Week 52/52: Andy's finale

Well, this is the week I have been looking for!!  The last week of the Andy saga.  I never did find that little outfit that Mom sewed for Christopher.  I had hoped to have a photo of Christopher all grown up holding Andy and the matching outfit.  Oh well.  (Honestly, I did not look too hard for it either.)

What I did find was a photo of Christopher wearing the outfit while hanging out with some of his second cousins. 

Christopher is there in the front.  He was often seen sucking the two middle fingers of his right hand!

 

Just so you can see how much he's grown, this is Christopher today. 

 

Brett, Annette, Mark & Christopher 

(Members of NoDak Herefords)

 

As for Andy this week, he's going out as an angel - a snow angel that is!!

 

 

Thank you for following us in our 52 Week Photo Project.  I will see what next year brings as to whether I do something like this or not.

 

                                                             Annette & Andy

 

 

 

Week 51/52: Andy visits the Nativity

I happen to collect nativity sets.  I have over 100 of them.  I selected this one for Andy's photo for a couple of reasons:  first, it is stuffed (just like Andy) and second, it also happens to be made by my Mom (just like Andy).

Andy felt quite lucky to get to hold the Christ Child.

Busy week of deliveries

It was a week of nice deliveries.  I don't mean Christmas gifts either!

Brett purchased a Peterbilt semi about 10 days ago.  He utilized on-line bidding. The auction was taking place in Fargo, ND during a nasty storm.  He purchased it on a Wednesday.  Mark & I were heading that way that weekend so we were able to bring it home to him.  He was pretty excited - until he started to really look it over!  There are just a few things that need repair. 

A couple of looks of the semi tractor.  The second one shows a smiling Brett!

Getting things hooked up.

 

Mark & I purchased a different loader tractor last week.  It was delivered here this week.

We purchased a New Holland T6050.  It isn't brand new so it is just 'new' to us. 

 

Mark is backing up to help pull the 'new' semi that spun on the snow until it was hooked up to a trailer.  It just needed some weight for traction!

Both of my guys were up at the feedlot when they needed the tractor,

so I was asked to drive it up north.  My first time driving it. 

 

So, our last 10 days

Wednesday of last week Brett bought semi. 

Thursday - Mark & I drove to Williston to look at this tractor. 

Friday - Mark & I drove to Fargo to try to get Brett's semi (it was too cold to get it started) so we drove to Valley City were we had meetings and a room to stay. 

Saturday - we drove back to Fargo, purchased some supplies and got the semi to start.  We came home.  Thus starting the deliveries!

 

Well, that is an update of our last couple of weeks.  I got a new camera last week and it was used to take these photos.  So far I like the Panasonic FZ200 camera too.

 

Weeks 49 & 50: Andy

Good thing there are only two more weeks left of this as I am slacking more all the time.

Here are my entries for Weeks 49 & 50:

Andy & Ann played Battleship. 

(Okay, really Mark & Brett did then I got to take the picture.  Brett won! 

 I think Ann was sitting by the winning board.)

Andy visited Santa & Mrs. Claus.  They even gave him a bag of candy/peanuts.

 

Andy - three late entries (46-48/52)

I am behind on my Andy entries.  You know, in the 52 Weeks Photography Project.

Andy traveled with me (& my new camera) on a road trip so here is what he was up to:

While in Valley City, Mark and I stayed at Three Oaks Guest Inn.  It is a lovely, older home along the river.  We did not spend much time there as we were busy with business, but it was nice.  Andy just HAD to try the banister before he could leave!

 

 

 

Andy & I stopped in Jamestown on our way home.  I took a couple of minutes at the World's Largest Buffalo monument.  This concrete bad boy is 26 feet tall and weighs 60 tons.  We didn't walk over there as the gates were to be locked in five minutes! 

 

 

 

Andy did want to 'drive' the stage coach though!

 

Then on to home.  Mark & I had been gone for a few days so it was nice to get back home.

Fall's Work

We have completed our harvest.  The last crop in was the corn. We had all of our corn chopped for silage.  Christopher's corn was combined.  It was wet but will be rolled (cracked) to be fed to the cattle in the feedlot. 

We have weaned all of the calves.  We do this in a multiple step process.  I thought I had written about it before, but I guess not.  I will have to try to do it next year.  Anyway, weaning, as you probably can guess, is when the calves and cows are separated so the calf will no longer nurse the cow.  We now have the calves in the feedlot.

Our cattle have been enjoying fall grazing.  There are some grazing a barley field and others are in the corn, pea & canola fields.  After we harvest these crops there is still some waste.  There are ears of corn & pea pods laying in the fields that fell off the plant for some reason, the barley & canola seeds that did the same and have now started growing again making for lush, green grazing.  This is a great way to add value to the crop (that would have otherwise been wasted) and to extend the amount of time that we do not have to feed them hay.  We did get a couple of inches of snow Saturday/Saturday night but that was not enough to end this "aftermath grazing".    Some of the snow has settled away and I hope for a bit of sunshine to take care of the rest that is out in the open areas. 

The men have been busy working on fence repair. There are some new fences being built and others are mended.  Some of this fence was around a field of Sudan Grass that was planted as a cover crop (to help dry out soil that did not get planted in the spring).  We had to wait until after November 1 (government regulation) to utilize this crop.  We plan to let the cattle graze this field as another way to help preserve our winter hay supply.  Our hay supply is a little short this year due to all of the rain we've had.  Most years we can cut hay in sloughs (marshy ponds) and get quite a bit of hay, but this year they still had water in them. 

The forecast sounds like the ground will freeze up this week.  Once that happens we will get busy hauling the hay and straw home.  

No photos this time, but it was time for a farm update instead of Andy!!

Andy: Week 45/52

Spotted this knight at Badlands Grill, a nice spot to get a steak in Minot. 

 

 Maybe Andy wants to be knighted?