Apples2

Sandi...first of all, congrats on your success. I could write a similar post..minus the beach part. LOL I was banded June, 2008 and am thankful every day of my life. I can run circles around any 19 yr old and have unlimited energy. I consider myself to have had the ideal LB journey. This did not come without hard work and determination and consider myself fortunate to not have too many bumps in the road. We are farmers which requires us to be on the move on a daily basis. Prior to banding, it was such a chore to accomplish the little tasks. Now, there is nothing I cannot do that is required of me. Life is good!

I was always the "inside girl" when we built our bins. I would hold the nuts while DH used the drill on the outside. Sweltering, humid weather and stifling heat inside those bins.

1st photo is the tile I was trying to describe. They use big spools that the rolls go on and string it into the trenches 2nd...is a photo of the catwalk so we can check the grain dryer fans and check the grain inside the bins. The orange you see are the burners and the cause of the fires we had the last two years during harvest. 3rd...not a very good photo but that little white building with the door is my little station I use when unloading trucks, etc. Usually bitterly cold during harvest so I have some protection from the cold and wind. Also this little building is set up for checking moisture of the grain.

1st photo is the little sunporch where DH and I have Breakfast each morning and watch the crops grow...we do crop rotation so soybeans will be out our back window this year. 2nd...grain bins where crop is stored. The largest one holds about 80,000 bushels where the smaller are about 30,000 3rd...more bins 4th...the space between these bins shows where we load and dump our grain. The semis drive in between the bins and dump their load into a big grate under the truck and is distributed to different bins. All I have to do is push a button in the control room and it goes to the correct bin (hopefully...have not screwed it up and put Beans in with corn yet) Also...that funny looking upside down cone shaped overhead bin is where we transport the grain to when we are loading the trucks to take grain to town.

Phyll...I cannot get rid of books either. I am very protective of my stash. If friends borrow, I make them sign them out (embarssed). I do re-read some books. I have taken many journeys as I read those books and they mean something to me. And...you are correct...my dog cannot be considered an animal. Like I said last week...he is a lab/human mix.

Happy Anniversary, Lori. Nice to hear that your 31 yrs have been happy ones. I can say the same. 31 yrs in Nov. We all have a little quirks and I am sure there were times DH would have loved it if I just "poof" disappeared, and, vice versa. But, after all this time we still enjoy each others company. I still get excited for a date night. Funny about DH and his brother. I raised two boys on this farm and they were also little DARE DEVILS. Their dad made them work and they did earn money for certain jobs. This allowed them to buy "toys" with their money. From the time they could barely see over the steering wheel, their dad had them out in the fields driving the pickups and tractors. I grew up in town so would tend to be a little protective (which I should have been). They had all kinds of go carts they built, dune buggies, snowmobiles, etc. with a lot of acres to test them out. Our oldest was in the snowmobile racing circuit for years. Anyway...to get to one story brought to mind when you mentioned your DH on the farm....The one and only time we had any livestock was the summer the boys were 3 and 5. I kept a pretty close eye on them but I guess this time not close enough. I could see out all our windows and could see where they were at all times. We decided to feed out 8 black angus that summer. Had a barn at the place we lived and just put up fence outside the barn. Well, looked out the kitchen window and there was a major stampede. The boys decided to "brand" the angus. They heated up sticks from a burning barrel that had some warm embers and were poking these HUGE angus on the hinder. Many, many stories of those two little risk takers. Good luck with your test today. Makes me wonder why your doc would be so invasive with a test like that. Maybe just a cautious kind of guy.

Not a problem, LauraK...I was just surprised that you remembered what kind of farm we have.

There are soooooooooooo many ppl that have had successful results with the band that do not post as much as they used to on this forum. There are a lot of negative posts, but, we are going to hear more from ppl that are struggling than ppl where things are going good for them. Never hurts to hear some of the negatives so you can prepare yourself and learn from them. This procedure and the months after are not an easy road. But, so worth it all in the end. Wishing you luck in your decision!

Thanks for the reminder, Janet...but I thought Linda's bday is tomorrow...Doesn't matter cuz then maybe she will get bday greetings for two days! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEAR LINDA (WE LOVE YOU) HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU

OMG Julie.... the girls look like they could be sisters. So cute. Deb...know where you are coming from with the ADD. I was the odd ball in our little household with DH and oldest DS way off the charts ADD and youngest DS ADHD. Was tough sometimes but I had a rule....they could NEVER use it as an excuse. It was a lot of work with the organization thing. I really don't think I was that organized b/4 marrying DH. But, after raising the boys and living with DH for 30 yrs, I am the most organized person due to our daily routine and keeping everybody on task. I found that the biggest factor in dealing with this disability was scheduling and being consistant. It worked but not without a lot of stress. I would not trade any of those years though for normalcy. ADD ppl are extremely innovative and new ideas every day. Nothing surprises me any more when I get a call from one of my sons explaining what they are up to. Always something new. What they have done makes me look boring.

Haven't hit the road yet, LauraK. Waiting to hear which way I go today. So funny on the farming thing, Jodi. I can just imagine the images you have in your head. Me on a little round stool under a cow pulling on teats. Separating cream, churning butter, feeding chickens, singeing and plucking the chicken, candling eggs, laying down bedding for the baby pigs, pitching manure. NO WAY IN HELL! Even though it was love at first sight with DH, I would have had to run as fast as I could the other way. That LauraK is pretty smart. We farm just under 3000 acres of strictly corn and soybeans. We are conservations farms. We do not go out with big old plows and dig up the top soil. 31 yrs ago we became "ridge tillers". What that entails is...all those years ago (or when we pick up another peice of land) we built ridges 36" apart the length of the feild (usually 1 mile length). In the spring we go in with the corn or soybean planter and cut off a bit of the top of the ridge and planter drops the seed in and also covers it up at on the same pass. Doing it this way limits erosion and saves the top soil. We just let it grow. At harvest time the corn gets picked and shelled out by the combine. It gets brought back to our farm, dried in the grain dryer and then transported underground to different grain bins for storage. We usually "forward contract" which means we sell about 10,000 bushels at a time. Kind of a safety net not to sell all at once. Never want to have all your eggs in one basket...it actually all evens out nicely in the end. Most farmers go in the feilds b/4 planting and deep plow the soil. Then again after harvest. We don't turn the soil at all. DH has been farming since the late 60's, so been at it for a little over 40 yrs. It's a good life. We also have a custom agricultural tiling business which our 29 yr old son manages. We have very heavy rich soil in our area and it needs to be drained or it will drown out the crops. They have huge rolls of plastic pipe and dig about six foot deep trenches, lay the pipe, cover it up and do intakes every so often in order for the farmer to maintain the tile. They put in miles and miles of the tile every year. DH helps with the tiling when he is not farming. As I explained yesterday, I am their "gopher". I run for loads of the tile, run wherever they need me to to get parts for repairs, etc. Our farms are up to 15 miles away from each other so I do a lot of running between. I will try to take some photos today of the bins and tile just so you can better see what I mean. Cannot take photos of equipment as it is all miles away out in the feilds being used. As I said in a previous post, since hiring our son 4 yrs ago, a lot of my "farm wifey" duties have been taken away from me...OH NO!!!! Which I am fine with. The toughest part for me is going from the 24/7 thing to just what I do now. But, I take off for my lake place on Thursdays and come home Monday mornings. I just make up a bunch of food b/4 I leave. Guilt hotdishes, guilt sandwiches, guilt cookies and I'm set to go!

Cheri...sorry you were so devastated by your experience with fellow chior members. I hope you can work through it all in your own mind and find peace in the fact that you know you did not mean to hurt anyone with your statement. Sending hugs...Karen

Hey Deb...nothing wrong with a pound a week. Congrats. That's over 50lbs a year. (I always need to look at the big picture in order to get there). The work on the farm is really not too physically taxing...just a lot of running...which is good for anyone. We are sooooooooo automated. DH does not even have to steer the tractor or load the planter. It's all computerized. But not too many years ago (maybe 4) we were lifting 50lbs seed bags and filling the planter boxes. No wonder I have had over a dozen hernia repairs. Lori...Yes, Tanker rides with momma. He sits or lays on the passenger side floor of my truck. Gets up and kisses me about ever 10 minutes and then settles down agin. We stopped at DQ today for a treat...his fav place. We usually stop there on the way to the lake but he was such a good puppy today that I had to treat him....good excuse for me to stop for a treat also. We originally named him Tank and the "er" got added on. He has lots of knicknames also. Too many to mention. He got his name because when we got him at 6 weeks old, he was built like a tank. Very broad through the chest and paws the size of frisbies. It's dark here and have not gotten my call yet for rides. Two more trips...8 miles north to pick up DS and 6 miles south to get DH. Dinner is warming in the oven. Then time to hit the shower and bed. 4am is rise and shine time. Happy Fake Anniversary, Lori! I would do nachos anytime over a steak. Sorry you have to spend your anniversary alone. Ours is Nov 10 and is harvest time around here. Very little time to celebrate but usually bring dinner to the field and ride in the jump seat with DH for a few hours. You all have a great evening. I sure do miss Janet posting like she used to. I understand, Janet...but just miss your words of wisdom.

Hey Peeps! Yes Julie...if I had a butt, I would have run it off today. What a day and it's not over yet. But, I do really enjoy what I do for the farm and the business. Official Gopher. DS and DH are working in two different fields about 15 miles apart. DH is planting corn and DS is doing field tiling. My day started with getting them to and from their fields and while moving machinery. Ran for some parts for DS, just stepped in the door and DH called for me to run for parts for him. My thought was that new planters should not need parts but who am I to say? Had to travel 70 miles because our John Deere dealership did not have what I needed. Was back from my little trip for 20 minutes and got a call from DH to run back the 70 miles for different parts. Delivered parts to different fields. Had a message when I got home so ran 15 miles back to town to pick up my wedding ring that I knocked the diamond out of last Thurday night. (Got up at 4:45 to go to restroom, tripped over a basket that I had not yet emptied, hit a wall mirror with my hand and spent the next 4 hours searching for the diamond. I decided I would take a break, eat something and post for a few minutes b/4 I run water tanks down to DH. I often wonder how I did not go nuts a few years back. Worked more than full time, did kids, sports, volunteered, did my own housework, etc., plus, helped on the farm til dark when we were in the fields. I really, really love the days like this when we are busy but I also really, really love the days I am able to take and veg when I want to. All I have to do is say I am going. Very thankful we do not work 7 days a week anymore. We did for years. Now, when I start feeling guilty about the time I take to myself, I need to be reminded of those first 25 yrs of picking rock while all our neighbors were heading down the road with the camper behind their pickup. Julie...hope those treatments do not flare up things. Just hand DH the cleaning bucket and the toilet brush and go out for a walk. And, doing dishes is good for a man. Gets the grime off their hands!

Fast Fly By...Good Morning to All....Hope everyone has a good day. Beautiful sunny day in MN. High of 73 today. Will spend the day running between farming and tiling projects and helping the guys get equipment to the fields. Off and running. Later.

Gosh...it really does work to cross my fingers and toes! Congrats to your daughter.:thumbup:

Julie...WTH is your insurance company thinking? You would think they would let your doc make the decision as to how many shots he feels you need. I just don't understand how someone sitting behind a desk can make a decision on the medical needs of a person. Yep, deck will be playground for adults. We will be able to have campfires right on the deck with plenty of room for ppl to sit around it. I will have to take a photo...didn't have my camera this last weekend. I don't envy you in your remodeling job. We did 90% of our main floor a few years ago. We were lucky enough to have a kitchen in the basement and just moved down there for 3 months (I spent one of those months in Australia while DH and contractors toiled away...princess). Another thing that makes me UGLY...living with the mess that contractors make. I walked around with a broom in my hand. But, it is all worth it in the end.

Melissa...about the same cals in onion rings and fries. If you google, McD fries has 290 cals for their small pkg of fries...about the same when you google onion rings. Probably the two together that you ate would be around 200 cals. I know it's tough to get that water in. But, try to never be without a container at your finger tips. It's the easiest way to make sure you get in your daily requirement. I have to put some flavor in mine. Not sure why but since LB I have a tough time with plain water.

Hey, Jessica...nice to hear from you. Been missing your posts. Happy to hear you had a nice trip and that you are settled in and happy with your new place. Sounds like life is good. Also, way to go on getting back on track. Not easy but you did it. That's what counts. A "high five" if you can handle that pig dissection. We had to do one in 10th grade biology class. A fetal pig. I made a few trips to the little girl's room and lost lunch over it.:sad: Nice to have you back!:thumbup:

OOOPS...forgot to say "Hi" to Laura... cute photo with Nels in his tighty whities. It is true what someone said about males having to show off their muscles. I have a photo of both boys in their undies, doing the very same pose...but, peppered with chicken pox.

Whew....finally have a chance to sit for a bit and catch up. We are starting our corn planting today and there is so much prep work with it. DH just fired up the tractor and ,as we speak, he is turning out of the driveway to break ground. Here we go! Farming is so rewarding...even though I do my share of complaining about certain aspects of it. It's in DH and DS's blood and they are usually smiling while they work which makes me happy. And the old saying...When momma's happy? It's true. On a dead run since I came home. But, I will run for 4 days straight in order to have my free time at the lake. Great...sounds like a wonderful trip you have planned. We have never done a cruise. Always a little fearful with my vertigo (which all started with my first pregnancy). It's managable most days but when it's bad, it's really bad. Just don't know what affect it would have. Maybe I am just paranoid and cruising would have no affect. Not sure about the possibility of internet up at the resort this year. All I know is that I am not going to take on all of the financial responsibility to get it done. It needs to be a group effort. Everyone wants the service but not wanting to put the $$$$ out for it. Nothing I would love more than to be able to keep up with you guys on a daily basis but I've got my feet stuck in the mud on this one and not budging. One family should not foot the bill. And Great....Awwww...so nice what you said about missing me when I'm not here. I thought I was only contributing useless "chatter". Hope your home sells soon and that you don't have continuous showings. Also, hope you get the $$$ you want for it. I am one to not like hanging in limbo on things like that. My furniture would be in the new home in SLC 2 days after I found out I was moving. I lose sleep over stuff like that and I am UGLY when I lose sleep. Just ask DH! Melissa...as Great asked, are you following along with a similar plan that Arlene is on???? Good for you for making a plan for yourself. That's what it takes...planning. My friends always give me such grief on planning soooooooooooooooooooooo far ahead of time. I function so much better when I have a plan...no matter what it is. Joyce...congrats on the 3lbs! Way to go! Arlene...I had my FIRST protein shake today. When I had surgery, I found them sooooooooooooo disgusting. I tried but couldn't do it. Well, a new shake place opened in our little town a few months ago. DS's GF is working there as a 2nd job and she convinved me to give it a try. OMG...I had their 20 oz cappucino shake. So good and I was full for 4 hours. I am going to finally order some powder or premade shakes so I can add what I want to them. Not sure what brand Janet told me she got. Pure Protein????? Julie...try to be patient. So sorry you have not gotten total relief. I am thinking it might take shots close together for awhile in order for it to take. I wish so much that this works for you. Hey Janet...we have a music festival (We Fest) which is just a couple of hours from here that is nationally known. Big named country stars for a 3 day festival. I have not gone...just didn't mesh with my schedule most years. Both DS's used to pull a camper up and party down for 3 days. (Mom had fingers and toes crossed all 3 days for many reasons). Not sure if I would want to fight the crowd and walk through other ppl's pee for 3 days but would like to go for a day of it. We can buy 1 day tickets. With camping for 3 days and the tickets, it's about $1200. The reallly get you on what they charge for campers. Eva....the Queen of Yard Projects! I so admire all that you are capable of doing! LauraK...LOVE your new avatar photo...So cute! Phyl....great photos of the kids. They sure were smiling for GM. Have a good rest of your trip, and, as my GF always said...watch the crossroads! Jodi...good going on the 30lbs! You are doing so great on this trip and staying strong. Good for you! Hey Cheri...sounds like you had a nice weekend and had some time to relax after your stressful week. Hope all things in your job work in your favor. (Yeah, right, huh?) OK...that's it for me. Gotta run to a feild 10 miles away and pick up DS. He is out surveying for a tiling job and took the tiling tractor over to leave there. Later.

Hi to all....got home this morning about 10am. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful weekend. DH was able to spend a couple of nights with me and got the new deck moved in along with DS. They are just so talented and I am so proud of them for what they do. The new deck is 5x larger than the one we added onto. DH has a huge breaking in party planned and is including everyone at the resort..ummmm...I can handle it. True test of how many can fit on the deck. Didn't have the heart to tell him that if everyone invited shows up, we could have well over 100 ppl. I will have to be creative with the appetizer menu. Got caught up on my reading posts but no time to talk. Have to get lunch on the table. Grilled hamburger and potatoes on the grill...peach pie. Missed visiting with you all but it is what is to come every Wed or Thursday thru Mondays until the end of October. Later.

WooHoo, Julie! No pain. When was the last night that happened???? We were not green at the beginning of the week. Got a thunderstorm with 1.5inces of rain on Monday night and it greened everything up. Had a dog in bed with us shaking also. He has only in the last year or so become afraid of thunder. It was like staying awake with a new baby. But, he is our baby and we will do what it takes to make his world wonderful. DH is as bad as I am for babying him.

Your one statement "God is smiling" says it all, Arlene