Monday, October 31, 2011

Music Monday: International Harvester by Craig Morgan



Well I'm not the "son" of a third generation farmer, but I'm a daughter of a farmer. Maybe Dad will chip in and say how many generations?

I warned you that I scheduled a couple songs to post in the period of unknown internet access, but I didn't tell you they would all be country songs!!!

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Sunrise ... Sunset

 On the way to work one day this week, I snapped this photo while sitting at a stoplight.
 And then I snapped a photo of the sunset while we were on the hunt for a new calf.

 Later in the week, Friday I think, we put the electric fence up. My job was to walk the length of the field with the wire, unwinding it from the roll and hooking it on the insulators.

The Massey Harris

The Numbers:
Number of Plans reviewed: Five
Number of Days until I see the Hubs: 12
Pints of Jam canned: 16
Number of Inspections: Four

Monday, October 24, 2011

Home on the Range

You should feel special! Today you get two posts for the price of one!
This probably won't happen very often, but I wanted to share what's happened since the move!

 The first full day on the farm (Sunday), I helped Dad out in the field.
 He had an electric fence that we rolled up and are relocating this week. He's probably already out in the field as I type this, wondering why I'm not home yet to help...
 My Dad is pretty genius. He made this roller contraption to roll up the poly-wire.
 Beautiful sunset last night.
Moo!

I learned that prolapse is a pretty bad deal. I'm not posting a photo on here, but I will warn you that it is pretty graphic if you google it. Pretty much, a cow can't birth anymore after that. She gets stitched up, gets to raise her calf, and then gets shipped off to the processor or auction barn. (Not the cow in the picture above, but another one.)

The numbers:
Number of sunsets watched from the field: Uno
Number of days until I see the Hubs again: 18
Number of site visits with inspectors: Two
Number of plans reviewed: One

First day of Work recap

Saturday was a pretty exhausting day. We packed up the truck and car, drove 5 hours and then unpacked everything. I now have most of the boxes unpacked; there are a couple boxes with "work stuff" in them that need to go to the office. I wasn't sure what kind of desk space I would have so I didn't take anything with me this morning. That ended up being a wise move because 1) Our department is supposed to be moving upstairs in the coming weeks, and 2) My current desk is an old drafting desk shoved in a corner.

This morning, I had a drug test (results should be in tomorrow. The only drug they'll find is caffeine though!), and then I rode around with a building inspector for a couple hours. We did an electrical inspection at a new business and a foundation inspection at a new residence. And then he was showing me some other current projects. Guess who I saw?? Dad! He was driving a backhoe and working at the new casino.

When I got back to the office, I had plans to review for a retail infill of an existing building. I spent the rest of the afternoon (re)familiarizing myself with the 2009 IBC. Most of the projects I was working on at my old office were using 2003 or 2006, but the City recently adopted 2009 which is the most current building code.

I took a short lunch and then went on a mile walk to soak up the sun and 70-degree weather. Here are some random photos from the day:

 Apparently there is an issue with people stealing other people's lunches. "Do not be a pig. Please do not take other people's food" is posted on the breakroom fridge.
 My office is very close to downtown, so the loop I walked today was down by the floodwall. I've lived in this area most of my life but have never stopped to look at the murals.
The "new" bridge that was finished in 2003 is in the background.

Music Monday: Bob Seger "Turn The Page"



Kind of felt like this song deserved to be featured on Music Monday as I start the next phase of my career.

A little warning: I have pre-scheduled a couple songs for the upcoming month as I'm not sure about my internet access at the moment.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Going Away Party!

Earlier this week I was asked by our Administrative Assistant, Hope, what I would like for lunch on Friday (today). The principals decided they were catering in lunch for my going away party and it was up to me where the food came from. It wasn't a very difficult decision: Whole Hog Cafe. This is one of my favorite places in town to get BBQ. My favorite menu items: pulled chicken, potato salad, burnt-end-cheesy corn. (But they also ordered pulled pork, fries, cole slaw and baked beans! We had a full spread!)

They also got cake:

Chocolate and yellow cake.

And they passed a going-away card around the office for everyone to sign. They were super-sneaky about it too- I had no idea it was going on!

The next time I post, we'll either be en route to or settled in at the farm, or after my first day of work (Monday!)

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Running Update

I asked the Hubs to keep the Y membership until I moved. Working out is a great stress reliever, and these last several weeks have had plenty of stress.

Today I did:
20 minutes on stationary bike
And then switched to the treadmill and did:
3 minute warmup at 3.3 mph
10 minute run at 4.7 mph
4 minute cooldown at 3.5 to 3.3 mph

I decided to up the speed by .1 mph. It doesn't seem like a lot until I'm huffing and puffing more than usual...

I've been researching gyms for when I move, but I have some questions to ask about my work benefits before I sign up for anything. As a city employee, there are some perks available...

Monday, October 17, 2011

Random Photo Day

 There's a new Hyvee grocery store opening this week in Springfield. They got the electric hooked up on the gas pumps. Can you read the prices? ($7.77)
 Here's the "U-haul threw up in my house" photo. It's gotten worse since I snapped that photo two hours ago.
I'm one of "those" people that holds onto my fortune cookie fortune and then comes across it later. This one is from a couple years ago and I found it while cleaning off my desk yesterday.

Music Monday - Jose Gonzalez "Crosses" and "Heartbeats"



This is one of those artists that came up on Pandora and I fell in love with.
Here's another one of his songs.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Packing Knives

I've put some thought into packing the "dangerous" parts of the kitchen. I don't want to open a box up in 6 - 12 months and accidentally commit suicide by slicing my wrist open on an uncovered knife. (That sounds like material for the next Darwin Awards book.)
Directions:
1. Find that empty 12 pack box of that beer that you drank on last week's office float trip when the only person that knew you had accepted a job was your husband.
2. Cut a flap of the box off.
3. Then cut a piece about twice the width of the knife blade that you're wanting to cover.
4. Fold it in half and hold it together with packing tape.
5. Then slide in the knife blade. If you're like me and have multiple knives of the same size (think steak knives and paring knives), then slide in one blade on each end.

Ta da! Then these went in the bottom of the box and other kitchen tools got stacked on top.
 This move is difficult. Not only mentally and emotionally, but logistically. As I go through each drawer, I have to consider what do I need for the next 6-12 months of living with Grandma? What does the Hubs need in that same time period while he's living here to finish school and sell the house?
My pile so far

Part of the Hub's pile. There's another drawer that has a steak knife, paring knife and chef's knife.
 You can tell who the beer drinker and hell raiser is, right?

Monday, October 10, 2011

Things Fall Into Place

 For the last 1-1/2 years, I've had this white board on my wall listing target dates for exams and the actual date of taking each exam. Half a lifetime ago I read a statistic that goals that are written down are 70% more likely to be achieved than those that aren't written down. I have a pretty good success rate, even for the "To Do" items listed on the right hand side.


I've been working toward a goal for the last several years, a goal of moving back home to be closer to family. When I failed that last exam in March, I felt like my life had been put on hold for 6 months.

(Tangent here: On the lower right are names of four bands that my BFF Melissa and I want to see in concert: Guns & Roses, Lenny Kravitz, Lady Gaga and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Now I need to work on achieving those goals!)

I've been looking at job listings for awhile now. A couple weeks ago, my Mom called with a job ad that sounded right up my alley and it was in my hometown. I think I had my resume revised and application filled out and all mailed before I remembered to talk to the Hubs about the opportunity.

And then I got called for an interview!

And then I got offered the job!

And now I'm moving back home. I'm sad to leave Springfield, but so excited to be closer to family.

There's a lot more that needs to happen:
The Hubs graduating college
Our house selling
Finding/buying a house back home

But it's finally falling into place. Kind of like the illustrations on these U-haul boxes - they're like Legos for adults.
 Look - they even stack perfectly in a truck!
 Tonight on the way home I caught a glimpse of the sunset and luckily stopped at a stoplight long enough to snap a photo. Such a beautiful reminder that life keeps going, that it all fits into place.
 

Music Monday - Jagger

Several years ago, when the Rolling Stones played the half time show for the Superbowl, I remember saying "I hope when I'm Mick Jagger's age I move like that".

Imagine my laughter when I heard this song by Maroon 5, off their newest album (Hands All Over), called "Moves Like Jagger".

Friday, October 7, 2011

Book: The Dirty Life by Kristin Kimball

I've been reading a lot these last two years, and this year I started a reading list to keep track of everything I've read. It drives me crazy when I remember reading a book about something but can't remember the name of the book or who wrote it. (Luckily, my account at the library has a digital reading history and if I can remember about what month I read the book I can figure out the book.)

I've dreamed about having my own CSA farm at some point. This is probably just a pipe dream, as working a farm for sole income is rather taxing. This dream is fueled by my homesickness for the farm I grew up on, and for green country in general.

I recently finished The Dirty Life by Kristen Kimball. I don't want to forget some of what I read, so here are a couple things she wrote, emphasis mine:

"As much as your transform the land by farming, farming transforms you. It seeps into your skin along with the dirt that permanently abides in the creases of your thickened hands, the beds of your nails. [...] Your acres become a world. And maybe you realize that it is beyond those acres or in your distant past, back in the realm of TiVo and cubicles, of take-out food and central heat and air, in that country where discomfort has nearly disappeared, that you were deprived. Deprived of the pleasure of desire, of effort and difficulty and meaningful accomplishment." (pg 5)

My stash of seeds, accumulated over the last couple years, but pared down from my original desires.

"Food, a French man told me once, is the first wealth. Grow it right, and you feel insanely rich, no matter what you own." (pg 16)

"The seeds arrived in February, a whole farm in a box. Of all the mysteries I'd encountered on the farm, this seemed the most profound. I could not imagine how several tons of food could come out of a box so small and light I could balance it on one hand. Mark and I spent evenings poring over the seeds catalogs that had arrived during the darkest week of winter, piling up next to the bed like farmer porn." (pg 119)
I force myself to recycle seed catalogs about mid-summer, when it wouldn't do me any good to order new seeds anyway. However, I keep the catalogs from Baker Creek because they really are like looking at seed-porn. I'm addicted. That catalog in the back? That was a late comer, not a Baker Creek catalog, like didn't arrive until early summer. It's still hanging around because I'm already thinking about next year's garden.
 I start receiving seed catalogs around Thanksgiving and am completely guilty of poring over them like porn. I read and re-read descriptions, trying to figure out the best variety for my area and tastes. I bookmark, highlight and turn down pages. Then I map out a new garden layout to figure out just how many of those plants I have marked will actually fit in the garden. Then, the sad part of paring down the list, so that I can order without feeling guilty about buying seeds that won't ever get planted.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Garden Report 10.06.2011

 Finally, I have lettuce sprouts that aren't being devoured by birds.
 The garlic is sprouting. The onions aren't though.
 You can see a couple garlic sprouts in this photo; one is just left of the center.
 I thought about finishing painting the greenhouse tonight, but then I saw a praying mantis and thought I'd let him hang out.
 Honestly, praying mantises give me the creeps, but I also think they're kind of cool.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Music Monday - Cher "If I Could Turn Back Time"

The last of the music posts where I look back at songs I remember from my childhood.

And wow... was not expecting Cher's outfit!
I remember singing along with this at the top of my voice with Mom, too!

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Last exam = Pass!

Guess what arrived this weekend while we were at the car show???


 The passing score for the last of 7 exams!!!

You can see it took about a year and a half to get through them all. That's because I had to retake SD. I took it in March and failed, and there's a mandatory 6 month waiting period to retake an exam.

The rest of it was slow going because I got laid off right after I took my first exam. There was a mixture of depression from losing my job, and the pay reduction (unemployment is a joke, really) that made it take so long to take the others.

But I'm finally done! Now I have to wait for the Missouri State Board of Architecture to receive all my information from the national organization, but I should be a licensed architect before Thanksgiving! (Maybe even before Halloween?)

Great Plains Round Up

 This weekend we went to a Corvair show up in Excelsior Springs, MO called the Great Plains Round Up. We went last year, too, when it was in Tulsa. This show moves around to different cities, so different car clubs take responsibility for showing off their city and coming up with fun things for attendees to do.

The main draw is the cars. There were 62 cars this year, all Corvairs. Corvairs are not just cars though, there are also rampside trucks and vans, and the cars may be coupes or sedans, hard top or convertible, or station wagon.

And then there are the custom cars. Corvairs have a flat 6 engine in the back of the car. See the difference with this motor? A V-8 in the front of the car!

 We stayed at the Elms, which is an historic hotel/resort/spa that was first built in the late 1800s. This is actually the third version of the hotel as the first two burned to the ground in the early 1900s.

 Glad to see we weren't the only half-finished car in attendance.


 Remember which one is ours?
 Downtown, the local museum had a Corvair show up. These are "people" made from various Corvair parts.
 Excelsior Springs was known back in the day for their healing waters. This was one of the bath houses. I was told it pretty much shut down after the flood of 1993.

 One of the big events is the valve cover races.

 The hotel is a little creepy looking at night, huh?
 Saturday we went to Van Till Winery to eat dinner as a group. We met some new friends and split a bottle of wine - Ponderosa Mist. The pizza was baked in a wood fired outdoor oven and the toppings were all local/organic.

 
 The hubs finished the suicide door on the passenger side. Definitely got some "wows", even from the old guys. Last year, our first year, we were a little worried about getting shunned for having such a ratty car. But everyone loved it!

 

Saturday night was the awards banquet, and dessert was this custom cake!

Can't wait for next year when it's in Oklahoma City (except for the long drive!)
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...