Of Fires and a Bug

:: It was exceedingly windy the other day. For several days we had been burning trash out back. No one expected the fire to rekindle a day or two after the previous fire. Sometime during the day someone pointed out the window at the old building close by. Apparently sparks from the trash fire had hit the building; there were flames pouring out of the windows. By the time this picture was taken, the bigger building was mostly burned to the ground, and the littler one beside it was fast on its way to that.::

::The fire kept blowing around and at one point there were about 8 different fires in the woods and a bunch of trees were burning. But they are all out now and nothing to worry about anymore.::

::We forgot to buy candles for Trevor's birthday, so he just blew out the one candle we stuck in his cake.::

::Mom and Clay::

::I finally got my bug!!! (Any name suggestions for him?) =) ::

Farm Auction Memories

We have been spending the past few days doing spring clean up on the farm. This is where we start clashing personalities. Some of us are the "save it, you never know when you might need it" type and some of us are the "toss it, why clutter up the place with it?" type. It all works out in the end, and what we don't take to the scrap yard this trip will eventually get there on one of the next trips!

What's on this farm now is NOTHING compared to what used to be on this farm.

On August 9, 1994 there was a public auction here at our farm to sell Paul's grandfather's estate. Oh was there ever an estate!

We had four small children at the time. Blake was 4, Maria was 3, Logan was about 17 months old and Audrey was 4 weeks old. It had been, as I remember, a really hot summer up until then, but on the day of the sale it was down right chilly! Paul and I both were handing out all the sweaters and jackets we owned to his relatives that day. Who knew it could get that cold in August? I remember walking around with baby Audrey zipped into my coat to keep her warm enough!

I saved a copy of the auction notice that was in the paper announcing the "Burkholder Estate Auction".

The field to the west of the buildings became the auction grounds and parking lot. There were over 500 buyer's numbers issued for that sale and the auctioneers sold double all day and for a time there were three auctioneers selling at once. There was a lunch stand and I still remember Leroy Beachy saying, "Looks like you'll be having lots of people over for lunch today."

Parts of the ad read:

"ANTIQUES & COLLECTIBLES: Box wagon with new box; several wooden wagon seats; JD water cooled engine; approx. 12 cast iron seats"

There was a copper boiler, a rope bed, mantel clocks, railroad lanterns, lots of crocks and jugs, wooden beam plows, pitcher pumps, riding plows, walking plows, horse drawn farm machinery, a tedder, hay mowers, cultipackers, cultivators.

"TOOLS, PARTS & SCRAP IRON: Piles and piles of iron and machinery parts; chains and boomers; air compressor; anvils; top links; handyman jacks' lots of jacks; DeLaval separator; milk cans; dozens and dozens of eveners and neck yokes."

"NOTE: Eli had been a well known machinery dealer and collector for years. This will be one of those auctions where anything could turn up. We'll be selling double most of the day. Enjoy a long day with us."

I can attest to the fact that there were piles and piles of all sorts of things. For many weeks before the auction, Paul, his parents, his aunts, uncles, and cousins dragged things out of all nooks and crannies of buildings and out back in the orchard getting ready for that auction. In life, I don't know how Eli managed to stack all the things he did in all those places. I can still imagine him slowly driving that little Massey tractor with the boom up, always hauling something from one place to another out there in the lane.

We tell our children how it used to be, but it gets hard to remember ourselves sometimes, but it has been a long 18 years of trying to dig out from beneath, so to speak! We've literally moved whole buildings since that man is gone.

I don't think we bought very much at that auction, but I do recall that at the spur of the moment Paul bought Doddy's blue 1979 Chevy pickup truck. We drove that thing for quite a few years and after that gave it to our young friend Daniel who also drove it for a few years until he sold it to someone else.

Doddy had passed away in February of 1994, about six months before the public auction. Paul's mom Sarah had been taking care of him the evening he fell. Sarah rang the emergency bell between the Doddy house and ours that had been installed for just such an event for the first and only time. I quickly went over to the Doddy house. She and I decided we'd better call an ambulance. When the EMT people came in, Doddy had revived enough that he was joking with them about the bruise on his arm. Sarah and I exchanged a worried glance across the room. Had we made a mistake in calling for an ambulance? Doddy passed away in the wee hours of the next morning. He really was as bad as we thought he was.

For quite a long while after this, ambulances scared my poor little children. In their limited experience, they were convinced that if a person left in one they would never come back! At the sound of one in the distance, they'd come running to our arms for some reassuring words before they'd go play again.

Looks like it is going to be another nice day. We're trying to keep the boys focused on their school work, but it's a challenge when all the fresh air and sunshine outside keeps calling their names!

~Colleen

Buckets anyone???

I think you can find almost anything if you simply google it. Really.

I was cleaning up around the farm today. Over the years we have accumulated an inordinate amount of plastic 5 gallon buckets---the barn cleaner comes in them, oil for the tractor, bulk honey, all sort of things. These end up getting used a gazillion times, in a gazillion ways after their initial purpose.

However....there comes a time when the plastic gets brittle and simply breaks up and falls apart. And, often, the handles fall off. We have now gone to using food grade plastic bags to collect maple sap and this eliminates the need for so many buckets. (To think how hard we had to work to collect the buckets we used for sap from the local ice cream manufacturer!)

In short, we just have more buckets sitting around than we want.

Anyhow, I'm sitting here right now just having googled, of all things, "bucket wall". I am really not sure why I chose that other than I know people build houses out of straw bales and such things. I figured maybe someone might use buckets like that, too.

Someone actually has a pictorial website about the wall he built out of repurposed 5 gallon plastic buckets!

I really can't see us doing a project like that right now (not to mention, we do not ourselves have *that* many buckets). Know anyone who would LOVE to get their hands on a heap of plastic 5 gallon buckets??? I like to see things used up whenever possible, so I figured this post was worth a try!

~Colleen

PS: A note about recyclable items returned here to the farm: We use the paper and styrofoam egg cartons, but we end up taking the clear plastic cartons to the recycle place in town. Also, we always appreciate clean, standard quart and 16 oz pint jars. (The odd sized ones are likewise taken to the recycling station).

We continue to shred the newspapers sent for animal bedding.

PS, PS: Some of my homeschooling friends told me about uses for 5 gallon buckets on Pinterest.

Thanks!

3-26-12

::Sunday afternoon with Aud and Miles::

::The three girls in the skirts that Mom says match their personalities.::

:: ...Something Shan put together...Isn't that the coolest cup? It looks exactly like a camera lens. Some lovely friends sent it for her birthday.::

:: I get the feeling that this was very posed.::


:: Mia, Aud and Shan (and Brady, who insisted on getting in on one of the pictures.) ::

Trevor turns 3!!!

::1. Trev LOVES cows. Very much a farmer.::

::2. He loves listening to Celtic Thunder on YouTube. ('All God's Creatures Have a Place in the Choir' is his favorite.)

::3.He has adorable blonde curls.

Brrrr!!!

What happened to the lovely spring weather we just had???? I sure hope this "cold snap" isn't doing away with the fruit tree blossoms or we are all in for some pretty hefty fruit prices this summer/fall!

I woke, as usual, to the roar of our neighbor Andrew's tractor going out their lane and down the road. Andrew learned to drive from his dad Aaron: throttle wide open and as fast as their tractors will go.

They and their family have been our neighbors for as long as I can remember, and for as long as Paul can remember, and as long as Paul's mom can remember. Andrew's parents used to milk cows before Andrew's dad lost his fingers in a corn chopper one terrible day some years ago. Now they grow acres upon acres of produce. (We are standing in their sunflower field in the picture above). Sometimes you'll see them out there in the field with their mules, sometimes with their tractors. They are Amish, but they are the kind that allows for a little more variety in what they drive through their fields. As for road use: it's mostly tractors for them.

Andrew is in his twenties; he works for Blake. He is affectionately dubbed "Gabby" by all of them at the shop because he is.....ummm, very conversant (that, and it differentiates him from the other couple of Andrews who have worked there!). He is normally somewhat quiet when I am there, so I think it's kind of funny that they say he talks up a storm when I'm not around.

I'll be hearing the school bell ringing across the fields from the little school house at the back of the farm soon. Paul's mom used to go there when she was a child before the district consolidated and did away with all these little one room school houses that still dot the countryside here. I must say, I like driving down our roads and seeing these little buildings still being used (the Amish took them over). I can get a glimpse that perhaps the whole rest of the world used to live in a simpler era when I see thirty or so children of all different ages stream out of these buildings with their teacher to play a game of ball out on the diamond during lunch time.

I need to go get breakfast together. Soon, Brady and Brock will be walking in our lane after helping another of the neighbors out with morning chores. That's another of those neighbors who have been there as long we and Paul's mom can remember as well. Before all of us lived here, all of our farms belonged to different branches of a family who is no longer in the area.

Today is little Trevor's 3rd birthday. YAY.....but.....sniff, sniff....I wish I could freeze time. None of my children understand this!! They don't understand how much I enjoy all of them exactly where they are RIGHT NOW.

I'm feeling nostalgic today, I guess. I often wish I could turn the dial back on time!!

Oh, I will tell Trevor happy birthday to his little face and not here because he can't read.....however.....A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TODAY TO YOU, DANIEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We sure do miss you and all the fun times we had while you were growing up here!

~Colleen

19 Facts About Logan for His Birthday

::1. He is dating a lovely girl named Sandy. =)::

::2. He has a job doing siding and spouting. (And has to get up REALLY early every morning. Like 2 or 3 AM.)::

::3. Has wild hair. (Hates haircuts)::

::4. Makes us laugh. A lot.::

::5. He gets really loud during volley ball games.::

::6. He drives a cool truck.::

::7. He is EXTREMELY tall. And thin.::

::8. He has green eyes. (The rest of us have brown)::

::9. He is very particular about details. (Ask Sandy about painting with him.)::

::10. Has been a groomsman in 2 weddings.::

::11. Has been known to help us girls out in the kitchen. Baking brownies are his specialty.::

::12. Likes to read.::

::13. Watching movies with him can either be hilarious or annoying because he makes up the dumbest comments about each scene.::

::14. Likes to go on Sunday afternoon drives. Especially in the 'convertible.'

::15. He is a pretty good brother. (Most of the time.) =)

::16. He wears cowboy boots for everything. ::

::17. When he hauls Amish teens he tells them that if they throw trash out the window he'll stop the truck and make them pick it up. And he does! (And no, we are not Amish ourselves and never have been, despite our 'Amish sounding' name. To those who were wondering.) ::

::18. Is late to pretty much every event.::

::19. When he is tired and gets started laughing, you can't make him stop.::

HAPPY 19th BIRTHDAY, LOGAN!!!

Sewing

::I like new patterns like I like new recipes. Ask my family, I try those all the time. Unfortunately, I don't sew. At least not much. Mom is convinced that the reason nothing I cut out ever turns out is that I am left handed. (???) And I have a serious problem with zippers. Anyway, a friend sent me a pattern the other day and Mom kindly volunteered to sew it for me.::

::Mom has always been a good (and fast) seamstress, but in the past couple of years hasn't had the time to sit down at the machine.::

::The pattern wasn't my size, so it took several tries to get it right. The seam ripper was used quite a bit. (Which is what Mom is using in the picture.)::

::"Never underestimate a child's ability to get into more trouble."::

::The finished product (with a few changes in mind if we ever attempt it again.)::


:While Shan and I were getting pictures out in the field, some buggies with some very loud Amish people drove by, so I grabbed the camera and pointed it at them. (It's against their religion to get their picture taken.) They kept on shouting and posed for me. (Note the thumbs up from the guy in the second buggy.)::

Thanks to:
Sharla, for the pattern
Mom, for sewing it
Shan, for taking the pictures

Folks, This Ain't Normal

There's a Joel Salatin book lying on the desk called, Folks, This Ain't Normal. I haven't read it yet, but it seems like a fitting title to borrow for the adventure I'm about to relay.

Yesterday, Blake wondered if Paul and I would go to PA to pick up some transmissions for him. Sure, we said. It was going to be a 6 hour round trip, but how many such trips has he made for us over the years? We stopped by the shop to pick up the core and the money for the purchase and headed out with our green truck.

Over in the next town, we had to shimmy around a broken down pickup/trailer rig that was hauling some vehicles. There were a couple guys trying to direct a traffic jam around the mess as it was right at a stop sign at a busy intersection. Meanwhile the town cop was up in town giving some lady a speeding ticket, completely oblivious to the mayhem at the other end of town. I almost sent Blake a text about the broken down but I figured it really wasn't his problem....

Our trip out and back was going uneventfully. We got word from Logan, also traveling at points in the great state of PA, that his trip wasn't going so well. He was hauling a tractor* on a 30ft goose neck behind our white pick up out to the Deutz tractor dealer. After that, he was headed to New Jersey to pick up a car for our friend Daniel who is in Panama at present. Plus, Paul had bought a vacuum packager in Philadelphia that was to be picked up along the way as well.

After many sundry break downs, Logan's last news was the most dubious of all: blown head gasket on the truck. He had taken Cousin Joe along, so at least he had company while he waited for Blake to start out on the rescue mission.

So, keep in mind, Paul and I ran to PA for Blake to save him a trip....and now Blake was himself gearing up to run to PA to rescue Logan.

Well, as Blake and Christine were heading out, they passed the same broken down rig that we had passed four hours earlier. Blake, of course, stopped to see if he could be of any assistance. He turned around and went the six or so miles back to the shop to get a tester and found out the guy had bad injectors. He arranged to have the guy towed to his shop by someone else in the area and let Andrew (Blake's worker) know he'd be changing 2 injectors in this guy's truck ASAP to get him back on the road to New Jersey. (I'm telling ya, I have no idea what's up with the repeats in locations in this story!!)

Ok, so Blake and Christine are headed to PA. Paul and I are headed home from PA. Logan and Joe are sitting in PA. And this is all at about 7PM last night.

We got back to Blake's shop to drop off the transmissions. Andrew was working away by himself changing the injectors**. We chatted with Andrew for a little while then got home and went to bed.

I woke up at about 4AM this morning and texted Christine to find out how things were going for them. Fine, she says, and then she told me what happened after they got to Logan who had been sitting in a parking lot in East Podunk, PA for however many hours. They pulled the truck with the blown head gasket away from the goose neck and hitched the fresh truck to the load. They didn't even make it out of the parking lot until the fresh truck died. Died, I tell you, of a mechanical failure. Blake had borrowed the truck from one of his workers, by the way, so it wasn't even his own truck.

So, what is a guy supposed to do after all that? Predictably, Blake sat there and laughed hysterically about the irony of the situation! Most people would've cried sitting five hours from home with two dead trucks in the middle of the night.

I think my boys are tough and yet composed because they grew up dealing with all manner of calamity and catastrophes with vehicles and learned you either get out and fix them or be licked by them***. Like father like sons. My girls are never really worried about how things will work out, because somehow these guys seem to always be able to remedy the problems that come up. Like mother like daughters. (Except I really do loose sleep over all of this.....)

I don't really know what the problem was with the borrowed truck****, but I do know that after some effort, they got it fixed up and driving again and they all four piled into it and carried on with the journey.

It is now almost evening on Sunday and they are still on the road. I hope to post a happy and successful ending to this whole, big misadventure.***** There is truly never a dull moment with this family, but it is satisfying to realize that my children are at least resourceful.

~Colleen

*The tractor Logan was hauling wasn't just any tractor. It had always been Blake's FAVORITE tractor while he was still at home. In fact, it was so special to Blake that Christine commemorated it by making a special quilt of it!!


**Try as he might, Andrew was not able to get the guys back on the road. He ran into other difficulties with the repair and the truck is sitting at the shop waiting for Blake to get back.

***One of the most notable on-the-road repairs was the time Blake changed his truck transmission beside the road. He was 3 hours from home and the transmission konked out. He called Paul to bring him another transmission and he set to work unbolting the thing and had it ready for when Paul got there. The cop that showed up on the scene declared he had NEVER seen a person do this sort of thing before, but he seemed to think they had it under control and let them go!

****The problem turned out to be something of a bypass for better fuel efficiency. They unplugged it and the problem went away.

*****Happy ending indeed. I heard them roll in around 11PM. A couple hours later (maybe 2AM?) I heard Logan walk out the door for work. He was heading BACK to PA!! I am thinking he had to be almost nauseous by the very thought of going back to PA so soon!!

Shan is 16!!!

16 Facts about Shannah

1. Everyone know this, but Shan takes tons of pictures.

2. She has very curly hair (and yes, it's natural).

3. Most people think she is quiet. But really, she isn't.

4. Shannah hates to read.

5. She taught herself to play the piano. By ear and by notes.

6. Her cooking is very...interesting.

7. Shannah is very creative.

8. She likes to wear colorful outfits

9. Favorite kind of ice cream: mint oreo

10. It takes her about half an hour to do her hair every morning

11. She won a photo contest in a local paper. (3 gallons of mint choc. chip ice cream was her prize.)

12. She pretty much refuses to wear the color blue. (She says the color is overrated)

13. She wears sunglasses pretty much perpetually during the summer. (On top of her head, not for her eyes.)

14. Her favorite color is orange.

15. She likes big purses and has quite a few of them so that she can switch around to coordinate with different outfits.

16. She is very excited to have her permit!