ViNtAgE SuRpRiSeS

my day Friday was scheduled with busy-ness.

my to-do list was long and so heading to the grocery store

~when between my casa and the grocer i saw an

enticing sign that read:

 

 

VINTAGE SALE

 

 

i thought briefly about just driving on by.

 

wellllllll......... then it hit me that yard sale season

is as good as over in cold old minnesota

and i could not resist.

 

so glad I didn't. in a little living room on a quiet little

street a woman named judy was having a sale.

everything was clearly marked and clean and

VINTAGE!

  here's what i

came home with.

 

 

10 bucks folks. (thought it was going to the cabin- love it so much i

may keep it here so i can enjoy it everyday.)

 

 

this big red H.  HOME to me. $4 

 

 

 

really old copper boiler. will be used for kindling by our stove up north. $25 

 

 

frame for the lodge- $4

 

 

 

and last but not least, this pretty little chandelier. i will hang it above the

bed at the lodge. it's going to make the bedroom "chic-cabinesk" don't you think?

a great steal at $18!

 

 

i will miss yard sales and the thrill of scouting for

the rare, the cheap, the unique loot that

someone else is ready to part with.

 

it is only 21 degrees here tonight.

brrrrrrrrrrr~

 until next spring i will just

have to be content with

an occasional stop at a thrift shop right?

 

i had a most wonderful weekend with 7 other

girls and will be back later in the week to

tell you a little bit about our fun.

i always have a sore throat after those weekends,

a combination of

 excessive talking,

 lack of sleep and my

horrible snoring.

 

hope your week is great!

 

*remembering all our past and present military

personnel with so much gratitude today.

we live in the most blessed county in the

world and we have them to thank for that!

 

 

xo, beth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

this is isie.

she's my niece's sweet 7 yr. old.

 

she's been such a blessing

to our whole family. she is a 

soft spoken, petite little honey

and she's beautiful isn't she? 

 

i've been wishing we could do a photo shoot

for way too long as she is growing up

way too fast.

 

a couple weeks ago we got our chance- (i think she

was as excited as i was) so

these are for you little isabelle lydia!

 

 

love you little peanut girl~

 

 

 

*it is with great joy that our family welcomed another

little pumpkin this morning as well.

 

barrett nyland sommers

i cannot wait to meet you and comb

your thick gorgeous black hair!

 

congratulations to my niece ashley and her

hubbie matt! this little boy is very lucky to

have been born to the two of you.

p.s.  (your pregnancy was the longest one EVER for me
ash. next time please don't tell me till you're at
least 2 weeks pregnant k.?  lol   i've just
been sooo excited to have a baby in the fam again!)

 

my little brother was so darned cute when

he called to tell me about his first grandchild.

 

i said "who do you think he looks like?"

and he replied in a soft voice,

"you know, I really think he looks like me.

he has a head of thick black hair and

dark skin".

 

it made me cry.

tears of happiness, of course.

 

* my three kiddos are joining their papa

up north for the big deer hunt this weekend.

good luck and be safe dear ones!!!

 

xo

 



corn flakes~

friends, this is the origination of a corn flake.

 



 

i grew up on a farm. we had dairy cows and we grew

corn and beans. my sister and I didn't help in the fields though.

(our grandma kept up plenty busy in the house and garden-

so please don't picture us sitting around twiddling our thumbs).

 

 

my sister and her husband are farmers. right now they are living

and working in the oil fields of north dakota for a couple of years.

last weekend they were back home to harvest their crops.

 

for most of her life, my sister- the farmer's wife had a full time job and

never helped with fieldwork. a year ago she retired and started

 assisting her hard working hubbie. last year she all by herself

hauled 90 loads of corn and beans from the field to the elevator.

all 90 loads. yep, she did.

 

last weekend i drove out west to visit them. (i hadn't

seen my sister for almost half a year- longest time ever)

 i rode with her all day Saturday hauling loads

from the field to the elevator in town.

 

 

director of operations~ my brother in law david

 

my brother in law's boss even drove 10 hours from north Dakota
 to help with the harvest!

he's a great guy- 35 years old, grew up on a farm himself and just

wanted to help out and drive the combine. I rode with him on

one trip around the corn field.  although my sis and i would sit

in our grandpa's big combine when it was safely parked in the

machine shed, i'd never ridden in one while it was in operation.

 

this is a birds eye view from the cab. 

 for all you non farm kids- this is the combine unloading corn into a

gravity box that will be hauled to the elevator.



      "the boss". 
my brother in law got to be his boss though for a

couple days.    :  )

 

 

so, after the guys got trailers loaded my sister would hook up and

drive to town. 17 miles per hour. 8 miles each way- it's a long haul.

all day Saturday when we drove back and forth, we talked and

listened and got caught up on each others life.

i also got a much better understanding of what goes

into the frantic harvesting of farmers fields.

 

they can't harvest too soon, but they are always racing the
clock, trying to time the harvest

between rain and snow, sleet and hail- (ok maybe the

sleet and hail part was a stretch) they work long hours,

into the night to get the work done.

 

 

 

here's what it looks like when you get to the

elevator where the grain is weighed, checked for

 moisture content and unloaded.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

you pull up and these nice young men do all the work of

unloading your trailer.

liquid gold.

 

 

 

so they do this over and over and over, till

the wee hours.

 

sunday morning these silly people
decided i should help bring corn to town.
i'm not kidding when i tell you that i quickly ran to the
bathroom and had a small anxiety attack.

there was only time for a small one though, because my
ride was leaving and i didn't even have time to freak out
and say "nooooooo", what are you thinking? me drive
loads of corn to town? i'm a city slicker!"

i took a deep breath and decided if my sister could
do it, i could too and i wanted to help them
if i could.

my part was so minuscule it's hardly worth mentioning, but
this was the view out the truck window as i sat at the
elevator waiting my turn to get on the scale!

yep, i hire out as a trucker now.
i have 3 loads under my belt. pretty proud of myself.
*(don't ask me about the screw up I made that
left me squirming.)
my main concern was that at no time did I want
to have to back up- that was just not happening.


ok. that's almost a wrap, but here's one more picture
I want to show you of the field we were working in.
this old, old grainary sat surrounded by corn,
until after the harvest. now it stands alone in a barren
field.  until next year.

it sure was fun to be a part of a working farm again for a couple days.

the best part by far was sitting at my sister's table, eating the

good food she made us, talking, laughing and knowing that

they have safely completed that huge task for another year.

God is good.

 



 

*****************************

 

a couple more things...there's a whole lot of us breathing a huge

sigh of relief tonight after the safe delivery of our friend's

baby girl today. little Audrey was born 8 weeks early, after her

momma has spent the past 44 days in a hospital bed

many miles from home and her other two little boys.

she weighed in at a gi-whooping 3 lbs. 15 oz. and

all reports are that she's doing fantastic!

 

my niece is expecting her baby boy any day now too-

(sooner rather than later right ash?)

and we are waiting on pins and needles for the

exciting phone call that he is here!

 

can I just say it again?

God is good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

xo, beth

hello!

 

i've got so much catching up to do that i don't
even know were to start

 so i'm just going to jump in and attempt to get
caught up.

 

two weeks ago my aunt and uncle drove north

to visit us at the cabin. they hadn't been there

yet and we were all soooo excited to see them.

 

they brought us all kinds of treats, homemade

pickles, some really cool dried pods that dar grew that

resembled tiny orange pumpkins, a big old

plate of swedish cookies using my grandma's

recipe and then there was this beautiful

wreath that my talented aunt made for

our front door. (dar worked as a florist

for many years.)

 

*a wreath dripping with real bittersweet,

now that's my love language.   :  )

 

 

 

 

 how cute are these two? kenny and dar. dar is my mom's sister and like a

mother to me. *side note. dar does not color her hair. she is 20 years

my senior. what's that all about? mine has been turning

gray since i was in my early 30's!

we had a little lunch...gave them a tour and then just hung out for a while

before eating again. that's what we do. 

 

 

love her...

 

 

a stick and a wood burner. perfect entertainment

for our grandson. seth loves to burn cool "hunter

type" things on walking sticks.

 

 

 

speaking of love, duke loves kenzie, our daughter and her boyfriend's dog.

he loves her so much that he's a bit of a pain. adria can only watch his

unwanted advances for so long and then she can't stand it and she takes pity on kenzie. last weekend she came up with this ingenious

doggie gate. duke looks sad don't you think?

what was really funny, was that kenzie was small enough that she

could crawl under one of the chairs to get back over and

play with duke some more. duke however could not, so he had

to wait patiently/pathetically for her to crawl under and it would

start all over again.

 

 

 

 

kenzie was safe here in the big chair with ad.

 

 

by the time we left the lodge on sunday there were 4 inches of snow on the ground~

it was beautiful, but i don't think it lasted and that's o.k. with us. there's plenty of

time for that!

 

 

 

my heart was happy after having family come and visit.

it was just a perfect weekend~

 

xo, beth

oh...p.s.

we've been boo'd!
has your neighborhood ever done this?
it's really fun- a goodie bag full of all these amazing
things showed up on my doorstep one morning.
 then you pass it on.
you choose another neighbor and make
a care package for them.
how fun is that???
it's like a may basket in october.
*thanks so much to my secret boo-er!


*my poor hubbie has been suffering since last
thursday with a stubborn kidney stone.
this has included a trip to the dr. on fri.
a trip to the emergency room in the middle of the night
on sunday and lots of pain pills.
darn thing still hasn't passed.
doctors compare passing a stone to giving birth.
that's one miserable labor and delivery.

:   (

 

 

 

 



quick before the snow comes~

 

 

 

 

I took these pictures right behind our home two weeks ago. 

this is a wildlife area called kerber pond park

and it's SO beautiful there in the fall.

There is a pond in the middle and a rugged walking

path that goes around it.

 

all this gorgeousness (is that a word?)

was on one afternoon's walk around that pond.

 

 

 

at the end of my walk i sat awhile on this bench.

this is the bench our neighborhood bought and had installed

in memory of a wonderful friend who died in 2011.

 

we chose this site for mike's bench

because we knew he'd approve and that it

would provide a great resting place with a gorgeous view

out over the ravine. it is a peaceful place.

 when I rest here i remember mikey

 with love and I can almost hear his laugh echo across the way.
(i loved his laugh!)

 

 

this weekend i'm going work my butt off and get my potted plants
 cleaned up

and my fountain drained for the year. i'll

put away all the garden art and cushions from the deck.

i'm going to get ready for the changing of the seasons,

because it's here my friends. we have some busy weekends
ahead and a new baby on the way to our
family that I want to race to see so I need to get my work
done so i'll be ready when the snow comes.

 another beautiful fall

(my favorite time of year) is about to wrap up but

wasn't it was a great one?

 

 

xo

p.s. I like winter too- even more so now that i have snowshoes.