Grandma Barb’s This and That

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Rurality Blog Hop

When I posted about the life of a bean field, I forgot one important and expensive step in the process.  That is spraying of the fields to get rid of the weeds.  Either the farmer does it with a tractor and sprayer like in the photo below.

Source Internet

Or they hire a crop dusting plane.


While I was out taking photos of this old barn the crop duster was buzzing around spraying a nearby bean field.  He was flying so fast that it was hard to get a photo of him.




After many tries, I finally got a photo of him coming down to spray the field.  They fly so low that it is scary. No, that is not the bean field in the foreground.




Linking to Rurality Blog Hop #38

I have decided that I am making cleaning this dirty house a priority so I won't be posting and commenting as much for the next few weeks.  I will visit you all when I can.  I may or may not comment.  I am also getting things ready to decorate my space at the lighting store for Christmas.  Thanks to all my faithful and new followers for all your visits and nice comments.  They make my day.

Until next time
Barb

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

The Life of a Soy Bean Field

I thought it would be fun to show you the life of a soy bean field.  I know many of you are from big cities or other countries and may not realize what goes into raising soy  beans.

Here's the big tractor waiting to plant.  Sorry I didn't get a picture of the planting.


Here is what the field looks like in July or August...nice and green


The middle to late September...Almost ready to combine


Here is one farmer combining the beans.  Some farmers load the beans into this kind of wagon and then it is hauled to either their farm and put in bins or to the elevator in town.


Other farmers use these huge wagons and then they are emptied into the big grain trucks below




The farmers work well into the night.  Sorry for the quality of this photo.


This is what the field looks like when they are finished.



It costs a lot of money to grow the beans.  The huge equipment is expensive.  Then there is the cost of seed, the fuel to run the tractors, combines, and big semis.  Plus the hours of work that goes into it.  The soybean harvest has pretty much wrapped up and now the farmers are onto picking corn.

I hope you have learned a little about what goes into growing soy beans.


Thanks for stopping.  Have a great day.
Until Next Time
Barb

Monday, October 21, 2013

Mondays Barn

This barn was right across the road from the church I posted yesterday.  Fun taking a detour when you get to see more churches and barns to photograph.


Love the stone foundation


Pretty fretwork in the gable and I love the cupola and weather vane



Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy your Monday
Until next time
Barb

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Emanuel Lutheran Church

I have often seen this church off the highway a ways when I drive to and from my daughter's at Waconia.  The last time I was there I had to take a detour that took me right past this church so I had to stop and take a photo.  It is the Emanuel Lutheran Church and School at Hamberg, MN.  I thought it had such a pretty church and spire.  Around back of the church was a large cemetery.




Linking to InSPIREd Sunday


Thanks to Beth and Sally  for hosting this meme.  Stop over to see other churches and spires from around the world.

Thanks for stopping and have a wonderful Sunday

Until next time

Barb

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Rurality Blog Hop and a Fence

Just a couple of photos I took this morning while driving down a country road.  I'll be sharing them at
Friday Fences #101 and Rurality Blog Hop #36.






Thanks to everyone who left such nice comments on my Note Cards!  You are all so kind.  This is the most comments I've ever had on any  post.

Please stop over at the memes listed at the top to see all things country and fences.

Thanks for visiting today!  Have a great weekend.
See you next tine
Barb

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Fall Note Cards

It's Time for the October Notecard Party at Vee's.

These 1st two photos were taken last Fall at Shetek State Park not far from home.



The next two were taken this fall near Mille Lacs Lake in Central MN



I have shared the first three with you before.  But the last one is a new photo that I have not shared until now.

Please stop over at Vee's to see all the gorgeous note cards shared there.

Thanks for stopping and all your nice comments on my previous post
See you next time.

Barb




Saturday, October 12, 2013

The Golden Hour

I took the photo of this barn with the evening golden hour sun shining on the trees.  This is SOC.


Linking to Madge's Weekly Top Shot #104

Thanks for stopping.  I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend.
Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian Friends.

Barb

You can see the last two posts of  Bachman's Fall Idea House here at Linda's Itsy Bits and Pieces.


Friday, October 11, 2013

Random 5 Friday

Just a few random facts and photos from the past week.

1.  Tuesday night I heard that there were supposed to be some great Northern Lights.  So I drove out of town to a dark country road.  I waited and watched until almost 1 o'clock and never saw a thing except a couple of airplanes and the revolving light at the airport.  My grandson in Duluth however saw the Northern Lights and sent me a picture with permission to share it with you.  Thanks Nicholas!




2.  I haven't seen any butterflies all summer, but two have been hanging around the humming bird feeder the last few days.  I was going to take down the feeder as it was attracting lots of flies and wasps but when the butterflies started drinking out of it, I left it for them to enjoy.  I'm not familiar with the names of these two.






3.  I finished my last watercolor class.  We worked on 4 paintings but I haven't finished any of them.  This  calla lily is the closest to being finished and is the one I like best.


4.  I have been baking apples in the microwave.  So fast and easy.  Just core the apple, place in a microwave safe dish, add brown sugar and a little butter in the hole,  add a little water to the dish, cover and bake 4 minutes.  I like to eat mine with cream.



5.  One day last week my dishwasher quite right in the middle of the cycle, leaving a couple of inches of water in the bottom. I had to bail it out as it started to smell before the repair man could get here.  He came today and discovered it was a burned wire so no electricity was getting to it.  I was so glad to hear that's all that was wrong so it was easy and inexpensive to fix.

Linking to Random 5 Friday over at Nancy's A Rural Journal

Thanks for stopping and have a great weekend!

See you next time

Barb


Monday, October 7, 2013

It wouldn't be Monday without a picture of a barn.  This barn is located near Mille Lacs Lake in central Minnesota north of the Twin Cities.




I had taken my friend, Eugene, to see his grandson play football in Onamia on Friday evening.  Then we planned to go on to Duluth on Saturday to see the fall colors on the North Shore of Lake Superior.  The trip didn't go quite as planned.  The weather in Duluth was miserable...rain, fog, wind, and cold.  So we called our grandkids that are attending college at the U of M Duluth and had them meet us at Grandma's Restaurant down by the lake.  We spent a nice couple of hours with them visiting and having lunch .  Since you could barely see the lake we decided to return to Onamia.  We did see some pretty colors near Onamia and Mille Lacs Lake though.  So it turned out to be a nice weekend in spite of the weather.

Here are a few of the colors we saw.








Since I was gone over the weekend, I didn't get around to visit all of you.  Am trying to get caught up today.

I hope you all had a great weekend and will have a wonderful week ahead.  Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you next time.
Barb

P.S.  Here is the link to the next installment of Linda's Itsy Bits and Pieces pictures of the Bachman House.

Linking to Tuesday Muse at Nancy's A Rural Journal
&

Thursday, October 3, 2013

A Bit of Randomness




Friday is the day over at Nancy's for Random 5 Friday, where you can add 5 random facts about you, your day, your kids, your pets, or whatever.

Last Saturday my daughter, her boy friend and my grandson came to help get a few chores done around here.  Here are the 5 biggest ones accomplished..

1.  New storm door on my kitchen door.

2.  Replaced the rotting wood around the garage door with vinal.

3.  Added window well covers to the basement windows.

4.  Put away my lawn furniture.

5.  Cleaned out the gutters.

A few other things  got done but those were the things I really wanted to get done before  winter.

Linking to Random 5 Friday

Earlier I told you I had been to the Bachman Idea House in Minneapolis and promised to show pictures.  Well I have not gotten around to editing them but you can see Linda's pictures over at Itsy Bits and Pieces.
There is so much to see there and Linda always manages to see things that I don't.

Thanks for stopping.  Have a great weekend!
See you next time.
Barb