Archive for the ‘Family – Martin’ Category
May 18, 2011 – Jazzy Martin
This isn’t particularly of interest to everyone, but I thought family might appreciate a 3 minute clip from Martin’s first jazz band concert. The quality is poor, but you at least get to hear it (listen for Martin’s trombone solo). The band started practicing in February and consists of 5th and 6th graders.
They’ve made great progress since the 5th graders just picked up their instruments last fall.
one year ago…”Goats on the Ground”
April 13, 2011 – The Streak Continues – 4 Days in a Row
Our ewe Gabby gave birth today. We can officially blame Martin for the fact that she only dropped one lamb. The night before she became a mom, Martin asked if ewes ever only had one baby. We told him not very often and we’ve never had just one.
So Gabby made liars out of us. When she was labor, she REALLY wanted to be a mommy! I moved one of the ewes out of the mommy-baby pen in anticipation of Gabby and her babies needing the space. As soon as Gabby saw the other lambs from another ewe, she started licking and nursing them as her own while her own birthing process was beginning. I separated her quickly as to not get everybody mixed up on who’s who.
one year ago…”New York Farm Workers Bill”
April 9, 2011 – 27 Years Later, UMD Hockey Champs!
As a native Duluthian and an alum of UM-Duluth, and a season ticket holder from 1981-1984, I was pleased to witness the Bulldogs win their first NCAA hockey championship. In 1984, after the Bulldogs painful 5-4 loss in four overtimes in the NCAA championship game, if you would have told me that in 27 years I’d be taking my son to the see the championship game, visiting my oldest daughter in college, and married to Linda (who I knew then and wanted to know much better, but she was already with boyfriend), I would have been overjoyed.
There it is 3-2 UMD in overtime over Michigan.
Martin in his seat at the Xcel Energy center. I’m thinking the millions the power company spent on advertising was missed on Martin as he asked me “Dad, is this arena related to Microsoft?” I asked him why he thought it might be and he replied that the name of the arena was a spreadsheet.
The Xcel center is a great place to watch a hockey game – ESPN The Magazine has ranked the venue six years among the top three for “Best Stadium Experience” in all of professional sports. Xcel Energy Center was named “Best NHL Arena” by Sports Business Journal and recognized for the “Best Fan Experience” by Forbes magazine. Sports Illustrated named the arena its “top choice” among NHL buildings. But until today, I didn’t know what extremes the facility went to make the fan experience so great.
For example, after talking up the guy sitting next to me, he revealed that he was Gregg Moore, who played for UMD the same time I had season tickets. Not only did he play there, he had 206 career points, which makes him the 4th highest scoring player in UMD history! Needless to say, there was much happiness in our row. Gregg’s time ended in 1983, one year before the famous 4 OT championship game at Lake Placid, but he was there to watch it on a break from professional hockey in Europe.
Here’s the obligatory celebration following the sudden death victory. The game had a storybook ending as the player who scored the winning goal was voted the “most underrated” college hockey player just a few days ago. Kyle Schmidt, only one of four seniors on the team, directed in the winning goal in OT. He is a hometown boy, growing up a few miles from the campus. Also, all the team dyed their hair blonde, except for Kyle, whose fianace wasn’t keen on a badly dyed blonde husband in summer wedding photos!
Next year, when the Frozen Four is played in Tampa, there’ll be another banner hanging from the ceiling.
one year ago…”Claire’s College Search is Over”
March 23, 2011 – “Gracious Professionalism”
Today, Martin and one of his Lego League team members traveled to Ames to exhibit “gracious professionalism” – a core value of the First Lego League organization. They traveled to help the “flying monkeys” get ready for their trip to San Diego to compete in a national tournament.
The team was selected on the strength of their innovative solution project (a prosthetic device) and was needing some pointers on robot programming. Here Martin demonstrates some test programs, in this case, following a black line using a light sensor on a test pad.
Here they look over some programming hints and techniques to help make their robot work more efficiently.
one year ago…”The Sap Keeps a Boilin’”
March 20, 2011 – Proud Accordion Owners!
Martin is now the proud owner of an Italian-made Zon-Rio piano accordion! The friend who loaned us the red accordion to try found one on Craigslist while visiting Madison.
Martin enjoys playing it and has already mastered a few short songs.
Here it is. His great-grandfather would be proud!
March 18, 2011 – Ducks and Fish
I’ve been trying to be a bit more deliberate about getting out more. Truth is, I could work 120 hours a week on the farm and still not get everything done. The last few days we’ve been watching the migration at a local marsh, Hendrickson Marsh on the Story-Marshall county line. This was the first day the ice was out.
For this part of the world, it’s a pretty big marsh. It sets in about a mile square block and water probably takes up 1/4 of the square mile. It’s a magnet for ducks and geese.
The were thousands of ducks here today.
We thought we’d try to catch some garden fertilizer in the stream below the marsh. I’m going to try to make a fish emulsion. We didn’t get any big ones, but plenty of little ones and it was a great way to spend a Friday afternoon.
one year ago…”Thingamajig Thursday #200″
March 16, 2011 – Mushroom Logs Inoculated with Spawn
Wednesday was a good day! Claire’s been home fro spring break to escape the lingering Minnesota snow. I ordered small amounts of six different types of mushrooms, 3 oyster varieties and 3 shiitake varieties. We order the plugs, and I got 100 plugs of each kind – so we have about two logs of each variety. Of course, we have plenty of wood as the giant maple was cut a few weeks ago – and now is the perfect time to inoculate the logs.
Claire drills the holes in the logs.
Martin pounds the dowels in the logs. As you can see in the background, the maple syrup boil continues.
The ends and dowels are sealed up with beeswax and the logs moved to to a shady spot to wait to bloom with mushrooms.
one year ago…”Three Cats in the Sun”
March 6, 2011 – Martin the Accordionist!
Who’d of thunk that a few weeks after our visit to the accordion restaurant, we’d have an accordion in our very home!
A long-time friend has recently been unable to resist the temptation to buy accordions in the last year or so, and offered to let Martin try out one of her recent acquisitions. As he already has the keys down, it’s just a matter of learning the buttons and getting the arm strength to move the bellows. Martin loves music, so along with the piano and trombone, he’s going to see how he likes accordion.
one year ago…”Ewe Lambs Birth with No Problems”
February 22, 2011 – Tree Down
Wow, the giant tree was felled! I wish I was home to see it crash to the ground (and not on any buildings).
Martin stands by the trunk for scale.
It was a whopper of a tree and provided lots of shade for grazing animals in its day. Looks like there will not be a shortage of wood for winter bonfires. I think I’ll also get a bit of firewood from it, and a bunch of mushroom logs as well – think of it as a kinder, gentler version of the Giving Tree.
The space around the tree – compare to yesterday’s post to see the last known photograph of the tree.!
one year ago…”Snowbanks Along Hwy 20″
February 19, 2011 – Tree Pruning Begins
It’s time to kill two birds with one stone. Martin likes to climb trees. Dad needs the fruit trees pruned. So, it must be time to instruct Martin on the fine art of fruit tree pruning.
We just got a start on the pruning, but at least a few trees are pruned.
February 18, 2011 – Early Tap
Can you believe it’s February 16th and the sap is flowing? Last year at this time, the snowdrifts were still to the tops of the fenceposts!
We’re trying a new collection method this season. I bought a few of these collecting bags to try. You just put in the tap and then hang the bag holder and tap on the tree.
Martin putting the bag in place. As the season goes on, we’ll keep you up to date.
one year ago…”Thingamajig Thursday #196″
February 16, 2011 – Farm Fixture April Has Chased Last Rabbit
Today was the day every pet owner dreads – having to willingly drive to the vet to put a long-time pet away. April had slowly given up the will to live, not eating as much, then not eating at all, not drinking water, and finally the last two days, not moving from her comfortable place in the hay in the barn. So it was time.
April had been on the farm before Martin was born. The girls were three and five when we retrieved April from the shelter.
For 14 years, April has been part of the backdrop to the farm.
She took seriously her animal guarding duties. Whenever we packed up livestock, she spent the night close by, instead of in her usual spot.
In her younger days, she accompanied us to cut a Christmas tree. We’re guessing she was a mix of Golden Retriever and Collie. We called her our Marilyn Monroe dog. She was laid back and non-barking – things I prize in a a dog!
Like everyone, she had her faults and quirks – the biggest one was her terror of thunderstorms. When she was young, she was caught in a hailstorm, and rather than seeking shelter, she ran around in the hailstones – some big enough to break windows in the house. After that, she would stop at nothing to get into the house during thunderstorms. She destroyed two doors, before we learned to call her into the house when storms were coming and put up steel doors, so she couldn’t hurt herself or the doors if a storm came when we weren’t home.
It was a good life on the farm – sunshine and children to play with.
April always insisted on being part of the first day of school photos.
Everyone in the family had a chance to say goodbye to April. Last night, Claire even did when we put the phone up to April’s ear so Claire could say good-bye and April could hear her voice one last time.
Each child in this world, if they are lucky, only gets one good dog to grow up with. For our kids, we can thank April for being that special dog that they shared their childhood with. Thanks April.
one year ago…”Sheep Bagging Up”
February 15, 2011 – Footprints in the Snow
Isn’t the world’s most popular poem about footprints in the sand? Well, there’s not much sand in Iowa in February, unless it’s clinging to dirty snowbanks on the side of the road. But there is snow – and footprints.
Martin and I went on a surveying mission in the back pasture yesterday. The day before this photo, he walked through the back “pond” through many feet of snow. When we came back the next day, we saw his footprints led to nowhere, for if you look in the center of the photo you can see the dark remains of footprints that were implanted in deep snow the day before are now under water.
It’s a good time of year to get out and move around a bit. Water needs to be channeled and drained, trees need to be checked on for winter rabbit damage, and boots need to get wet.
The foreground of this photo shows some of the willow cuttings I just stuck in the ground in this low area and didn’t mow or graze the last year. They were able to compete with the dense sod just fine. So, I will continue this spring with their advance down this drainage. Goats will be very happy to have browse!
one year ago…”Feeding Chickens in Winter”
January 31, 2011 – Piano Lessons
It’s time for some of the day-to-day living that fills our lives. Music is one of those. If you’re going to be good at music you have to practice. There’s no secret code to enter, no extra powers hidden under a rock – just commitment and practice.
You also need a teacher to advance more rapidly. Here Martin is with his piano teacher. I can’t help but think of the kinds of information are best passed down person to person, and not in books, in computers, or video. Music is certainly one of those kinds of information.
one year ago…”Cedar Rapids Post-Flood”
