Ok, so thing is being a pain in the butt today. Here's the start of the long-awaited "Spring in Review."

The first picture is Jacob on a giant snowbank. This picture was taken in April. We didn't have a very pleasant spring. Weather was in the 40s and 50s, and that was in May. We didn't get to plant any corn in April. Come to think of it, we didn't do much of anything in the fields in April.

Second picture is my new baby! This is Eckert Griffey Gessie at about 3 weeks, a daughter of Test Greta and granddaughter of my first Ayrshire, Spring-Valley RW-Girl (aka Willie). Gessie was born March 1, so she's a full-age spring calf. She was born in Medford, but moved south for the summer. I was down to just two Ayrshires, one from Willie and one from a Moy-Ayr cow I bought, so getting a heifer calf is a big deal. My count is now at four. My little sister, Kaitlyn, qualified Gessie for the Wisconsin State Fair in August, which is the largest junior show in the country. If she does well there, we might try to get her in some bigger open shows this fall. She's pretty, but she's also quite a character and will be spoiled rotten by Labor Day, I'm sure.

Useful? Yes. Boring? Yes.

OK, this is a boring entry. I was pushing up against the deadline an had nothing inspiring to write about. At least that I could put in the paper anyway. I post that here later. :)

Just Tuesday I was sitting in line waiting for my fast food fix when it suddenly came to me: how much gas do Americans waste sitting in line in the drive-thru?
I typed that exact question into my Internet search engine. Judging by the 51,600 hits I got, I’m not the only one wondering. I also ran across an article by Alisa Miller who offered 101 ways to use less gas. With prices at nearly $4 per gallon, I’m guessing I could use at least 50 of these recommendations.
I have found myself very conscious of how much gas I’m using. A few years ago I used to go some place every weekend, trekking from River Falls to visit my parents or Nate. Even on the weekends I “stayed home” frequent trips into the Twin Cities were the common place.
I must be getting wiser or cheaper. I don’t remember the last time I went shopping in Marshfield. I know for a fact the last time I was in Wausau to shop was April, only because I was shopping a wedding registry at Bed, Bath and Beyond.
With the rising price I’m definitely not saving money by cutting, but I am staying within my weekly fuel budget and not spending more. My car doesn’t have a fuel economy tracker, but Nate’s truck does. When I drive it I find myself constantly checking it to see how I’m doing. Based on that, I can tell you the biggest fuel hog is stepping on the accelerator too hard. Hitting the gas drops the economy into single digits. If I can accelerate nice and easy, it stays in double digits and keeps my overall average up.
Some of Miller’s tips don’t really apply for us country folk: we don’t have the luxury of trains and buses. I doubt a Segway would get very far on some of the more aged sidewalks.
Regardless here are what I found to be the best tips out of Miller’s 101 ways to use less gas.
1. Walk. Take advantage of the easiest and cheapest form of transportation–walking. If your destination is within a mile or two, you can easily walk the distance. Not only will you save gas, but you will be doing something healthy for your body, too.
25. Take out the junk. Make sure you aren’t carrying around too much extra stuff in your car or in the trunk. 100 pounds of added weight in your car will significantly affect your gas mileage.
41. Fill up at a quarter tank. Don’t wait until the gas gauge hits empty before you fill up. Filling up around a quarter tank is better for your fuel injection system, thus improving your gas mileage.
55. Avoid idling. Turning your car off and back on again uses less gas than idling for 30 seconds in newer cars and one minute in older cars.
61. Turn off the A/C. Running the air conditioner uses considerably more gas. See if you can get by with the windows rolled down. This changes if you are doing highway driving, however. You will want to use the A/C to reduce the drag on your car that occurs with windows down at a faster rate of speed.
75. Park it. Don’t drive around a parking lot looking for the closest parking space. Park and walk. Take advantage of the opportunity for some exercise.
97. Move. This may only apply if you are in the market for a new house or you rent, but move closer to work so you are more easily able to take advantage of walking or one of the other alternate transportation methods.
I guess that last one won’t work for me, but good luck to the rest of you on getting the most out of your gas tank.

Computers don't like me today

I was trying to upload photos to make a "April and May in Review" entry. It doesn't want to work, so that will have to wait for another day. We had a busy weekend in the Eckert family. We went to Mike and Kristen's church wedding Friday night (they actually got married in the courthouse a year ago this weekend), to a little celebration that night and then to a big ol' picnic on the farm Saturday afternoon and evening. Nate's mom and dad went to Pewaukee for another wedding, so we were a little short-handed with chores.

Sunday Nate, Jacob, Ryan and I headed south to watch the tractor pulls in Tomah. Of the four of us, Nate was the only one who had been to them before. Jacob had a blast, but got rather crabby when the evening came to an end. He woke up with leg cramps about an hour after he fell asleep.

Other than that, not much new to report. Nate is hoping the concrete guys get going on the rest of the parlor today. It's been sitting there for about a month without much progress. Our original completion date was supposed to be Aug. 1, but now we are hoping it is done before we start chopping corn. It's a typical building project: it never goes the way you want it to.

June 18 column

Is it just me, or is summer getting away from me? I know it’s only June 18, not even to the official start of summer. That comes on Friday (unless you live in Europe, then it’s Saturday). Since I started working full-time in the summer in 2002, it doesn’t really seem like I have one. “Summer” just doesn’t have the same ring to it when nothing changes except clothing.

I started spring with a rather long list of things that needed to get done before the snow melted. Unfortunately, my summer to-do list is not getting any shorter. For every item that gets checked off, two more are added. There is progress on the home front, though. I hauled in enough stones to create borders around two new flowerbeds. One became my vegetable garden and has a nice looking crop of radishes, tomatoes, peppers and sunflowers coming up in it. One thing is missing: I specifically remember buying a large packet of green beans a few weeks back. I wanted to plant them and make an attempt at dilly beans this year. Try as I might to find them, the seeds have disappeared off the face of the earth.

The other flowerbed now has pansies and a few petunias in it, along with two new bleeding hearts and two Virginia bluebell plants. Seedling columbines from my mom are also looking good. There’s more room in that bed, but I think it’s a good start.I’m not finished though. I have gladiola bulbs that needed to go in the ground last week, and six new hostas are waiting to be planted on the north side of the house.

Regardless of what needs to get done, my world comes to a halt when it’s community festival weekend. This weekend it was Dorchester Days. As far as summer festivals go, I would venture to guess Dorchester Days is only second to Athens Fair on Nate’s list of favorites. I can’t really rank my favorites, but if I had to pick a top five, Dorchester Days would be in there. This event is also interesting because of the balancing act Nate and I do. Nate traditionally plays in the softball games and likes to go to the tractor pulls. I have to get pictures from different activities for the newspaper. Somewhere in there, Jacob also needs to be supervised. After doing this for the fourth year in a row, I think we’re starting to get the routine down. While Nate played softball, I went with Jacob to get photos at pulls and the carnival. When Nate wanted to watch tractor pulls Jacob was happy to camp out with him so I could get more pictures.

Between events, I did manage to make a little progress at home. A few loads of laundry got done, and I bought a weed trimmer Saturday to combat the areas outside the realm of the lawn mower. Speaking of which, the lawn got a trim Saturday too. Still, there’s no way I would willingly let company into the house right now without some major cleaning and organization. It’s one of the hazards of summer: no free time at home. But I’ll take that hazard and even enjoy it while I can. As long as I’m sitting in the sunshine with my family at a tractor pull, a glass of fresh squeezed lemonade in one hand and a cardboard dish of deep fried cheese curds in the other, the laundry can wait.

Thoughts on flooding (from 6/11)

It’s rarely a good sign to see footage on your hometown on CNN. For the past several weeks southern Wisconsin has had an unusual amount of rain. This area has been lucky: farmers have been able to plant crops which haven’t been drowned out. In southern Wisconsin, most crops are either underwater or struggling to grow in sopping wet soil. Other farmers still have bags of seed sitting in their sheds, the fields too wet to plant.

This past weekend Nate and I packed up Jacob, the dog and a calf to trek to southern Wisconsin. It was the first chance we’ve had to visit my parents since my grandpa’s funeral in January. It was around Mauston when we first started to see evidence of the bad weather: ponds where corn fields should be, gullies on plowed hillsides and just a general feeling of “wet.” Even the air felt like it had more moisture. By the time we reached Plain and Spring Green, ponds had become lakes. Even just outside of Spring Green, where the soil is sandy enough for potatoes and irrigation, there were several acres of solid water where I’d never seen flooding before. Though my parents are in a valley away from the river and “low ground” their fields were soaked. Hay fields were flatbed by hard rain and very few fields have been planted. The lower, flat fields are mud holes and the side hills are too slick to safely take a tractor across them.

Even with the muck, Nate and I intended to enjoy our visit. Friday night was my sister’s high school graduation ceremony. With more than 170 students to graduate, Nate and I decided it would be too much for a toddler to sit through. We took Jacob to Kung Fu Panda instead, a very cute kids movie that kept the big kids entertained too. On Saturday the whole family went to the Iowa County Dairy Breakfast for pancakes and their famous loaded scrambled eggs. More rain came in the afternoon and overnight.

By Sunday morning I told Nate we better pack up and head home before the creeks spilled their banks and flooded us in. Mid-morning my brother came from his farm across the road to report his driveway was flooded. The creek flooded over a culvert and washed a big chunk of it away. He called the milk truck driver to tell him not to try crossing it. We traded the calf, a loaner for my sister to show this summer, for my little brother’s swingset. With the whole family packed up we headed back past deeper gullies and even more flooded fields. The worst hit the area Sunday night and Monday morning. My high school had one more week of school left, but is now closed for the summer. The middle school was used as a shelter for families with flooded homes. More than 40 families were displaced in one Spring Green subdivision.

As for my family, my brother found a load of gravel to patch his driveway enough for the milk truck to get in. It saved him from dumping three days worth of milk. My parents are worried if they will ever be able to get the spring crops in. With corn prices at record levels, no crop would threaten the livelihood of their dairy farm. Count your blessings and keep all those affected by flooding in your prayers. They definitely need them.

Study shows Friday the 13th not unlucky

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Unlucky for some? Dutch statisticians have established Friday the 13th, a date regarded in many countries as inauspicious, is actually safer than an average Friday.

A study published Thursday by the Dutch Centre for Insurance Statistics (CVS) showed fewer accidents and reports of fire and theft occur when the 13th of the month falls on a Friday than on other Fridays.

"I find it hard to believe that it is because people are preventatively more careful or just stay home, but statistically speaking, driving is a little bit safer on Friday 13th," CVS statistician Alex Hoen told the Verzekerd insurance magazine.

In the last two years, Dutch insurers received reports of an average 7,800 traffic accidents each Friday, the CVS study said. But the average figure when the 13th fell on a Friday was just 7,500.

There were also fewer incidents of fire and theft, although the average value of losses on Fridays 13th was slightly higher.

Random thoughts from 6/4

These last few weeks have been hectic to say the least. I’ve found myself needing to prioritize quite a bit. Unfortunately, “prioritizing” is really just a fancy way to put “deciding what to let slide.” Two things have become very apparent that I need to address them. The first is my blog, a little blip on the World Wide Web I use to keep family and friends updated on the goings-on in the Eckert household. I got two complaints this week. I checked and I haven’t updated it since April 16. Has it been that long?

The second are the floors in my house. Our floors are 95 percent laminate, supposedly one of the most low maintenance floors there is. As I looked at it walking into the house at 10:15 p.m. last night, it definitely needs a little maintenance. So what have I been so busy with? Here’s just a peek.

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I attended my first Colby High School graduation Friday night. As far as graduations go, I was impressed. It was longer than some but it didn’t seem like it. The speeches were entertaining and the music was moving. When I graduated the crowd was instructed not to applaud and instead wait until an entire row was finished. At Colby each graduate was given the opportunity to stand and be recognized. It seemed to truly celebrate the class’s achievement.

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Saturday turned out to be a free day, so I spent it sleeping in an hour later than usual, then running errands with Jacob. The little guy finally seems to be outgrowing the terrible twos and is a lot of fun to be around. Although, I’m starting to think he may not ever outgrow the slightly embarrassing announcement he makes every time we walk into my credit union: “Sucker!”

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Sunday morning was spent at the Abbotsford Dairy Breakfast. This was the first time I’d attended this event as well, and I wasn’t disappointed. It was apparent how much hard work goes into the day, and how dedicated the volunteers are. What a great way to salute area dairy farmers.

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Monday was the big meeting to talk about Jacob’s potential speech therapy needs with our school district. With his history of ear infections, which led to ear tubes, it was no surprise when he was called back for further evaluation. As it turns out, he’s not as far behind as I was expecting. While he does qualify for extra help, district officials said it was really up to us if we wanted to have him do speech or just wait and see if he catches up on his own.

While Nate and I both agree Jacob should get help if he needs it, we’re going to wait and see how he does for the next month. It seems like he’s finally making leaps and bounds in the past few weeks. One thing is certain: we’ve been needing to watch what we say around him a lot more.

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This Friday I won’t be in the office. I’ll be heading home to see my sisters. Kirsten graduated from the Air Force’s weather forecasting school May 21 and came home Thursday for some time home before she reports to her new base. My youngest sister, Kaitlyn, is graduating from high school Friday night, so it will be a two-fold celebration. She is planning to attend UW-River Falls next year for pre-veterinary science.

Congratulations to both Nelson family graduates!

Addition: Kristopher was supposed to graduate 8th grade Thursday. No ceremony for him since they called off the last week of school due to flooding.

Another update

I didn't get a new car. The trusty ol' Grand Am is still running. Saving my money for something different by next winter though, and still taking suggestions for what I should get.

Hiatus is over

Call it a writer's strike if you want I guess. I've been really really busy lately, mostly work. Ever other free minute has been spent getting things done on the house: Staining the porch, landscaping, planting flowers, etc. Here's a sample of my work:


Still a long ways to go, not to mention a lot of money. Nate and I used my tax refund and our economic stimulus check to buy a new toy to help out. I'll get pictures up of it as soon as its dry enough to use.

Until then here's a column to help you get caught up. This is from May 28. Obviously by now, it has warmed up and I'm getting my plants in.


Column 5/28
If you’re a person in the business or hobby of growing anything outside, it’s been a hard year to do it. According to one of the local weather guys, mid-May is usually the last frost of the year. And yet, frost was predicted again Tuesday night. Some people have fallen victim to Jack Frost. One ambitious person I see often set out all her tomato and vegetable plants. They are now sitting limp and black in her garden. My mother-in-law is the opposite. Every slightly fragile plant she has purchased is inside her house. Her hanging baskets, which she bought a month ago, are still hanging in the greenhouse she bought them from, awaiting warmer weather.

I got ambitious this past weekend and started getting ready to plant. My landscaping has been in the preliminary stages for several weeks now. I’ve been collecting garden tools and supplies, even using some. I raked and got rid of weeds from flower beds. I hauled in rocks from the fields to make borders and the start of a rock garden. I even convinced Nate to bring me a skidsteer bucket of top soil to create a small vegetable garden on the south side of our house. Until this past weekend, I avoided buying any plants. I collected a few along the way: a geranium won as a door prize, a petunia from Jacob for mother’s day, some little columbines from my mom’s garden and a small hanging basket from kid’s day at a local greenhouse. But, ever being the bargain hunter, a buy-two-get-one-free plant sale lured me in over the weekend. My new front porch has five openings. To fill it up I would need five hanging baskets, a purchase I was trying to figure out how to finance. Thanks to the sale, raiding my mother-in-law’s garden shed for five used but perfect condition baskets, and a large bag of potting soil, I was able to create five baskets for the price of one basket at the garden center down the road.

However, I do admit getting Nate to install the hooks for the baskets looks to be a project all by itself. While my baskets might take a few weeks to get caught up to the store bought ones, I think deep purple and white wave petunias will be just as pretty if not more so than anything I could have bought. Although I swore last winter I would not grow anything edible this year, temptation won out and I also picked up some tomato and green bell pepper plants. A few jalapenos and I’ll have the makings of fresh salsa later this summer. I’m also scouting a spot for a pumpkin patch.

So far, I have yet to put anything in the ground. I’d barely finished my baskets when Nate came to tell me there was a chance of frost. So Monday and Tuesday night, I grouped all the plants that could possibly be fragile and covered them with a sheet, tucking the ends under the heavy baskets. We can’t cover the many acres of corn just emerging from the soil, but they have a built in defense. Corn plants will come back even if frozen as long as the growing point is still below ground, which is about the fourth leaf collar. While this weather seems to be contradicting the global warming theory, it does make it a little frustrating if you like to work outside. Tuesday night I looked over the bundle of plants and wondered: Will it ever warm up?