Catching Up...

Well hello!

It's been a while, but I thought today might be as good a day as any to catch up on what's been happening here.

First of all, I promised that when the new barn cleaner elevator was put in, that I'd post about it. It finally got finished on Thursday morning. However, all I have is pictures of the finished product, not the process.  I wasn't able to be out when they were working on it. It took longer than expected to put it in place because of some glitches, but it's finally complete...

It doesn't wobble or shake...there are no rusted holes for manure to leak through...and it's the cleanest now that it will ever be again!  In case you forget what the old one looked like, you can see it here...

Late this afternoon, I was piddling around the house, doing random clean-uppy things, when I happened to look out the window to see a beautiful sunset. This must be the most photographed view I have...the silhouette of our Amish neighbor's farm to the west...

Soon after, I heard the dogs barking and looked out the window again.  Our neighbor Ruth Ann came on her scooter to deliver a Christmas gift for our family.  She's always so creative.  This looks like something you would see on Pinterest, but of course that's not where she got her idea!  I like it, and I think I might have to copy it sometime.  The bottom jar contains hot cocoa mix...the middle jar contains candy canes...and the top jar contains marshmallows...

And now I'm in the warm house while the rest of the family is out doing the milking and feeding.  I ended up having surgery on my back this week to "clean up" my herniated disc.  By looking at the MRI's, the doctors seemed pretty certain that although the pain had subsided, it would return at some point and so we opted to do the surgery now, when it's not quite as busy for us, as opposed to waiting until it became an emergency in the middle of one our busier times.  It went well. Other than the expected aches and stiffness, I'm feeling pretty good, but have some restrictions on lifting, bending and twisting for awhile.

So for now, I'll work on having supper ready when they come in from the barn, and I'll listen to the Eagles game on the radio.  Right now they're trailing the Redskins by three.  Hopefully that changes!