Out With The Old

What a great year it's been for us... for the most part. In some ways I feel like not a lot got accomplished, and in other ways I can hardly believe how much got done. Looking back on my resolutions for this departing year, I did pretty good, though my "biggie" didn't get started at all. I'd planned on building a new bathroom in the house and renovate the original, but I got started on neither of these projects. I did get a master plan together at least and know what should bet accomplished in the future... of course unless something else gets in the way.

The old barn kinda looks new, and though I first thought that project would carry into the new year, it got completed. We made big progress on cleaning up the place, but I underestimated the amount of work required, partly because I couldn't see much of the property because the weeds were so high, and there is plenty to do still. We met our neighbors, went to the stock car races, attended a couple county fairs, and I didn't start smoking again. My Internet business idea grew quite a bit with very little effort as more and more people visit my web site every month, and only watching local baseball got missed on my resolutions list of other things to do.

Goodies continue to find their way to our door. I've mentioned several times how our neighbors have stopped by with fresh produce, and now with the holiday season we've been blessed with sweet treats. Cookies, fudge, and other goodies have been made their way to our door thanks to the thoughtfulness of our neighbors, and I still have no idea how we'll ever repay the kindness we've been shown here.

I've been busy lately pulling old oak flooring out from the pile that was left in the barn when we bought the place and working it into new moulding around door and windows in the house. I hadn't planned on this project getting so much attention, but once I started taking down the old stuff, I was beyond the point of no return. Right now I hope to have the living room finished with this part of the project by Valentines Day. At least we learned the original source of the wood was the old Minnick Hospital here in Cambridge.

I bought a combination hunting/fishing license, and could just as well sent a donation check to the state as I never pulled out my fishing rod or shotgun. For me, I think most of the enjoyment of fishing and hunting was getting away from the city and now that we live in the country, I seem content to just watch the pheasants run across the back yard instead of me chasing them through a field.

My Denver Broncos disappointed me this year as they have so often since John Elway hung up his cleats, but you can't be the Super Bowl champs every year either I guess. However, the owner of the Broncos decided that one playoff win in the last 10years wasn't good enough either as they fired the old coach, and a new guy will be selected in the new year. Big surprise to me, but then I'm just a fan.

This has been quite a year politically, economically, and internationally. From modern day pirates to a modern day stock market crash, we've been exposed to some pretty horrific news. Living here seems to isolate us from many of negative things going on, and maybe that's part of why we love living here so much.

I'm happy to send old 2008 out the door and welcome 2009 in to replace it. With the new year comes the hope of millions that the world can become a safer place than it is today, that our nation can get back on track to peace and prosperity, and that we can keep our new year resolutions whatever they may be.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Tractor Tippin'

I've heard of cow tippin' before... whether or not it is true is up for debate as far as I'm concerned as I've never heard anyone actually admit that they have gone cow tippin'. I'd guess if true it must involve sneaking up on the cow. What brings this to mind is a movie that Margie and I enjoyed on TV so much this week that we got a chance to watch it twice and did. I'll watch it again too!

The story largely takes place in a rural town called Radiator Springs in Carburetor County, and part of the plot involved tractor tippin'. As long as Frank doesn't catch you, it actually looked like a lot of fun. The little town was once a thriving community until circumstances beyond its control found most residents moving away, and a set of extraordinary circumstances brought it back to life.

The computer animated film "Cars" is the show I'm talking about, and though I'd never have guessed I'd enjoy this show as much as I did, I'm recommending it as a really fun flick and hope if you get a chance to see it that you do. The rural setting of the town, the characters that inhabit the town, and the good versus evil plot is hard to beat. A love story is part of the plot as well, and the classic conflict of youth and age is integral too.

I don't know if kids liked this movie or not, but it sure has plenty for an adult to enjoy. The primary characters included Sarge the owner/operator of the Army surplus store, Fillmore the hippy selling organic fuel, Ramone the low riding customizer and his wife Flo, Sally Carerra, "Stickers" McQueen, Doc Hudson, and Mater, the best backer upper in the world. It's Mater that introduces us to tractor tippin'.

From the real world, the cast is pretty impressive with some of the voices provided by Paul Neuman, Owen Wilson, Cheech Marin, Michael Keaton, John Ratzenberger, Larry The Cable Guy, George Carlin, and even racing legend Richard Petty and his wife get in the act.

Those tractors that get tipped are 1950's era Chew-All's, but the rusted red paint would suggest to me Farmall. Not many brands were ignored in this movie... Chevy, Dodge, Plymouth, Renault, Mack and Peterbilt, and even Ferrari were represented. The movie has some great one liners, and if you don't pay attention, you for sure will miss some.

Around our place, the landscape is almost completely worked over by green machines, so perhaps JD's are not susceptible to tractor tippin', but if Frank, the big red machine after our hero is even 1/2 as fast in real life... watch out! The movie even inspired a kids board game called... Tractor Tippin'.

So next time you see this show on the TV schedule, or see it in the video rental place, I recommend you take "Cars" home with you. You may just find yourself saying... "Well dip me in axle greese and call me slick".

Our First

This is our second Christmas at the farm(stead), though it's the first we've actually spent in the house. Last year about this time we were in Lord's of Indianola renting a Rug Doctor as they gave us Christmas day free and we knew that we needed a rug cleaner for more than one day... it worked out great and saved us a few bucks to boot. We were camped out in our motor home in the driveway as the house wasn't ready to be occupied yet, and getting moved into the house was high on our priority list last year.

This year is a bit different. We've got a lot done around the place with a lot more to do, but at least we're in the house and really enjoying the country life. Margie and I were just talking about our years on the road in our RV, and thinking about places we spent Christmas, and we've concluded that living in Cambridge in the dead of winter beats camping out in the desert. Though days are pretty nice often in the southwest, nights are often freezing or a little above, and wind could rock the RV like crazy when they got whipped up.

We open our Christmas gifts early Christmas Eve every year as Santa always seems to visit our house first, and were surprised by a present one of our neighbors brought by. Now I have no idea how the neighbors would have known that I live on coffee, but we got geared up with a couple of the coolest John Deere mugs filled with goodies. I'm looking forward to consuming the goods so I can pour a steaming cup of Joe and enjoy the view with my new John Deere mug.

So our first Christmas in the house is pretty special for us beyond the celebration of Jesus birth. We wish you and yours a merry and blessed Christmas, and special howdy to Carolyn and her family of Hutchinson, Kansas. Though we've never met, I feel like we've been introduced already.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Slip Slidin'

We've had just a couple three inches of snow at our place this winter season so far. That's not to say that we haven't shoveled snow as we have cleared the sidewalk to keep icy spots down where we walk at least. The snow here sure seems a lot different than snow we got in Denver. For one thing, the snow in Denver seems to melt off pretty fast most of the time, while here it hasn't melted any yet.

This was brought to mind yesterday as we headed to church. We're 4 miles north of town, and our gravel road was in what I'd call good condition considering the snow we've had. There was a good path with gravel showing all the way to town. When we got to town, it was a different story.

Town streets here were almost like glass. No salt, sand, or anything else, just slick. Now it doesn't bother me a bit driving on snow packed and icy roads, but I got to thinking that there are a few places that could probably use some sand at least. I noted several places at intersections where someone had slid into the curb, and remembered how bad drivers were in Denver on the slick roads. It was as if they totally forgot that when the road is white, it probably means it's slippery. Of course last winter I noted several places where folks had slid off the country roads around here so I guess it's pretty common to forget to be careful when road conditions change.

How often we hear about drivers hitting black ice and losing control of their vehicle, but when it's obviously icy it just doesn't make sense to try and keep up with the speed limit. As I've said before, the speed limit is only a suggestion for many folks with most driving above the posted limit when conditions are good. Trying to go the posted limit when conditions are bad is just a really bad idea too. It's a shame folks can't slow down just a bit when the road is slick, but trying to make up time because we didn't leave early enough to get to our destination is the norm instead of the exception. Few people think of the possibility of crashing because of their own poor planning as they rocket down the road no matter what condition the road surface is, and horrible accidents can be the result.

This Christmas week, please think of others as you slide behind the wheel for your last minute shopping or that trip to Grandma's house. If you think someone will be upset by your being late, consider how they will feel if you are in the hospital or worse trying to make up lost time. Please slow down and live to see another year as the life you save may belong you... or me.

Different

It was exactly a year ago that we closed the real estate transaction that made us Nebraska residents. Last year we were shoveling the drive so we could get the motor home into the drive after several inches of snow had blown in. Our power was turned on, and I recall thinking "what have I gotten myself into?" as I backed the RV in front of the barn.

I look back on that day and try to compare the place to what we first set foot on as ours. A seemingly unlimited amount of firewood awaited the chainsaw and ax, acres of weeds had overgrown much of the place, and the barn looked like a lit match might be it's future as a training exercise for the local fire department.

Well the weeds are down for the most part, firewood is stacked in several locations and will provide years of winter heat, and the barn is repaired and painted. The RV is gone, replaced by a cool 0 turn mower that almost makes mowing the place fun. Two cats have adopted Margie, or perhaps I should say one she likes, the other she tolerates, that I hope help with the mouse population of the immediate area. Things are sure different around here from a year ago.

This place, area, and state are everything we hoped for and much more. We've met wonderful people, and we've already visited with our neighbors more than anyplace we've lived. We've enjoyed watching the corn and wheat growing outside our windows, and watching the cows make their rounds through the harvested corn fields and hearing the turkeys gobble nearby makes for a very peaceful life if you ask me.

Rural living isn't for everyone, but it sure is suiting us for the most part. I didn't expect the number of insects we had to deal with, and didn't fully appreciate the amount of work required to clean up the place. Every day we find something for the dumpster that has worked its way out of the ground, and I've accumulated a couple large piles of metal that I need to get hauled to the scrapper. The road can be dusty and muddy at the same time, and when the wind blows just right, the "smell of money" from a small feedlot catches your attention now and then. Just about everybody waves when they drive by, and going to town almost always finds us visiting with someone we know.

We have almost daily visits by deer and pheasants along the windbreak, and even though the wind blows maybe a bit more than we expected now and then, we feel like we're getting used to it. We're working on fixing up the inside of the house at a painfully slow pace thanks to me, with refinishing an old hardwood floor in our office, the addition of some shelving, and most recently adding a couple doors and painting the living room. My first plans for a work schedule went out the window a long time ago, but we think we've made a good start into making this the place we envisioned when we bought it a year ago.

Would we change anything? Other than fewer bugs... Nope!

Tresspasser

I got an email from a friend of mine in Colorado Territory that reminds me that no matter how smart you are, there is someone out there likely to be a lot more clever. Our neighbors have told us some fun stories of dealing with trespassers, so the following doesn't sound like too much of a stretch. I can almost imagine my farming neighbors in the following situation, and suppose this is old information among rural folks, but for those of us uninformed people in the area...

A big city lawyer went pheasant hunting in rural Nebraska. He shot and dropped a bird, but it fell into a farmer's field on the other side of a fence.

As the lawyer climbed over the fence, an elderly farmer drove up on his tractor and asked him what he was doing.

The litigator responded, 'I shot a pheasant and it fell onto this field, and now I'm going to retrieve it.'

The old farmer replied, 'This is my property, and you are not coming over here.'

The indignant lawyer said, 'I am one of the best trial attorneys in the United States and if you don't let me get that pheasant, I'll sue you and take everything you own.'

The old farmer smiled and said, 'Apparently, you don't know how we settle disputes in Western Nebraska. We settle small disagreements with the 'Three Kick Rule.''

The lawyer asked, 'What is the 'Three Kick Rule?'

The Farmer replied, 'Well, because the dispute occurs on my land, I get to go first. I kick you three times and then you kick me three times and so on back and forth until someone gives up.'

The attorney quickly thought about the proposed contest and decided that he could easily take the old farmer.

He agreed to abide by the local custom.
The old farmer slowly climbed down from the tractor and walked up to the attorney.

His first kick planted the toe of his heavy steel toed work boot into the lawyer's ankle that dropped him to his knees.

His second kick to the midriff sent the lawyer to all fours and his third sent him face-first into a fresh cow pie.

The lawyer summoned every bit of his will and managed to get to his feet.
Wiping his face with the arm of his jacket, he said, 'Okay, you old codger. Now it's my turn.'

(I love this part)

The old farmer smiled and said , 'Na, I give up. You can have the bird.'

Hacker

The other day Margie and I went and cut down our Christmas tree. We've cut our own tree for Christmas all the years we had a house, and only the last 5 did we not have a tree as the motor home just didn't have room. That's not to say we didn't decorate as Margie is good at that kind of thing, and we had a wreath, cards, and decorations displayed. Anyway, we'd load up the Jeep with our dog, lunch, rope, saw and go to the National Forest Christmas tree cutting area every year. For $10, you could pick your tree from millions of possibilities, with the only drawbacks that you might get stuck if not careful, and it was about 40 miles each way to the cutting area from our house. We enjoyed the day away from the city and needing 4 wheel drive is always fun to me.

Being home owners again had us wanting to get out and cut a tree somewhere and that's just what we did. To be sure, it wasn't quite the same as wandering around the mountains looking for the perfect tree to cut, but we had a nice drive, good weather, and plenty of trees to choose from at Porky Pines 2E 1N of Arapahoe. (Notice how I've learned to give rural directions?)

We started our search for our tree at the USDA Forest Service web site. I wondered if the Nebraska National Forest might have a cutting area. They don't have a cutting area, but the site referred me to http://www.agr.state.ne.us/pub/apd/trees.htm where I found Porky's Pines. If you look at this site, scroll all the way to the bottom for a reference map of tree farms. In our case, it was just a 20 mile trip, and getting out in the country is fun for us anyway.

We picked out our tree, and went to use the provided bow saw for the task at hand. This is where the hacker part comes in. Once we had our tree picked out and started cutting, the saw would bind almost instantly. It was me and the saw against the tree with the tree putting up a much better than expected defense. After making multiple cuts and trimming (hacking) branches out of the way, old Tannenbaum let go. We loaded our first Nebraska cut Christmas tree on top of the Jeep and headed for home.

As we were heading up the last couple miles of 409 to our place, one of our neighbors happened to be out and we pulled up to say "howdy". He says "I'd have let you cut one from the pasture for a lot less than you paid", to which I jokingly said I got it at the towns park and the price was right". I told him of Porky's place and his final comment was that we still look like we're from Colorado... Jeep with a Christmas tree tied to the top is one of his mental pictures of folks that live in Colorado.

As we pulled into our drive, we noticed new neighbors! We've got cows across the road now that were not there when we left. It was kinda funny the way they just stood and watched us pull in, remove the tie down ropes, and unload the tree. They watched as I took the tree inside, and waited until the Jeep was put in the shed before strolling off. It was as if they were saying "look at those new Nebraska folks from Colorado, it's true I guess about their Jeeps and Christmas trees".

Rocket To London

Our latest adventure involved a Rocket, and ended in London. Indianola has some of the best pizza found anywhere in our opinion. Now I know that pizza, like Mexican food, have their loyal followers and me saying The Rocket Inn in Indianola has the best pizza will likely get me corrected. To be fair, we haven't been to many other pizza places in the area. With that in mind however, The Rocket gets our double thumbs up recommendation. If you do know of a better place for pizza, or at least as good, please let me know!

Next it was off to McCook to see "A Christmas Carol" at The Fox. We got there a bit early so we window shopped the stores along George Norris, and found that Brown's Shoe store was one of the few open. Big mistake for my wallet as the first thing I saw was a pair of winter boots for Margie. You need to know that she has a hard time finding shoes and boots with her size 5 feet, but the pleasant fellow in the store had just what she needed and out the door we went with a new pair of winter boots.

We wandered around a bit more and I admit to being a bit surprised that more stores were not open on a Friday night, especially with a play in town that night. It probably saved me some green because they were closed.

We noticed that quite a line was at the theater so we unloaded our package in the car and headed into The Fox. I was sure surprised from the get go by the gal in the box office when she said she enjoyed reading my blog! Yikes, I had no idea anyone would recognize me from the picture that shows up on the Gazette web site. Margie figured it out that not a lot of guys have a hat like mine with a beard, so she had pretty good odds of being correct.

We walked into the old building and sat down in the the back half of the theater. What a cool old place! Reminds me of theaters in Omaha when I was a kid. They sure don't build 'em like that anymore! The place filled up too! I only saw one vacant seat anywhere around us, and though I saw a several of the younger persuasion text messaging before the show, I didn't see any of that use during the show, and not one cell phone went off around us.

The play was great! The talent shown by the cast was first rate in our opinion, and we look forward to seeing more of the college drama groups productions in the future. The costumes fit right in with old London, and the sets used for the show added to the sense of time travel with office, city, and bedroom scenes well portrayed. I especially liked the smoke illusion when the ghosts departed!

I said to Margie on our way home that if we were still in Denver, we could have easily spent twice the amount of money and not had nearly as much fun. We would likely take twice the amount of time to get home with four times the risk of being involved in an accident. Yep, we figure we're pretty darn lucky to be living in the greatest part of this great country of ours.

Jar Full Of Money

It's been plenty windy around the farm(stead) the last few days, but yesterday brought a big change that we took advantage of. We've got one of those digital thermometers and have our sending unit in the tree in front of the house. It got up to 68 around here mid afternoon, and with no wind blowing, we wrapped up our barn project for the year by putting on a few trim boards on the back of the building and painting a window frame and the new trim. The old barn looks like it may last a while.

Along with finishing the barn repairs which really were few, we (Margie) decided that we should start working at cleaning up more of what was wilderness of sorts around the farm. From the start, we made paths through the overgrown weeds and slowly made the paths wider. We've got a lot of down wood and overgrown weeds along the edge of the yard that we want to mow by next spring, so off we went to clear paths and clean up an area we'd barely started before.

The project started easily enough with us breaking up medium sized wood pieces into firewood kindling. As we got down through a pile to ground level, Margie yells... "Jar full of money!". I say "what are you talking about?", and she says "Jar full of money!" again so I turn around to see her bent over a 3/4 buried quart jar with something green inside that from a short distance away look like the edges of a roll of money!

Now to be fair, the jar was one of those old kinda bluish greenish Ball quart jars with a lid. It was 3/4 covered in dirt, but I gotta say at first glance, it really looked like a jar full of money. Once we got it dug out of it's dirt prison, it became obvious it was not a jar full of money. The lid of the jar had a rather large hole in it that appeared to have been made by an old beer/pop can type opener often referred to as a church key. Inside was some kind of plant whose green leaves looked like money from even a short distance away. What a hoot!

We continue to find interesting things around the farm and one that really stirred the imagination. Can you just imagine digging up a real jar full of money? We've got 5 acres to search so who knows, we might still find one.

Thrilling

I hope you enjoyed your holiday weekend. We were in Colorado territory for turkey day with family, and driving around Denver after living nearly a year in Nebraska was to say the least... thrilling! I can hardly believe that I used to think that kind of traffic was normal.

The trip home on Friday was thrilling too. We listened to the CU Nebraska game Friday and to say the least, that was a thrilling finish! The miles disappeared as we were drawn into the game by the great Nebraska radio announcers. Go Big Red!

We watched the Denver Broncos win with several thrilling big plays for both teams involved. I sure can't figure out the Broncos. Might be a real good team if they ever get consistent. Go Broncos!

Nice to be home away from all the thrills of the big city. Going there reminds me why we're here. I believe our transformation to country life is going better than expected.