt. Pepper's, this is the thing to see. Totally unbelievable, and utterly too short. I would definitely go again - there is just too much to see with one performance.

Oh, and I had a small world moment on the plane ride out to Vegas. I, luckily, was seated in an exit row with a very nice gentleman, of about late fifties, early sixties. We had an empty seat between us - again, luckily - and we both commented on it. We did the basic airplane chatter - where are you headed, what are you going to do there, where are you coming from. When we got to the last question, the gentleman said he was from Sturgeon Bay, WI. I remarked that I had an uncle from there, and that he teaches ag at one of the schools on the peninsula, and I named the school. The guy's eyes lit up and he said "D.C.? He's your uncle?! I play basketball with him during the winter. He needs to work on his jump shot." So here I was, several hundred miles away from home, talking to a guy who plays basketball with my uncle. Small world moment.

After getting back from Vegas, I embarked on a little project. Not that I need more to do, but you know. These things just sort of strike.

Project background - Our house used to belong to B's grandparents. As I've said before in previous posts, they were lovely people, but just not able in their later years to do the maintenance needed on an older farmhouse and grounds. Well, over the past three+ years of living here, B and I have been working on the farmhouse. This summer, I decided, it was time to tackle the grounds.

Here's a couple of before pictures. These are just a few of the areas.

And now, a couple of afters. Not everything is done yet, but you can kind of get the idea. The log cabin was the original house on the property, and housed 8 people at one time. It's over 150 years old, and it's starting to show its age. The wild rose bush B and I stole from a ditch near our house a couple of years ago. It's going like gangbusters now, and looks like it's been there forever.

B has been busy too. His latest project has been putting an addition on the barn. Here's a picture of the first cows in the new area.

And here's one of the many reasons we need an addition onto the barn.

Awww, isn't it cute?! One of my favorite reasons for living on a dairy farm.

So there. You all better be happy now. :) Until next time.