What I Learned at the Fair

I learned two things at the fair last night:

1. People really do pay $3/lb for a 1450 lb cow. It cost a 4-Hr about $1500 to raise that cow.

2. Dairy cows don't necessarily have udders; in fact, very few of the cows in the dairy barn. Being the brave one I asked a lady about it. The conversation went something like this.

Me: I am a cow idiot so I have a question.
Lady: What's your question.
Me pointing to a cow without an udder: I may be a cow idiot, but I'm pretty sure you're not getting milk from that cow.
Lady laughing: You're right. A cow doesn't get an udder until it has a baby. At 15 months we can breed the cow, and it takes 9 months to have the baby. That way they birth the baby at 24 months and then they get an udder. You have to keep having the cow give birth to keep getting milk. We don't bring milk cows to the fair because the price of milk is so low that we afford to waste the milk here at the fair because we have to just throw out any milk we get here.
Me: Thanks for asking my stupid question.
Lady: There's no such thing as a stupid question.
Me: I've taught jr. high, and trust me there is such thing as a stupid question.

Fair Winnings

Fair results:

Carrots 1st place



Antique quilt (My grandmother's sister made this quilt before she died of bone cancer and my grandmother gave it to my parents for their wedding.)
1st place



Potatoes 2nd place


Cherry Jam 2nd place



Pears 3rd place



Beans 5th place

Cherry Tomatoes 5th place (yellow ribbon)

My premiums ended up $16.25. Some of these and some other items were entered under Renae's name. She got $16.50 in premiums with three items placing in antiques.

Calling Dr. Renae

As I drove home from work yesterday, Renae called to say we had a chicken emergency. One of the hens apparently was bleeding on her neck and the other birds were attacking her. Thankfully Renae had gone out to give them water and found it. We took that chicken out and put her in the neighbors hen house since they've already butchered their chickens this year. While I held the chicken Renae put some suave on it and then bandaged it.



Later last night we went back to check on it and the bandage had scrunched up and wasn't covering the wound so Renae rebandaged it while I held the chicken. She (the chicken, not Renae) was amazingly calm through the process almost as if she knew we were trying to help her.



This morning I was at Renae's about 6:20 to check the chicken again. She (again the chicken, not Renae) was pecking at the bandage, and definitely did not like it. Renae cut off the bandage and we think the chicken will be ok. It will be a pain to take food and water over there for the next week, but at least the neighbors have water running right into the hen house.



This is our poor baby with the bandage.

Fun at Work

The factory part of my building is having a special day. The work team leaders provide lunch for their teams, and then 48 people are randomly picked to have their cars washed by the wtl’s. The people who get to have their cars washed get to sit outside and watch. They are served with a can of soda, some fruit, and some junk food.

We can watch the car washing from our windows. I’m not sure which has more water—the cars or the work team leaders spraying each other with hoses.

And everyone in the building (including the office) got a peach.

Happy Birthday, Joey!!! Joey is my favorite brother-in-law in Alabama.

Recently he told me something to the effect of "You have 30 seconds to share the gospel when someone will listen and then the window closes at least at that opportunity."

Thanks to his saying that in the last few weeks I've had a few instances where I thought, "OK, Rhoda, you've got 30 seconds and you've just used 24, you better share the Bible in the next 6 seconds!"

Despaired by the Organ

Here I told the story of the first day I played the organ at church. Today was probably the 6th or 7th time I've done so. We rehearse at 8:00 for about a half hour and the service begins at 10:15. During the interim between rehearsal and church a guy came and told me that there was a problem with one of the pipes and I would have to turn off the organ during the sermon and then turn back on afterwards. Apparently one of the pipes has a hole in it and air is passing through or over it and it sounds as if a fan is on.

At the beginning of the service the worship leader says, "Don't be despaired by the organ." Umm, thanks for that vote of confidence. However, it was a good thing because every wrong note I thought the audience would just think, "Hmmm, must be the pipe problem."

Ummm, really???

Saddest comment I heard this week:

I live to eat at the fair.

Who Moved My Rut?

My rut has been moved.

I listen to talk radio in the car so my AM buttons have been set for five years. 3, 4, 5, and 6 were 1230, 1260, 1300, and 1340 respectively. I mostly listened to 1300 on the way home from work for Sean Hannity and lately Dave Ramsey after 6:00. 1340 has been sports radio so I’d listen to Mike and Mike in the Morning on the way to work and sometimes the Huge Show in the afternoon.

1340 is now a local affairs talk station.
The old 1340 station moved to 107.3 with mostly local sports including the Huge Show.
96.1 is now the ESPN station in Grand Rapids.

Now I not only have to choose the station button, but I’m having to switch back and forth between the AM and FM dial.

I liked my rut.

Midwest Americana

Last night was Midwest America at it finest. The Hudsonville Downtown Development Association sponsors along with the Laurels of Hudsonville (their spokesperson at intermission advertised by saying “We’re here for your rehabbing whether it’s for knee replacement, hip replacement or if your stroking.”!!!) a summer concert series on the third Thursday of the summer months. Typically it’s in Veteran’s Park so it’s a nice outdoor setting, but it was too windy last night so it was moved the fire station. They pull the trucks outside in order for most everyone to sit in the truck bay. However, it was pretty full, and I actually sat outside on the driveway.

The performers last night were the Holland American Legion Band. My co-worker plays in the group of about 50-60 people. They are real asset to the Holland area as they also have a summer concert series at Kollen Park in Holland every Tuesday evening for 10 weeks.

The concert began with the mayor recognizing all veterans and leading the group in the Pledge of Allegiance. It struck me how little we say the pledge; in fact, I don’t know when the last time was that I said the Pledge of Allegiance. That was followed by the band playing and the audience heartily singing the national anthem. It was really nice that the band played the anthem in a lower key so no one had to screech the high notes or drop down an octave to sing.

The program included many songs the band played on their tour in June to France to play for the 65th anniversary of D-Day: marches, some Glenn Miller big band, Amazing Grace, and of course the finale of Stars and Stripes Forever.

And Midwest Americana continues next week with the Hudsonville Fair.

Flashback to 1977

This morning some research consultants came in to take some measurements for a couple of people in the department who are part of a product test. They pulled out one of these, and I was a bit startled. Jokingly I said, “You know they make these measuring tapes now that will curl right up into a nice container and you can pull it in for measuring.” They laughed but explained why they like the wooden one better since it stays straight and doesn’t bend and turn. It makes sense.

I had a flashback to the summer of 1977 when Richard Frost headed up building two portable classrooms behind our church for a new Christian school. I was fascinated watching him work (I, like a lot of other people, can watch others work for a long time!), and even got in on pounding a few nails myself and staining woodwork. I was also most fascinated watching him do the concrete for the sidewalk. Although I have no idea how old he was then, he always seemed old to me—after all his “lags” kept tiring out.

Car Marketing

On the way back to work from lunch today I heard a radio commercial that said their vehicle would allow you to go further between fill ups--more than the Honda CR-V and even the Toyota Rav4. Are you serious??? This is how they want to market their vehicle? I mean a car with a 20 gallon tank that gets 20 mpg will allow me to go further between fill ups than my Fit with a 10 gallon tank that gets 30 mpg.

So let’s not advertise better gas mileage; let’s advertise a bigger gas tank. I’m no marketing guru, but if that's the best thing you have to share about your vehicle you need to go back and rethink the car.

And we wonder why GM had to take a government bailout and declare bankruptcy?

Chickens on the Loose

We found out last night that we should have more than one chicken at a time out of the chicken tractor. The runt came out at first which is a first. She usually is pretty far from the door. We let her out to roam a bit (the funny thing is that they always strut to the back side of the cage and want to get back in), and while we did that a few others decided to get out. I told Renae we shouldn’t let more than one out at a time so I put the runt back in the cage, closed the door and then laughed while Renae chased the rooster around the outside of the chicken tractor.

It really wasn’t a bad situation, but it did make me wonder what we would do if multiple ones got out? They are pretty fast, and I’d hate to think about us running around trying to catch multiple chickens!

Chicken Update

The chickens are now almost 9 weeks old. They will live another two weeks. Yesterday we weighed two of them. The hen was 4.75 pounds and the rooster was 5.25 pounds. He was pretty heavy! I love the coloring of the hen.

Can you tell the different spots where the chicken tractors has set for a few days before we move it? I think it's pretty funny to see the green areas!

I didn't take many pictures at the cottage last week, but thought you'd enjoy these from goofing off one day when it was raining. The cottage owner shot the bear last August in Canada

BP Check

The nice thing of working in a facility with a nurse is the little medical treatment you can get. For instance, about once a month I go in to get a blood pressure check.

This morning's reading was the best I have had in several years: 110/80!!!

Balling Off the Foat

A previous comment gave me advice to not ball off the foat (fall off the boat) when I was planning to go perching for fish (fishing for perch) in Lake Michigan. If only someone had told me that for this weekend!

Renae and I got up early to fish—our first opportunity at the cottage. I had caught one bass with my new rod Renae had given me for my birthday. We were sitting on the fishing seats at the front of the pontoon when she pointed to some dirt on my leg. I stood up and was going to reach down to get some water to get the dirt off my leg when my foot slipped on the metal strip on the edge of the boat. Apparently the inside of my right leg hit in numerous placing as I fell into the water because I’m bruised from my foot up. Needless to say I let go of my rod and Renae watched it sink to the bottom of the lake!

Besides my body, my ego is quite bruised as well.

That night every time I was almost asleep, I was suddenly under water trying to get back up to the top. It was a rough night.

The next morning when I needed to rinse off my hands while fishing, I laid down on the floor of the boat and reached down to the water. Falling off the boat once was an accident, twice would be stupidity.

The Game is ON!

I’m not big on pranks and practical jokes; each time it has to get bigger and better which ends up being meaner and dirtier. I worked at a place where two teachers had a tradition of upping each other on April’s Fool’s Day. I wasn’t impressed from the first year I was there; to me there wasn’t fun in seeing it go on and on.

However. . .the game is on with one of our dealers. Here’s the background. For our on-line document storage we have to put a sheet with bar codes between documents made up of multiple pages for the scanners to read the start of a new document. We send those to our dealers out of our office. One dealer has an AP (Lisa) and an AR person (Julie) who both are great at making fun out of the mundane. I had sent a large stack (probably 300 sheets) to Lisa and it seemed as if only a couple of weeks later she requested more. I asked if they were eating them to which replied yes, they found the bar code sheets quite tasty for snack time. We were thinking of various uses for which they were going through the bar code sheets so quickly and I mentioned that they are actually like a sleep number bed and you can stack them as high as you want for the “firmness” you prefer for sleeping.

This is the picture I received from Lisa as taken by Julie.



Not to be outdone I sent this to Lisa today to let her know my motivation for sitting at my desk to work.



Julie’s reply was “I always knew Lisa was rock star; now she’s wallpaper.” That statement made me laugh almost as the picture did originally.

The game is on, and I expect something coming down the pike from Lisa in the near future. Don’t worry—I have my next idea if I can figure out Paint Shop Pro.

Chickens Week 7

Tomorrow the chickens will be 7 weeks old. We weighed two of them tonight. One was 4.25 lbs. and the other was 3.75 lbs. The runt hid in the back corner so we couldn't get it weighed.

Butchering day has been scheduled: Sept. 4. (4 1/2 weeks to go.)

Pithy Advice

I'm sitting at Mocha 'n Music using their free internet (yes, I bought a drink) and reading some comments on a blog that asked about who people got the best piece of wisdom from. One person said:

We often hear the phrase, "live every day as if it were your last day on earth." I say, don't. If I do this then I will do selfish things, hurt people. It is MY last day, after all! Instead, I should live as if it is everyone else's last day, full of love, compassion, mercy and understanding for all I come in contact with, looking for ways to help and serve others. And by doing this I am also serving Christ.

Busy, busy, busy

This was in a reply from a co-workers e-mail today:

I actually thought you were not here today, I thought you were on vacation this week. You are a very busy lady. With running the farm, fishing, freezing vegetables, picking berries, making bread, etc. I am not sure how you will find time golf. It surely sounds like you will not have any time for a vacation. Are you sure you do not need to be building a house or something? : )

I wanted to reply back:
Please don't exaggerate, I only volunteer with Habitat for Humanity on our Fridays off; it's not as if I'm building the entire house. Golf may have to be postponed as I'm not sure which night I'll be doing my Big Brother/Big Sisters mentoring. You know I have to make sure it's not a night I'm making supper at the mission.

A Rose By Any Other Name .. .

This morning I talked with a lady on the phone about a small business venture, and she commented about my last name--no surprise. I admitted to its length but mentioned that it is pronounced exactly as it looks and compared to the Dutch names around this area, my name isn't so bad.

She sent me an e-mail and her last name is Czarnopis.

Apparently it's pronounced "the pot calling the kettle black".

Saturday Night

It's Saturday night, and I'm reading Chapter 2 in Social Problems as I continuing prepping for my class on Wednesday night.

I would rather be doing something fun.