Saturday, January 10, 2009

Life Imitating the Blog

Yesterday I told you about attending a Desert Rose Band concert many years ago at the Fayette County Fair in West Union, Iowa. As stated in that post, West Union is about 40 miles from our farm, and is a town I find myself in very infrequently. Ha! Guess what......the first words Husband said to me this morning were, "Can you run to West Union right away to take this pulsator to United Dairy Supply to be fixed?" He didn't have to ask me twice, of course; I love a chance to take a drive, even on snowy roads. But......what is happening here? As life can seem to imitate art at times, today my life is imitating the blog.
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Here's the notorious, non-working pulsator.......a crucial part of the apparatus which milks the cow:
The highway maintenance guys were out early make the roads safe for today's traffic. Looks like some multi-tasking going on here......pushing snow with the blade while at the same time spreading sand on the road. If the driver was snapping a photo, too, I'd be extra impressed.
Taking a detour through Russia, here. Click the picture to see the green sign better. It says "Volga River". Yes, I believe I hear Song of the Volga Boatman wafting in from downtown Fayette, just to my right.

Well, here I am at United Dairy Supply. Yup, they left the loaner pulsator on the door, as they said they would. I left ours hanging on the doorknob.
Well, since I'm now in West Union, might as well go snap a picture of the Fayette County Fairgrounds......to prove to you that I really was here today.
We sat in that grandstand during the Desert Rose Band concert. Fans of a more adventurous and uninhibited nature were "dancing in the dirt" out in front.


Goodness, I should run a contest here........to see if anyone knows where this photo was taken. I drove through it on my way home. What would the prize be? Good question. My blog has few readers---probably none, actually---from northeast Iowa, so most likely no one will recognize this place.
I'm always trying to snap birds in flight......rarely successfully. Got lucky this time, even though its only a common ol' crow. I read once that crows are the most intelligent bird.....they can count to three. Don't ask me how researchers figured that out, or how they could prove such a thing.

Gotta hurry up and get back home to get on track for the day.
Before going home, though, I stopped at my sister's house to wish her a happy birthday. We had a nice visit. She's so busy......running hither and thither everyday to two jobs and keeping up with three kids and a house and acreage, and volunteering at church. I advised her to practice sounding out the word, "NO". It isn't hard to say, really.
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Hey.......great fun today.....on my "life-imitating-the-blog" drive, and I was being helpful to my husband, too. Can't beat that. He's happy.....I'm happy. Besides these scenes, I snapped windmills, delapidated farm buildings, snowy-etched trees, and church steeples. I couldn't wait to get home and see which pictures turned out half-way decent.
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Lastly.......the outing called for some driving music, and I just happened to have one of my favorite CDs along. Here's a line I like, although you might not be able to hear it very well:
"We can live lifetimes......in a single day.
No matter what you do.......I love you anyway."


7 comments:

Country Girl said...

Fun post, Jeannelle! And speaking of birds in flight, my husband snapped one in hop. I put it on the Picture a Day blog. It's pretty cute.
And if you go look at it, you'll also notice we have absolutely no snow on the ground. And you can still see some of the green grass.

Yes, I agree. Your sister needs to learn that oh, so difficult word.

Gigi Ann said...

Living on a farm it is always nice when you can combine business with pleasure. Sounds like you had a wonderful fun outing today.

Ruth Hull Chatlien said...

How funny that your husband sent you to a town you'd just mentioned. I'm glad you had a fun drive. Happy birthday to your sister.

Gail said...

I am not quick enough for the birds. I have trouble catching one sitting still!
Good pics and Happy Birthday to sis.

Jeannelle said...

Country Girl,

Your hubby's photo is amazing! You just had to rub it in about still having green grass, didn't you....

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Gramma Ann,

Yes, its nice when those two birds---business & pleasure---can be captured in one scene!

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Ruth,

Thanks for the wishes, and yes, it was really a chuckle to be sent there today.

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Gail,

Thank you for stopping in and for the kind words, too! Truly, I hardly ever catch a bird clearly.

Larry Steve Crain said...

Wonderful photos, great commentary. Thanks,
Steve C.

Jeannelle said...

Hi, Steve,

Thanks for stopping by and for your kind words.