The glass is definitely half empty...

Well, July's more than halfway over now.  School starts on August 20th for me, and the 22nd for the kids.  What do I have to show for my summer break so far?



A new sister-in-law!

A couple of nice lookin' steers ready for the 4-H fair!

Fun times at Gettysburg with the next generation of Dalys.

A 5 year old!

Two halter-broke calves, also ready for a wild week at the fair!  (Bruises, scrapes, and rope burns not shown.)

Along with A LOT of dead grass and stressed corn and beans, a few more miles on my running shoes (but not as many as I'd hoped), and a decent tan.
 

Shameless...

I mentioned in my last post that our main motivation for going to PA for vacation was to celebrate a family wedding.  We started off our vacation in Lancaster Co., PA, where my husband's sister lives with her family.  On day 2 of our wild and crazy PA vaca, we got up early (in a new time zone, to boot!) and picked up our very own tour guide, brother-in-law Steve.    He took us for a drive out into the countryside so that we could "gawk" at the Amish and Mennonite people as they were beginning their day. 

It was a beautiful warm, sunny Thursday morning and the Amish and Mennonite communities were hard at work doing various phases of hay making.


Side bar:  I LOVE hay.  I would buy the Yankee Candle scented like freshly-mown hay, if they made one.  I may some day eat it myself.  Well, probably not. 

The Amish and Mennonite farmers seem to do what we call "strip farming".  Instead of taking a huge field and planting it in only one crop, they divide the large field into strips:  a strip of hay, a strip of corn, a strip of hay, a strip of corn, and so on until they run out of field.  We don't know why, but one theory is that the rows on the end produce better, so by farming in strips, you have more end rows.  My theory is that the strip of hay is just the right amount of work for one day.  Why bite off more than you can chew? 

We drove around for quite a long time, just enjoying watching the young men doing their haymaking behind their majestic horses.  The horses were pulling motors that would run the implements.  Brother-in-law Steve explained the different levels of the religous orders and how some families or groups will use some modern conviences to varying degrees, like motors, tractors with steel wheels, and cars with no chrome.

At this particular field, a young boy was riding along.  I wonder if his mom said, "Go with your older brother, you're driving me crazy this morning!"... Or maybe his dad thought it was time he learned how to operate that contraption (which was actually a hay mower)... Or maybe he was actually needed for this task.  It's too bad you can't see it more clearly, but the younger boy isn't wearing any shoes!  A few miles down the road we saw another boy about that little guy's size running across a freshly mown field BAREFOOT bringing the bigger boy a water jug.  I can barely walk across a sidewalk barefoot, let alone a hay field!!

I don't know if it's normally laundry day on Thursday, or if every day is laundry day, but most every farm had laundry hung out to dry.  The Amish and Mennonite run their laundry lines on a pully system that is attached to the top of the barn!  Imagine laundry flapping in the breeze from the middle of the yard, all the way to the top of the barn!!!  It was really a site to see.  I didn't take a picture because I thought that was maybe a little too much shameless privacy invasion on my part...

In conclusion, I am very interested in becoming Mennonite (Amish is too strict for me, I think).  I would happily embrace the quietness, the peacefulness, the extra work, the solitude, if it meant I never had to go to WalMart again.

(p.s. They go to WalMart, too, according to my sister who went to college in Southern Illinois.)

My pilgrimage to Philadelphia

We just got back from a wonderful vacation to Pennsylvania!   Our main objective was to celebrate my brother-in-law's wedding in Gettysburg.  After the fantastic wedding festivities and making some wonderful memories with the rest of the Daly family, we headed east to Philadelphia. 

You may have learned by now that I am a HUGE Rocky Balboa fan.  My friend told me to watch the original Rocky movie before my first 5K race 3 years ago.  Well, the night that I watched Rocky for the first time was right up there with my first kiss, the birth of my children, etc.:  I fell in love.  I fell in love with what Rocky stands for:  DETERMINATION.

What I love about Rocky is how he sets his mind to something and does it, how he goes the whole 15 rounds, and how when it's all over with, when his eyes are swollen shut and he can barely stand up, the first person on his mind is Adrian.  I have only watched the first four movies, I'm saving Rocky V for a special occassion.  I have favorite parts in the first four Rockys, but I think my favorite movie is the original Rocky.  I have it mostly memorized.  In fact, when I'm bored, I replay my favorite scenes in my head. 

My favorite scenes are:
1.  When Adrian's brother blows up at her and kicks her out.  She runs off to her bedroom, and Rocky comes in and she says, "Are you looking for a roommate?"  and Rocky says, "Absolutely".
2.  I love when Rocky takes Adrian to his apartment for the first time and they kiss and then slide down the wall.  She was so shy and innocent and Rocky was so gentle and loving.... sigh.....
3.  Or the part the night before the fight when Rocky and Adrian are lying in his tiny little bed and he's all vulnerable and he says, "Who am I kiddin'? I ain't even in the guy's league...It don't matter, 'cause I was nobody before...I was nobody. That don't matter either, ya know...It really don't matter if I lose this fight. It really don't matter if this guy opens my head, either. 'Cause all I wanna do is go the distance. Nobody's ever gone the distance with Creed. And if I can go that distance, ya see, and that bell rings, ya know, and I'm still standin', I'm gonna know for the first time in my life, ya see, that I weren't just another bum from the neighborhood."

So, the first place I drug my family when we got to Philli was, of course, the Philadelphia Art Museum.  I ran the steps (that's me blowing the rest of my family out of the water!):

When I got to the top, I sceamed, "ADRIAN", even though I know Rocky didn't in the movie, but I think he was thinking about it:

Take a look at the people in the background.  Perhaps I was behaving a little 'over-the-top'.  I was very excited, though. 

 

I got a picture next to his bronze statue that was originally placed at the top of the steps, but got moved to the grounds below the museum for some reason...

And, then the following day, which happened to be my 35th birthday, we ended our day of historical sight seeing with a supper of Philli Cheese Steaks --with 'Whiz'-- at "Sonny's Cheese Steaks", a great little mom & pop place with excellent decorating taste! 

The Math Behind the Crops: Part 1

Our oldest son is taking "corn" for one of his 4-H projects this year.  While this might seem like the lamest project ever, we are really getting into it!  He had to examine a seed corn bag's tag to learn about what's actually in the bag and the science behind the corn seeds. He conducted a germination experiment and has plans to do a soil "tilth" experiment, as well.  He also learned about "growing degree days", which is a unit that measures how much heat the corn is exposed to over the growing season.  Some varieties of corn require more degree days than others, but on average most corn varieties in Illinois require 2,300 to 2,700 growing degree days. 

To figure out how many "growing degree days" each actual day is worth, use this formula:
high temp. + low temp.   -    50
                 2

Some restrictions apply, though:  if the daily high temp. is over 86, then only use 86, and likewise, if the low temp is below 50, then only use 50.  This takes into account the stress on the plants on super-hot or unseasonably-cool days.

For example, Thursday's high temp. is forecasted to be 95 and the low temp. is forecasted to be 74. 
That means that 86 + 74 = 160 /2 = 80 - 50 = 30 growing degree days on Thursday.

Now, if only it would rain...

Biker babe!

When we are giving directions to our house or people are asking about where we live, we often get, "Oh!  Your house is the place with all the bikes in the driveway!"

....Yes.  That's us.  Our driveway looks like a bike salvage yard.  We have 3 medium-size two-wheelers, 3 smaller, child-size two-wheelers, a cozy coupe, a big wheel, and a John Deere pedal tractor. 

....Yes.  We only have 4 kids.

This week we hit another milestone in our family history, though!  Our older daughter, who is 6 1/2, finally figured out how to ride her two-wheeler without training wheels! 

It's a REALLY big deal because we ALL have been trying to get her to a.) quit being so over dramatic, b.) just try to balance with her feet on the pedals, and c.) accept the fact that she needs to put more effort into the process than just trying to ride the bike down to the end of the driveway once. 

We've all be extremely supportive.
...About a month ago, our oldest son took the training wheels off the bike that older daughter likes to ride.
...Younger daughter has been providing "moral support" in the form of "QUIT WHINING AND JUST TRY IT!" 
...And I've been trying every once in a while to get her going by holding on to the back and then giving a shove once she is mostly balanced. 

Anyway, Tuesday afternoon I was determined that we would turn the bike riding corner.  She perservered like a champ and by the time supper was ready, she'd logged 20 laps around the driveway! 

My baby...

If you've had the pleasure of spending time around our youngest daughter lately, you've probably heard the news that she is going to have a birthday soon (in 1 month and 3 days), and that she is going to be five! 

This is our baby girl, the youngest of our four. 

She was a very sweet baby, definitely making my life easy...  She was really cute for a baby, but that's just my opinion, I guess!

She's always been quite helpful... mostly... I think that the point that she has her father wrapped around her little finger needs to be made.  We don't normally let our children sit ON the kitchen table.

As she matured into preschooler-hood, she developed a delightful fashion sense.  She definitely knows how to accessorize! 

And finally, with her fifth birthday practically knocking on the door, she's becoming quite the cowgirl! 

(P.S.  Take another look at that outfit!)

The John Deere Historic Site

Sunday we took a trip down Route 2 to Grand Detour, Illinois, and visited the John Deere Historical Site.
We started off with a guided tour of the Deere family's home, John Deere built it when he moved to Grand Detour from Vermont.  (He came to Illinois because work as a blacksmith was drying up in the New England states as everyone was heading west.) 

He went to work repairing the saw mill in Grand Detour, and long story short-- he had the bright idea to make a plow out of steel using a discarded saw blade.  Up until the John Deere plow, plows were made out of cast iron.  Because of the sticky soil in Illinois, farmers would have to use a wooden paddle to clean off the cast iron plow blade after plowing as little as a few feet.  The new steel plows made plowing the Illinois soil like cutting through butter! 

We had the pleasure of  watching a blacksmith in action!  He showed us many of the tools that a blacksmith would have used in John Deere's day, and also demonstrated some blacksmithing techniques.  The blacksmith was very entertaining!  He asked us what John Deere would be know for if he was alive today...

and that would be living to 204 years old!!!  The John Deere name is synonomous with tractors, combines, huge farming and construciton equipment, but John Deere died decades before the first tractor was even invented! 

I also found it interesting that John Deere started the first "implement dealerships";  his plows were so popular that people from all over the midwestern states wanted his steel plow, and so to make sure that all farmers could have access to them, he had salesmen in many of the bigger cities in the mid-1800s selling his plows.  It's reported that many of the settlers heading for the plains states would stop in Grand Detour specifically to get the steel plow before heading west to "sod-bust". 

All around the grounds of the beautifully restored historic sited are "heritage gardens", and in each garden section is a plaque that highlights what was happening in the world of agriculture.   

So, if you ever need something fun to do, check out the John Deere Historic Site in Grand Detour!  It's about a 45 minute drive straight south of Rockford on Route 2 along the Rock River.  It's open from 9am -5pm Wednesday through Sunday.