Monday, November 8, 2021

John Deere Fever


My husband has John Deere fever. 
 Before we were married I learned that green tractors, as long as they were the John Deere kind were the best, the only kind of tractors to have.  I learned about the styles and how the numbers changed over the years.  We didn't have one.  We didn't need one. And then we bought our current home with too much lawn to mow with a push mower and our first riding lawn mower was a John Deere.  I don't remember now how we got the 2630 for a garden tractor that isn't used anymore. We got a larger riding mower. When we started our business, Jim bought a nice little garden tractor with a loader bucket that he used there until he got mini-excavators.  Our renters of the farm bought and gave to Jim the JD B that his dad bought brand new, back in the day and has since been restored as earlier blog posts will show.  After Jim got that B, he traded another B he bought just before for an MT intending 
to restore it and buy a cultivator to use in the garden.
 He's been wanting a zero-turn mower for years and he bought one last year with our stimulus money.
That's where our John Deere story stood.
Until...the aforementioned neighbor told Jim he saw a plow on an online auction from Illinois for an MT so Jim went
to look and found not only the plow, but also a cultivator and a mower.
AND, a running MT, which Jim didn't need since he has one.  He decided that buying this working tractor wouldn't cost anymore than restoring the old one so he bought it. And the attachments. With the intent of restoring it as well. 
So, we went to Illinois to pick it up.




John Deere MT Lawn Ornament



Saturday, November 6, 2021

Mere Words


I have always been fascinated with words.  My current words that I like to use just because I like to are exacerbate, recalcitrant, obstreperous, and tenacious. 

I grew up with a colorful language of "sayings" or idioms as they are called when you want to look them up, and I've always wanted to write them down, so I've been collecting, I had no idea I knew so many.  A few of these I use all the time, the majority I don't.  I've failed in passing them down.  

UPDATE! I have been collecting these right along, and I'm surprised at how many I use over the course of a few months. I've decided not to sort them all by anyway except alphabetically.  Some are idioms some are just funny ways of saying things.

According to Hoyle 
All in the same boat
All the bells and whistles
And there you are
Another day another dollar
Baptized by fire
Barking up the wrong tree
Batten down the hatches
Bats in your belfry
No use beating a dead horse
Beat around the bush
Beat the tar out of
Better late than never
Between a rock and a hard place
Black as pitch
Were here born in a barn?
Born with a silver spoon in your mouth
Bought/sold the farm
Bite the bullet
I have a bone to pick with you
A bun in the oven
Can't get blood from a stone/turnip
Can't carry a tune in a bucket
Can't fight your way out of a wet paper sack
Cash on the barrel-head
Caught with your pants down
Chances are slim to none
Changed his tune
Clear as mud
Comes back to bite you
Comes back to haunt you
Costs and arm and a leg
Cotton on to
Couple bricks shy of a load
As the crow flies
Cute as a bug's ear
Dark as a stack of black cats
Dead as a doornail
Deaf as a post
Dodged a bullet
Doesn't amount to a hill of beans
A dollar waiting on a dime
Don't count your chickens before they hatch
Don't judge a book by it's cover
Down to brass tacks
Down to the wire
Don't a be a stick in the mud
Don't go home until the last dog is hung.
Don't shoot 'til you see the whites of their eyes
Dressed to the nines
Driving like Jehu
Drop in the bucket
(Eat) like it's going out of style
Fall for it hook, line and sinker
Fell down on the job
First whack out of the box
Full as a tick
Funnier than all get out
Get it coming and going
Get it while the getting's good
Get out of my hair
Getting the upper hand
Getting your just desserts
Getting too big for your britches
Goes against the grain
*Going over like a lead balloon
Going to town (at something)
Get my goat
Grab the bull by the horns
The grass is greener on the other side of the fence
See the handwriting on the wall
Hanging by a thread
Handed on a silver platter
Happy as a clam (at high tide, some say)
Haven't seen hide nor hair of them
A hitch in my get-along
Hold your horses
Getting a heads up
Grasping at straws
Hanging by a thread
*I'm out of here like a herd of turtles
Hitting below the belt
Hit it on the nose (right on target)
Hit the spot
If the shoe fits, wear it.
I'll see you in the funny papers 
A fine kettle of fish!
Jumping through hoops
Kick the bucket
Kill two birds with one stone
Knee-high to a grasshopper
A leopard can't change it's spots
Lie through your teeth
Like a hot knife through butter
Living high on the hog
Like a bump/knot on a log
Like it's going out of style
Like pulling teeth
(Doing whatever) Like there's no tomorrow
Lying through their teeth
Living high on the hog
Living the life of Riley
Look down your nose at
Madder than a wet hen
Make hash of (something)
Make hay while the sun shines
Making a mountain out of a mole hill
For many a moon
Money burning a hole in your pocket
More than one way to skin a cat
More than you can shake a stick at
My way or the high way
Need that like a cat needs two tails
Needle in a haystack
Nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof
No holds barred
Not for all the tea in China
Not the only pebble on the beach
No time like the present
Not a leg to stand on
Nothing to sneeze at
Nothing to write home about
One brick shy of a load
One fell swoop
Open a can of worms
Out of the frying pan into the fire
Out of the mouth of babes
Passed with flying colors
Poor as a church mouse
Pot calling the kettle black
Pulling up by your bootstraps 
Pushing the envelope
Pussy footing around
Put a flea in their ear
Pull out all the stops
Put a brick on his head 
Put a lid on it
Put words in my mouth
Put your ducks in a row
Put your money where your mouth is
Put your foot in your mouth (Foot in mouth disease)
Quit beating around the bush
Right up my alley
Raining cats and dogs
Runs like a faucet (noses)
Sawing logs (sleeping heavily or snoring)
Saved by the bell
Scraping the bottom of the barrel
Scared the liver out of me
I haven't seen hide nor hair of (them)
Shoot yourself in the foot.
Sick a a dog
Six on on and half dozen of another
Slip through the cracks
Slow and steady wins the race
Slow as molasses in January
Speak now or forever hold your peace
Straight from the horse's mouth
Starting on a shoestring
Step up to the plate
Sticks in my craw
Stick to your guns
Stir the pot
Stopped dead in their tracks
Six ways from Sunday
Shot himself in the foot
Slower than molasses in January
Snug as a bug in a rug
Switch horses mid-stream
Take a gander at
Take a leaf out of (someone's) book
Takes to it like a duck to water
That's the way the cookie crumbles
There's egg on your face
The shoe's on the other foot
The tail wagging the dog
'Til the cows come home
Throw in the towel
Took the starch right out of me
Tough row to hoe
Turn over a new leaf
Two shakes of a (dead) lamb's tail
Up a creek without a paddle
Up one side and down another
Upset the apple cart
Water off a duck's back
A watched pot never boils
Were you born in a barn?
Whatever floats your boat
What's good for the goose is good for the gander
Work to death
The whole nine yards
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink
You make a better door than window
 
Other words
At loggerheads
Blowing up a storm
Bound and determined
A bum steer
Cabbage onto
Catty-corner (kitty-corner)
Cattywampus (catawampus kittywampus )
Chintzy
Chivvy
Cockeyed
Comeuppance
Cotton on to
Crystal clear
Cut and dried
Dead to the world
Dig in your heels
Don't piddle around
Fair to middling
Faster than all get out
Feel like I've been run over by a truck
Fit as a fiddle
First dibs
Flat broke
For crying out loud!
For Pete's sake
Get on the ball
Get up and go
Get your goat
Gist
Hidden up your sleeve
Hit like a ton of bricks
Madder than hops
My get up and go has got up and went
Gumption
Hankering after
Hitch in my git-along
Hoofing it
I reckon so
I have a mind to
Kerfluffle
My old stomping grounds
No spring chicken
Off kilter
Over yonder
Peter out
Plumb crazy (or plumb whatever)
Pulling my leg
Like pulling teeth
Put words in my mouth
Shaking like a leaf/Shaking in their boots
Silver lining
Sitting duck
Slept like a log
Smack dab in the middle of
Splitting hairs
Spot on
Stomping grounds
Stove up
Take a gander at
Tongue lashing
Two left feet
Under your belt (it's done)
Up to snuff
When pigs fly

 

Offered by others
Shanks mare
Went to Valhalla

These sort of sayings and word usage may be native only to certain parts of the country.
I use these and my dad is on the hunt to find more.  I learned them at home.
*Absolute favorites.




Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Playing Fall

When we bought our place, we didn't buy it for the color of the brick, (It's yellow) or the style (ranch).
We bought it because it had a big living room, lots of bedrooms, and 5+ acres.  It was a good place to raise our kids and a good place now for grand kids to come and play.
Nathan and Paislee were over for a fun 4-wheeling day and we have plenty of backyard for it. 



And obviously the front yard, too.



Bike fixing day.


Football...


And Soccer.







These boys just run and run. I love to see them improve over the season.  I am not much of a sports fan, and what I know about most sports you could put in a teaspoon. Playing sports takes a lot more strategy and thinking ahead than I ever knew. 


I don't know how interested others are in these photos, but I like them because they are of my grandchildren and I want to have them where I can look at them. 

 

Tuesday, August 31, 2021

The Rest of August

Paislee is 5,



Barry is 10,

School has started,

And so has football.


Junior high games are in the afternoon and this particular day was HOT! I should have known better than to wear a black shirt.  I about died of heat.
They won the game and Zane made a touchdown and a tackle.  
Right now, he's third tallest in his class.



 

Friday, August 20, 2021

Home Through The Badlands

Going Home

We planned to take in the Badlands on the way home. It is an impressive sight of miles and miles of rugged terrain.  I don't remember paying any fees when my family went in 1977, but that isn't a thing a 13 year old would remember.  I don't remember paying any fees when Jim and I took our kids up there in 2006 but since it is a National Park we must have.  I found a pamphlet on line that gave the fees for the 2007 season so I presume the $15 charged in 2007 was probably what was charged in 2006.  This year it was $30 for a car to go through.  That seems like a lot of money. Today with google you can get information on all kinds of things and the price was raised to $25 in 2018 and $30 in 2020 for private vehicles. So, we paid our fee and spent a lot of time looking and taking pictures. There are a lot here in this post.  I have to get my money's worth. They are in order, too.

Some kind of goat.  I looked in the Badlands website for a clue.  
They have a picture, but no name.

What I find most interesting about these massive rock formations is the depth.  A photograph isn't the best way to see that.  In these two photos there is a close ridge and then farther away, the rim.



Smoky Horizon


Colorful Layers





Vastness

Beauty in Nature





Jim is trying out his new hat with his pitiful old binoculars.  You can't remember everything when going on a trip, but it's too bad we didn't bring the better pair.



These are called "rainbow something or others".  I'm not terribly interested in the geology and make up of the rocks.  For those who are, google we shall always have with us.



Going farther south there are broad spaces between the high rock formations, where grass grows.








Finally, the sun came out and we get some blue sky!



Big Horn Sheep

There are a lot of photos here, I like them all.  Nature is amazing and I love to revisit it.