What no one tells you about the holidays

Clearly a big little snow

The holidays aka Christmas are a time of family, shopping, baking and radio stations stuck on repeat. There’s snow, maybe some big snowmen and ice skating. And there may or may not be hockey (typical winter sport right?).

What no one tells you about the holidays:

                Snow, no snow, big snow, little snow

                All the cleaning!

                Don’t lose your kittens

                Eating too much good food

                New Year’s resolutions are right around the corner

Okay, so December typically has snow right?! We had some snow but a warm snap melted most of it. I got so excited last night that there was a big snow system on the edge of the radar and coming our way. This crazy thought popped in my mind that I should prolong the blog writing until morning and post some good snow photos too. Yeah… that didn’t quite happen like I’d thought. The snow this morning was a little snow, mini snowflakes that danced and leaped as they fell from the foggy sky.

While I was anticipating the snow hubs was eagerly cleaning the house. Now, this phenomenon had started while I was finishing harvest in SoDak with dad. I don’t know how to explain hubs’ atypical behavior other than he likes things organized and tidy. Now when I say hubs was cleaning, I mean he was digging into closets, sorting through the cupboards (lucky for him, I’d been waiting for such a time to get rid of a few things) and prowling the garage. He even sorted through the unending collection of jackets he collects, much like those ball cap collections every farmer has. 

No, he didn’t even glance at the closet that holds his zippered hoodie jackets; claiming that he’s always cold so he has to keep them.  You’d think I’d asked him to shave an eyebrow from the look he gave me. Ah well, he was so industrious that I couldn’t force a downsize on those hoodie jackets. He and Scooter quickly volunteered to take the new donations to the local thrift store; he even cleaned the shop (!) and took a truck load to the dump and recycling center.

All his hard work and energy was repaid with a new rawhide and those bacon jerky strips he loves. Scooter never passes up opportunities for treats. Hubs got an apple pie and homemade whipped cream.

Farmer modified, forget the hand crank bolts

Don’t lose your kittens. I know it’s hard because cats are difficult creatures to herd and they’re always right there to trip you up on the pretense of showing affection (and leaving hair on your pants). The middle of the week was a beautiful day, sunny and warm, above freezing in other words. So he decides to let the kittens out of the shop to play outside and sunbathe. At lunch time he comes in with a worried look. He’d lost the kittens. 

Three of these kittens we’d gotten young and had to bottle feed them. The other two had only been with us a short month. After all the hard work and time we’d put into these little buggers we didn’t want them to disappear on us. Hubs and Scooter, who was a terrible tracker with his nose, tramped the wind break for an hour before finding the kittens. Kittens who were happily playing in a set of tires stacked behind the machine shed. Scooter, the silly pup, didn’t see them until hubs pointed them out. Crunchy leaves, sticks and trees oh my were apparently such fun to tramp through and pounce on. Herding cats are tough but hanging on to squirming kittens with claws is a challenge.

Chow time is the war for food

As with any holiday, good food abounds. It seems as if there’s always a turkey or ham to be found and the traditional accompanying sides. If you’re really fortunate though, there’s lutefisk (boiled, not baked, to perfection) with melted butter to drizzle over it, perhaps rumegrot (a warm, sweet custard), lefse (a delicate and thin potato bread that’s spread with butter and dusted with cinnamon sugar; and maybe a few non-standard cookies like krumkake (a rolled, fluted almond flavored cookie) or rosettes (a delicate, deep-fried cookie and gently doused in sugar for a frosted look). I do miss lefse as the one attempt (so far) to make it gluten-free was a dismal failure. It ended up more like mini pancake sizes than the big pizza pan size, before it’s folded and cut into smaller serving sizes. I steal a bite from hubs when he gets a piece.

Scooter watching tv & the dog in the movie

Of course, the New Year and typical resolutions quickly follow the Christmas holiday. But does anyone really think of their resolutions (current or new to come) during the holiday? I know I don’t. I usually forget about whatever I had resolved to do by March. Unfortunately that elephant-like memory kicks in January 1 about what my previous resolution was. Usually it’s a good effort on the ‘x’ resolution; I can’t even tell you right now what this year’s is. Maybe it was a resolution not to have a resolution. An easy win, eh?

 

May your holiday shopping be enjoyable, the presents hidden (or under the tree), and your snowman building skills on point.

Busy Busy Bee

Pre-snow, thanks hubs

A darkened dawn, birds still asleep, greeted me this Monday morning. Air so crisp exhaled delicate, lacy frost patterns across glass. Remote start saved me the short-walk-but-you-run-because-it’s-cold. Coffee in hand, hubs and I trekked south.

This harvest, especially this last week and weekend, has shown me that life is constantly busy with always something ‘important’ happening. Over the course of four days I had returned to Canuckland, traveled for a wedding, came back to SoDak and then went to Nebraska. The days had been highlighted with mile marker events for friends and family.

If you want to put miles on and properly break in your vehicle you:

1)      Drive 7 hours in one day

2)      Drive another 1.5 hours each way the next day

3)      Take a chill day and only drive an hour round trip

4)      Now ‘rested up’ drive 7 hours in one day

5)      For kicks and giggles (but mostly for family) drive another 3 hours each way the following day

It’s really as simple as that. Don’t forget the snacks and the dog though. And the coffee, that’s important.

Annnnnd now we have snow in MB

The long days of harvest coalesced into one big, long weekend. Every farmer knows the sacrifice of personal time, family time and sleep. Somehow my calendar had filled with busyness and sacrificed personal time, time with hubs and sleep.

In the moment I might momentarily regret making the time for ‘x’ when I could have been doing something busy. But was I productive? Was I going to regret not making time when I looked back on the highlight’s reel of memories? Some say time is money. Some say time is love. I dare to say time is family and friends.

One short hour of work left in the day! Clearly a long day

I try to keep in mind that the work will always be there and it won’t miss you in return. However, family and friends will remember you being there for them. And no one knows the days or years they’ll be blessed to live. It’s the achievements, laughter, jokes, etc. that make a moment memorable. They say love your work but I think it should be said in conjunction with love your family and friends. Be passionate about what you do, be bold in life but share that bold passion with time with family and friends.

May your week be productive, have a good visit with a friend, and hopefully no snow.

Auction fever

For the good souls out there that absolutely adore auctions that season is rolling around. I don’t know what it is about auctions that speak to the soul. Maybe it’s the smooth, quick patter of an auctioneer or the bad coffee (and food?). Perhaps it’s the ice cream social version of getting out and socializing with neighbors and meeting new friends. 

We stopped in at a (somewhat) local auction site to check out what was coming in for the next sale. It’s bone-chilling cold and snowing weird snow pellets like fake snow but not. And what are people doing? They’re washing the trucks and equipment! Not exactly the bonniest, sunny good weather like most normal people wash cars or equipment in. This guy looked like he rued the day he took that job meanwhile his counterpart is moving the trucks around for him; nice and toasty dry. 

Somehow on the drive back home I found myself agreeing to follow auctions closely for my hubby. This new ‘job’ may or may not include me also bidding now and again for him. Yikes. Auctioneer speak is like learning another language right? I just need to train my ear to follow it. Wish me luck, I may have serious need of it. Who knows, maybe I’ll find myself waving my bidding number like a crazy woman winning bingo. I’m still looking for my diesel project or a decent wrenching project in general.

It’s TOO much!

It was anything but a typical Monday morning here in Canuckland. Instead, I’m up before the sun, which is not cool, AND we saw the school bus on the way into the city. You know it’s early. Then I look out the window and it’s alternately sleeting and snowing those big, heavy cotton ball snowflakes. Yup, driving is sure to be fun. And to top it all off, I forgot to post this post. As it turns out, the post is way more awesome now than it would have been, you’re welcome. 

We’re on our way to the chiropractor because good spinal health, correction, posture is right up there next to the key of life. My other half has blessed me with his presence so he too, gets to partake of this life-changing experience aka a good chiropractic adjustment. I don’t drop names, rarely anyways, so you’ll have to ask which chiropractor if you really want to know. It’s like asking for directions. You man up (or woman up) find a nice-looking stranger, NOT model worthy but more like they won’t set you up and rob you, harmless looking. Anyways, I digress. We’re happily plodding along in the lovely dirty streets when this big telephone service truck stops at a green light. Of course, ‘what the-‘ rolls through our minds and then ZING! Bam! This minivan barrels through an obviously red light and smokes the unsuspecting SUV that’s innocently going through their green light. It was like watching bumper cars but with better sound effects. I was horrified; that could have been us since we were in the lane of fire if that truck hadn’t stopped. Eventually we made it to the chiropractor and thankfully didn’t need more than the usual adjustment.

The day is a beautiful, balmy cloudy day with air temps that chill you into reaching for that winter jacket. I’m enjoying being chauffeured around the city, to the mall, here and there. Yes, my husband willingly drove me to the LARGEST mall in the city so I could find, acquire and cross items off my list. Then my nose decides it wants to run… for prez or until the sun comes out, I don’t know. Thankfully I’m wearing a hoodie that’s large enough to hide an entire box of tissues in the kangaroo pouch thingie (note, I did discard the actual box of the tissues, it looked too weird). 

After perusing a bookstore and sadly coming to the conclusion that there wasn’t a new book out that wrangled my interest like a cowboy steer wrestling; I drifted into the coffee shop that just happened to be attached. Really, honey, I had NO idea there was a coffee shop in a five mile radius. But hey, since we're here... coffee time!

It’s about lunch time. We were supposed to meet some family for a late lunch. The minutes tick by. I check, re-check and check my phone again for any texts saying they’re now headed our way. We’re now headed for a laaate lunch when I see a gray minivan drive by. Yes! That’s them! Oh wait, WE are in the gray minivan and THEY have the pickup. This, sadly, happened several times. I’d say it’s because I’m blonde but I think that hunger-induced forgetfulness was the true culprit. You see, we were supposed to meet for lunch but also swap back our respective vehicles. Really, it’s too much to ask of a person to sit and wait patiently when food is so close. I know a hint of how a dog feels when they have to sit and wait for the treat. 

Oh and somewhere in there, in all that dirty, slushy chaos called life, err, traffic, we managed to locate and drop off our grain moisture tester for re-calibration. This shop was hidden away in the industrial section and you had to make sure to zig and not zag at the appropriate times otherwise you’re lost like Alice. The poor thing was so far out we couldn’t use it at all this past harvest. And the check for this little tune-up will sting but be well worth it. 

For sure and for certain it’s a Monday. It’s too much. And I had two coffee mugs fully loaded; the second mug barely got me to the city the coffee was disappearing that quickly. It’s too much, I’d ask for a do-over but neither do I want to repeat the day’s events nor ever so I’ll drink more coffee instead.

Politics ‘n’ snow

What do politics and snow have in common? Well, three things. I think. 

1)      The US presidential race season has come to an end, beating winter’s end by a few months.

2)      Trump’s inauguration has met with a chilly response from parts of America. Good thing it’s winter, there’s an excuse to bundle up in layers.

3)      Just like this snow hanging on, Trump will be around for awhile now.

       

It’s that time, the time in which we FINALLY put political races to bed for another season. Over the weekend, speculation has run rampant over the new Trump administration. Trump was inaugurated as the 45^th president of the U.S. this past Friday. I, for one, am happy this presidential race season is done as I found the past year and a half or so of political ads and mudslinging quite tiring. 

However, I was surprised by the level of interest of those around me here in Canuckland. Maybe I shouldn’t be so naïve about the interest of Canucks; seeing as how US trade policy, et cetera affects pricing and commodities here in Canuckland. It will be especially interesting to follow Trump’s policies and trade as it affects farming. I know many farmers are keeping a concerned eye on the future of grain prices and demand, farmers on both sides of the border. 

This whole concept of being a farmer from the US and now learning how to farm in Canuckland is proving to be the adventure of a lifetime. It’s one thing to read in the paper of how trade deals or policies will affect foreign affairs and it’s a new thing entirely to now be in the thick of that ‘affect.’ For example: The US could potentially put new trade restrictions into effect that will affect grain pricing here in Canuckland. The reverse could then potentially happen with Canuckland (or any other country in the world) putting trade restrictions in place that would drop US grain prices through the basement floor. The farming roller coaster is looking like it will have a few new loops, drops and surprises. This year is quickly shaping up to be one of the more interesting years for me. 

And you thought farming was boring.