Meet Me In Grundy Center

You may be familiar with “Solomon Grundy, Born on Monday……”, but have you ever heard of Grundy Center, Iowa? The town of 2500 is the county seat of Grundy County, home to some of the best farmland in the world, so they say.

I was in Grundy Center last Friday afternoon and evening for the district track meet. Raindrops began falling shortly after the field events commenced at 4 p.m. I was umbrella-less, having somehow managed to forget mine at home.

That absent-mindedness provided the perfect excuse for a brief foray into Grundy’s downtown, where I found a $2 umbrella at the locally-owned drug store. You get what you pay for---the umbrella proved to be uncloseable, once opened---but it did keep my head and shoulders mostly dry for the next few hours. Before heading back to Spartan Field, I snapped a few photos near the limestone courthouse. This statuary gal resembles her famous counterpart who stands in New York Harbor. The face seems quite different, though…..maybe they are distant cousins.

It behooved me to not waste much time downtown, or I would miss seeing my son run and jump, but here’s one more architectural feature along Grundy Center’s main thoroughfare:

I hustled back to the track meet and for the next several hours this was the view above my head:

Oh, look, its our friendly, neighborhood Earth Science teachers. They had forgotten their umbrellas, too, and had just bought these blue ones at the Dollar General Store on the edge of Grundy. Haha……I got a better deal than they did…..their umbrellas cost $5 apiece! Smiley-Guy on the left used to drive the milk truck which comes to our farm every other day; he and I would often discuss field rocks and prairie flowers. Then, all of a sudden last year, he decided to put his college degree to use and become a science teacher. How could he do such a thing! I miss our conversations.

You say you haven’t seen enough evidence of the alleged rain at the track meet……well, this next shot is offered as more proof. By evening’s end, my shoes and pant-legs were thoroughly mud-caked.

At this district meet, first and second-place finishers in all events earn a trip to the state track meet in Des Moines. One of the relays my son was in came in second by .03 seconds, though to my eyes it looked like they were third. Apparently, the eyeballs don’t have it when it comes to calling close races. The relay boys are ecstatic….they’ll be headed to Des Moines in a few days, and if I can find my way there, too, you’ll have to tolerate a blog report from Drake Stadium.

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Accompanying me to the track meet were four baskets filled with wet laundry. I gambled that a town the size of Grundy Center would have a laundromat and I was not disappointed. The only question in my mind was: What brand of farm implements were sold in the past here in Petersen's building?

Standing under several towering larch trees in the City Park was this one-room schoolhouse, labeled “Colfax #9”. It is also known as “The Herb Quick School”. John Herbert Quick grew up in Grundy County in the mid-to-late 1800’s and eventually authored several books. From childhood days, he had dreamed of being a writer: “I cannot remember when things that I saw and experienced did not appeal to me as the stuff of writing.” (Sounds like a blogger-wannabe.)

On my way to Grundy Center, I had dropped my daughter off at UNI for her Camp Adventure lifeguard training. After the track meet, I picked her up at Jimmy John’s Sandwich Shop on “The Hill” near campus. Yeah, the scene is somewhat blurry, but what do you expect with “Extremely Fast Delivery”!

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I'm writing this on Sunday night after a long day of cemetery-touring; a report about that will be filed in the next post. There’s just never-ending excitement around here. Have a nice day!

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THEOLOGY ON A TOMBSTONE

Today, my mom, my sister, and I will spend time prowling around in cemeteries…….weather permitting.  We’ll be hunting for gravestones of long-passed family members; now is a good time to do that, with Memorial Day approaching.

Old cemeteries are fascinating places……quiet and peaceful, too.  I enjoy pondering the tombstones, with their displays of meaningful artwork.  Below is an engraving that sums up Christian---and, more specifically, Lutheran---theology in a single scene.  Clinging to the Cross of Christ.  It graces an old gravestone in a Lutheran cemetery near Readlyn.  This was the first time I’d seen this particular design used. 

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Have a pleasant Sunday!  If you have any extra warm weather sitting around gathering dust, send it to Iowa!

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Blossom Catch-up

A backlog of recent flower photos were clamoring to see the light of day on the blog……

So, this post is where they landed.

Have a nice weekend!

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P.S. - This opinion article contains food for thought for us bloggers. Do we tend to “overshare” on our blogs? Do we engage in exhibitionism? Are we blogging to compensate for the absence of face-to-face, real-life interaction with other human beings? Think deeply on that and take necessary measures, which might include continuing to blog.

Navigating the online communication highway can be tricky, like groping blindly in the dark.  It lacks the visual and the auditory, the awareness of facial expressions, body language, and voice inflections as in a face-to-face conversation. I sometimes have the wrong-headed tendency to view things as humorous that might not be seen that way by someone else. In a face-to-face encounter, I can usually maneuver carefully enough to express my point-of-view and prompt laughter in the other person eventually. We can laugh together then---a joyful experience! Online, its a different story;  on the flat, lifeless computer screen I might carelessly type a message that offends someone. I may think I’m laughing WITH them when actually they believe I am laughing AT them. No one is particularly fond of being laughed AT.

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Its excruciating for me to type this next sentence:  My blogging time will be infringed on this weekend due to previously-scheduled real-life interactions with human beings, no less. Visitors will be at my home today, and tomorrow I'm planning to attend church and then go cemetery-touring with my mom and sister (weather permitting).

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Can you tell where I was last evening?  And, rain was falling…..AGAIN!  More about that on Monday.

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Dairy Headlines by Fred & Bessie

The time has come……for Fred and Bessie to be packed carefully in their mailing box and sent home to Flea in Oklahoma. While gathering the bubble wrap and foam I happened to notice that Bessie was whispering something into Fred’s ear. Pretty soon they both approached me with a request……they wanted to host a blogpost of dairy headlines before they left our farm. I agreed.

F & B invited the house cow herd to be their “studio audience”……so to speak…..er, moo. The house cows were tickled to be featured on the blog for once.

The list of dairy headlines was written on cue cards for Fred and Bessie to use. First up is a sampling of current stories from the well-known dairy magazine, Hoard’s Dairyman, published in Ft. Atkinson, Wisconsin:

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FARMLAND VALUES IN IOWA HAVE DROPPED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN TEN YEARS, down from $5619/acre last September, to the current average price of $5297/acre.

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A NOVEL ENTITLED “BULL JUSTICE”---BY GLEN JENSEN---HAS BEEN PUBLISHED. The main character is a dairy herdsman who formerly served a term in a reformatory.

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WITH LOW MILK PRICES, WATCH FOR SIGNS OF DEPRESSION……(in people, that is)

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WHO STAYS? WHO GOES DRY? WHO GOES FOR GOOD?

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GET YOUR PASTURES READY FOR SUMMER GRAZING

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WILL $4 CORN SHIFT MILK PRODUCTION BACK EAST?

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CALVES ARE WHAT THEY EAT

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Whew…..that was quite a list! Fred and Bessie need a short break……to catch their breath……and, to catch up on kissing!

Ok……next we’ll hear some headlines from the Dairy Star newspaper, published in Sauk Centre, Minnesota:

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NEW DAIRY BILL INTRODUCED IN CONGRESS BY SENATORS ARLEN SPECTER (D-PA) AND ROBERT CASEY (D-PA). THE BILL IS KNOWN AS “THE FEDERAL MILK MARKETING IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2009”……(Since 1981, dairy farmers have been subjected to several unorthodox pricing formulas that created severe roller-coaster rides for the dairy farmers’ milk prices.) DAIRY FARMERS ARE URGED TO CONTACT THEIR U.S.SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES IN SUPPORT OF THIS BILL.

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FROM HIRED MAN TO HERD OWNER

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WHAT DAIRY FAMILIES CAN DO AMIDST LOW MILK PRICES

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WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT COW “FRIENDSHIP”? Social status within a herd may affect feeding behavior. Also, cows seem to pair up in order to groom each other with “social licking”. (Fred & Bessie could readily relate to this one.)

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TIPS FOR SAVING ELECTRICITY ON YOUR FARM

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MINNESOTA BECOMES FIRST IN NATION TO REQUIRE 5% BIODIESEL IN ITS DIESEL FUEL SUPPLY….(While biodiesel has been produced mostly from soybeans to date, some Minnesota producers are now processing or are moving toward processing biodiesel from alternative sources such as animal fats, spent cooking oils, or even algae.)

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Well, I don’t know about you, but I found these headlines to be interesting and informative. Whether the house cows listened very closely is anyone’s guess. You can never tell with cows. Most likely, grooming each other was the main subject on their minds, anyway.

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Well……the time has come……time for Fred and Bessie to be drawn together for one last kiss here on our Iowa dairy farm.

Eventually, I pried the two apart and bundled them carefully into layers of bubble-wrap and foam. They’ll be deprived of contact with each other until they reach Flea’s house. Wow……by then Fred and Bessie will REALLY be in the mood to resume their lip-locking!

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Good-bye, Fred & Bessie! We enjoyed your company!

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SkyWatch #44

Welcome to northeast Iowa skies!  Apple trees have been blossoming…..

As have thunderstorms……

Thank you for visiting this SkyWatch Friday post.  Visit skyley.blogspot.com to find links to beautiful skies from around the world.

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Clothes-Dryer Blues

Can you tell where I spent some time yesterday afternoon? My shadow hasn’t darkened the door of such a place for many, many years, as I had no need to go there. That changed on Tuesday when my clothes-dryer took a negative turn and went kaput. Wouldn’t you know it, we’re currently in a rainy spell, too, preventing the hanging of laundry outdoors on the clothesline. There are lines in the basement, but its damp down there, making for a poor drying environment.

Yesterday over lunch, Husband mentioned that he needed some items from the Farm & Fleet store at Cedar Falls. The gears in my mind began to work. I had three baskets of wet laundry sitting in the basement……maybe we could take them along to Cedar Falls and find a laundromat. I checked the phone book, but could find no listings for laundromats in CF. Then I did a Google search and found the address of one right near the route to Farm & Fleet. Good deal.

When I was growing up, all the small towns in our area had laundromats, but they don’t anymore. I recall going with my mom to the one in Dunkerton a few times, probably when our washer was on the blink. This laundromat in Cedar Falls yesterday was clean and well-cared-for. Husband helped carry the laundry in and then he went on to Farm & Fleet. The laundromat manager was the only one in the premises; she was polishing the tops of washing machines. She showed me how to operate the dryers……25 cents for each 8 minutes of drying time. I filled three dryers with laundry and pressed the buttons to start the clothes a-tumbling.

The manager and I chatted for awhile……she was very talkative and interesting. She told me about her house being ruined in the flood last summer, and moving into a newly-built home just a few weeks ago. The FEMA trailer she and her husband had lived in for many months was being removed from their property on this very day! She talked about the frustrating mix-ups and rigamarole they had dealt with in the flood’s aftermath, while trying to get needed help. At some point, I mentioned the old laundromat that used to be in Dunkerton and she nodded and said yes she remembered it, too, and she was quite sure it had succombed to the flood of 1993 when Crane Creek invaded Dunkerton’s downtown.

Our conversation waned when another customer came in. I sat down to read and soon discovered that the laundromat is a perfect place for that and wished I could spend the whole afternoon there. The droning hum of the washers and dryers was relaxing, almost hypnotic.

At some point, two men came in, filled and started two washing machines, and then left again. The manager and another woman customer talked for quite awhile…..about cemeteries, surgeries, and families who don’t eat supper together. The manager also mentioned an upcoming trip she was planning to another town where she would most definitely stop and see the “laundry-mat”, as she called it.

I enjoyed reading my book about the four forces of nature: gravity, electromagnetism, and strong and weak nuclear forces. (Go ahead and think I’m nuts, but this stuff is really interesting.) These four forces work together in perfect balance to keep the universe running. The relationship between these forces is “so finely tuned as to allow for things to be just as they are, from the smallest to the largest objects, governed by laws that keep things in a cohesive state. One minor tweak and it would be utter chaos.” Fascinating, eh?! One minor tweak…….

Later, when Husband and I were driving along in rush hour traffic in Cedar Falls and Waterloo, I was thinking of what an alien being would see if he were gazing down on the city from high up above. He would see the lines of traffic, flowing in an organized manner. He might wonder, “How does that happen? How does it all stay organized?” Over time, if he studied the situation more closely and deeply, he would discover that there are laws governing the way the traffic moves. Just as scientists have learned about the laws of nature over the centuries.

In this next photo are tools near and dear to my heart……my laundry baskets!! (I had to be discreet and keep a low profile while taking these photos. I didn’t want the manager to see me using the camera. What kind of person would take pictures in a laundromat??)

Too soon, my laundry loads were dry and ready to be folded. By then, Husband had returned and he helped fold the towels and clothes…….that has got to be a first!!

Our disabled dryer at home will not be repaired until late NEXT week. Oh, my. I hope the sun comes out pretty soon or I may be making another trip to this laundromat, which I probably wouldn’t mind at all, considering the pleasant time I enjoyed there yesterday.

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A nice surprise was in the mailbox when we arrived home…..the bars of goats’ milk soap I had ordered recently from http://anniesgoathill.blogspot.com/, in Ohio. Unless Mary is putting on a huge pretension as she writes her blogposts, it is apparent she dearly loves making goats’ milk soap. Her shop must smell heavenly, because these soaps have lovely scents and are making my house smell wonderful!

Have a great day!

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P.S. - If you decide to leave a comment.....please mention when you last were in a laundromat.

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Focus On Junk

When my daughter was home two weekends ago she borrowed my camera and took a long walk around the farm, snapping photos of this and that. It seems she especially has an eye for junk heaps.

My daughter is an art teacher at a large high school near Des Moines, photography being one of the courses she teaches. Her knowledge of cameras far exceeds my own; if only I could attend her classes and learn about manual focusing…..shutter speeds, aperture values, exposure compensation……all that stuff I know nothing about.

Yes, obviously, we have way too much space on this farm……space where cast-offs get tossed and accumulate into topsy-turvy piles. Eventually, the old metal gets hauled off to a scrap yard near Waterloo, where it is recycled.

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Well, even though I have precious little technical knowledge of cameras, I truly do enjoy taking pictures. Such an easy way to have fun, though it has pretty much taken over my blog. I didn’t start out blogging with photos…..that didn’t start until the blog was a year old. Now it seems my blogposts are prompted mostly by the photos I take. I enjoy that, but am not sure it fits my original intention for the blog as a place to vent my thoughts. Now, I don’t do that as much; not that that matters to anyone else, but it sort of matters to me.

While mowing lawn the other day I decided that maybe I need to indulge in an extra-blogular affair……you know…..get involved with another blog.....for stimulation. It wouldn’t be immoral; I didn’t take a vow of faithfulness to Midlife by Farmlight. If I were to step out on M by F, it would be with an anonymous blog so I could post what to me are deeper, more honest thoughts. There are many subjects I enjoy reading about and thinking about…..weirdo stuff like theology and quantum physics (no, I don't understand it--I simply find it fascinating).....subjects that don’t fit very well on M by F. Its an illness, probably…..my mind is like a hyperactive child and needs to be all over the place to be happy, fulfilled, satisfied.....whatever.

"Midlife by Farmlight" will continue, though I should make it more consistently farm-oriented, probably. Sometimes the farm stuff seems totally old hat to me and I get tired of posting about it. But, it needs to be posted, I think. Our small way of farming is dying away and people in non-rural areas don’t realize that. Every time I turn around I’m hearing about so-and-so who's sold or rented their farm to a big operator from the next county who can pay the big prices. Dollar signs fill everyones’ eyes. An acre of land around here costs many thousands of dollars to buy and commands almost $300/acre rent. As sensible farmers say, "It just doesn't pencil out." One acre of land will not provide enough crop to pay the exorbitant rent and production costs. No one can afford that price except “the big guys” and the investors. The big will get bigger and the small will fade away. The current mindset of slick farm magazines seems to be: "Get big or get out."

Maybe the world would be better off without small farms.....who knows. Last evening, in between watching track meet events in the rain, I huddled in the car and managed to read two pages of Kathleen Norris' book, Dakota. She was talking about life on the Plains of South Dakota, but I think it could apply to Iowa, too. She quoted someone named Loren Eiseley: Plains people have been strung out.....under vast solitude rather than linked to the old-world village with its adjoining plots. We were mad to settle the West in this fashion. Perhaps living and farming on individual farms IS insane. It worked for a time, but now its day in the sun is almost done. Everyone will move into town, with a few of the town residents being employed on corporate farms surrounding the town. That scenario could easily be in Iowa's future, the way things are going.

The only reason our farm remains in the family is because my father-in-law had the foresight to begin selling the farm to us years ago when prices were relatively reasonable. (Even at that "reasonable" price, Husband and I will be in our 60's before its paid off.....we must be nutz!) If my FIL would have held onto ownership until his death in 2007, we'd have been unable to afford the selling price of the farmland. It gives me a headache to even think about trying to pass it on successfully to the next generation……who knows if such a thing will be possible or if our kids will even want the hassle of a farm. We send them off to college and they find a "better" life. I try not to think about it. Its much more fun to take pictures and blog! And, I truly enjoy interacting with those readers who comment or send emails.

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Happy day to you!

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[Here.....I'm sure you'd love to see the track meet conditions from last evening. Right before this 4 x 200-meter-relay race the loudspeaker voice had announced that the meet would be suspended following said race, due to the cold rain. Thank goodness, or we'd have ended up with a bunch of sick kids, I'm afraid, and possibly some spectators, too. As I viewed this video, the realization dawned that my son had wished me and my suddenly too-conspicuous maternal instinct would get lost. "I'll see you at the car", he said. What else could that mean but, "Beat it, Mom"? Behind me, a very helpful boy was trying to grab hold of my umbrella which kept blowing berserk, inside out in the wind.]

Dandelion Corn

I’m in a dither OVER dandelions……though I was definitely UNDER this first one.

It may be corny, but I felt compelled to try and find a unique point of view, considering the fact that every flower-blogger and their cousin are posting photos of dandelions right now. ‘Tis the season……

Besides……my undignified position beneath the yellow-rayed flower provided an interesting angle on this Red-Wing Blackbird. He was impatiently squawking, “Hurry up, I can’t hold onto this tippy wire much longer!”

Dandelion togetherness…….is that unique? Probably not.

How about a dandelion constellation? This one might be The Dandy Dipper in search of a handle: Oops…..sorry……this one might be upside-down. Maybe you can figure it out.

Please, give this next constellation a name. It will go down in the annals of history…….really soon…….courtesy of the lawnmower blades.

Gaze upon the Lemony Way galaxy:

Uh-oh……an UFO made a crash landing. Aliens have arrived! Actually, its a common corn husk……our yard is full of them and I could care less. They blow in from the fields and are easily pulverized by the lawnmower.

“Waiter, waiter! There’s a fly in my dandelion!”

Take time to appreciate the dandelions in your world today!

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You may have noticed mentions of lawn mowing. Yesterday……FINALLY……the weather offered decent mowing conditions. It had been too wet or too cold before that. At this point in my life, I refuse to ride around on a lawn tractor and freeze.

It took several hours to complete the mowing job yesterday---PLENTY of time to ponder many things, including possible topics for future blogposts. As is always the case after an afternoon of lawnmowing, my clothes and shoes ended up full of grass clippings and pine needles---ITCHY, ITCHY! There’s a sore spot on my head from hitting a tree branch, but that’s par for the course---and, it could have been worse. At least the first mowing is now done with!

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[I liked this column in Sunday’s Waterloo Courier. Good for graduates--or anyone--to read.

And, this story was interesting, too.]

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Mother’s Day Sights

My mom opening her gifts……

StepDad’s scrumptious carrot cake……

A painting of Long’s Peak and Bear Lake in Colorado hanging on the wall next to the dining room table……

(This next photo from yesterday’s post was taken from the same Bear Lake vantage point as depicted in the painting…..Long’s Peak is in the background.)

This knobby yellow glass vase sitting on Mom and StepDad’s kitchen counter: When I was a kid, this fascinating vase occupied various spots in our house…..sometimes on the TV, or on the piano, or on a window sill. The sight of it tugs my thoughts backwards in time……

Mom and StepDad have travelled to Europe several times. On one of those trips they ordered this hand-carved cuckoo clock from The Black Forest in Germany:

While in Russia, they acquired this set of "Matryoshka" nesting dolls. The word Matryoshka comes from the Latin word mater which means "mother". (Thank you to reader rhymeswithplague for that link!)

Over their sofa hangs this painting…….the scene possibly from Switzerland:

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On the way home we stopped to see my niece’s pride and joy……five grandkitties of our very own Miss Kitty (mother of the two kittens we currently have). They were a fitting sight to be seen on Mother’s Day, too. Their mother’s name is Sanders.

Have a great day!

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Mom’s Day

Happy Mother’s Day to you! For me, this day is still mostly about my own mother. She is pictured above at the tender age of twenty, holding her firstborn child…..me. The photo was taken in the hospital five days after the birth, back in the days when women were kept hospitalized for a week or more even after a normal delivery.

This afternoon I’ll spend some time with Mom; my stepdad has baked a cake and invited the family over for a surprise gathering. As if a mom can be surprised on Mother’s Day!

We’ll all chat and smile and laugh as if life has been smooth and seamless for everyone. Truth is, my mom exasperates the heck out of me, and perhaps I have a similar effect on her. I can be with her for awhile and then, enough is enough; through trial and much error over the years I have learned to make an exit before I've reached my limit.

To young mothers, I say: Love and accept your children just the way they are. Don’t ever compare them to someone else…..or at least don’t do so out loud. And, if you have trouble in your marriage or significant-other relationship, don’t let it boil over onto the young children in your household. My sister (in the middle in the next photo) would second that, I’m quite sure.

One more photo for good measure......here’s Mom at age 26, sitting with my sister and me on the rocky shore of Bear Lake in Colorado in the summer of 1964. Golly, I loved that trip and when we started for home I cried my eyes out---there in the back seat of our Oldsmobile---turned around on my knees, watching the mountains shrink and then disappear in the rear window. I didn’t particularly want to go back home.

Of course, I truly do love my mother…….let's face it, she did go to the trouble of giving birth to me.

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Surely there are many wrinkles in my own performance as a mother. I pray God will iron those out as much as possible as my four children live their lives.

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Over the years, I’ve received many sweet gifts from my kids on Mothers’ Day, often items earnestly constructed in art classes at school…..all very precious. I rarely receive flowers or a corsage and that doesn’t matter a bit to me. A few years ago, though, on the day before Mothers’ Day, I found a wayward helium balloon caught in the fence down the road from our farm. The large shiny balloon was printed with a bright bouquet of cheery flowers! How about that! I pretended it was a Mother’s Day gift from thoughtful friends in the Great Beyond.

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A blessed Mothers’ Day to you…..whether you’ve ever been a mother or not…….whether your mother is still living or not…..many blessings to you!

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