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.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
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.
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.
Friday, June 13, 2008
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.
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.
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