What the bloggers I follow are saying...

I read the reports. I didn't watch the undercover video of people willfully and maliciously beating cows and calves at an Ohio farm that was release earlier this week. There was no way that I could.

Beating anything -- person or animal -- never makes sense. And it gave some people who think there should be no animal agriculture an opportunity to say, "See? These people are horrible! They are all like this!" I know. I read it more than once.

I, of course, know better. So do a lot of other people. I hope.

But just in case, I encourage you to read a few posts from the agricultural point of view. Here are just some of the blogs I have read on the issue:

From Texas Farm Bureau's Mike Barnett

From Gate-to-Plate blogger Michele Payn Knoper

From Nevada Farm Bureau's Doug Busselman

From South Dakota rancher and blogger Troy Hadrick

And from Michigan ag salesman Jeff Vander Werff

They all said it better than I could have.

Dawn

Waffling in a tornado warning

Have you ever waffled during a tornado warning? I have to say that last night was a first, but I did it anyway.

The sirens went off last night as I was finishing up some chocolate waffle cookies on my next to new waffle iron. So after I turned to channel 9 to find out that a tornado was indeed on the ground and moving northeast from somewhere southwest of us, I unplugged the waffle iron and we herded the kids and dog downstairs.

My husband was in the basement for no more than four minutes before he was upstairs again, gawking at the storm. My son said, "Why does Dad always get to be upstairs in a storm?" I said, "Yeah, it kinda stinks, doesn't it?"

Truth be told, I wasn't down there much longer -- only long enough to get a movie started and make sure the kids were comfortable. Then I was back upstairs too, not to gawk at the storm, but to get back to my waffle batter. You see, I had finished the waffle cookies, but I had mixed up waffle batter for breakfast waffles, and I didn't really want the batter getting all warm and stuff.

I am happy to report that wherever that tornado was, it was no where near our house. And the waffles and the waffle cookies turned out swell.

But, as a safety precaution, I'd like to tell you all to do as I say, not as a do: "Please, never waffle during a tornado warning."

Dawn

The cosmos have landed

I called. They said yes. I dragged my 12-year-old son with me and bought a bunch. Of course, I'm talking about the cosmos I was anxiously awaiting for last Friday.

Needless to say, I was pretty giddy at the flower shop. It must have rubbed off on my son, because he was making jokes about my age, "Oh look, Mom, its says senior citizens can get a discount." Now, any kid in his right mind would never tell his "pushing 50" mother that she could get a discount for 65-year-olds. But he didn't stop there. When I laughed and told him to, "Go away, if you can't talk nice to your poor, old mother," he went outside and taunted the fish in the pond, instead. And before I get a bunch of animal rights people tsk, tsking me for allowing such behavior, let me just say that his "taunts" involved saying things like "Yum!" and "Fish sticks!"

He came back in and told me that he couldn't get a reaction out of the fish. "Not even a little bit," he said, shaking his head in mock disgust. The patron standing in front of us, however, got a pretty big smile on his face.

We raced home ahead of the rain -- okay I drove the speed limit ahead of the rain, which was probably moving about 20 miles per hour slower than I was, give or take, so it wasn't really much of a race -- and I managed to get half of the cosmos planted before the "game" was called for the evening.

I planted the rest on Sunday night because we were out of town for the weekend and it has been raining ever since, so they should get a really good start.

I can hardly wait for them to start blooming! (Oof-dah, I'm an impatient one aren't I?!?!?)

Dawn

4:27 on a Friday

So I just called the flower store to see if their shipment of cosmos (the tall variety) came in. It's 4:27 p.m. on a Friday and she said they were just unloading the truck, so I should call back in half an hour.

Because I'm really wanting those cosmos, will I call at precisely 4:57 p.m.?

No, I do not want to appear too eager. I will call back, rather nonchalantly, at about 5:03 p.m. Oh, maybe I better wait until 5:08 p.m.

Ever since I decided that I wanted cosmos in my front flower bed, I have had the "Will they or won't they have them?" problem. Not many do. In fact, I have only found one shop in town that carries them with any regularity.

So why don't I just buy some cosmos seed, instead? I don't know. There is something a lot more fun about planting those feathery little seedlings in just the right spot.

Oh gosh, it's only 4:44 p.m. This HAS to be the longest half hour on record!!

Dawn

The gardener/the farmer

I posted the following quote to our North Dakota Farm Bureau page on Facebook the other day because I liked it and thought it was an important point for everyone to keep in mind.

"Farming without a financial motive is gardening." (Thank you Red River Farm Network for overhearing the quote at North Dakota State University.)

That doesn't mean farmers farm to get rich. At least not monetarily. I mean, I don't know of too many farmers who say, "I'm going to become a farmer and make a fortune." In fact, a lot of them have to take second jobs to pay the bills.

What it does, is make them rich in spirit. Farmers farm because they like the job. They like digging in the dirt. They like growing stuff. They enjoy watching the crops -- or the livestock -- grow. They love the challenge of facing off against Mother Nature year after year.

For the number of hours we spend working, doesn't it make sense to find a job that allows you to do what you love and get paid for it at the same time?

I have a job I love that pays the bills and allows me to buy flowers and seeds to plant. I am a gardener.

I don't know if I could be a farmer, but I admire the heck out of them, and appreciate them for doing what they do, so I can do what I do.

Dawn

Mission "Destroy Dandelions" downside

Mission: Destroy Dandelions was a whopping success.

Sometimes we don't get so lucky, but the weather cooperated, for the most part, this past weekend (Saturday a.m., to be more precises) and the result a few days later (Wednesday, noonish), is an astonishingly green (not yellow) yard. In fact, it's amazing how lush the grass looks from the road.

There was a downside, however. Toward the end of the spraying, it got a little windy, and my flowers in one of the beds look a little blistered and discolored.

I was assured by the dude who destroyed the dandelions (that would be my husband) that he would buy me new flowers if these were done in by drift. I won't call it until I have watered them and fertilized them, but since they aren't as shriveled as the dandelions, I'm thinking they just might make it.

Of course, it is rather silly to pass up an offer from your husband to buy you more flowers, isn't it?

Just asking!

Dawn

Tulipia

Not to be confused with the fish called Tilapia.

Tulipia is a day I just made up and is a celebration of the fact that the tulips I planted last year, which promptly shriveled up and apparently died, have not actually done the "apparently died" part.

So today I'm sharing a couple of photos of my tulips in bloom. The first one has been around awhile and almost looks like a rose or something. The second exhibits a more tulipular shape.



















Have a super Tulipia kind of day!

Dawn

déjà vu blog

I was writing a post about my adventures in spending at the plant store when I stopped. "Self?" I said to myself, "There is something very familiar about what you are writing." So I stopped and looked back at some posts from a year ago. Would you believe it? This very same time of year, I was writing a post about the cars, the crowds and the copious amount of money I spent on flowers.

Fast forward to 2010, and about the only difference is I still have 16 pots to fill (as opposed to 11) and I haven't found the cosmos yet. But those fern peonies I mentioned, and subsequently lusted after for the better part of a year, are now on proud display in my front flower bed.

Coincidence or just plain predictable? Oh, I guess it's not so bad to be predictable about some things, as long as it has to do with making things look nice and cheerier and more flowery! Right?

Dawn

Global view

"I was going to call NASA and report a meteor, but then I realized it was just the sun! What a beautiful morning!!!" Val Wagner (http://twitter.com/wagfarms) said on Twitter this morning. I had to agree. Completely. It had been too long without the sun. In fact, the local newspaper reported that, up until today, May was shaping up to be the coldest May on record. But, because we have warm temperatures in the forecast for the next 10 days or so, the 1907 record will probably stand.

Good riddance, I say! And, let's be clear, here. I am slightly jazzed. No, make that really jazzed. So much so, that I actually decided to snap a self-portrait that incorporates my first planting project.

It's called "Global view," and I'm going to be filling my gazing ball/planter/tricycle thingy with wave petunias.



















As you can see from the reflection in the gazing ball, I'm smiling, even though there is still a lot of dirt with not much growing in it. That will all change this weekend!

And that fuzzy white thing behind my left knee is Riley's tail. (He really needs a spring shave!) He had been tied up so I could take a picture, but the little bugger chewed through the rope so he could get in the picture. It was a new rope too. I didn't even get mad. Did I mention all that blue sky?

And that bright spot up in the corner of the gazing ball? Well, that's a meteor....oh, I mean the sun.

Dawn

Oh, Oh, Oh

I realized that my last two posts began with an "Oh" in the headline, so that's the only reason for the three "Ohs" in this one. The third "oh" is the charm, right?

See? This is the kind of thing that happens when it rains all the time and you basically don't see the sun for a week. You get all weird and start feeling sorry for yourself. The lyrics of a Counting Crows song keeps running through my head...

"I need a sunburn...
I need a raincoat...."

What would really make me happy is enough sunshine to do some weeding and plant my "p" plants: peonies and petunias. I have this awesome planter/gazing ball/tricycle (it looks much better than I'm describing it) and I have had this vision of it overflowing with wave petunias ever since I got it. But there it sits; no petunias waving, and I'm not liking it one bit.

And when I can't plant I go to the store and plot how I am going to "accentuate" my flower beds (Think sculptures, ornaments on metal sticks, you know, the not cheap stuff). Luckily, I didn't have the pickup on a trip to the local hobby store last night, or I would have come home with one of those fancy metal garden wall partition thingies. Do I know where it would go? No. But that's beside the point. It's pretty and it would really accentuate a garden plot that I probably haven't even made yet.

In fact, the bench and the little side table that were in front of the partion thingie at the hobby store would look really nice with partion thingie surrounded by flowers.

Can you see where this is going? Me too. So, for my sanity -- and my pocketbook -- WE NEED SOME SUN!!!

Oh, oh, oh!!!

Dawn

Oh, I'm afraid this will not go well

I love seeing the robins come back to our yard well before the snow leaves each spring. They chirp their little robin songs, often from the top of the garage, and I take comfort in the fact that very soon, everything will be green again.

I also enjoy scoping out the spruce trees to find out where the pairs are building their nests.

This pair, however, is probably going to have a tougher go of it than the robins that decided to set up shop in our yard. They are trying to build a nest on the light fixture on our office building.

I'm hoping for the best, but judging from the sticks falling from the nest and all over the sidewalk, it's not going to be easy.

Oh, Brother!!!

Wanna commiserate? Talk to your sister. Want to be reminded of just how old you are getting? Talk to your brother; your younger brother. Or at least read a card from him.

I got a belated birthday card in the mail yesterday from my brother, Keith, that pointed out on the front, "Boogers are just like birthdays," and on the inside, "The more you have of them, the harder it is to breathe." And then, hand-written below the "punchline" the oh-so-eloquent and simple reminder: "Pushing 50."

Thanks, Keith. I wonder if I really needed to be reminded of that? That would be a big, fat "No, I don't think so!"

How did this guy go from the kid who pushed ants under the steps so other people wouldn't step on them to the consummate teaser who gleefully reminds you that you will ALWAYS be older than he is?

Oh well. To be honest, I wouldn't have it any other way. There is only so much feeling sorry for your aging bones that you can do before you just have to say, "I may be pushing 50, but at least I'm not pushing daisies!"

Sounds like the making of a most excellent card, doesn't it?

Dawn

Why we live here

It occurred to me the other day -- actually as I was driving through slush-covered roads at dark-thirty a.m. to get to a meeting by 8 a.m. -- that a lot of people probably think we're crazy for living in North Dakota.

I mean, it snows in May, sometimes even in June. During the winter months, it can be -30 and that doesn't include the windchill. It can be 80 degrees one day, and 35 the next. During the winter we go to work and school in the dark and we often come home in the dark. We complain about spring coming too late and summer leaving too early.

Truth? I think we wouldn't have it any other way. Either we are a bunch of gamblers by nature or we love the challenge. It's a great conversation starter. Snow in May. You should have seen what I saw!!! Sometimes I wouldn't have much to say at all if I couldn't talk about the weather.

The first thing I told anyone who would listen when I made it safely to the meeting -- only five minutes late, mind you -- was how I saw a car passing a snowplow being pulled into the ditch by the slush, driving down the median of I-94, then zipping back up onto the road again. It was amazing, I say.

I started to wonder if I would have kept my head as well as that motorist, or if I would have panicked, slammed on the breaks and created havoc.

I'm thinking it would have been the latter, but I want to aspire to the former. I mean, really, who doesn't want to keep it together when a crisis is imminent?

Although I was pretty shaken thinking about what I could have witnessed, I realized that what I did witness was a triumph; a valuable lesson in perserverance and keeping your wits about you. It made me want to be tougher, better, smarter.

I see that so often in so many ways in this great state.

And that's why I live here. How 'bout you?

Dawn

Words to live by

I don't know why, but this quote really sits well with me:

"Just because something doesn't do what you planned doesn't mean it's useless." ~ Thomas Edison

Just a fun little thought for a Friday afternoon.

Dawn

A time for everything

I have signed up for a luncheon meeting to learn more about measuring communications. I'm running late. I hate to run late. But I am putting something on the website, and it comes in with a bunch of funky fonts and messed up links. So I look at the source code. Man, oh man, what a bunch of stuff to fix. Do I have time? Oh, it shouldn't take too long.

It takes much longer than I think. I'm running later. The luncheon meeting started five minutes ago. "Oh well," I think, "the speaker usually doesn't get started for another fifteen minutes. I'll still make it."

I jump in my car. I think, "Oh, I forgot to bring the address." But I assure myself I will remember, because I've been there before at other luncheon meetings. I head south, then east. "Oh wait! Maybe I'm thinking of the wrong building. I think I'm supposed to be going west." So I turn around, and drive to the other end of town. "Wait, what was the name of the building again?"

I drive around a complex of buildings. I'm sure none of them are right. I ask a lady walking a dog. She suggests I go ask someone in one of the buildings. I make that attempt, but I'm apparently not going to the correct door. It is locked. I jump back in my vehicle and drive around some more. I am now really late. The speaker has most assuredly started.

I throw up my hands. "Just go back to the office and see where you are supposed to be." (By this time I am talking out loud to myself.) I take my rather loud, admonishing advice. I drive the five-minute drive back to the office. It takes eight minutes, because I hit all the lights red. I open the e-mail that gives the address. I was right the first time. I should have been going east, not west.

It is at that point that I tell myself, "It's time to stop the madness. Cut your losses and go home." So, I e-mail my apologies for missing the meeting and go home, let my dog out and eat some toast.

It was the best darned toast I have ever eaten.

There really is a time and place for everything.

Dawn

It's a little known fact, but....

One thing that continually amazes me is the amount of information -- interesting, educational information -- I receive pretty much on a daily basis.

For instance, just today I learned that there are timeshare selling scams out there. Here all the time I thought timeshares WERE the scam;

Or that the N.D. Department of Commerce is spearheading the Operation Intern program to help private businesses hire interns;

Or that Boeing avoided a p.r. nightmare by indicating -- through social media -- that the form letter they sent a blogger's 8-year-old son (who had drawn his conceptual idea for an airplane) saying, "We do not accept unsolicited ideas..." was dumb to send a kid and that they would revamp their letter policy;

Or that May 18 is International Museum Day and to celebrate, admission to all of North Dakota's State Historic Sites will be free that day (and that 5 of the 55 sites actually have admission fees);

Or that there is a seven-story high observation tower overlooking the Red River Valley at the Pembina State Museum;

Or that Governor Hoeven just requested state agencies to identify reductions in spending of 3 percent for the 2011-13 biennium in the event the state needs additional savings.

Or that I'm not the only one who is asking what happened to spring and when she plans to come visit again.

Remember the Cliff Claven character on Cheers? It's a little known fact, (Cliff's signature phrase) but I could become the Cliff Claven of Farm Bureau.

Dawn