Wed. Sept 30 12335

9/30/09 I went to Howard and Anabel's for a quick cup of coffee this am. Then I worked at the unit. After the unit I used the bobcat again and drug a couple of heavy gates from behind a shed to across the road. I'm missing my sisters who are on a fall color cruise in the new England states and Canada. NANCY, GAIL, and JEAN...Hope you are having a great time. Bring me something. :) I started to strip the spool bed that was in Mom's house. I really don't know how to do it. And Gail the expert is not with in reach. So I may stop. I brushed on some stripper that I had around here. Then I used steel wool and denatured alcohol and rubbed it. I think I'm missing a step. There are not many flat surfaces to scrape off. Just many many spools to try and get off varnish. Oh well, I tried. Awana tonight. After almost everyone had left Sarah Ward noticed that she had a flat tire on the car she was borrowing. Denny changed it in his "bank" jeans. Keep her in your prayers... and I guess all of us. Stress is very real in all of our lives. It puts our faith to the test...do we really trust God?

Tues Sept 29

9/29/09 After working at the unit I took the bobcat and hauled some things from the grove across the road. 3 stainless steel nursery pig feeders, 1 hot water heater, 2 clothesline poles. Plus I took things to the unit because garbage is picked up tomorrow. Denny came home and took the tractor to get Sarah's car out of the ditch, but someone had already done it. So we went to Ramsey at 6-8. This is the picture I took of Betsy and Martin in Madison WI this summer. He is a cutie. He does this Spaz thing to make people laugh. He tightens up his body until lit shakes. She is expecting #2 in November, I think.

Mon Sept 28 12305

9/28/09 Happy Birthday Howard!! 83 years young. We stopped over to say HB before Denny went to work. I stayed for half a cup of coffee. I think his mom died before whe was 60 from diabetes and his dad died when he was 76. Howard just keeps on doing all he can. He didn't want me to take over driving Anabel to SC. That is some thing he can do and he enjoys it. He is loved. I treated baby pigs until 1 at the unit. Now I'm home and plan to work on the computer. We had a quick supper on the deck. Renae - Sho just moved to IG aabout a month ago came. I had heard she was in our church 2 weeks ago and when I met her last Sun I invited her to BS. She is married to Dan R. who was a year behind Missy. They have 2 kids and both graduated froom Northwestern. Good study. Lynn, Laura, Stacy, Steph, Renae and Sarah. On the way home after study Sarah met a car taking up the center of the road. She lost control and called us from the ditch upside down stuck in her seatbelt. We went to get her and tooki her into town where I went to the house whereher 3 boys were. and Denny took her to the police statioon to tell them about the accident and to the ER for a check up. She was ok...but pretty shock up. Thank you Lord for protecting her and that she ha d a cell phone and that it was within reach.

Sun Sept. 27

9/27/09 I would vote that is is Matt's hand. First look at the size of the hand on the right compared to Missy holding the balloon on the left.Then look at the hair. In the picture on the right you can see a forehead with a scalp of lots of dark hair. There is much difference between Missy's light and Matt's dark hair. Besides I'm sure after Missy had been holding the balloon in the earlier picture, it was now Matt's turn. You know you got to share. Happy Birthday, Betsy Hanna, today. I saw her and her son Martin in Madison earlier this summer. After church today we went on a motorcycle ride with Mike B and 12 other bikes down thru the Loess Hills to Mondamin for fresh apple pie. We were gone about 6 hours. Very windy. Nice people. So good to ride, but we were shot when we get home.

Sat Sept 26 12270

9/26/09 I really had a great day yesterday with friends. I sure hope my children have friendships with good Christians that span the years and seasons of life. The 4 of us have been through a lot together and it gets sweeter "as the years go by." This am I slept in. Denny went to Denison with Howard and they came home with a 22 rifle. I went to Carroll for my monthly visit to WW. Then I took the tire off of my Malibu and took it into IG to get it fixed. Some how it went very flat I drove on it Friday night coming home from the unit. I took flowers to PH and bought Awana store items at the Dollar General. (70 % off) Denny has spent most of the afternoon thinking about car info. Luke is in the market for a new car and Denny loves to think about stuff like that...make spread sheet...look up info on Internet about reliability and depreciation of certain vehicles. Boy, that put me right to sleep. So I took a nap. I reconciled my check book and entered all my data in the computer. I marked the share prices on a lot of Awana store stuff.

Fri Sept 25

9/25/09 Happy anniversary Howard and Anabel. 61 years. What an example of a good Christian marriage. We love you. I went to Omaha with Susan and Teresa for a birthday celebration for Kathy and Susan. Great day. We met at Hannah's home at about 11. She and Shane are expecting a baby the first part of May. Erin came over and brought Asher who will be 4 tomorrow and Wesley who is about 3 weeks. Very good to see them all. About 1 we went to old town Omaha, ate at a Mexican place, and saw Teresa's nieces' boutique. We spent the next few hours just shopping and visiting. I got home about 6:30. Denny had started the grill and fixed salads. Nice to have one night a week home to just sit and visit.

Thur Sept 24 12194

9/24/09 Happy birthday, Craig! Not that Craig ever looks at this blog, but I still wish him HB. He is in charge of our Newhouse family get together this year. I think it will be in Dubuque again. I will pay for rooms for any of my family that can make it for the weekend. Let me know. The pix are from last year. Craig was getting the autograph of the fiddle player with the band that we went to see. It was traveling by train across the US to Canada. The other pix is of grandpa and Evan having fun at the water park. My day today was very full. I was at the unit by 5 am. Then home to help clean. Then back to the unit bu 7. Curt was selling 50 big sows. I took 2 pigs to Lake City to have the vet post them. Then I met Howard and Anabel in IG at 9. I rode with them to Sioux City where Anabel got her radiation treatment # 4...6 more to go. We ate at Perkins. Then to Arthur to see Denny. The vet called and I went to Lake City to get the medicine. Back to the unit to treat pigs from 2:30- 5:oo. At 5:30 I was in IG to ride motorcycle with Denny and 7 others. We went to Sac City Cattleman's Club to eat. Then I went back to the unit to finish giving medicine to sick little pigs. Now home about 11 and blog time. Full Day. Thank you, Lord for the health I enjoy and the activities you direct me to.

Wed Sept 23

9/23/09 Home school field trip to the Battle Creek Museum. It is closing it's doors. What an amazing place that is. I'vve only been there twice... but oh the cool stuff it has. Then back to the unit to finish processing pigs. Still a lot of sick ones. I worked til 5:30 then to prayer time with Lois S. at 6. It is so good to meet with her before Awana starts and pray for the night. It has been a real joy for me to have some one come early and pray. Then I'm down to lead activities (dodge ball for 7 minutes and duck duck goose for 7 minutes). Then Awana starts at 6:30. Of course, I din't have Anabel here this Wed. but I sure liked it when I did have her help with game time. I took Logan home afterwards. Then Denny and I finally got to visit.

Tues Sept 22 120150

9/22/09 Didn't work at rec center this am...in fact I went in and told Matt that I like to work there, but with Denny working at the bank I won't be able to work until after the first of the year when all the sows are gone. I didn't tell him this but it just complicates our lives too much... I don't catch up on the sleep I miss. Denny would tell me to go take a nap so I wouldn't be crabby...now he isn't there...and I get crabby. Not worth it at this stage. Too much information, I know. I subbed in art at the HS this am. Then I went to Arthur and had lunch with Denny. We ate at church. I worked at the unit until 5 when I made BLT sandwiches and took then to church before Financial Peace at 6. Finally home to sit and visit in the sunroom. We printed off our credit rating from Transunion. Now that's a long process! To get a free report you have to sign up for a 30 day free trial...with your credit card. Then we got it and downloaded it on the computer and tried to cancel our account. It took about 4 phone calls. Denny just laughed at me and went to bed. The random "old" pictures are from the repo computer and all the old scanned in photo album pages. No rhyme or reason. I just clicked on a page and cropped to use an old picture. I guess if you consider 23 years ago "old".

Mon. Sept 21

9/21/09 Happy birthday great granny!!! The great grand kids sure love to go to grandma Anabel's home. I'm so thankful that I've had the opportunity to take them to visit this summer. Today she starts her 10 days of radiation. Keep her in your prayers. The oncologist is giving her the same treatment as the one that worked well 3 years ago. He did change her oral daily cancer medicine dose to a shot given once a month. I subbed HS art in the afternoon. Curt loaded out 60 gilts to sell in am. Denny and I gave shot to litters with ecoli until 6:30 when I went home for Bible study. Sarah, Stacy, Stephanie, Lynn, Emily, Danielle, and Elizabeth. She gave us the news she is expecting the end of April. :)

Sun Sept 20 120100

9/20/09 Up too the unit...Prayer time at 8:45...Flowers to church...Flowers to Pizza Hut...Good lunch fixed by Denny.

Sat.Sept 19

9/19/09 We worked at the unit til almost 2. I cleaned out the treat boxes and boiled the syringes so they would be ready to process more pigs Monday. Then I came home and grilled pork burgers for lunch with fresh cukes and tomatoes. Denny fixed the PTO shaft on the tractor mower while I got flowers ready for church. Denny was wanting earplugs for himself while he was mowing so I drove up to the unit to get some. The office was filled with smoke... I had left the water boiling and it had boiled dry. Thank you Lord for having me go up to get the ear plugs. We just left the doors open to let the smoke out. I guess we won't be doing any processing on Monday. Thank you Jesus...it could have been so much worse. We spent last night working on installing and using picaso for my pictures. As you can see I haven't gotten proficient at it yet. Hopefully they will be coming. This is the first picture that I got from my old albums and cropped on picaso. I think I am going to have fun with it. Denny has ALL the picture/album pages on this Dell repo he purchased at the bank. Perhaps TOO MUCH INFORMATATION. But I think I"m going to like it. Thanks Denny. What would I do with out him?

Fri Sept 18 12075

9/18/09 Matt and Becky and kids met Hirschmans at the zoo today. We had a nice visit with Matt last night. I worked at unit from 7:30 -5. Lots of litters to process by myself. 22 litters about 300 pigs and 3 1/2 hours. Denny said make plans for supper. So I ordered pizza at Sparkies in Arthur so ohe could pick it up after he got off work at 6. I was beat. Nice visit with Luke about 8-9 tonight. So good to talk to you kids...and we love your blogs. We were eating lunch Sat am on the deck and had cucumbers. Denny started laughing right out loud. He was remembering E&A here eating cukes, then he thought about the blog where they were watering the tomatoes...but the blog that made him laugh was Torren and Hayden playing dump trucks with a fence in between them. Thanks for the happiness you bring to our lives. Tough day at the unit and I could use a little happiness. The zoo sounded really good.

Thurs Sept 17

9/17/09 About 6:45 am I got a phone call wondering if I could sub today in the resource room. I said it would take me 1 hour and 45 min to get there if that was okay...it was... so I hustled around, fed the sows, evened up litters and got ready. I was at school at 8:30. WHEW. Pretty good day. I think she works with about 6 different kids during the day. After school I went down town to kill time until the bank's burgers at 5. UBI grills burgers before the Homecoming parade. I parked on main street, visited a few shops, walked to Pamida, ate a burger, went to motorcycle meeting, parade, and home. WHEW Such a full day I didn't even have time to stop and smell the morning glories. Grandma Anabel has beautiful morning glories on a cattle panel in her back yard.

Wed. Sept 16

9/16/09 KIM L's birthday. I took her and Jean to Bozwellz for lunch. We came back to Kim's with dessert. So good to visit with them. I've been missing Mandy's calls... I guess I haven't connected with my sons lately either. I'm too busy if I'm too busy to hear from my family. I love you all very much. Awana tonight. I plan to go to a coffee for Jack H's about 5. His car dealership had to close. Kind of a bummer. They've always been good to me. They came to the rec center to get my car and change oil on Tuesday ams while I was working. Plus, that is where Dad got his red pickup...one of the loves of his life...next to the Harley... (and me of course).

Tues Sept 15 12035

9/15/09 I went to the unit and fed before going to IG. I was at the rec center when Jo called to ask me to sub. I said I was wearing a grey and pink sweatsuit and tennis shoes, if that was okay, I'd be glad to sub. So I subbed in American Gov. etc. Good day. Then to get a few groceries, then to get a haircut from Mandy south of Galva...long way to drive. Then home to get Ramsey book then back to church at 6 pm for F. peace. Then to unit to second feed and even out some litters. Finally home to bed. Full day. The morning glory plant I got when I was in Omaha visiting Kathy W. is really pretty.

Mon Sept 14

9/14/09 Missy came up and joined us for coffee before Denny left for work at 7:10. I worked at the unit until 11. Curt came and picked up 2 butcher gilts. I went to Great grannys while Jensens were there. About 11:30 Missy went with them to Grandma Anabel's oncologist appointment. The rest of us met Denny in the Arthur park for lunch. Then I took E&A to Moorehead for a home school field trip to catch and tag Monarch butterflies as they migrate. We took the nets out to the flower area. The butterflies liked the blue flowers. The bees liked the yellow flowers. It was a short trip to Moorehead...not even time for the play lay ground. I told them we would play at Grandma's park after naps. So we went home for naps. Doug S. from Edward Jones came to measure my corn plant, a mere 11 foot 8 inches. The tallest so far for him was one over 13 feet. That person had fed his corn 1 quart of skim milk every week. Good for the dairy situation. Jensens left about 7:15. Gals for Bible study were Sarah, Emily, Danielle, Elizabeth, Stacy, Stephanie, Lynn, an Reeann. To bed for me...Denny called Chuck G. to visit.

Sun Sept 13

9/13/09 The kids did a lot of garden eating while they were here. We picked cucumbers to take to the Sunday potluck along with zucchini. Sunday am we had donuts before SS. E&A sat on our laps very well during prayer time from 7:45-8. I was in the nursery for SS. Evan went to Kim S's class. After church there was a pot luck meal before the quarterly business meeting. Then naps. Denny took kids to Arthur to watch a dirt bike exposition for the youth group "The shed', the town of Arthur, and any one who wanted to watch. It was great. Denny even won the drawing for the dirt pedal bike. He put in 10 tickets. Eventually he sold it back to Curtis L. for $50 Missy AND PHILLIP came to spend the night and get the kids. So good to sit and visit.

Sat. Sept 12

9/12/09 Great to have the kiddos here. I went to the unit early. When I came home Anabel ran to the door to meet me. Now that's a welcome home I treasure. We had kid's coffee out on the deck. Erin (W.) S. sent me some espresso cups that I had admired at her home last month. She had gotten a new set of cups to match her dishes and was just going to store these in her attic. Then she remembered that I had commented on how Denny has small cups to have kid's coffee with him. [AND the 2 cups we had had gotten broken. Not surprised at that. That is what happens when things get used.] Thanks Erin!! We went to great granny's for a visit and to chase the kitty. Evan didn't catch it this time. The cat is getting smarter. (Watch out for small boy if you treasure one of your lives.) Great granny meets with the oncologist on Monday at 3 to discuss her bone scan. Pray. Denny worked at setting up his 2 new computers this afternoon. I went to IG then started fixing 10 pints of Mrs. Wages salsa. Finally Sept 20 I put the salsa in bags and in my freezer. It takes me a while. The salsa was just in the refrigerator and we kept using it out of the pan.

Sept. 11

9/11/09 Happy birthday DIANE!!! After being friends since about 6th or 7th grade...I'm still not good at sending cards/letters. But you know how much I treasure your friendship. That's what has made us best friends through out all these years. We like and enjoy each other...and you accept my shortcomings. Can you believe we graduated from HS 40 years ago? Have a great day!! Love ya!!

Thur Sept 10

9/10/09 Kayann H. comes to the rec center on Tues ams. About 2 months ago she asked me if I would put together some flowers for her son, Josh and Molly K.'s rehearsal supper tomorrow night. I said," Sure". Their colors are purple and ivory. This am I went to Anabel's and she had some nice white zinnias and purple asters that I picked. Then I went to the unit and worked until 3:30 when I came home and mowed the lawn. At 5:30 I was in IG ready to ride with the IG motorcycle bunch. Denny had driven the trailer to IG, then Arthur, then he got chicken for us at the unit for lunch and brought it out to us during his noon hour. Then he unloaded the motorcycle at church after work...that's where he changed his clothes and we met in IG. 6 bikes rode to Ute to eat... I love that food. Then home and I put the flowers together. Hope they will be okay. Molly had picked out a stained glass vase/ cylinder for a pillar candle.

Wed Sept 9 11901 ??

09/09/09 It should be a party. 09/09/09 Too bad I didn't realize it before. There are only 3 more times it will happen. I missed out on 9 times of celebrating. Yesterday we got this great picture. I celebrate how blessed we are. Thank you, Jesus. He is so good to us. What a family! We shipped 1155 pigs at the unit today. Wrong count on the first load. Oops. Dead tired when I got home, then Awana at 6:30. Revived til I got home again at 9 pm. Denny worked at Arthur and went straight to church.

Tues Sept 8

9/8/09 Denny is training in the Arthur bank the rest of this month. I'm at the rec center. Anabel should hear back today on more from her bone scan. They just said her collar bone has a fracture and she could/should wear a sling, use heat, tylenol, exercise. Also something about her left hip. Plan to wean and spray out 2 rooms. Plus...Ramsey at 6...Home school at 7. Looking forward to having the 2 kiddos around this weekend.

Mon Sept 7

9/7/09 Kind of a nice easy swinging day... Labor day... A day off. Well, we still gave shots at the unit to 1175 pigs with Mark and Neil until noon. In the afternoon I entered my checks on Centerpoint. Then went to IG to write some more checks. Stacy, Steph, Emily, Danielle, Elizabeth, Lynn, Laura, and I were here for Bible study. Denny washed cars.

Sun Sept. 6 2570

9/6/09 It is my month to take flowers for the church service. And I substituted for Kim S. 2-4 year olds SS class. Only 6 were there. I think there is a possible 10-13. Now that would be a roomful. Cute kids and some have so much to say. Ate lunch on the deck after church, then I took a nap and Denny worked on CP&DR. Same old...same old. At 6 we went to Loziers for snacks and a bonfire. About 8 we took the motorcycle for a cruise around Lakeview. Beautiful night. The roads were smokey because of all the camp fires at the city campground. Man, was it packed in. At home we just sat on the deck (without a campfire)) before heading to bed. Pictures are from a visit to GG when Greataunt Nancy was here.

Sat. Sept 5

9/5/09 Nice to be home for a weekend. Can you believe that fall is here? The tree out front looks like it will be a beautiful red. Some leaves are turning. I took these pictures yesterday afternoon while I was waiting for Denny to get home. This am after feeding sows at the unit I went to the rec center for a Zumba class (basically Latin dancing for 45 minutes). Just follow the leader as she does steps to the Latin music. $6 bucks for 45 minutes. I will not be doing that again. It was a good workout and fun for 1 day. Emily M. and I went to a couple of garage sales. Late Denny and I worked 2 hours on Center point accounting and Dave R. Then we ate a 30 minute lunch. Then another 2 hours on Centerpoint and Dave. Then we went to his folks and put 5 18" blocks into the ground by the side walk. After feeding the sows we had another hour session with Centerpoint and Dave. Then BLTs for supper. Now hopefully to bed. IT WAS A GOOD DAY.

Fri. Sept. 4

9/4/09 Let's see, Mark and I counted pigs and it looks like there will be more than what I thought on Wed. Thanks for your prayers. After Denny got done with work we just chilled out on the deck and visited. Actually, we measured the height of the "Our Iowa" corn plant. I called Ed. Jones to sign up for a time for them to come and measure the plant. Probably it will blow down before then. I think it is suppose to grow up to be 15 feet. Ours is only about 11'6". Kind of a fun contest. I think they have about 20 plants to measure. They will come the week of the 14th.

Thur. Sept 3 2520

9/3/09 Up early to clean this am. Boy, I sunburned my lips this weekend at the airshow at Offitt. They are blistered and very sore. Then riding the motorcycle also dried them out. I don't want to do that again. OUCH!! ... very painful... and not very pretty. Denny's mom Anabel has had a sore shoulder so she went yesterday to Sioux City for a bone scan. I went over there for a quick visit before going to the unit this am. It was fun to take Haley and Torren to Great Granny's when they were here.. There were 2 things that they loved...the kittys...and crab apples. SO CUTE!!! (Left click on the picture to see it enlarged.) I met Denny in town for green beans with melted Velveeta cheese for lunch at the city park. Then I went to Sue's for Bible study. At home we ate supper out on the deck. Then sat 2 hours in front of the computer screen trying to get a budget adapted on our Centerpoint accounting software. That's pretty good for a free spirit who only has a 17 minute attention span when it come to finances.

Wed. Sept 2

9/2/09 At the unit today I was kinda depressed because I don't have as many baby pigs living as I would like. There are about 1000 pretty good ones, but the next 50-100 are kinda small and not doing the best. (Maybe I should raise camels instead. ) I walked with Lynn S. before I went to church to fix cavatini for the 30 that came for the Awana meeting. It was nice turnout. Denny was very happy with all the leaders that came. He stressed using the time to build relationships with the youth and the importance of taking the opportunity to share the gospel.

Tues, Sept 1

9/1/09 HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUKE!!! Twenty six years old!! It was a happy day when you were born. It still is a happy day when you are around. After Rec center today I went to Odebolt and subbed a half day in PE. Then to the unit til 5:30...quick supper...to church for Dave Ramsey. Take a look at the cousins with those plaid pants.

Mon Aug 31

8/31/09 Where did the weekend go? It was a treat to see Neppl's and their granddaughter and son in law. Their daughter Amber lost her battle with cancer last spring. We went to the funeral in Manchester and stayed with Kraus's. Today I don't know what I did. Oh, yeah, I took a quick trip to Carroll to weigh in for WW. I have misplaced my notebook and so I had to call and get my lifetime membership number before she could weigh me. Bible study was here with Emily, Danielle, Reeann, Stacy, Stephanie, Lynn, Laura, Sarah and me. Denny worked on getting ready for the Awana meeting on Wed. night.
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Sun Aug 30

8/30/09 When we got up we walked around Whitney's yard, Denny wanted to look at it in the light. Very nice. We left for home about 8:30 am. It was pretty chilly, but we were dressed warmly. We stopped to eat in Logan, at Becky's Bunk house. It had been a while since Denny has had such a big breakfast. He loved it. Then to IG by 12:00 for the Children's Miracle Network poker run. It was 70 miles...5 stops. Not really a poker game, at the end you just draw a card for each place you stopped. We each got 5 cards...All different...not a good poker hand. Just $ donated to a good cause. Then at 3, Denny was one of 8 drivers that took 8 Awana clubbers (who finished their books last year) to Denison for a DQ trip. After church we went to Bergmans. We needed to replace a spark plug and Mike had the right tool. Alan & Lisa H were there and Alan had made pie. Boy, did we time that right.