And, the Lynch girls tradition proves another year.......

Tradition lives on with the annual Lynch girls wreath making extravaganza!! We had a very successful wreath making project..and the finished products were of course very beautiful again. This year we combined some quality time with our mother as she held steady to the "Bean Shelling" department. Just a couple of quick photo's to show the fruit of our labors.....
Until next time...MOM

I believe this is one of my wreaths..complete with dried oranges and apples..

This is mother at her bean shelling station......Look at the joy in her face knowing there is 4 more bushels of these beans lurking around the corner....!

No folks, ya dont just run to Walmart for supplies, this stuff comes right off the tree..fighting the fierce winds and snow driven cold!! Its a sacrafice, but we take it in stride.

Yum, Yum, Yum......
With every ounce of the Lynch tradition in tact, Thanksgiving came off without a hitch thursday..we all ate our full and retired to the living room for some "groaning". We had a beautiful day to enjoy our feast. The menu included "The bird", corn and wild rice casserole, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy, dressing, pretzel salad and whole wheat bread. For desert there was hickory nut cake and pumpkin pie. I have plenty of leftovers if anyone is interested!
I snapped some pictures of the event.....so here you go.
Until next time....MOM

Very serious reading going on here...note the pig tails...how cute!

Grandpa, Daddy and Millie entertaining little Ellie with the wagon.

Scientific studies of adolescent learning has shown that reading with you toes pointed upward increases comprehension!!!

This is our mother....snitching hickory nuts from the cake. I think she gave it a seal of approval after the first slice.

REALLY.......It's not entirely my fault!!

I have been trying to update this darn blog now for a week or two....for some reason it has been completely refusing to let me load any pictures....and well, a blog with no pictures.....is hardly worth updating...But, looks like tonite is my lucky nite (or maybe yours)

So, what have I been doing???? I have been in "squirrel-ing" away my bounty from the summer. There are a couple of good things about this...and keep this in mind when you look at my pictures and think I have completely lost my marbles. Good thing #1: If the economy continues to go down the toilet as it has for the last couple of months, I want you all to know you are welcome to come to my house for food. I am very confident I have managed to put away enough food for a great portion of cedar county at the least. Good thing #2: This Christmas I am promising some pretty good treats to be made with the goodness from my garden.....and the incredible amount of crawling around on my hands and knees picking up hickory nuts in the timber. I don't know what has happened to me but the hickory nut thing did kind of go to my head. I know for a fact when I was back out there again Sunday (It was such a beautiful sunny warm day) I could feel at least two squirrels in the tree above me flinging nut hulls at my head. I didn't let it intimadate me one bit...Besides I had Millie along for protection. I brough back another half of a 5 gallon bucket of nuts. The way I have it figured I will be cracking hickory nuts well into February or March of next year.....yeah, so what's wrong with that!!

So, here is what I have put away for when the cold nasty wind blows, the snow is 4 feet out the back door and ice is hanging from the high lines...... Lets, see....Strawberries, Peaches, Cherries, Tomatoes, pickles, Tomatoe stew,Apple Crisp, Apple pie, Apple sauce, Green Beans, Yellow Beans......Oh and......HICKORY NUTS!!!! Yessiree.....hickory nuts!!! Lots and Lots of hickory nuts!!! Do you suppose the squirrels around here are facing a record cruel winter.....I think I may of stolen most of their supplies!! Oh well, screw em....I am after all the superior species!!

Until next time.....MOM

This is a few of the jars of Hickory Nuts I have frozen

Shelves in my freezer of Strawberries, Cherries, Peaches.......

This is my most favorite hickory nut tree......Now can you blame me for spending time out here...its just beautiful!!

Apple Storage....Please help me use these up this winter....Yes, I did actually buy another refrigerator for the basement for the apples...I think I have a mental problem....

I AM JUST SO BUMMED!!!!

Jennifer took some nice pictures this past weekend when I was in Des Moines for Jessica and Rob's first 5K race....and unfortunately they wont load to blogger, don't think it likes the .bmp file type, so I can't share the pictures...Jess is probably thrilled, I'm not. There are a couple of cute ones of Ellie that I especially wanted to post. Jennifer will have to see if she can get them to load.
So, I guess you are just stuck with looking at my flower pictures and a couple from the Slach reunion that I never got around to posting.
There is good news, though....Kurtis and I are traveling to a far away place this weekend...Warren Wisconsin. I suspect that most of you are not aware that Warren Wisconsin is the Cranberry capital of the world.....really, you didn't know?? Well, I didnt either till a few months ago, but yes we are actually going to the Cranberry Festival. So, when I get back I will be armed with lots of shall we say, Unique, pictures for your enjoyment...I promise. I'm really hoping to get to meet the guy from the Ocean Spray commercial that stands in the bog with hip waders on and says "We call them the NINJA fruit!!!!" So...look forward to my next post......
Until next time....MOM

This is a picture of my Nicotiana against the evening sky...These smell incredible!!!

One of my purple Datura reaching out with the windmill in the background.

This was mother at her station during the Slach reunion,,,give that women a job and she takes it very seriously! I would call her the name tag Nazi....

Ryan with little Tate,....Cute huh??

Here comes my taxi.. I would call Kurtis when I walked from the campgrounds and he would come pick me up with the engine....Worked quite well..and Millie loved it.

This is Millie enjoying her vacation.. She found just the right position to take a nap, she got complete poohed out walking around the grounds...
You know my theme when camping..the more obnoxious the better. This is the sign we hang on the camper to let folks know who we are...The flamingo's are a special touch from Jennifer given to me on mothers day.
Here is proud Grandpa holding Tate in front of Marsha's garden at the Slach reunion. Steve could of cracked just a little smile....
The famous Chickens

Another month has flown by........

It's hard to believe, but another month has passed since I updated this blog....I would say that I have just forgotten to do it, but I often times have people remind me that it hasn't been done.

There is definately a feel of fall in the air, Kurtis BBQ'd some chicken on the grill last night and I worked outside on my garden and was quite chilly. I know its getting cooler because I'm starting to look up good soup recipes! I am going to spend the day today canning tomatoes and making sweet pepper relish, both of which are great in a pot of chili.

So, since I last blogged it has been relatively quiet. The Slach reunion held at the farm with Larry and Marsha as gracious hosts was a big success....and the chickens, well what can I say...were even more of a success. Gee, I remember back when we had a Slach reunion at the farm I thought I was really a big attraction riding around on my faithful pony "Lady". I wonder if Marsha would of been there with a barnyard full of chickens if I would of even gotten a second glance....ha! The weather the day of the reunion was just beautiful and the food wonderful. I could go for a nice big plateful right now.

Over the Labor day week Kurtis and I traveled down to Mt. Pleasant and camped for 8 days at the Threshers Reunion. We had a great time! We have alot of friends that we get together with there that we don't normally see but maybe once a year. Actually, to be quite honest, the only reason I go is to get the carmel apples that are made on site..and I thought I did quite well this year with only eating two. Man, what I would give for one right now! I would have the keyboard all goo-ed up with carmel, but it would be worth it!

So, here are some pictures for you to enjoy...I have to get out to the garden and pick my ingredients for a afternoon of boiling water and processing canning jars....but with the chill in the air, its a pleasure!

Until next time.....MOM

Well, it's the Dog Days of Summer....and a "Bag a Bug" week at the Voparil farm......

I decided to brave the hot upstairs and update my blog, I'm home alone tonite (Kurtis is working) and I have my to do "list" almost complete, except for #6 Update my blog..so in a little while I will be done..
As I sit here in my office, I calculate it must be about 90 degrees, it's just plain nasty..but, for all you en-dearing fans...I'm suffering through this update, just for you! I have a fan sitting in the window sucking more hot air from outside into the room here..it reminds me of when I was a kid, we put the fan in the window at night and let it blow on us in bed. That and listening to the hog feeders bang all night...life was good.
Well, it's been a while since I have updated...and gee I have been busy as a bee. Marsha and I went to our annual trek to Decorah to the Seed Savers Convention. As usual, we were not disappointed. I took lots of nice pictures and we learned just a little more about gardening and working toward living off the food we can produce and buy locally. It really is amazing just how far some of this stuff comes to be on the shelf at the grocery store...and what they put on it. So, I continue to try to grow things in the garden and enjoy the experience....weeds and all.
This weekend I made pickles and froze about 8 quarts of green beans and 4 quarts of applesauce. Today I picked our first tomato!! Last year at this time though I was canning tomato's so they are definately behind.
This weekend is the big annual get together at Steve's house. I believe all the family will be in attendance, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, grandma and a little one not even born to this world yet....so I am giving you a warning now...I really do want to get some nice pictures while we are all together...so suck it up! and smile. You know, if you are lucky, you may make an edition of this blog... Now, for some pictures.....
Until next time....MOM

This is a new edition to my perennial garden...A Toad Lilly

These are the hollyhocks at the Seed Savers display Gardens...arent they just stunning>

Steve, I put this in just for you. This was one of the "experts" in the orchard tour..He was quite a knowledgeable fella, just wish you would of been there to enjoy him...

I took this picture of a butterfly on my Zinnia's...touched it up a bit, I think it is charming...

Now, Jessica.....I hope you know when you were laughing at me the other night on the phone because I was out purchasing Japanese Beetle Pheremone.......you could of certainly hurt my feelings....but of course I'm quite used to people laughing at me....But, here is the proof, I have emptied 3 full bags now of "Japanese Beetle Carcass's"........they fly in to meet up with the sweet "lure", slip and fall and in the bag they go!!! Works Sweet! So, who's laughing now????? Ha Ha

Well, YOU SNOOZE, YOU LOSE..........

I thought I was getting right after updating my blog this afternoon....but if you check out Jennifer's blog....she has beat me to it, and in grand style!!!! With the pictures of Ellie and ...well, my flowers,,I dont think I can hardly compete....Good Job Jennifer!!!
So, we had a fabulous 4th of July weekend!!! What more could you ask for...weather that set all records for beautiful..the kids home for the weekend, including little Ellie and a big family/neighborhood/friends blowout that was wonderful!! Boy, I can tell you one thing, I wont have any trouble sleeping tonite..I feel like I have ran a marathon and I really didn't do anything exceptional this weekend except enjoy the grandaughter and the kids....but I do know why Dad used to say "Raising kids is for young people!" Grandpa and I poop out too darn fast!!
So, the birthday party to celebrate Waynes 50th was the social event of the year. I don't know how many he fed his famous BBQ Chicken to, but it was ALOT! It was quite a thrill to see the 50 year old man and the 30 year old cooker still in perfect harmony and putting out a quality product with the "secret" BBQ sauce....which he still has not broken down and given to his sister...They only thing I know is it has something to do with some alcholic type beverage's and we will leave it at that!!
So I believe I will go have a nice hot shower, put my feet up for awhile...then head off to bed, its been a exhiliratingly (is that really a word?) satisfying weekend and I think I will just go ponder it for awhile!!
Until next time.....MOM (Grandma)


Ellie arrives with her "Going to Grandma's" travel bag...everything a 2 year old needs in her very own special bag..I believe we got this when we booked out cruise last winter...It was well worth the money!!

Now, here are the boys!!! Each Lynch boy was sporting a custom printed T-Shirt with a, um...shall we say "Vintage" picture of their uncle on it!! Check out little Tate he has one too.... just a note..Doesn't Wayne look just like Dad in this picture...and the boys have the Hubert wave....His genes live on!!!
The master at 50....The cooker at 30..still performing , still pleasing............

Here is little Ellie assisting Lindsey and Ryan feeding Tate....Lindsey, you have the patient's of a saint!!

These pictures were to be loaded below, but Blogger quit working..seems to be ok now, so this is just a couple of more pictures of the flood.....

This is the levee between the cedar river and Glicks property..about 8:30 p.m. when we were just finishing sandbagging, it gave way..the water came fast and furious and there was no stopping it.
This is the water rushing over the highway Friday evening....When you watch, there are huge fish going across and trying to swim back...I considered wading out to get a couple, but re-considered the thought..its about a foot deep and extremely fast.
This is looking across at the Netolicky residence...all you can see is a faint glimpse of the tops of the buildings..they must be under a good 12-15ft of water...

HARD TIMES IN CEDAR BLUFF.....
It's been a tuff few days her in the Cedar Bluff neighborhood. The flood waters have reached levels never before seen in the history of this area...and it's just unbelievable to watch. Landmarks you are so used to looking at no longer exsit, covered in incredible rushing water. All the cabins along the cedar river are gone. Kurtis worked all morning and into the afternoon sandbagging down at BJ Leonards log home trying to keep the water from the basement only to have the bags erode from the pressure of the rising water. All they could do is stand and watch as the basement filled with water. We took a mule ride around the neighborhood last night and you just can't believe your eyes...there is just miles and miles of water where it doesn't belong! I told Kurtis I will never complain about our old farmhouse again...at least we are high and dry!
Here are some pictures of our efforts and the end results from Thursday, I tried to get these in order, but didn't do a very good job...and I had 2-3 more picture I tried to upload but blogger is being a pain...so I'll have to load those pictures at a later time... MOM

Her is Kurtis putting another load of sandbags in place with his Bobcat. We started sandbagging about 2:00 p.m. and had a complete barrier by about 8:00..until the levee broke.

This is a picture looking into Glicks upper field....The sign says it all...
This is Friday afternoon about 6:00 p.m. The little white dot you see there is Glicks mailbox.

Well, the first Camping Trip goes into history......
and, it was not exactly what you would call "text book" perfect. Let's see, some of the key factors in the experience included: Rain, lots of it. Cold temperatures, wind, absolutely NO SUN and did I mention.....cold temperatures! But.....being the hardcore pioneers that we are, we still had a very nice time! We had lots of good food, made home-made ice cream (yes, despite the temperatures we made ice cream) Mothers day was especially nice. The morning started out very cold and windy but by noon or so the sun popped out and it warmed up nicely. The kids came out and we had a nice big BBQ and sat around a nice fire. This was Millie's first experience with camping since she was a puppy two years ago and I have to admit she was a trooper. She went to the groomer (thanks Amy) before going and looked like a little foo foo dog. With all the rain outside she enjoyed living inside the camper. I think we have started something bad though, everytime I walk by the camper now she has her front feet on the stairs thinking Im going to let her in .... sorry Millie, no go! So, here are some pictures of our camping trip.....
Until next time....MOM

Well, what would camping be without baked beans....right over the hot camp fire. Kurtis and I had fun using the good ole' Lodge cookware...you just can't beat it!!!!!

Yep, it was tuff..cold and rainly outside..But Millie adapted quite well to the warm camper and of all things.....the fireplace...

Here Aunt Jennifer shows Ellie the art of picking dandelions..I'm not sure if Ellie enjoyed the camping experience or not....the verdict is still out!!!

What a wonderful surprise..last week when I came home from work, my wonderful Kurtis had been out and made this georgeous bouquet of lilacs for me....isn't this spectacular!!! I think I'll keep him!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO DORIS LYNCH (MOM)

It was a beautiful day out on the farm, with lots of good food and a birthday cake and ice cream. Mom turned 80 in great style. All kids were in attendance, which isn't an easy thing to accomplish sometimes. When you look around the room, it's pretty amazing what can happen when two people "get together" so to speak. Even though Dad wasn't there to celebrate, he lives on in the stories and laughter we all share.....It really is special.

This is the birthday cake..before it's destruction, it was Pink Champagne....yummy

This was so nice. Marsha put together a tribute to mom complete with her high school picture, little girl picture and wedding picture...Oh, and her grade school diploma ..obviously those aren't handed out anymore.

And here, a truly monumental occasion. Aunt Tess and Amy are giving the next generation of pony lovers (Ellie) her first lesson in pony grooming....I bet if Flick could talk so would have plenty to say at this point!!!

Well, I wouldn't call it a complete success, but here Ellie gets her first ride on Flicka.

So, this is how it ended, Ellie decided they could be best of friends if she just followed her around the yard at the end of a rope....I think it suited Flicka just fine too. Thanks again to Amy and Tess for their patient attention to a bouncy little 2 year old! (Oh, and you too Flicka!)

AREN'T OUR YOUNG LYNCH'S SUCH A TREASURE!!

I'm sorry Cindy or Lindsey, I hope I'm not stealing your thunder here, but I just could not resist getting these pictures up so everyone can enjoy them!! I snitched them off the press-citizen site, and though they would make the perfect update to my blog tonite.. Besides, I kind of feel Aaron would approve..Barney car and all...And Tate...well he just speaks for himself with Cuteness!!!! So, Prom at West Branch is a thing of the past...but here are some classics for all to enjoy. Gee, it's only been about 36 years since my Prom.....depression just sat in!!

Now, I tell you..is this a chick magnet or not...Aaron leaning on the left, his buddy on the right...all polished up and ready to take on the town, in down right Lynch style!!! Remember the HUMP disease, it runs deep in the family!!

Aaron and his girl...what a lucky girl!! Suppose they played the Mayberry theme song a few times??

And....look at this little fella! Just came to see his Uncle off and see if he could get a last minute date!!! Who could turn this little gentleman down??? All dressed up and and they said he was too young for Prom...well, it won't be long and he'll be asking for the keys to the Barney car!!! Is this not the cutest thing you have ever seen??? Way to go Ryan and Lindsey!!!

Until next time....MOM

SO...With the sweet smell of spring in the air....the temps reaching towards 70 degrees and the birds briskly making their nests....what is your idea of a wonderful activity for the day.....

Well, I took time to walk around our new fruit tree orchard..the trees look happy so far..no sign of any Deer bothering them yet...

I looked over my raised beds to see what is finding its way to the sun already. Here my patch of garlic is growing beautifully....looks like another fine crop on the way.......

And here.....her is my husband! I'm sorry, I don't mean to make fun of Kurtis, as everyone knows, I truly do adore him....but this was just too rich to let go by!! I mean, what the hell is this anyway??? A farmer, no.. A terrorist....no. A guy that apparently doesn't give a hoot how foolish he looks, carrying a weapon to kill...well, yes I think that has to be what it is. Kurtis was out "target" shooting...and I know he was having a good time..but gees!!!! Please note the ear-phones in the right hand...close attention to ear safety apparently far out weights attention given to proper apparel..hahaha.

Until next time....MOM