Northern Travels - Part 2

By the end of our week-long visit in Minnesota we had made it to Thief River Falls for the grand finale (and point of the whole trip) : the wedding!  First, we had to tour the dairy farm that Jesse's mom grew up on.  Her dad used to run a dairy farm of about 30 cows.  Today her brothers are in charge of 300+ cows!  Although a bit smelly, the whole process was pretty fascinating and it was fun to get the "behind the scenes" look into all that it involves.

(The barn to the left is where the cows are milked, then they enter the barn on the right after milking.)

The calves have their own "barn" that they stay in until they are old enough to go into the field.  Here, they are bottle-fed mother cow's milk or supplements and are very well taken care of.  I did not expect to see such a clean barn of cows! And they were pretty cute too.

So, how do you milk a cow, you might ask?

First, you dress like this:

Total fashion statements, right?

[Most of the milking photos below were taken by Jesse's brother, Matthew, who is much better with a camera than me. Thanks Matt!]

Then you enter the milking pit:

The cows enter from the door you see straight ahead in the picture above. Six cows line up on each side of the pit.  Once in place, each heifer's tits are sanitized, wiped clean, and squeezed to make sure there is nothing wrong with them (blockage, lump, etc.). Then they are ready for milking.

So you take the milking contraption (you see I learned all the terminology, right?!) and attach it to each tit.  Once you have turned it on it begins to suck and should slip right onto the tits.  However, if you are concerned about getting kicked or pooped on during this process you might have some difficulties (like myself).

Success!  

The suctions sense when each tit is finished delivering milk and will fall off on its own.  Once all four have finished, the whole contraption is pulled up by a string so that it doesn't touch the floor.

The cows are milked twice a day, and each cow produces about 16 gallons of milk per day!

I couldn't leave without milking the "old fashion" way. :)

The milk travels through pipes and into this huge tank, which is picked up once a day.  After milking, the heifers enter a holding room which is covered with sand (instead of straw).  Sand is more comfortable for the heifers, causing them to lay down to rest.  It is only when they are lying down that they are producing milk. (Who knew?!)  They are also monitored in this room to see if they are (guess what?...) chewing their cud!  Ideally, 85% of them should be chewing their cud; if not, something is off in their diet and their feed will need to be manipulated.  Their cows are fed from the soybeans, hay, grains, and corn that are grown on the farm (with a few other things, like beets, brought in from other suppliers).  All of the manure is collected into what they call the "lagoon," and is pumped into the fields to enrich the soil. Isn't that so cool how everything on the farm is used in such a cycle?

(Funny story: Before going to the farm, Uncle Roger was telling us we could go take a look around, but "just don't fall into the lagoon."  He laughed. I laughed. It wasn't until we arrived on the farm that I realized the lagoon was a pit of manure.  Good thing I didn't fall in!)

  

And now you know how it's done!  Seeing this process firsthand really makes me appreciate my dairy products more.  And we LOVE some dairy around here.  We buy two gallons of milk at a time, and recently while unloading our groceries onto the checkout counter I asked Jesse if there was a type of cheese that didn't make it into the buggy.  It's taken a lot of work to keep their farm going through the years while many others had to shut their doors. While it was a fun experience for us to do and see, their workers clean and milk udders for 12 hours a day!  I don't think I could do it, but I sure am thankful that they do!

This post has gotten really long, but I can't end without sharing a few pictures from the wedding.  It started with a beautiful church ceremony, then moved to the town hall for the reception where there was lots of dancing (that I somehow managed to escaped...!).

(And for all you kinfolks... if you thought Luverne was small, you haven't seen Plummer, MN.)

We had such a great time visiting family I certainly hope another 6 years doesn't go by before we make another trip!

Northern Travels - Part 1

We just returned from a 10 day long trip to Minnesota where we had a wonderful time visiting lots of Jesse's family.  It was my first time meeting many of them and also my first time further north than Tennessee! There are so many pictures I want to share, I'm going to split this up into two parts.

We started at Marilyn's sister's home outside of the Twin Cities.  After a 20 hour drive we were thrilled to have a place to clean up and beds to stretch out on - but not before a campfire dinner, complete with s'mores!

(With combinations of suggestions we concluded that s'mores with bananas and peanut butter are the best way to go!)

The next day we went to the Mall of America.  We only had a few hours to spend here, which was not nearly enough.  It was larger than I imagined and would take all day or more to go through!

I left the mall with a bag Lindt chocolate and a Minnesota t-shirt. :)

Continuing north in Minnesota, our next stop was at Marilyn's brother's lake house which included lots of fishing and a great 4th of July meal!

(There's nothing like the sunrise and sunset across the water.)

(Lots of early mornings on the lake. But it got so hot it was worth getting up early to enjoy our time fishing.)

(Captain Duane)

(Marilyn's first catch this day was a little bitty fish!)

(I was quickly reeling in our dinner for that night.  However, I wouldn't touch the fish, so it's not posed properly for the picture.)

(They caught these at the same time. Marilyn's won in size!)

(Captain Marvin taking us out for a ride in "the chariot.")

(Jesse catching some air!)

(Gene having as good, if not better, time than Joaquin!)

(Marilyn looking graceful during her ride.)

(YUM!)

(One kid and a bunch of adults, so we did a lot of game-playing with Joaquin.)

(Headed out to watch the fireworks. This is what it looks like at 9:45pm in Minnesota!)

(Fireworks, at nearly 10:30 when it was finally dark enough to light them!)

Stay tuned for Part 2 of our trip!

There's No Place Like Home

A certain someone has recently inquired about what our new place looks like (which really just means she should come visit...). I had originally planned to post photos for you all as soon as we moved in,  BUT (*enter excuses) we took our time filling it with new furniture in the bedroom, living, and dining rooms, and I really wanted to decorate before allowing you in.  However, I've been even slower at doing that, so I figured I'd let you see it bare, then you'll be super impressed when I decorate! (Right?)

So.... Welcome to our home:

(Our living room even has a fireplace. How romantic, right? Correction: how about a little scary - everyone else in the apartment complex has a wood-burning fireplace too. Not the best of ideas.)

(We have been into a neighbors home and they have a mantle over their fireplace and fabulous decor - I need to work on that. :)

Our newest addition to our home is this "dining" set.  We opted for a patio set so that we could use the other two chairs, well, on our patio.  We will even bring them in for you to dine with us while you're here!

(Everyone please note the aquarium.  Jesse spends most of his time in front on it.)

And here is our lovely kitchen!  It has a fair amount of cabinet space (which we've filled and overflowed to the "pantry" - aka the closet nearest the kitchen).  It's pretty much like what you see above.  What's on your left is one your left, what's on the right is on your right.  I wasn't too keen on the "hallway" style kitchen as we looked for apartments, but this one did have an opening to the living area, which makes a huge difference (to me)!  The laundry "room" is straight ahead in those little alcoves beyond the kitchen.  I like that more than I thought in the beginning (after we hung some shelving to organizes detergents, etc.).

This is the additional bedroom/study/what do we do with this stuff? room. :)  But there is enough space to blow up the air mattress to provide you with a comfortable stay!

Another requirement we I had while apartment hunting was long countertops in the bathrooms!  Harder to come across than you'd think.

And the grand finale!!!!  The "master" bedroom:

(*Squeals of excitement for our bedroom furniture!)

This bedroom suite is all about storage. The bed itself has overhead storage and underbed storage!

Hey there, Maggie!  This has become her place of resting.  We bought her a new bed too when we moved in and had to place it here so she would sleep in it. Silly dog.

You can slide those square panels over to open up solid cubes of storage as well.  I need to find some cute knick-knacks for these cubbies.

Hubby's favorite part:  there is a charging station on each side in the bottom row of cubes - he was sold on that.

What sold me, you might ask?

This:

It's like the James Bond of all dressers!  "Secret" jewelry storage!  What woman wouldn't want that?!

I think you need a close up:

This post is by no means meant to show off what we've got, but to include you in what our home has become after we've settled in.  We hope that many of you will come visit us (hint, hint: before I start back to school - I'm making no promises to be a good host after that!).  A longer drive back home means less time to visit all the people we'd like to while we're there, so if you're passing through or would like to stay with us, just let us know.  We'd love to have you!

Update:  I just realized that I posted this right after posting about the visitors we have had.  It looks like I'm begging you to all come see us! Hahaha.