Christmas is here! Good morning from our farm....this was my view this morning:
Another calm and peaceful morning.....everyone is just starting to wake up:
inside
and outside.
And these two, well they are awake and full of the spirit!
When we got to the barn, we saw:
CHRISTMAS CALVES!
All fresh and new...and both girls! Yeah!!
When we got to the rest of the calves, we found this. Santa forgot to shut the gate! We returned her from whence she came and got to work. There is one thing you can NOT do and that is fill buckets full of milk with one of these hanging round your pickem up truck!
Now, we are all sitting around the TV, watching 24 hours of a Christmas Story and waiting...and waiting....and waiting as patiently as we can for The Dairy Farmer to come in so we can have Christmas!
Apparently, it's been a month since I've blogged. The oldest punk has been scolding me for quite some time. And The Dairy Farmer has been telling me I don't talk enough bout the farm.
Life has been flying by at the speed of sound and before you know it a month goes by. So, to keep the peace, I best get on it.
Today is Christmas Eve, but to our cows, it's just another day. They certainly are not expecting a day off. The Dairy Farmer is working this weekend, so he arose bright and early to get all the cows fed. Of course, on a holiday, nothing goes as smooth as you'd hope and Jr. Edition woke up with a stomach bug. The show must go on, so Poodle and I headed out to feed calves.
Here we are- a far cry from bright eyed and bushy tailed, more like sleep deprived, make-up less and still wiping boogers from our eyes.
We headed up to overflow parking......we are full at the inn, once again and we are storing some heifers in the maternity pens.
First thing we noticed is that our newer heifers have one pink ear tag and one white one. We ran out of white and we already have some pink tagged calves that belong to Taryn, so we didn't want any confusion.
As we were feeding, some nosey neighbors showed up to see what was going on:
Who you eyeballin', sister?
The big mommas are hanging out, just chillin' waiting until the time is right. I suspect we may see some Christmas calves tomorrow morning.
T and I headed down to feed the rest of the calves....when we found this.
Little Red....man, she's a cutie.
We finished up in no time. I sent T to water older calves and I took Big Green back to the barn for clean up. Once the milk tank is hosed out, the bottles are in the dishwasher and the pasteurizer is cleaned and reset, it's time to head inside.
As I was heading in, I had to take a quick pic of my back porch. The Dairy Farmer hasn't had an oven for a few days and cooking really is his joy. Needless to say, his aggressions were taken out on our back porch. I will readily admit that this was a concern for me. Mainly, because I know my husband and he has a million and one unfinished projects, but as of yesterday.....this is what we have.
I do have to show this. He worked on it most of the night last night, in fact, he was so proud of his first truss, he had to bring it in the house to show all of us. We turned off the tv and "oohed" and "ahhed" for, like a minute.
All in all, today was wonderful. Usually we struggle on holidays, because anything and everything can and will go wrong. As much as we all dream about a white Christmas, for those of us who work outside everyday, we do enjoy good weather. All our babies have full bellies and are bathing in the sun and we are ready to spend some time with our family (well, until we do it all again at 3:30pm)
Fifteen years ago, this very day....I married The Dairy Farmer. I've said many times that this blog has become an online memoir for our kids. I am just amazed how many times I find the oldest punk on here- reading and re-reading and re-re-reading these posts (hi poodle!) and laughing like crazy. That, my friends, does my heart good. At least one person in this house finds me hilarious. After 15 years....The DF just does the slow head shake, and probably, as Dierks Bentley says, wonders.....what was I thinkin'?
So, I am going back through the archives of my mind and trying to remember the day we got engaged and the day we got married. It's not quite as easy as remembering when the punks were born.....but, as The Dairy Farmer can attest.....there ain't much I forget.
I have know this man since junior high if not before, I think. We've always been friends.....with a little "something" hanging over our heads. Just that little piece of "I'd like it to be more, but afraid to do something about it" kinda thing. We just continued on being friends for...like...ever. I mean, this poor man has been with me for 27 years! You'd think he'd have wised up in that time....but he's still here! He was (and is) my go to guy- even through other relationships we were in, we still counted on the other as one of our besties.
When I think back about our relationship.....I always think of this song:
Anyway- we went to a Halloween party at Penn State University in October 1995. It was a fun party- but The Dairy Farmer was NOT my favorite person that weekend. He was grumpy and short and in general....not much fun. The ride home was quiet, that's for sure. He pulled off at the lookout at the top of the mountain- you know where I mean, right? The lookout where you can see down in the valley for miles? And, he pulled out a ring and asked me to marry him. I'm sad that I don't remember what he said.....because my mind was thinking "yes.....but not right now....and don't you go pressuring me." He has a habit of doing that.
I believe, if memory serves, we were engaged on his grandparents anniversary, which was pretty special. We set about planning a wedding and it went smoothly. A little over a year later- on November 23, 1996 at 6pm, we were married at Tompson Chapel at Wilson College. It was a pretty quick and painless ceremony. Don't remember too much about that, but we do have a grainy VHS to watch when we want to be reminded.
I think the most memorable part of that night was that my girls and I dressed at my Dad's house and a limo was to take us to Wilson. The driver thought we should do a loop through town and show off a bit. It happened to be Christmas Parade night in downtown Chambersburg and we sat in traffic for quite some time. The DF may have been sweating a bit when I didn't show up on time! Always keep em guessing...that's my motto.
We had a quick reception- don't remember much about that either....except for the cake part. We were coached to show our first act of respect as man and wife and NOT smear cake in each others faces. I was cool with that. But, when the time came.....everyone was yelling "do it, do it, do it"......I succumbed to the pressure and "did it." The Dairy Farmer was not happy.....and it's a wonder he didn't tear up the marriage license then and there. In retrospect......I'm sorry I did it, but watching the video.....it wasn't really that bad, a little scmutz on the side if his mouth. I think he forgave me.
Our honeymoon began that night....and we left our reception early and headed to The Grand Caymans. We spent 10 lovely days there.....one of the best nights was enjoying our Thanksgiving dinner on a deck over the ocean eating fillet and lobster. I would love to go back and take the punks, but The DF says....nope. It was our special place and we'll keep it that way.
Instead, we went to Sanibel Island in Florida and spent a week with our friends....enjoying the sun and the shells and the ocean. We sat on the beach, did nothing all day and we ate and drank and then...ate some more. Our best vacation yet!
Happy Anniversary, Dairy Farmer. I think we're doing something right if we're still going strong fifteen years later. Thank you for your love, your patience, your humor, your advice, your respect, your strength, your laugh...I could go on and on, but really .....thank you.....for being you.
And, to quote Farm Boy Jr. Edition......I hope you have a wonderful anniversary. And if you don't, it doesn't matter, because there will be many more.
Here is something I remember well: when we were dating, you came to pick me up one night and I was still upstairs.......you played this song as loud as you could. It became "our song" and it was our first dance as husband and wife.
For those of you who don't know what that stands for- and that should be most of you, cause I just made that abbreviation up....it stands for Proud Momma Moment.
I had one last night. I had 2 new stampers join me for a stamping class. They stayed and chatted a bit and as they were getting ready to leave, Farm Boy Jr. Edition came in the room. He needed to "ask me something." And by "ask me something," he's really coming in to scrounge for left over snack. He does this at all my events. He's not allowed to have snack until all the ladies have had their share, so you'll often find him hovering around, either sitting in my chair, hanging at the door, messing on the front porch, or coming in to "ask me something." I'm SO on to him.
Anyway, I introduced him to my ladies and he went over, shook their hands and said it was nice to meet them. No prompting, just did it. Then he told them about his map he had been working on for school.
Now, that really is no big thing, but my heart just swelled up all big and proud like. He is growing up, my little guy, and I had a glimpse of the mature, respectful and well mannered man he's going to be.
So many kids today lack good old fashioned manners. I feel so old when I say that, like I'm some 90 yr old granny saying, "by golly....kids these days." But, darn it, it's true. I blame parents who don't care and TV. These shows on today just seem to promote that rudeness and disrespect of adults is funny. And, I will be the first to say that I do think iCarly is funny. But, I am a 90 yr old Granny and I can laugh and realize that that is NOT how I would treat my parents, teachers or friend's mothers. Good Heavens, if I ever talked like that when I was young, I am pretty sure I'd have had a backhand to the cheek and/or some soap. If I got in trouble at school like those kids do, well.....I am pretty sure when I got home, I wouldn't be sitting for quite some time. Mom....Dad....you out there? Am I right? The little kids watching these shows (and c'mon, we all know 3 and 4 yr olds are watching these preteen shows) they don't get that this isn't ok.
I am very proud of my kids- I like that they shake hands when they meet someone new (thank you Montessori Academy for instilling that when they were 2). I like that they look someone in the eye when they speak to them. I like that Jr holds the door open for ladies and I like that they don't disrespect me or The Dairy Farmer (most of the time....and when they do, they are called on it and they usually apologize). I hope I haven't painted a picture of perfect kids, they aren't. And I'm surely not a perfect parent. But, when I have a proud momma moment, I feel like I should share it (cuz, my punks read this blog....... and being the imperfect momma that I am, I don't always tell them when I have a proud momma moment.)
And, so as not to leave the big one out in the cold: I had a proud momma moment when she came in my room after everyone left and helped me clean up and get things in order (now, I am paying her). But still, she did it when I asked...she was tired and ready to call it a night, but she helped me out. I then realized in the morning, that she was sick too.
That is all I have to say, thanks for reading. This soapbox moment has been brought to you by Mrs. The Farmer and the letters P and M and M.
One day, when we were feeding calves, a very loud, very obnoxious and very black kitty came running out of the corn field. He was a little bit skinny, but very, very friendly. Most of our barn kitties are crazy wild. We don't mess with them too much. We like em on the lean side...shifty and hungry....that way, they keep the mouse population under control. You start feeding them and loving on them and they become fat and lazy and suddenly your farm is like kitty welfare.....they come from all over for a free meal.
So, when a totally friendly (and we're talking SUPER friendly....like I feel like I want to crawl inside you friendly) kitty shows up, we usually figure they are a drop off. This guy lived in the corn field and would show up twice a day to hang out and work with us. We tried to decide on names for him....but nothing stuck except Black Kitty (BK for short). Yeah, we are REALLY original around here.
Black Kitty did happen to come with a friend (another reason we figured he was a drop off). But, this little kitty (known as BK's BFF) wasn't friendly. Everyday, when we pulled up in our milk truck, good ole Black Kitty would come running up and rub, rub, rub all over us, just so gosh darn happy to see us. And, he'd hang with us until our work was done. There may have been a reason why:
I know, I said I don't like to feed them. But, Black Kitty knew exactly what he was doing. He was loud and obnoxious and as we were filling milk buckets, he was climbing in them and knocking them over. As we put buckets into the hutch, he'd climb the side perching on the window to drink alongside the calf. He was a pain. So, we had to start feeding him a little bit too. What can I say, I like to buy my friends.
He'd always drink his share and leave a little bit for his BFF who would hang back, just outside of the cornfield. Close enough that we could see him, but far enough away that if we stepped one step too close, he'd take cover in the corn. We all got a little worried when they started chopping. We told Black Kitty to perhaps, shack up in the barn, or maybe grab a hotel for the night. You know, Chambersburg is the hotel mecca....we only have about a thousand and all so close to 81. I am pretty sure death by chopper is not the way you want to go. And, the next morning....both kitties showed up. Whew.....close call.
But now....it's been a week and Black Kitty hasn't come to work. I am not sure if he is gainfully employed at another farm. Or, if the snow in October made him think this was the end and he's taken cover in a fallout shelter somewhere, or according to the oldest punk, maybe he got married and is on his honeymoon (we hope that's it.....his bags weren't unpacked, if you get my drift).
Regardless.....we sure do miss him. Funny how that little black cat could make our day a wee bit brighter.
I miss you rubbing on my boots, Black Kitty........if you are reading this, we miss you, please come back......I'll pay you.
Not sure what is going on around here, but we have 6-8 inches of snow on the ground and it's not done yet. We've already had a car in our ditch in front of the farm, we are loosing tree limbs here and there. Apparently, wet snow is too heavy for those branches that STILL HAVEN'T LOST THEIR LEAVES YET! Our power has been flickering on and off all day....so we are hopeful it stays one. A dairy without power isn't pretty.
But, the punks are ready to make the most of it. It is a tad depressing when you have a snow day on a Saturday!
No need for costumes this year.....we are all going as Snow Bums!
As I was listening to the radio and hearing all the things being cancelled and reading everyone's posts on facebook saying they were playing in the snow, reading, snuggling up with the fam, baking, etc.....made me think that sometimes, God gives us a snow day to remind us all to slow down a bit.
Well.....look what happens when you aren't looking! This little lady has entered our lives today. She's on probation- considering that she fits in with the kids, cats, dog, chickens, horses, cows, The Dairy Farmer....yada, yada, yada.
This is Bella Bleu Brechbill. So far so good. She is laying at my feet as I type, taking a bath in the sunshine. She has met Jack and if he could get his nose out of her butt long enough to say hello, I am sure they will be great friends. She has met housecat #2- Scramble. Scramble looks like he was touching an electric fence- he is fairly pissed and his hair shows it. Bella, on the other hand, could care less. She has said hello to the chickens- and is really curious about them. And of course, she has already taken to The Dairy Farmer and is leaning on him and looking for love.
The final trial is with 2 children who show up today at 3pm. I think we are good.
Update 5:59pm. We have met horses....they are big and fast! We have met Kitty Bo and after a brief sniffing of noses, Kitty Bo was rubbing all over her legs....he's a good judge of character. And we have met 2 punks- which went superbly, in fact, they were almost knocked over by the Great Dane lean. I do believe miss Bella is a keeper.....she has some big shoes to fill.
Since fall is here, we find ourselves getting up to work when it's still dark outside (and it's startin to get cold too)
This morning, as I was wandering aimlessly in my cold, dark house....looking for a warm coat....and secretly complaining about having to wake up my sleeping children to go out in the cold, dark......I looked out my window:
Of course a photo doesn't due this sunrise justice.....but God was showing off this morning and I thought....hmm......some days.....it's worth getting up early to see something like this. And within seconds, the colors were gone, the sun was up and Sunday was here. I better get my butt in gear.......
One night in January 1998, I looked at The Dairy Farmer and said "do you want to have kids?" He looked at me and said "sure.....someday." And we went back to watching our regularly scheduled programming.
A few days later, I peed on a stick and it turned plus.
We got down to business and got ready to have ourselves a baby brechbill. I quit my job as a vet tech a few days before I was due. The Dairy Farmer was quite thrilled that I was going to be a stay at home mom. It was the biggest disagreement we'd ever had and almost prevented us from getting married. He was sure he wanted his wife to stay home and be barefoot and pregnant and I was sure that I would keep my job and juggle it all like so many other women. A fight with my boss made it clear.....I was going to stay at home.....which, once I could feel that squirmy little thing I was cookin'....I knew I didn't want to leave it in the hands of anyone but me.
The Dairy Farmer attended every Dr appointment with me. We held hands and smiled every time we heard that little heart just beating away. We took our parenting classes like a good little mommy and daddy. I mention this because, when number 2 came along......I was on my own, baby. I dragged a toddler to every doctor appt by myself and was just lucky that he showed up in time to cut the cord.
Of course, I did threaten divorce (more than once too) if I heard The DF refer to me, my body, my baby or the entire birth process in cattle terminology one more time. He was sure we didn't need no stinkin' hospital- he'd pulled a calf or two in his day and this couldn't be much different. THAT does NOT go over well with a lady who is 9 months pregnant. Don't poke the bear.
Nine months flew by and fairly uneventful - but one thing that can drive any pregnant woman crazy is all the phone calls you receive asking if you've had the baby yet. This was before email and facebook and texts....and caller id. I received a call on October 8th from my dear Aunt Rose. She said "did you have that baby yet?" Nope....but my due date isn't until October 12th. "Well, get ready cuz SHE'S coming tonight." What did she know that I didn't?
I watched ER and fell into bed around 11pm. I woke up to go to the bathroom around 1am.....but my goodness.....I sure had to go. Wait.....why so much? Why can't I stop? For the love of Pete....what is going on? I finally realized my water broke. Now, in all those classes and videos and even the Doc himself....prepares you to labor along for hours.....don't rush into the hospital, it can take forever and you may be sent home. Wait until contractions are consistently 5 minutes apart for an hour, then call. Take a walk or a nice warm shower, sit and rock on a giant kickball.....enjoy.
Well- that didn't happen. It hurt. It hurt a lot and within minutes of my nice, warm, relaxing shower, I was having contractions every three minutes. Guess we better step this up a bit. We headed into the hospital- still smiling and holding hands and gazing lovingly into each other's eyes as we prepared to welcome new life into the world. It still was hurting.....but if you've read my post about the day Jr. Edition was born...I was calm, cool, collected and wasn't throwing around profanity like a drunken sailor.
We were admitted and strapped in and monitored up and ready to see what was happening.....when it all......slowed......down. So..very... ....slow. The machine that tells you where you are in your contractions wasn't working. I NEEDED to know!!! I HAD to know when the beginning, middle and end was.....and the The Dairy Farmer just sat there, holding my hand and saying, "I don't know? The machine isn't working." Well....freakin' lie, man! Make something up.....whatever keeps my head in the game! I do remember 2 nurses coming in and out a lot. The DF called them "good cop" and "bad cop." Good cop would come in and say "sweetie, sugar, honey, darlin'.....wouldn't you like to get up and walk? Go to the bathroom? Sit on this ball?" And I'd say "NO!" She'd leave.....and a few minutes later, Bad Cop would come in and be all "girlfriend, suck it up and get your ass out of that bed." And I'd say "NO!" and the next thing I knew I was walking down the hall.
We found out that our kid was sunny side up and I was having back labor....yeah.....it sucks. But, since I was a new mom and thought I should experience birth to the fullest, I opted for no drugs. <if you are reading this now and you are a new mom about to have a baby.....a word of advice....take the frickin' drugs because they will NOT let you have them after the baby is born>
After a while, the pain became so bad, I started vomiting......sorry you have to know that, but I am keepin' it real. The DF was so hungry and had opened up a granola bar....that was it, game over. The smell of that hit me and nothing stayed down after. I do remember at that point, they decided I should have some drugs and I was on board with that. I passed out, feel asleep, perhaps died....whatever- and woke up around 9:45am to Kathie Lee Gifford's voice. Yes, I am dating myself now....Regis and Kathie Lee was on and let me say.....Kathie Lee is SO much more tolerable when you are pumped full of Demoral. Time to push...and at 10:32am, a baby girl was welcomed into our lives. We both looked at each other, our hearts about to burst with all the love and The DF said "gross, she looks like bruised meatloaf."
The DF didn't hang around for too long- he had to go back to work, but he did show up later that night with a large brown bag. It so happened that he had a hankering for some KFC and knowing how the smell of a granola bar made me loose it.....he wrapped that chicken up in about 4 bags hoping to conceal the smell from all those other pregnant woman on my floor. He's thoughtful like that.
Today, our little girl turned 13. She has become a wonderful young lady and I am so proud and honored to say she is mine. She is sweet and kind and smart and beautiful. She is NOTHING like I was at 13....which means I am extremely blessed and I wonder if that makes my parents a wee bit mad? You know- pay back and all?
We celebrated her special day with a surprise birthday party Saturday night, brunch with my family this morning......then we fed calves (which she begrudgingly did on her special day)....went out in the field to shoot guns and topped our evening off with a trip to Bruster's for ice cream. The only thing she really asked for was a tennis racket and for me to blog about her day. One thing that makes my heart happy is that she is still content to spend her time with us. The DF and I......we aren't cool......we know it and so does she, but we'll take every moment we can get with her.
We had our good friend, Tflo, come out Saturday morning and take our family pictures again this year. I am always amazed with her work. She shows a picture like this to me and I look at it and think, my gosh, is that MY child? When did this gorgeous young lady replace that pudgy faced little toddler? And then I think, Dang.....The DF and I.....we did good!
Taryn Rose, you are a light in this world......shine on, baby.....shine on.
We are cleaning out our horse barn today- all this rain makes for one stinky barn. In order to clean it well, we ship all horses and calves outside. That allows us to get in with a skid loader and remove all the wet bedding.
All the calves are outside in the horse pasture- running and jumping and kicking up their heels. The sun came out and the temperature warmed up a bit, so it's a perfect fall day! Everyone was content to stay put -except for this one:
This is my backyard- calves do not belong in my back yard. Guess she figured the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Turkey.
She was born with contracted tendons in both her front feet. It's an abnormality, but not an uncommon one. Some think it's their positioning in utero that causes it, or genetics could be at play, but we find it occurs in some of our larger calves.
We find that when left to mother nature, it usually self corrects. This little girl is only 2 days old in these pictures. We've been monitoring her closely and are seeing daily improvements. She is able to get up and move- so we chose the "wait n see" method. I can tell you, she's a few weeks old now and aside from having a slight case of "duck feet," you would never know she had troubles.
Boy, I was messing around today and I found this post that I had started back in June. It was entitled "June is dairy month." Well....seeing as how it is now September and really more like October....I changed it to "June WAS dairy month" and will continue to tell you what was on my mind...back then.....in June....when it was dairy month.
Ok....well.....The Dairy Farmer isn't a real huge fan of facebook. Shocker. He's really not a huge fan of this blog. In fact, I'm really not sure he's a fan of me. Especially after I used my facebook connections and promoted that June IS dairy month. I had to make sure the world knew it....or the few people that actually stick around to listen when I speak. By golly, THEY knew it was dairy month. Well, a friend asked me if The DF and crew would be willing to go to our local downtown farmers market some Saturday morning and promote dairy.
Of course....he would LUHHHve to do that. There is nothing my guy enjoys more than talking about dairy. And what he loves even more- is talking about dairy with.....people.....in......<gasp> publik. Yes! I made The Dairy Farmer leave the farm- on his day "off" and stand around with other people and talk about farming! He was...oh what's the word? Thrilled...yes...that's it....he was thrilled.
So, we loaded up the punks and a calf and drove the swaggah wagon downtown to set up our stand. Wait....no....we did not take a calf. We took the next best thing, our Great Dane, Abby- who looks an awful lot like a calf. <herein lies the reason I couldn't finish the post.....the day after we did the market was when we found out our girl had effing cancer>
She drew them in far and wide and The Dairy Farmer found himself knee deep in farm talk with many local folks from our area.
We had a lovely stand, lots of dairy related trinketry and even a trivia board that the kids and I created. It wasn't real busy since it was so early in the season. But, many folks stopped by and as the day went on, The DF loosened his tie and started enjoying himself.
<I find this hilarious....it was NOT that bad>
Here is our trivia board. I just might start testing all of you, farm following friends, just to see how much I have really taught you.
Ahh....a glimpse of the wizard. Doesn't happen often. Considered yourselves blessed.
We all had a really nice time. The market is great and we enjoyed our time away from the farm, to sit with our family....and share our story. People are always genuinely interested when they hear we own a dairy farm. Even though it seems like our day to day life is about as interesting as watching paint dry.....folks removed from the farm have LOADS of questions about it.
It's good for me to give The DF a kick in the pants and make him go out and mingle with his peeps. And trust me, he enjoyed himself.....he enoyed himself with a hot dog and he enjoyed himself with a whoopie pie and he enjoyed himself with a mint tea. And let me just give a shout out for the mint tea- DAY YUM! That stuff is the shiz.....trust <sorry....I am messing with The DF right now....he HATES when I talk/write like that and I want to see how long it takes him to see it.>
But.....to give you an idea how good the tea is.......the very next Saturday- The Dairy Farmer was back at the farmer's market- in publik- just to get another glass!
In honor of our blogiversary....I had an idea rattling around in my empty gray matter. I thought we should give something fun away to one of our farm following friends. So, I told you if you commented, your name would go in a drawing to win something cool. Well.....three of our loyal subjects commented and well....dog gone it, we'll give you all something!
Congratulations to Danielle D, April R and Guilford Gardens! You each will receive one of these:
Cool, right? Wear it with pride, ladies.....wear it with pride.
First I was afraid I was petrified Kept thinking I could never live without you by my side But I spent so many nights thinking how you did me wrong I grew strong I learned how to carry on......
that's right, Gloria Gaynor....sing it sister. That is my life's theme song over the last 11 days. You see, I am pretty sure I have been to h-e-double hockey sticks.....and back. I have been without internet <sound of you hitting the floor>.
I know, I know....it's hard to believe isn't it? First, The Dairy Farmer, in polyurethane induced delirium, decided to get rid of TV in our house and now we are going full on amish by ditching the internet.
Not exactly how it happened, but it wouldn't have surprised me if we had started hand milking cows and riding horses to The Wal Mart. It wasn't intentional, well....the giving up of the TV was. You see, The DF has been threatening for years, to do away with the blessed machine of evil that resided in our living room. I said....go for it. The TV does nothing for me.
Contrary to local legend....us stay at home moms do NOT sit on our sofas watching our stories and eating bon bons. In fact, I had a conversation with another SAHM friend today and neither of us know what a bon bon is. Truth be told, I sit around on my couch all day, watching my stories and eating ICE CREAM...get your story straight. My husband is a dairyman. I single handedly support the dairy industry and.......I have the thighs to prove it.
Train derailed...sorry. So, when The DF refinished our floors, we did not hook up our television. We all detoxed fairly well.....and made it for 14 full days without watching. Our brains were clearer, our eyes were brighter.....my word....we felt ALIVE! Ok, 14 days later, the TV came back on and we have returned to our dull, listless lifestyle. Just in time too.....Grey's Anatomy starts tonight.
Now, the internet thing was not planned. Our modem died. Easy fix.....they shall send us a new one, we'd have it in 6 days. Yes, you heard me correctly, SIX days. As The Dairy Farmer has said to the women of this family one too many times.....I sucked it up, sister and set about living in our cyber free zone.
I do happen to run a home business and working without a net.....HA...get it..."net"....like without internet. I kill me. Well, working without it just doesn't work. I can't communicate with customers and I can't send out specials and I can't place orders. And for the love of pete....I had no idea what you good people were doing because.....I DIDN'T HAVE FACEBOOK!
I became a junkie going cold turkey.....I was sick.....I was pale and
shaky......I....needed......wifi......and I was going to get it anyway I could.
I started going to my friend's house. First....on Tuesday. Then on Thursday. Then, my modem still didn't arrive on Friday and I was there every day.....all the time.....so much so that her husband started thinking he had two wives. And that wasn't below me.....I would've cleaned or done their laundry just for a wifi fix......or since you all know the secret......I would've sat on her couch and eaten her bon bons just for a glimpse of email.
By Monday, we still had no modem and it was taking its toll on our family. We all were glassy eyed and nasty as a bobcat with a burr under its tail. The DF called our company and found out that the order for the modem wasn't processed....but they PROMISED they'd overnight it and we'd be back online by Wednesday.
Wednesday came.....the modem showed up and we hopped right back online....to 987 emails. Amazing what happens without a computer. Life stopped for awhile.....I realized how many things I couldn't do......but I also realized what I could do. I suddenly had all this free time.....what on earth to do with it? I read a book. I also realized that the "thing" in my living room is not really a giant ipod dock....it's actually a treadmill and it WORKS!
The internet is back and my life is running smoothly again......but I am going to keep reading and good heavens......I may just keep exercising. Yeah....right.....I give that 14 days too.
Ten years.....so hard to believe. Seems like just yesterday and also like a million years ago.
Everyone has a 9-11 story. It's an event that will forever be etched in our memories. Where we were...what we were doing....who we were with. At least we are here to remember.....so many are not. Ones that were in the towers that day or in the Pentagon or on Flight 93. And of course, the countless numbers of military men and women who weren't in any of those places....but willingly gave their lives to bring justice to our country.
We had just returned from a wonderful weekend at the Jersey Shore with my family. I was taking my oldest to school that day.....a normal day.....just like any other. I was just pulling into the garage with Jr. Edition who was only 7 months old and heard that the first tower was hit. I walked into my house with plans of putting Jr. down for a nap and turning on the news to see what this was all about. Like so many of you, I'm sure, I didn't understand the impact of what was about to happen.
As I walked in the house....my phone started ringing...WHERE IS YOUR SISTER?????? IS SHE OK?????? WHAT IS GOING ON????? Call after call came in......because my sister worked in New York City. I tried to get a grasp on things......I didn't know where my sister was.......I didn't know if she was ok. Of course, cell phones were tied and we couldn't get through to her. For days, we had no idea if she was ok. She lived in Jersey and worked in the city, so we knew she was in there somewhere- because the city was locked down and there was no way she could go home. I fielded phone calls for hours and tried to keep it together, but most of that day, I sat in front of my TV and cried. Cried because I couldn't find her and cried for those countless people who were going about their day as usual......just like me and would never be seen again.....I cried for our country.....that was changed forever in a matter of minutes and for our world which would never be the same.
We did finally hear from my sister and she was just fine. Probably better than those of us in PA who lost about 10 years from our lives. I asked her if she would be my guest blogger today. She was in the city. She was not downtown and thankfully, she was not physically affected......but as all of us....it was mentally and emotionally draining. Her story does have a happy ending......and I wanted to make sure that we also share those good stories too. The Dairy Farmer and I have commented that Farmin' in the Ville has become sort of an online journal for our kids. We've just invited all of you to share in our farm life. We do like to share about our farm....but we like to share about what affects us too.
Here is my sister, Boo's momma, to share her story:
9.11.01
A day that changed my life in more ways than one.I had just spent a long weekend at the NJ shore with my family, and was headed back to work on Tuesday. It was a gorgeous day and I was looking forward to having lunch with a friend. I got off the train at Penn Station and took my usual route to my office on Park Ave. and 27th St. During my walk, if I had looked to my right, towards downtown, I would have seen something strange going on at the WTC. But I’m not a morning person, (I’m sure my family will agree) I had a mission, get out of my way and give me some coffee… a thought that I’m pretty sure most New Yorkers have in the morning.
When I got to my office my coworker had turned on my radio at my desk and was listening to the news. He turned to me and said “A plane hit the WTC.” Again, not being much of a morning person, I didn’t feel like chatting that early and I didn’t think much of it, guess it was a small plane? must have been an accident? Then it quickly went to a bigger plane, maybe a 747?
Wow, how the hell could that happen? At the time our office wasn’t really equipped with super hi-speed internet, it wasn’t something we used that much, sounds weird to say that, right? So we didn’t have a lot of information streaming in very quickly. One of my coworkers was able to stream live video of what was going on but it was very low quality and very slow.Then news came in about the Pentagon and that a second plane had hit…
My thoughts went immediately to my boss, she hadn’t arrived to work yet. She lived in Brooklyn and took the bus in through the Brooklyn battery tunnel, which is at the tip of Manhattan, and I knew the first stop the bus made was at WTC. I also knew that she would have been in that area at the time the second attack happened. I tried calling her but couldn’t get through.
We opened up the office windows and stuck our heads out to see if we could see anything, but all we could see was black smoke coming from downtown, the streets were filled with people walking uptown. Then people in the office started to yell about the first tower collapsing, All I could imagine were those huge towers falling to the side and the hundreds of people that would be in its path.And then again to my boss, she and I were very good friends as well as colleagues. I was hoping she was one of those people that started walking uptown and was safe. Maybe she was late and stuck on the bus in the tunnel? Then the second tower fell. I was praying she was ok.
My phone rang, it was my lunch date, he was trying to get into the city from Queens but the trains were shut down. I told him what was going on, the city was shut down. He said “Ok, I’ll figure out a way, call you later.”I wasn’t sure what he meant, but I waited to hear from him. We all weren’t sure what to do, I couldn’t really call anyone, the phones were tied up and it was hard getting through to anyone. So there wasn’t much for us to do other than sit and wait. The head of our department called us together as a group and I’ll never forget what she said: “Our lives will be changed forever.”
We could hear the fighter planes flying overhead and saw cars driving on the street that were covered in dust. We tried to get some lunch, but no one was really hungry. I had heard that my boss was ok, a huge sigh of relief. Then my phone rang again, it was my lunch date, he was uptown, by the 59th St. Bridge, he was on his way to my office. As everyone was trying to escape the city by bridge, he snuck past the policeman and walked against the crowds. I couldn’t believe it.
Since I lived in NJ, I was stuck in the city. There were no bridges I could walk across to get home as the people who lived in the other boroughs could do. All transportation was shut down. So my lunch date came to my rescue and we decided to walk around. The sea of yellow cabs were gone, people were walking in the streets and the sounds of sirens were never ending. We went to a bar for a beer, the Lakeside Lounge, we played Ms. Pacman, the one that looks like a table, where you sit on either side. They also had a photo booth, so we took some pictures.
By around 8 o’clock we heard the NYC subway had re-opened and were able to head to Brooklyn. I was able to get a hold of my boss later that night. She told me her bus stopped at the WTC, the bus drive told them to get off. They were all confused but did as they were told and as soon as she looked up to see what everyone was talking about, the second plane hit. She said she ran, she didn’t even know where she was going, all she remembered was hiding under a park bench next to a woman somewhere near the water. Then as the towers began to collapse she and a few other people ran into a store. She said the smoke and dust was so thick she couldn’t see in front on her face. She ended up walking over the Brooklyn bridge and was able to get a ride home. I was glad to hear she was ok.
On Wednesday I had to head home, the smoke was still rising from the WTC site, the city was eerily quiet, I felt like I had dust in my mouth, as I passed people on the street we all knew what the other person was thinking. I could feel my anxiety level rising, I just wanted to run and get home as fast as I could. On my daily walk to the train I always passed a firehouse. There was a fire truck parked in front that must have been by the site, it wasn’t fire engine red anymore, it was completely white.And in the white were hopeful words people wrote using their finger. Days following there were hundreds of “Missing” signs put up everywhere in the city. It still makes my heart ache to think of all those faces, knowing they weren’t coming back.
I know there are many stories from that day, some that are/were much more tragic and my heart goes out to all those people and their families. I’m thankful to say my story had a happy ending, my lunch date is now my husband (I mean really, walking over the 59th St. bridge to come and get me? I knew he was a keeper :) And now we have a beautiful little girl, some of you may know her as Boo. We will be sure to tell her our story…
Tragedy affected us all that day. In our sermon this morning, our pastor talked about 9-11 changing us from "me" to "we." It's true.....we watched our entire country come together in unity. We gave of our time and our money and some of us....our lives. We prayed.....for those who died, for the families left behind and for God to have mercy and we loved..... we loved our spouses a little more that day and hugged our kids a little tighter that night and generally, treated each other with a lot more respect. Here we are, ten years later.....still standing strong.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
