Seein' eye-to-eye

I noticed it yesterday. My 11-year-but-soon-to-be-12-year-old son and I are seeing eye-to-eye. And I don't mean on the amount of time he devotes to video games. We will NEVER agree on how much time doing that is too much.

Last week, I'm almost positive I was looking slightly down at him. Yesterday, he was looking me straight in the eye. So I made him stand with his back to mine while my daughter looked up at both of us to tell me if he was as tall as me. She said incredulously, "You're the same size!"

This morning, I saw it myself as I hustled my kids out of the bathroom and downstairs so I could get them to Summer Safari and I could get to work. I was amazed. He's got the Swede genes from my side of the family, apparently. His feet are already size 10, so I know he's got some serious growing still ahead of him.

I don't know, but it really seems like the day your kid gets taller than you is a turning point; a milestone of sorts. It's then that you realize your babies are growing up and you're going to have to start letting go a little bit more each day so they can assert themselves and become responsible adults.

But I'm going to enjoy the time we still see eye-to-eye.

Happy growing!

Dawn

Ode to a dairy farmer

Next Monday marks the beginning of June Dairy Month. Each year, North Dakota Farm Bureau participates in a salute to the dairy industry in one of the state's farm publications. While our message of thanks may not pop out from the rest of the "thank yous" on the page, it doesn't make us any less appreciative.

And, since I'm in the business of spreading.......information, I'm going to share some web resources with you in honor of our nation's hardworking dairy farmers.

Crayola has fun projects on their June Dairy Month calendar: http://www.crayola.com/calendar/detail.cfm?event_id=206&year=2009

The Midwest Dairy Association is like Web Central for all things related to June Dairy Month. There you can find everything from great dairy recipes and nutrtion facts and handouts, to stories about dairy farmers and their lives:
http://www.midwestdairy.com/pages/index.cfm?TREE_ID=640

And let us not forget Gilmer Dairy Farm's website. Will Gilmer's third-generation Alabama dairy farm is featured on this site:
http://www.gilmerdairyfarm.com/

Will also has a dairy blog:
http://gilmerdairy.blogspot.com/

That's a good informational start, anyway.

Happy dairy discovery!

Dawn

Live bull in the middle of the road

Remember that old song, "Dead skunk in the middle of the road" by Loudon Wainwright III?

You got yer
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
You got yer dead skunk in the middle of the road
Stinkin' to high Heaven

Funny song. I'm not sure why I thought of it when trying to think of a title for this blog. Probably because of the "middle of the road" part. (You know that thing called free association? That's my excuse.)

We could see him from a very long way off, but we couldn't tell what he was. Just a big "thing" in the middle of the road -- Highway 3 to be exact. As we got closer, we realized it was a bull. Just behind him was a hill. If he would have been on the other side of the road, anyone coming over the hill would have had to slam on the brakes to avoid him. So at least he was on the right side of the road (both literally and figuratively).

And he just stood there and looked at us. We didn't know if we should go around him, or if he would charge the vehicle. We honked the horn. We drove slowly forward, then backed up. We honked again. Nothing. So my husband turned around and drove several hundred feet, then turned around again. The bull started walking, still in the right lane, toward us, slowly, bellering a time or two. I don't think he wanted to be there any more than we wanted him to be there, but none of us seemed to know what to do about it.

Within a few minutes, another car came along. They too, stopped and waited.

It wasn't more than about a minute or two more when a semi came barreling along with another car right behind it. I figured the semi would either not see the "drama" unfolding in front of him and run over the critter, or he'd manage to scare the bull off the road. Thankfully, it was the latter. After a short "chase" down the right side of the road the bull veered into the ditch and down into a slough.

Whew!

It was a much better ending than the dead skunk thing.

Happy motoring!

Dawn

Life with Riley

Some women may live to buy shoes. I am not one of them.

So when our almost two-year-old Springer Spaniel grabbed one of my brown shoes, quietly hauled it into his kennel and chewed off a strap, let's just say I didn't see it as on opportunity to buy new shoes. I saw it as a "Man, NOW I have to go buy new brown shoes for work!" kind of thing.

I was very happy with my old brown, slip-on shoes, thank you very much. Okay, they needed a polish, but they still had a lot of wear in them. And now I have no brown work shoes.

I do have yet another pair of shoes to wear while gardening, however. I think I'm up to four pairs now, thanks to the Tyrant of Chewtopia. (That's part of the sign my son affixed to Riley's kennel: "Tyrant of Chewtopia. Terror of Tiny Town. Captain Sock Thief.")

He knows he's not supposed to do it. He gets into trouble every time. Apparently the punishment is not fitting the crime. (And I'm a so-so poet!)

Actually, I think it's his way of getting attention, even if it is negative. (He's like the family truant.) We should have guessed it, though. When he was a puppy, he always wanted to snuggle. You'd pick him up and he'd lean his head on your shoulder and bury his nose in your neck. He's what you call a "high maintenance dog."

I have noticed that his misbehavior usually occurs when I am otherwise engaged -- usually when I'm making supper or helping kids with homework. I was making spaghetti last night when the brown shoe lost its battle to the jaws of Riley.

But even though he chewed up my shoe, by gosh I couldn't stay mad for long. Next thing I knew, he had his food bowl and carted it off to his kennel. It was just too cute, so I had to take a picture. Maybe he's smarter than we think, eh?



Happy Memorial Day weekend!

Dawn

It's so sad

I know when I was a kid growing up on the farm, we did a lot of things that were dangerous. Like playing in the back of a truck box in the grain while they unloaded it. We didn't really know any better, and neither did our parents.

But things have changed. There is a lot of safety information out there now, urging parents to keep kids away from farm equipment, to play in appropriate places, and to only do age-appropriate tasks. In fact, Farm Bureau has a wonderful curriculum for second and fifth-graders called ABC on the Farm. It's designed for an instructor to take to the classroom and make a presentation, but I encourage parents -- and not just farm parents -- to read the information. It covers topics like lawn mowing and ATV safety, too.

We live in a development that has a few ATVs and I see kids riding double, without helmets, and riding too fast in our neighborhood a lot. It makes me cringe. Just this morning, I heard from a friend that another child had been killed in her area, the result of a four-wheeler injury. I can't imagine the pain the family is going through. My heart goes out to them.

That's why I would encourage you all to read more about North Dakota Farm Bureau's safety program on the NDFB website's ABC safety page. It's full of information about how to stay safe.

To download the pdf of the curriculum for fifth-graders click here.

Please, please take this information to heart. It could save a child's life.

Dawn

From pigs to corn

I received pig corn skewers -- you know those little things you stick at the end of ears of corn to eat them -- for Mother's Day. And since my last trivia topic was pigs, I thought it would make sense to make this week's trivia about corn.

I am a big fan of corn. It's one of those vegetables that my kids will eat without ultimatum. But there's a lot more to corn than a vegetable kids like.

If you've ever tasted what we call field corn, you know that there are several varieties, and field corn isn't the one that people like to eat! In fact, dent and flint corn are field corns that are fed to animals. Sweet, flour and popcorn are grown for human consumption.

Farmers grow corn on every continent in the world, except Antarctica.

The corn cob or ear is actually part of the plant’s flower.

The tassel, which is at the top of each corn plant, is actually where the plant stores and sends out pollen.

An ear of corn averages 800 kernels in 16 rows.

The kernels on an ear of corn are actually its seeds. They contain starch, protein, and oil.

Corn based ingredients are used to make some cough syrups, antibiotics, and vitamin pills.

The main ingredient in most dry dog and cat food is corn.

Americans today consume 17.3 billion quarts of popcorn each year.

Frozen food makers use cornstarch to help keep foods’ texture in the process of freezing, thawing and re-heating.

Learn more about North Dakota corn and corn issues at www.ndcorn.org

Happy corn fact-finding!

Dawn

Contributing to the local economy

Recession? Ha! Not amongst the gardening crowd. The parking lot was full and people were parking on the road. The aisles were extremely crowded, but I'm here to tell you I contributed -- profusely -- to the local economy. I got my cosmos. I got my alyssum. I got moss roses and dianthus. I even bought a couple of hanging plants. I bought a flower-shopping cart full of flowers, but I still have a lot of ground to cover. Literally. Some of it will get seeded to wildflowers. I still have a couple of bushes and ornamental grasses to pick up, and about 11 pots to fill. I received a bunch of peonies from my mother-in-law a few years ago, and they are all looking good, but I saw a fern peony, and I might just have to break down and get one or two of them.

When it comes to flowers, I apparently have little ability to restrain myself. While we were in the greenhouse, I kept saying, "I need..." My husband pointed out, laughingly, "You don't actually need any of it." Well, he's right, but it sure does make me happy.

I told my son, as I was planting all the flowers, "This keeps me sane." He had kind of a worried expression on his face, until I told him that it was a way to just forget about everything and create something. He understood. (He does the same thing with Legos.)

But after this little excursion, methinks I'm going to have to start investing in a few more perennials, because I'm guessing I'm not going to get planting "fun money" for my birthday every year, no matter how much of a boost it is to my sanity, or the local economy.

Happy planting!

Dawn

I'm planting this weekend

Weather be darned! This cat needs to get out and plant some flowers. This weekend. And that means that I plan to spend copious amounts of money at the local greenhouses this weekend. Bismarck greenhouses, this is your only warning: My list of "needs" is long.

I need cosmos. Lot of cosmos. I need a couple of bushes. I need grass; ornamental grass, that is. I need something that grows low to the ground and spreads fast to cut down on weeds, but I don't yet know what that ground covering flowering goody is going to be yet. But I need a lot of it. I need a couple of spruce -- or is that spruces? I need wave petunias. Lots of them, too. And herbs. I need herbs, too. To plant in containers.

I know. It seems a little foolish, doesn't it? It's 47 degrees, windy and overcast. The weather guy is predicting that it will get below freezing tonight, but start warming up, with a chance of 70-plus degree weather by Sunday. I'm putting my faith in the weather guy. So I'm buying tomorrow and planting on Sunday. I can think of no better way to spend a Sunday afternoon, actually.

Oh, and I really, really think I need a gazing ball and other garden goodies to enhance all those fancy plants I plan to plant.

And when it's all in bloom, I will share a few pictures of the fruits of my wallet and labor.

Wish me luck!

Happy outdoors"ing"!

Dawn

The incredible pig

It's amazing what I forget I have. Yesterday I talked about how I was all "atwitter" about Twitter. But sometimes I can find things on my own computer that I forgot I had, and it's really good stuff.

Like the information that was sent to me by another member of our Farm Bureau staff over two years ago to put in our newsletters or on the NDFB website. (Neither of which I did because I forgot I had it.) Anyway, the information she sent me was full of trivia and jokes about agriculture. Expect to see more than one post on this. (Okay, you've been warned.)

Since swine is on every one's minds right now, I figured it would be fitting to start off with some pig trivia.

Did you know...
That when George Washington and his troops were stranded in Valley Forge, their diet consisted mainly of pork?

That from pigs is often used to make artists' paint brushes?

That hot dogs and pepperoni, two favorite foods in the United States, are made from pork?

That insulin, a drug used to treat diabetes, comes from a by-product of pigs?

That all pigs have pink skin, but they have many different colors of hair?

That the crayons your kids use are actually made from by-products of pigs?

That pigs were one of the first animals in history to be domesticated and trained?

And a pig joke:

Why did the pig sit on the sidewalk all day? Because he was a road hog.

Happy pig education!

Dawn

I like Twitter

Some have called Twitter silly or the ultimate in narcissism. I would have to disagree. I learn a lot by reading Twitter posts. I learn how the wind is allowing farm folks in southeastern North Dakota to get back in the fields much sooner than they planned, even after a lot of rain. I learn that Iowa is cutting way back on Extension employees. I learn that another farmer has just been interviewed about using Twitter. Yet another "twitterer" reports that 42 million women are using social media and blogs are the most influential. This is good stuff!

In a job like mine -- communicating agriculture from a Farm Bureau perspective -- you have to keep your ear to the ground. But before Twitter, it was harder to hear what was being said. In fact, I even asked one of our members -- Val Wagner -- who "tweets" if I could put a feed of her posts on North Dakota Values (www.northdakotavalues.com). Not only do I get interesting and informative updates on what is happening on her farm, but I get a dose of wry humor as well. All in 140 characters. It's awesome!

So no matter what some say about Twitter, I'm sold.

Happy tweeting!

Dawn

The viral spread of misinformation

I was thinking the other day how misinformation is like a virus (probably because of the whole H1N1 flu scare). I mean, when you think about it, if you don't keep educated, if you don't "wash your hands" of bad information, you could get "sick" in the head with untruths that can cloud rational thought.

That's what happens when you don't take the time to get educated and informed. You take the latest "crisis" and make it your own. And if it goes on too long, and infects too many people, it becomes an epidemic. And what was really a little misinformation turns into the next big global catastrophe.

Agriculture is the target of so many misinformation viruses. Like the one that the world could support so many more people if we all were vegetarians. I mean, that misinformation was started back when I was a kid (and that was a very long time ago) and resoundingly debunked, because the perpetrator of the misinformation didn't take into account all the land that isn't suitable for farming, but is great for raising livestock. But not too long ago, I heard some "authority" spew the same stuff, and before you know it, the fight is on again.

That's why we need a bunch of mythbusters out there, ready to take on the false information and set the record straight.

I try to do it whenever I can. I hope you will too.

Happy mythbusting!

Dawn

$7 million lost each day?

I was reading how the H1N1 flu -- mostly because it had been labeled the swine flu -- had hurt the pork industry and it was almost incomprehensible to me.

Even though officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and USDA were continually stressing you can't get the flu from eating pork, that didn't stop countries from banning U.S. pork products and consumers from staying away from pork chops and bacon.

Then, in today's FeedStuffs Foodlink newsletter, I read that it is estimated the pork industry is losing $7 million a day because of this "scare."

This is a direct quote from the FeedStuffs e-letter I received this morning: "Putting the situation into something that can be held in one's hands, agricultural economist Chris Hurt at Purdue University estimated that producers were losing $5 per head three weeks ago with expectations of a seasonal spring/summer rally that would return them to profitability. However, he said the loss is now $20 per head."

I don't know about you, but I decided right then and there that my family was having pork chops for supper. Tonight. Bought a big package of them over the noon hour.

It's hard enough being a farmer without this kind of stuff happening. I know my purchase isn't going to change the situation, but it was my way of standing behind those who work so hard to keep food on our tables.

Thank you, hog farmers.

Dawn

Happy Mother's Day

'Nuff said!

Dawn

Richard, four years later

Back in 2005, I wrote a column about how the women in my family have a penchant for singing their answers to things. For instance, my mom would always sing, "Open the door, Richard. Open the door and let me in. Open the door Richard. Richard, why don't you open that door?" when she wanted us to hold the door for her. I thought it was a made up song. After I wrote the column, however, she told me it was a real song, although she couldn't remember who sang it or wrote it or anything.

Four years later, I decided to update my knowledge on Richard (Hey, no one ever said I worked at light speed). So today, I decided to "google" Open the door Richard. Here's what came up:

www.rhapsody.com/louis-jordan/five-guys-named-moe-decca-recordings-vol-2/open-the-door-richard/lyrics.html.

I even listened to it. And it immediately brought a big grin to my face. Hear (not a typo) all this time I thought my mom had just made up the tune and was imbellishing it in her own "swingy" way. BUT, BY GOSH, Louis Jordan sang it just the way my mom always did. Of course, he sang it first -- Louis was one of the most famous musicians of the 1940s -- so technically, she sang it the way he did.

But from a kid's perspective -- even a much bigger kid who is much older and supposedly has grown-up sensibilities, (and with apologies to Louis) -- it will forever be my mom's song. And it will be a song that I pass down to my daughter, as well, who is already well on her way to singing her responses, just like her mother, and her mother's mother.

Happy Mother's Day!

Dawn

More babies, more in-migration

This seems like a good topic to continue in the "mother mode," which is not to be cofused with the mother lode, but more babies are being born in North Dakota these days.

At least that's the word from an NDSU Ag Communications release on the subject.

I think this is kind of exciting news:

Between 2007 and 2008, North Dakota reported 9,014 births and 5,349 deaths. The difference between births and deaths resulted in a natural population increase of 3,665. When net migration (122) and natural change (3,665) are combined, the result is an overall population gain of 3,787.

Either we're all living a little longer or we're having a baby boom. And how 'bout those 122 people that moved into the state? THAT'S pretty cool. In fact, my mom mentioned just a couple of weeks ago that they had a couple of out-of-state families move to the area this past year. And in true mother-fashion, she worried about how they survived the winter, not being from these parts and all.

But that's one of the things that makes this state -- and mothers -- so special. They worry about us. And we care about other people. We lend a hand when people need it, and we don't expect anything in return.

Seems our mothers taught us well!

Happy growing!

Dawn

Mother of a week

Since Mother's Day is on Sunday, and I blogged about mother-related stuff (and my daughter's tooth-loss episode) yesterday, I figured I'd continue in the same vein today and for the rest of this week, and call it my "mother of a week" tribute. The title is actually kind of tongue in cheek for me, because, well, suffice it to say I have a bunch of deadlines at work this week, not to mention trying to find that perfect gift for my mother and mother-in-law.

Oh, they know the gift isn't going to be perfect. They never are. Most of the time, they are hurried and "best I could do with limited time." So I apologize in advance, for the gift that won't be "just right," but will be given with the best of intentions.

I know. Moms really don't expect fancy, elaborate or perfect gifts from their kids on Mother's Day. But the very fact that we want to give them something great is a testament to the fact that they did a great job raising us. And we really just want to show our gratitude.

But to be honest, the best presents in the world are the poems by an 11-year-old boy that say, "I love you more than Gameboy." Or the drawings of a 6-year-old girl depicting the two of us holding hands with the words: "Mom and me. I love you." on them. They get me teary-eyed just thinking about it.

So, while I am truly am having a mother of a week, and I couldn't be happier.

Happy mother-of-a-week to you, too, even if you're a dad!

Dawn

The tooth has left the building

It is with a tremendous sigh of relief that I report: That tooth that was causing my youngest cherub untold amounts of stress -- due to its ever-increasing looseness and tendency to bleed now and again -- has finally exited the building, whisked away by the Tooth Fairy and depositing two dollars in its place.

Is two dollars a lot? (TWOoth dollars?) What IS the going rate for a tooth these days? Does it depend on how long they hang on in your kid's mouth -- like mouth rental space?

Interestingly, the tooth came out while she was eating a piece of my birthday cake. And no, the birthday cake wasn't that old (but I am!). Her tooth was JUST THAT loose. Hanging by a thread of skin that my old eyes couldn't even see. Of course, she wouldn't let me get close enough to that tooth to see much of anything.

After she proudly showed me the tooth, she looked at me with panic and asked, "Is it bleeding?" I assured her it wasn't. Not much anyway. "Just drink a little water," I said. She did. But she STILL had to run into the bathroom and look at the place where her tooth had been to make sure it fit her "no blood" scenario.

And after everything was as it should be, she was positively giddy. It was only then that I realized how much this tooth had been stressing her out. She was even in a good mood this morning, and she is not generally a morning person.

As a mother, I wish I could just take all those stresses away, but at the same time, I know they have to learn how to deal with things on their own as well. But it doesn't make you wish any less that you could just "fix" it for them. It's probably the hardest lesson I have had to learn.

Happy stress-free tooth loss!

Dawn

Within an hour, they'd hardened into a new Swede monument

This is one of my favorite pictures from days gone by. It's from a homemade card for our last Swede reunion. The inside of the card has the line, "Within an hour, they'd hardened into a new Swede monument." I bought a bunch of those Swede cards at the reunion, but I could never seem to part with this one because I thought everyone seemed so gloriously carefree and happy.

The three looking at the camera are Holly, Ron and Beth Erickson. Cousins and neighbors. The guy reaching for the glob of mud is one of my brothers, probably my youngest brother, Gregg.

We lost Ron yesterday. He died in a plane crash at 43. He loved to fly and was on his way back from Minot in his plane when something went horribly wrong and he crashed. My heart goes out to Milt and Darlene and Holly and Beth and everyone else who is feeling Ron's loss.

Life is precious. Never miss an opportunity to say you care.

Dawn

Good art

I remember as a kid being admonished for making such a mess with all my "art" projects that would get left in various stages of "doneness" around the house. I don't really remember what I drew, but my littlest cherub is definitely her mother's daughter. She always has "projects" that she is working on. But very frequently, I get my very own, handmade creation, which tickles me beyond belief. Being a semi-ag-related blog and all, I thought I'd share one of her farm animal pictures with you.



I hope it brings a smile to your face, like it did to me!

Happy Saturday!

Dawn

Sprucing up the backyard

Last summer, my husband, with gopher assistance by yours truly, designed and built a play structure for our cherubs. It was quite an undertaking. Unlike the prefab structures that you can buy at your local do-it-yourself home-improvement stores, this unique design will allow us to make it into a gazebo-type thing when our kids decide they're too cool for playing on it. (I'm 47, and I'm STILL not too cool. I watched my daughter make sand cookies from "the tower" last weekend, and even took a trip down the slide.)

Be that as it may, at some point this kid will probably not slide down the slide if her kids don't do it anymore, and when that day comes, we'll slide the floor of the tower down to the ground and have our little gazebo. I plan to sit out there, drink copious amounts of early morning coffee and look at my dazzling flowers and stately trees. (Oh, it's a fancy dream, isn't it?)

But, first you have to HAVE the dazzling flowers and stately trees. After the structure was finished, we dug a three-leaf clover shaped tree and flower bed (because all good gardners know you do things in sets of odds, even if a four-leafer would have been luckier) around the structure and transplanted three spruce trees, of various sizes. The trees were refugees from our shelterbelt. Either they moved to the clover garden or they got axed.

As luck (or perhaps lack of luck) would have it, two of the three did not survive the transplant. And I still have a lot of black dirt -- okay brownish clay -- that didn't get "flowered" last summer. But I got a bunch of birthday money burning a hole in my pocket, and an itchy planting finger, so I suspect I'll be soon burning down the aisles of my local plant store and sprucing and flowering up the backyard.

Happy May Day!

Dawn