The Nerdiest Family on the Block

Today the Hartbecke side of the family came over to help us improve the flow of rainwater on the west side of our house. Basically, the guys came over and put some drainage tile from the eaves pout around to the other side of the flower bed and away from the house. While the guys did the hard work, us girls (3 of us) ended up doing some weeding and watching of the Jaren. At a stopping point when Fred, Seth, and Jaren went to the farm to saw a concrete block in half, Laura and I decide that it would be great to draw the solar system on our driveway with Jaren's sidewalk chalk. Since Jaren always makes me draw him trucks and turtles and semis, what's the difference.

The following is our end result. As we neared the end of our pictorial description of our solar system, we got some more help adding nice touches, like Planet X and the UFO and the asteroid belt. You can't forget that!

It was so big, we spilled it into the street. Then it was too big to even take one big picture of.  So I took a video for you to enjoy our nerdiness. But unfortunately, this blog site is having trouble uploading it. I will try another day because I am tired of being frustrated at it. This is what you get for going to college and learning a bunch of information that is seldom applicable in everyday life. Thank You tax-dollars!

The best part though, is that we started getting tourists! On a few occasions the same car would pass our house, turn around and pass it again even more slowly. There was more than a few passerby that pointed and laughed. I'm glad we were able to put a few smiles on some faces but then you also know how small of a town Cascade is if this is considered entertainment!

We had a blast though!

Finally! It is Done!

I have been working on a quilt for Jaren for months now and it is now complete! Actually, I started all the way back in January cutting the diamonds out to make the hexagons that look like 3-d boxes when it is all put together. It has taken me all this time to piece it together.

I had the idea way back in October when my mother-in-law's sister came up and we visited the Amish community about an hour and a half away. There, I saw a nice blue quilt made like this, only a gazillion times better. It was made as a rocking chair runner.

This is my first quilt. And I had no patterns or guides. Although, I did get some quilting tools for Christmas that were very helpful. Even though the edges don't line up and stitches show and not one of the diamonds is perfect, I think Jaren likes it. I really hope it doesn't fall apart too fast. I will wash it on "Hand-wash" from now on!

He was very excited to be able to sleep with it when I finally finished stitching the two layers together. He almost wouldn't let me wash it!

The real goal was to make Jaren a blanket that would entirely cover him for quite some time and fit his crib/bed. So it was toatlly a custom job- no standards.

I think I should make him a small version of a Big-Kid pillow next. That should be comparably a piece of cake.

I did learn some things though:

1. When I started this project I chose this design because I thought most quilts were kind of old fashioned and ugly. I've gained a new appreciation for the craftsmanship that an intricate quilt takes, but I still don't know if it is my style. 

2. There is no way that a $50.00 quilt is handmade! I know I am a total amateur but I know I spent easily 80 or so hours on this. $50.oo barely even covers the fabric and batting I used!

Now that it has been done a few days... I almost wonder what project I'm supposed to be working on next. I feel empty without a huge project looming over my head.

I'm sure one will come sooner rather than later. They always do! 

First Crop!

I was surprised and amazed to find that beans had grown in my tiny garden. Look! I made something edible!

For now there is only enough beans for me... and maybe Jaren too. That's okay though because we both love vegetables. The peas look they are only a few days from producing a first crop too! I'm so excited!

My Summer Science Experiments

I'm going to take this opportunity to show off the outside projects I have this summer.

The first project is my National Weather Service Project. This last spring Seth and I went to Weather Spotter Training and the speaker said that the National Weather Service was looking for someone in Cascade to be part of their National Co-Op Observer Program. The National Weather Service provides the equipment and you would be responsible for taking daily temperature and precipitation data.

I am such a geek! I signed up right away!

Within a month the official Cascade Station was moved from the city's power plant to my backyard. Every morning at 7 am I check to see if it rained (usually I just know) and check the high, low, and current temperature and record it on the Internet.

The instrument on the forefront is the daily rain gauge I check every morning. It has a funnel on top that funnels into a tall cylinder inside the metal one you see. This is to make it easier to measure the tiny increments hundredths of a inch are. Of course, there is a special calibrated ruler that goes with this too. The second rocket-looking instrument is a cumulative rain gauge. It basically measures the weight of the rain and records the weight of water it is holding in a bin every 15 minutes by punching a specific hole sequence in some ticker tape. I send in the ticker tape every month so that they have an idea of how much rain fell and when.

The third instrument in the back that looks like a bee-hive measures temperature. It is slatted to allow the breeze through. It is wired into our house and I can read the temp from inside. This will be nice in the winter.

 

Here you can see the almost 2 inches of rain we got today. In the daily rain gauge, One tube full is exactly 2 inches of rain.

My second project for the summer is my small vegetable garden. I mean very small, even though it is crowded. I think I over-planted but please forgive me, it is my first!

We got some old doors from an old cement stave silo over at the farm and we stacked them two high and I filled them up with dirt and used them as raised beds. 

It is my little OCD garden. It is confined and neat! I have 2 tomato plants in one square, too many peas in another, too many beans in a third, and in the fourth I have an eggplant and some green and yellow peppers.

We will see how they do. I already have some tomatoes growing and I was so worried that everything would die! Next year I think I'll need more squares!

My third project is keeping my flowers alive. I've never had much practice with gardens other than mowing them. Now that I have one (it came with the house) my goal is to try to keep it going. I've planted a few flowers here and there and I'm working on learning more about what we have but mostly what is here was here. I think, however, they must have been planted just before we moved because I don't remember flowers a-blooming like they are now! Take a look!

I do a lot of weeding and I'm teaching Jaren to help. He knows all about those "Bad Thistles!"

Today's Rainbow

After 3 weeks of hardly any rain, we got about another 3 inches of rain since the beginning of the month. Almost 2 inches of that fell today. Seth said that we in Cascade had pea sized hail but just a few miles down the road, Monticello had 2 inch hail. Check out these pictures from my friend Mel's blog! The rainbow is looking east from my house between storms this evening.

Good Morning!

Jaren enjoys his morning cup of Mo!

Who's Interested?

I've never been much for politics other than I have found it very important to be informed about world and local politics and knowing who you vote for. Both of these ideals are those of which I wish I had the time to pursue more.

After the primaries and caucuses have been completed though, it would seem that the democratic process should have given us a candidate that people liked. I'm talking about both sides of the aisle. I have talked to self described Democrats and Republicans alike and no one seems happy with the choices that seem set for them in November. Because of this, I predict the record turnouts of voters during the primaries, will not be continued in the general election.  

Rush Limbaugh doesn't eve like "his" Republican candidate!

So is there a fundamental shift in the future?

Ron Paul is hosting a mini-convention at the same time as the Republican Convention in the Twin Cities at the University of Minnesota on September 2nd. I've never had a desire to go to one of these big "party" conventions before but this one, this one I definitely intend to attend. 

Who else wants to go with us? It'd be revolutionary!

There are a couple of YouTube videos on a supporters website

Can't wait to hear what you think!

A Good Birthday

The three day weekend was great. I think the Fourth of July is my favorite holiday of all. Simply because it is a nice simple few days of fun, family, and sun without all the extra hassle of being a major holiday with presents and turkey. 

Plus, I love grilling out and I love fireworks.

Here is how the weekend started.

Thursday night we went to the river to go see the Air-show and Dubuque's Fireworks. It is so much fun now because of Jaren. He brings the youthfulness and fun of life out again. A Chinook helicopter flew overhead and Jaren was so amazed at it that his finger couldn't even track it as he followed it across the sky. There were loud planes and fast planes. He got to play with other boys along the banks and discovered turtles. At one point I found myself watching four little boys ages 5 to 2. Brendan kept on going into the "tall grass" (the boundary I set so the boys couldn't fall into the Mississippi) so I kept on pulling the brute out of the grass and plopping him on the correct side. It was a lot of fun. Brendan made it a game.

With all the friends and snacks and running, Jaren just wanted to sleep by the time the Fireworks started. We stayed and watched most of the show so see if he would perk up. The best he did was watch them sedately through the fingers covering his eyes.

Friday morning had me freaking out about my house. It wasn't clean! Do you know why? Because. I let myself go have a good time at the river last night!

After a mad dash to clean the house and do 6 loads of laundry and make 2 cakes. We left to go to the farm around noon. I am so glad Seth is around to de-crazify me. Otherwise I think I would have gone mad long ago from my OCD tendencies.

So we had a nice grill out at the farm. The got a cookie for my birthday. It was so nice!

I cut it and ate it and I got a huge headache from the sugar! Yum! Then we went for a walk in the pasture. Jaren of course demanded a tractor ride because that is obviously what you do on a farm. On our walk we stopped by the creek that runs through the farm. Its topography has changed much due to the rains this year. There is now a nice little set of falls cut out of the limestone. Laura, Travis, Jaren, and I decided to walk the creek looking for skipping rocks and sticks to race down the creek. 

 

Then we found the mud and I'm sorry to say, Jaren got caught in the crossfire but he enjoyed it too. At first Laura and I gained up on Travis and then Laura and Travis gained up on ME! Nevertheless we all got quite muddy. I think Travis lost. 

We needed showers by time we were back at the house, I wasn't even clean enough to get in the truck!

 

Mud therapy is the best therapy. I was much calmer and ready to have people over to my place for the Cascade fireworks that evening.

There was a lot of food again and I of course over ate. I rationalized it though. I had fresh organic lettuce from a friend's garden on my brat patty and the cake I made (well one of them) was chock full of strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries!

It was so nice to have everyone over, friends and family both! Thank you for the gifts of course but most of all thank you for your love and your time. We are so blessed to have family like you all.

This time, Jaren stayed awake for the fireworks. He enjoyed them tremendously. It wasn't the best view in the world but it sure was fun!

The rest of the weekend was winding down, with one more cookout. One of my best friends from childhood was back from Colorado. Alex's family has a party for him in Earlville and we got to spend a few more precious hours with him before he left to take the trek back the next day. I sure miss that guy! Why doesn't he move back?!

We recuperated on Sunday. Still exhausted today, but I don't regret it. How could you?