Saying Farewell to 2011

Can't believe it's December 30 already! Where has the year gone? It's been a year of ups and downs in the area. With snow and bitter cold the first few months of the year, flooding on the Missouri River and now drought conditions, it's been one for the books! We had a brown Christmas this year--after a blizzard two years ago and snow and ice on Christmas last year, it was nice not to have to worry about traveling, etc. Christmas Day it was almost 55 degrees here! So far we haven't had any snow--it doesn't hurt my feelings any to see bare ground!
Sorry, it's been so long since I've posted here. Work and other responsibilities have a way of taking priority over posting on my blog. Am hoping that things will slow down now that the holidays are over and I can have more time to get things done that I want to do!
Wishing all of you blessings in 2012!

Birthdays

The kids surprised me with an early 50th birthday bash last night--I was speechless when we walked in and saw everyone there! The girls outdid themselves with all the food and the decorations! Can't believe I didn't catch on to what they were doing yesterday--guess they were glad that I spent the afternoon mowing so they could be sneaky and get everything ready!

No 50th birthday is complete without a hat, pin and glasses!!

The cake was amazing and the frosting was wonderful! The prunes were optional!!

Bowling Party

We had our bowling party last night--lots of good food and fun! Decided that we're getting old as the party was over before midnight!

Brad, our bowling team's sponsor, cooking steaks for all of us

Wayne and Larry--talking farming!

Some of the food

And more food

I made cheezy hashbrowns, cowboy beans, veggie salad and better than sex brownies to take last night--must have been good as I didn't have any leftovers to bring home!

Hashbrowns for a Crowd

7 pounds shredded hashbrowns, slightly thawed

1 onion, minced fine

36 ounces sour cream

1 family size can cream of mushroom soup

3 tablespoons garlic powder

4 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl (I used my 13 quart stainless steel) dump in your hashbrowns and add remaining ingredients. Stir til combined. Spread in a giant lasagna or steam table pan sprayed with non-stick spray. Cover with foil. Bake for 2 hours at 350, then turn oven down to 275 until serving time. Easily serves 40 people or 25 hungry men!

Better than Sex Brownies

2 family size (9x13 pan size) brownie mix

1 cup chopped pecans

3 large Symphony bars

Oil, eggs and water as called for on brownie mix

Mix one box of brownie mix as directed on package; add in 1/2 cup chopped pecans; spread in a 9x13 pan sprayed with non-stick spray. Unwrap the candy bars and lay them on batter. Mix the other box of brownie mix as directed on package; add in 1/2 cup chopped pecans; spread over the top of candy bars. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool before cutting and serving.

Veggie Salad

1 head of cauliflower, broken into small flowerettes

1 bunch broccoli, chopped

2 medium cucumbers, peeled, quartered and sliced

3 green onions, chopped

1 cup sugar

1 cup cider vinegar (dark)

1 cup canola oil

1 cup creamy cucumber ranch dressing

Put chopped vegetables in large bowl. Whisk together sugar and dark vinegar; whisk in oil until blended. Gradually whisk in cucumber ranch dressing until combined and pour over veggie. Stir well. Refrigerate until serving.

Baseball, baseball and more baseball!!

Spent the last three days at the State "B" 13-14 VFW Teener tournament. The team Zane plays for hosted the tournament this year, so only had 20 miles to drive.

Zane meditating before he gets up to bat in the game against Flandreau

Connecting for a 2 RBI single in the game against Ethan

It was a long hot weekend--temps were in the 90's with the heat index in the 105-110 range! I was sure glad to get home to the air conditioning!

How Hot Is It?

Temps have been in the upper 90's to low 100's with the heat index in the 105-115 range since last week--this cartoon pretty much sums up the weather in South Dakota lately!

Bucket Dill Pickles

Today's project--making a batch of bucket dills. Mom's cucumbers are starting to produce and the dill is taking over the garden so it's time to make pickles!

Here's the recipe:


8 cups water (I use Nursery water as our tap water makes the pickles mushy)
2 cups white vinegar (Heinz)
1/3 cup canning/pickling salt
About 30 medium sized cucumbers
1 bulb of garlic, peeled and separated into "toes"
2 dried red peppers
About 15 heads of dill
Wash cucumbers. In a 5 quart ice cream bucket put 1 layer of dill, 1 layer of quartered cucumbers and 2 "toes" of garlic; repeat layers ending with a layer of dill until bucket is full. Put the red peppers in along the side of the bucket.
In large kettle, mix water, vinegar and salt. Bring to a boil and boil 5 minutes. Remove from heat, let cool 10 minutes and then pour over cucumber mixture. Put lid on bucket and let stand 1 hour. I usually set the bucket on a couple of layers of paper towel before I pour on the brine, as it may run over when the lid is put on. After 1 hour, put in refrigerator for 5 days. Do not open the lid until the 5 days are up!
After the 5 days, they are ready to eat. At this point, I usually pack them into clean quart jars with the dill and garlic and then fill with brine from the bucket and put on the lids and rings. Must be stored in refrigerator. Makes about 5 quarts.

It's Already July!

July 4th Fireworks in Springfield

Boy, am I behind on posting to my blog! Hard to believe that July 4th has come and gone! Have been busy with ballgames and work. It's been hotter than heck here--the dog days of summer are upon us! Temps have been in the 90's with about 80% humidity!
Spent this last weekend at softball tournaments. Tabor's 14 & under team won their conference end of the season tournament. My niece, Raquel and nephew, Christopher, were the coaches for Tabor.
Here are a some of the photos from the tournament.

Raquel receiving the championship trophy

Happy bunch of girls!

Brad and Jackie Adams and Krista and Rich (my  sister-in-law and brother) watching the games

Raquel taking a snooze and my mom watching the games

What every well-dressed coach wears for a ball game--Raquel making a fashion statement!

 Mom's garden is starting to produce like crazy with all the hot weather we've been having. She pickled beets last week. We've had a couple of meals of string beans and tomorrow I'm going to start putting up pickles--after I run Zane to baseball practice!
His season is winding down--Region tournaments are in Colome July 22-24 and State is in Scotland at the end of the month!

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

We've had rain on and off since last night. Thunderstorms moved into the area last night from Nebraska and Kansas, but thankfully we didn't have any damage--just more rain that we didn't need. We only got about 80 hundreths of rain here--but that was more than enough! Charles Mix County--the county just west of us, had areas that had over 7 inches of rain--more water to add to the flooding on the Missouri River. The Corps of Engineers announced tonight that they're going to back off slightly on the releases from Ft. Randall dam at Pickstown for a couple of days, but then they're going to go up to 157,000 cfs--the flooding is just unbelievable. 
I was in Springfield today at my friend Carol's house and watched the river from her patio--the current running past her house is just unreal! Normally there isn't any current at all. What used to look like a marsh with all the sandbars and cattails is now just water as far as you can see. We saw chunks of reeds that eroded off the sandbars go whizzing past! I've never seen anything like what we're seeing now--really makes me wonder what Dad would say if he was still here! I'm sure he'd have a few choice words!!
Hopefully we're done with the rain for awhile!

Summer Fun

It's been a busy couple of weeks! Zane has been busy with baseball, I've been busy with work, and we just celebrated Czech Days! It's the annual celebration of our Czech heritage, held in Tabor, SD every year.
Here are some of the photos from this weekend.

Gibby's Corner Bar Float "In Heaven There Is No Beer"

Zane marching in the Bon Homme Middle School Band

Becky, on the right, in the Czech outfit (kroj) she and I sewed. All the costumes are handmade!

My guys, Larry and Zane, before Zane had to Beseda Dance Saturday night.

Mildred Cimpl, one of the Beseda dance instructors, leads the 200 dancers in to Sokol Park. Mildred's mother was the original instructor of the dancers--they've had the Beseda dance performance for 63 years!

Zane's circle

Flooding and Baseball

I've been busy the last week or so due to the flooding on the Missouri River. I've been documenting the rise of the river and flood preparations in our area through photographs for work. Spent Wednesday night this week helping fill sandbags--some of which were used to build a berm around a farm house on the river bottom near Running Water. Below is a photo of what is known as "The Bottom Road" east of Running Water, South Dakota.

The Corps of Engineers is increasing the flows through the dams on the Missouri River daily and the news here is filled with the efforts of citizens and the National Guard to protect property affected by the flooding caused by the increased releases from the dams. The flooding is having an effect on the local economy, as all of the boat ramps and campgrounds in our area are closed because of the flooding.

On a lighter note, Zane had his first Teener baseball of the year yesterday and they won 18-8 over Colome! He pitched one inning and didn't do too bad! He's hoping his cousin Chris who pitches for the local amateur baseball team can work with him today on his pitching. He's playing first base this year and loves it--so it's back to "living at the ball park" for the next couple of months!

It's supposed to be hot and humid the next few days--hopefully the rain will hold off until the farmers can get the soybeans in the ground. We had over 2 inches of rain last weekend--it's dried out over the top of the fields, but it's a sloppy mess underneath. Larry nearly got stuck twice yesterday trying to work up a field for planting. The corn is starting to really grow and some of the area farmers are starting to cut alfalfa--besides trying to get their crops in! It's going to be busy the next few weeks!!

8th Grade Graduation

Today was the last day of school for the year, and Zane's 8th grade graduation was tonight. The kids looked great all dressed up--hard to believe that in 4 years they'll be taking the same walk to get their high school diplomas!

Zane and Kolby

A meeting of the minds--trying to decide how to get organized for pictures!

"The guys"

Zane and Wyatt

Zane and Hunter

Kelsey, Zane and Jaclyn--Kelsey's mom Vicki and Jaclyn's mom Julie and I all worked at the Good Samaritan Center when we were pregnant with the kids--Jaclyn was born on Halloween, Zane November 25 and Kelsey on Thanksgiving November 28.

Zane gets his diploma and some words of advice from Dr. Knudson

Mr. Sunne, Zane's math teacher, gets a hug from Zane. Mr. Sunne is leaving this year.

Grandma Esther and Grandma Shirley with their youngest grandchild

Grandma Shirley (my mom), Becky, me, Zane, Katy and Grandma Esther 

Christopher, Zane, my brother Rich and my sister-in-law Krista

Hanging on to his cake and trying to keep it from sliding!

Ice Cream cake from the DQ in Yankton--lots and lots of frosting!!

Science Project

Zane's science teacher brought an incubator to school and Zane brought eggs from the farm and they've been patiently waiting to see if chickens would hatch. The eggs were scheduled to hatch this weekend, so he brought the incubator home on Thursday after school. His teacher told him that "your mom will know what to do with it since she grew up at the hatchery"!! Dad had a chicken hatchery and feed store for 30 years and we grew up helping at the hatchery. All weekend Zane's been closely watching the incubator and yesterday we could see that there were a couple that were trying to peck their way out of the eggs--every once in awhile we could hear them chirping! This morning there are two chickens in the incubator! They're going back to school with him this morning!

Chickens in the incubator - May 9, 2011

Just hatched!

Mother's Day weekend

It finally warmed up! We were in the 80's and pushing 90 all weekend and even though the wind was nearly "gale-force" I'm not complaining! We need the warm temps and wind to dry out the fields for planting.
Saturday morning Zane left for the Yankton Jr. High track meet at 7:30. I headed down to Springfield to take photos for the paper at the city-wide Rummage sales. They had a good turnout--lots of bargains! I didn't do any rummaging--I have enough to have a sale of my own!! From there I headed to Yankton to the track meet. Zane participated in shotput and discus. After Zane was done throwing, we headed back home and I dropped him off in Tabor to help my brother Richard with mowing. I got back home and hopped on the lawnmower! It was over 80 so I worked on my tan and got my yard mowed and also mowed for one of our customers.

Zane throwing shotput at the Yankton Jr. High Relays

Phyllis, Zane's friend Kolby's mom,  and Shelby waiting for the boys to get done throwing.

Sunday morning Zane left at 5:45 a.m. for Sioux Falls with mom, Richard and Krista for Kelsey and Raquel's AAU Jr. Olympic volleyball tournament. Becky and I went to church, then came home and started laundry. We headed out to the farm later in the afternoon to see how Larry was doing with field work. He was working on field cultivating the big field north of the yard and is hoping he can start planting corn Monday. The thermometer on my truck showed 90 when we got to the farm! From the farm we took a drive down by the river. The river is really up due to all the water being released from the dams, and with the wind blowing like crazy, it was full of whitecaps! There were a few people out trying to fish on what little shore is left since the water is so high. We didn't try fishing--with the wind blowing like crazy it would have been hard to hold the line in the water. 
We got back home and Becky started cleaning out my flowerbed on the south side of the house while I did some more laundry and started making supper. We grilled for supper--Carribean jerk marinaded chicken breast, pork chops, and I also made oven potatoes, pasta crab salad and cherry-pineapple dessert. We have left overs for a couple of meals for this week! Becky did an amazing job cleaning out the flowerbed and also dug out the grass that had grown up between the slabs of sidewalk--what a great Mother's Day gift!! With the hot and humid weather, they issued a tornado watch until 1 a.m.--fortunately we didn't get any severe weather. Zane got home about 8 p.m. and Becky's friend, Kristina, stopped over to visit. The girls headed to Becky's as Kristina was spending the night at Becky's. Zane worked on his homework--nothing like leaving the homework until Sunday night!! I put a couple of rows on another dishcloth and then called it a night. It was nice to sleep with the windows open and the fans running!! We're supposed to have warm weather and wind most of this week so the farmers will be busy trying to get the corn in! They're talking about a chance of severe storms Monday and Tuesday--hopefully it won't develop into anything!

Had to run get a half-inch wrench to adjust the stop on the cylinder on the field cultivator--it was digging too deep!

Larry and I on Mother's Day

Working up the field north of the yard on Mother's Day!

My hard-working farmer "playing" in the dirt!

Tulips at the farm

Crab apple blossoms

The thermometer on my truck on Mother's Day!

Nicky finally sat still so Becky could get a picture of her--of course she had to park herself in the flowerbed!