Jack-o-laterns

Nick has been waiting all summer to carve the pumpkins we grew in the garden. He likes to carve scary faces... and I like ones with happy faces... so we have one of each.

Happy Halloween!

Pepper Costume 2

Nick has continued to mix and match for the perfect Pepper costume. Here is option #2:

She's a little polish dog with her babushka.

The Church

Melvin and Nancy own an old church up the road from their house- and what will be our house. It's a very cool old church built in the mid 1800's (I think around there anyways) and has been home to several demoninations over the years. It needs some TLC, but before a lot of time (and cash) is spent to renovate it, we need to decide what to do with it. No one really has any great ideas... so if you do have one, please share them!

I meant to get pictures of the inside (it still has the original benches and pipe organ)...but I was distracted... I'll get to that in a second... but first... some outside shots of the church.

And now, as Paul Harvey would say, for the rest of the story.

Recently, there has been some vandelism at our lovely old church. Several windows have been broken by someone who thought it would be fun to throw rocks through some of the windows. Since these were old windows- you know the kind with the wavy glass- AND a stained glass window -the windows are irrereplaceable.

Vandelism Exhibit A

Vandelism Exhibit B (this is the one that really irked me)

Last weekend, I saw a kid, he was probably 13 or so, walking up the gravel road with a BB gun just beyond the property line from the church. I slowed down, and when he saw me slow down, he ducked into the woods that borders the property. This was suspicious for several reasons...the least of which was why he had a BB gun.

Well, today, I walked over to the church to take some pictures for the blog. As I rounded the side of the church to get my side shot, I heard a rustle of leaves- and saw that same kid, BB gun in hand. About that time, he saw me and took off running. And after him I went... yelling at him to stop. I'm sure he thought he was being chased by a 12 year old...but I made sure he thought it was a mean 12 year old yelling at him. Unfortunately, I'm not as quick as I used to be and he ran off before I could catch him. Lucky kid too...because by running, in my mind he is admitting guilt, and I was MAD. And now I've seen him twice.

So...if the kid who has broken windows at our church is reading this... SHAME ON YOU. And you better hope one of us doesn't catch you, because believe me, I am the nice one.

For all of my friends and family who read this... if you have some wonderful idea on how we can use the church, please feel free to comment and share!! We welcome your suggestions!

Pepper's Costume

Nick and I went to Walmart last night. While we were there, I came across some dog costumes. They had one that was just perfect for my Doodlebug. I found what I thought was her size and threw it in the cart. When we got home, I, of course, had to put it on her only to discover that it didn't fit. She's too long and the hood wouldn't reach to her head. But today, Nick improvised with the costume by combining the doodlebug costume with a collar thing I had picked up at a dog show a few years back. I thought it was hilarious! Pepper did not.

Here's Pepper in her halloween costume. She's just mortified that we would do this to her. She won't even look at the camera.

She thinks this is just humiliating... you can just see it on her face.

Now all she needs is a bucket to go trick or treating for milkbones and pork chomps. Maybe she'd like it better if there were treats involved.

Girls Day

Yesterday, Nikki and I took the day off of work and had a girls day. And like we always do, we had a great time together!

Our first stop was a tour of the Monsatery Immaculate Conception in Ferdinand, IN. It's right up the road from Santa Claus and it sits at the top of the hill in Ferdinand. It's huge... and beautiful... and huge. So we decided it would be interesting to take the guided tour. The monastary is home to the Sisters of St. Benedict.

I know what you're thinking.... You toured a monastary as part of your girls day? It's not your typical girls day type outing, I know. But even if you're not Catholic, it really is a sight to behold.

This is the monastary church. If you think it's impressive on the outside... you should see the inside. And the ambiance of the church is so peaceful. It almost makes you want to be a sister just so you could bask in the peace every day- except for the whole vows thing.

It was a little dark, so my pictures didn't turn out like I had hoped. If you want to take it the true beauty, you have to take the tour for yourself!

Hallway between the church and monastary. Doorway leading into the church.

Inside of church and view from the front of the church looking toward the back.

The detail of the woodwork and ornamentation in the church is just awesome.

Can you imagine being the one who handcarved this? This, and others like it, circle around the altar.

Once we finished our tour, we headed down to the gift shop. Then we headed off to do the usual girl day stuff: we shopped at the scrapbooking store... had a nice lunch where we talked some more...and finished up our day with more shopping. Nikki and I were doing our best to stimulate the economy. I think we were quite successful! If only every Friday could be a Girls Day!

Strawberry Popcorn

Anyone who knows me even a little knows that I am all about anything strawberry. Even if you don't know me at all, you might surmise by the title of the blog that I have a small strawberry fettish. So when Nick wanted to plant strawberry popcorn in the garden...I was 100% supportive. I thought it would make a wonderful fall decoration (it does), but it's also edible. Nick popped up the first batch tonight... and it was just as good as the stuff at the movies- only better since we grew it and it wasn't laddled with butter.

Now we will have the perfect snack for our movie nights this winter!!

The Wheat Variety Plot

Nick and my favorite part about our new counties is all the variety plots we now get to take part in... corn, soybean, and wheat... we test them all here in Area 3.

Last week, Nick and I, with the help of Chuck, planted the wheat plot in Spencer County. The weather was beautiful... so we didn't mind spending the day away from our desks.

Nick while we waited for Chuck to get the planter ready.

Measuring the plot...

Chuck and Nick surveying the plot area prior to planting.

Nick and Chuck planted...while I was in charge of keeping the seed organized.

Trick or Treat!

Trick or Treat...

Smell my feet...

Give me something good to eat...

If you don't, I don't care...

I'll just sniff your underwear. (She really will... )

Pepper wishes you all a Happy Halloween!

Our Personal Chef

I would like to thank our personal chef, Nancy, for yet another unexpected and yummy dinner. Ok... she's not really our personal chef. She's just a very nice mother-in-law who likes to feed us. Since she has retired we've had cherry rolls, cookies (several varieties), angel food cake, and that is just in the last couple weeks. Tonight, I stopped up at the house for a flashlight before I gathered eggs because there are one or two hens that sometimes like to play a game of hide and seek with their eggs (why lay them in the nice nests provided when a dark corner is available?)... and it was dark. The last time it was dark and I ventured into the hen house, one of them caught me off guard and pecked my hand as I filled their feeder and their feed went flying. Yeah, yeah- I'm a wimp and I startle easily. To avoid flailing the feed everywhere (that stuff is expensive), I now take a flashlight.

Anyways, when I opened the back door, I was hit by a wave of yumminess that only homemade soup can create. Nancy, who must have heard my stomach growl, offered to share her soup with us. Who am I to let her down? So we gladly took enough for dinner home with us. Not only was it wonderful... but it also meant that I didn't have to cook dinner tonight (even better)- and I had time to share this little story with all of my faithful readers. All 3 of you. HA!

Thanks Nancy!

Cows, chickens, and a black cat.

Ever feel like you're every move is being watched?

I would also like to give a shout out to my peeps... keep those eggs coming, girls!

Is it bad luck to have a black cat perched on a sign? Or perhaps it was just trying to add a little decoration for Halloween.

Turning Over the Soil

This weekend was another busy weekend for Nick and me. More so for Nick than me because my tractor driving skills still leave a lot to be desired...so I mainly took pictures while he worked.

First...he spread a little manure on what will be the garden/strawberry patch.

A view of the action from afar.

Ginger came out to supervise.

Next we hooked up the plow....

Nothing is as cool as freshly plowed earth.... especially when it will eventually be the home of my strawberry patch!

Os-Kee-Wow-Wow!!

I-L-L-I-N-I!!
I just love it when the Illini beat Michigan...and when they beat them in the "Big House", it's even sweeter!

One Step Closer

Today I am one step closer to my strawberry patch. I am now the proud owner of a one row strawberry planter. It's nothing fancy, but it'll get the job done and won't break nearly as many backs. This will be important when I am recruiting help. I can usually charm people into helping me...but in this case, having a planter to help do the job will really help! Don Richmer, who raises strawberries, mums, pumpkins, indian corn- and various other crops, has decided after 25 years that he's going out of the strawberry business. So...he sold me his planter. All I had to do was come pick it up- so this morning we did... and I'm VERY excited! We have the spot all picked out and will be plowing and planting wheat as a cover crop as soon as we get enough rain to soften the soil enough. Then I will be spending the rest of the winter carefully choosing my berry varieties.

We got the planter all loaded on the trailer for the trip to it's new home.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

This is the week of birthday parties! Dad O. kicked off the week on Sunday, followed by Melvin, and last...but not least- Happy Birthday to my Dad!

Happy Birthday, Melvin!

Happy Birthday to my father-in-law Melvin- who I'm sure is relieved that I couldn't find a suitable picture to accompany the birthday wishes. I guess we'll have to work on that for next year!