Miscellany Monday

My randomness after spending the past two weekends "on the road".

1. I love my life! And the people that are in it! 

2. I love my cows!  We spent the Thanksgiving Break making a quick trip to Nebraska to cattle sale.  We saw many, many dear friends and Bugs & Squirrel had a swim date with friends from Iowa.  Then we spent this past weekend at a cattle show in Indiana.  Love my cows!

The foursome standing in front of a bear in the hotel. I LOVE their facial expressions!

The Nightly News is a Bunch of Hooey

Several weeks ago, I was at a work related event and listened to a motivational speaker who was truly moving. He made one request of us at the event.....turn off the evening news for a week. He guaranteed it would improve our attitude and mood.

His words have lingered in my memory for several weeks now.

It seems so simply.....turn off the evening news for one week. But I still have my doubts. Can I survive?

Then I read a good friend's blog, KC at Over My Head and I realized that it was that simple.
Our good friend, Christy Couch Lee, Cee Lee Communications , has written a great article about life and how quickly it can change.  It's a touching story about a family and how Braham cattle brought them such joy. Christy's article, The Gift of the Braham, will bring you to tears, just as it did for KC and I.

It's an important reminder of the simple things in life and how truly important they are. I celebration of Christy's masterpiece and to add a little ray of sunshine in my life, I am turning off the evening news for a week.

Can you do the same?

Jill

Thankful Thursdays

When I grow up....

I want to be just like my grandma Topsy. The woman's talents with a needle and thread are unlimited. She has been sewing for sixty years. In fact, last month at the age of 91, she replaced the motor in her sewing machine and without the assistance of a man! Go grandma!!

The Happy Birthday Wall Hanging

Her creativity knows no limits.



John Deere Wall Hanging

Farm, home, seasonal.....wall hangings of any kind.



Christmas Quilt

 Blankets, table runners, placemats..........

Star Quilt

Clothing, sweatshirts, and my favorite thing...



Feed Me Beef Bibs

her bibs!!!! My children lived in these bibs, of course, that is because I LOVE BEEF!

(Had to get my line in since it is Beef Month.)

I hope I can sew like Topsy some day. Oh.....and if you are interested in bibs or table runners, contact me. Grandma loves sewing and would gladly make and sell her items!

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My living room has been taken over by....

Call me the Grinch, but there's something about the aftermath of Christmas that leaves a sour taste in my mouth. For example, my living room. I haven't seen the floor in it since December 25th...when the chaos started. It's been covered with:

legos,

and more legos,

and books,

and race track parts,

and bakugans,

and battheship game pieces,

and empty boxes,

and candy wrappers,

and...well, you know where this is headed.

What's taken up the most space has been the Harker Brothers cattle operation. We have three corrals, a hay yard, a few grain bins and a grain leg, and more trucks and trailers than most cental Kansas feed yards!

The last count was fifteen trucks, semis, livestock trailers, flat bed trailers, and grain trailers. I'm sure my insurance agent would set them up with a great deal!





We even have Lego telehandler to move hay and straw with.

We are not a selective operation, we will take cattle of any color! Notice the round bale feeder.

 It's a metal round bale feeder, sure to last longer than the cheap plastic one.

We had to use wooden blocks to build our own loading ramp.

Notice more metal gates...I'll tell you more about this at the bottom of this post.

Yikes, looks like the pinto beans shifted and caused the grain truck to spill over.

Gotta love those pinto beans...makes farming realistic for little boys!

The metal chute with a working side gate. Squirrel and Bugs said it was time for vaccinations!

Boy this scene looks familiar! Looks like someone forgot to close the gate.

Guess I'll need to have a talk with the hired man (aka dad)!

This is a working corral panel with a swing gate...yet, another plus about metal gates.

If I could tally the money I have spent on plastic farm toys in the last five years, I would have a heart attack. Why? Because 90% of those plastic toys have landed in the trash because they were cheap.

 So, for those of you who have children that love to farm,

you must visit www.littlebustertoys.com. 

They have corral pens, cattle chutes, loading ramps, round bale feeders, and so many more things. 

Warning - they are not cheap...but so worth the money.

We had a load of cattle that shift on snow last night,causing the driver to lose control and run off the road.

He ran straight into the corral. There were no fatalities...including the metal gates!! However, mom is going to have a talk with the lead foot driver!

What can I say...I'm a mom who loves her little boys.

So I will continue to let my living room be taken over by toys!

Thankful Thursdays

My history.

"Some people believe that without history, our lives amount to nothing. At some point we all have to choose: do we fall back on what we know, or do we step forward to something new? It's hard not to be haunted by our past. Our history is what shapes us...what guides us. Our history resurfaces time after time after time. So we have to remember sometimes the most important history is the history we're making today." ~ Meredith Grey, Grey's Anatomy

That quote moves me. It makes me realize that, no matter how far in the past, how significant, how moving, that the history of my life is a thing of the past. Yes, it has shaped me and molded me into the individual that I am.

My history started the day my grandfather, Dorris Harrold, bought me my first Angus heifer. I was all of one day old. He knew what life lessons I could learn by being a cattle woman. He had done the exact same thing for my mother and guided her through ten years of 4-H. More importantly, he and my grandmother, Mildred Harrold, instill in both my mother and I the life skills that made us confident, independent, strong willed individuals.




Dorris Harrold with two Angus steers - circa mid 1960s





Sharon Harrold Sommers with Roscoe in August of 1968

 As I raise my own children, I now realize how much my history has shaped who I am and who I want my children to be. But as I dwell on the events of the past weekend, I realize that my pride and joy is no longer in the history that shaped me, it is now in the history that I am making today...the history of my children.



Luke & Lucy at the 2010 Hoosier Beef Congress

 Luke is the 8th generation of my family to be a member of the American Angus Association and owner of Angus cattle. I can trace it back to my great, great, great, great grandfather, Alexander Cook. He brought Angus cattle from Scotland to Indiana. He's the fourth generation to show and exhibit cattle. However, as you can tell from the photos above, irregardless of the breed, we just love being involved with the beef cattle industry. So I encourage you...look into your history and see how it shaped you but more importantly make some history today!

P.S. Yes, I have been on a month long hiatus from blogging. What happened? Life - that's what happened. Cattle shows, head colds, family trips, and the hustle and bustle of the holidays. Stay tuned for more!