Franching: Cotton must wait

Every morning when I get up it is so dark out, and I wonder if it is really time to get up.  However, it was nice to put the kids on the bus when it is not so dark outside.   Hope you moved your clocks back.
My horses are complete pigs, they have been consuming a whole bale of grass in just a few days.  I made Luke move a second bale feeder into their pen because two of the “outside” mares don’t seem to get the same amount of bunk space.  Poor Blondie always gets picked on.  I call her Blondie, not just because she is a palomino but because she is prone to knicks, scrapes, and not always very street smart, or should I say pasture smart.
Finally, we are approaching the end of soybean season.  We got done with ours a few weeks ago, but then we have stopped and cut beans for a few neighbors.  One guy had several fields to cut so he took the longest.  Another guy has been patiently waiting, but he only has 50 acres.  So, once they get moved it shouldn’t take long.  I have spent a few days this week helping move them around from field to field.
Many people have asked when the cotton will be picked. The cotton may take a while to get picked, or stripped.  We certainly are not set up to pick cotton in any shape or form.  We will get in line for our field to be picked.  The bowl opener has been sprayed on the cotton.  This is our first year to plant cotton, and yes, it is a bit of a risk.  We really have no experience, and the costs associated with production are high. There are only a few of the new round bale pickers in the area, but they are sure to be busy.  A new one costs $800,000 plus net wrap.  Seems reasonable. (Ok that was me being sarcastic.)
However, this is one crop that seems to be making producers money.  West of Pratt near the cotton gin. nearly every inch of ground is planted to cotton!  I took a picture of Weston out in the cotton, he was pretending to sing a song much like the “Peterson Farm Bros.”
 Addie has started basketball season.  It’s not her favorite sport, but she does enjoy the running around and hanging out with friends during the season.  The season should last until the second week of January.  She has three games next week, isn’t that crazy? Allie will want to play rec basketball again I am sure. Weston told me he wants to do sports, that is scary since he is the most competitive of the three kids.  Just playing a board game can be a major event for him.
Addie is also on the end of a project she has been working on for Veteran’s Day.  She interviewed my grandpa, and did learn many things about him and the Navy.  She has been complaining that other kid’s parents are writing their papers, and doing their project boards.  I just tried to assure her that someday that will catch up to them.
Allie has been working very hard on her piano pieces for Christmas.  I am surprised how much she has practiced being honest.  Weston like to bother her while she plays.  He also loves to try and play her trombone.   She got to spend the night with a friend for her birthday.  They went roller skating and she now insists she wants roller blades for Christmas.
Weston had his cousin Levi over and they seemed to enjoy going and playing in the girls’ big closet upstairs.  Both girls were mad the boys had been in there, but come on, they had not even opened that closet for months.

First of the last (teeth)

By Tammie Hoeme
The other day I realized that 2 boxes of Mac and cheese would not be enough to fill up my kid’s tummies.  Addie commented – I can eat a box all by myself.  Great, their dad will want to eat something to eat also.   Groceries are SO expensive.  I don’t like going to the store, and especially not with my kids.  Thankfully we do have a freezer full of meat.  We had two extra 4-H pigs that are now a regular part of our breakfast and sometimes supper.
It finally happened, Weston lost his FIRST tooth.   Such a big boy.  This will really change his looks from being a little boy into growing up into more of a big kid.   We go to parent teacher conferences this week.  I cheated and have already seen his grades online.  He seems to be doing well at school, but it might be interesting to hear it from the teacher.  Sometimes he tells me that he needs a day off.
We went to a football game a few weeks ago and sat with the other team. I knew the parents of one of the players from the other team.  Since they live in Western Kansas we don’t get to see them very often.  Weston and I sat down and began visiting with our friends. It did not take him very long to see that we were sitting on the wrong side.  This was very upsetting for him.  But he went and played with his cousins, so he had fun.
Allie has rolled thru 6th grade with few problems at this point.  In fact, her grades make me wonder if 6th grade is too easy.  I know that some things have been a challenge for her but her grades don’t reflect any problems at this point.  A boy was bugging her at a carnival we went to and Weston was ready to take care of the situation.  To be honest the kid is in her class, and one of her buddies.   But it was funny to see him want to protect the sister he enjoys fighting with. 
Addie has gotten through the cross-country season.  She was complaining about her knee right before the final meet, but then she said it wasn’t hurting at the meet.  That is good because her team won the league meet.  That was the first time the girls had won the title.  Ok the boys won too.  It was exciting for them.

Franching: VETERAN’S DAY

You know many people spend a lot of time bashing the public schools.  Some schools even allow children to opt out of the Pledge of Allegiance.   That is why I am thankful my kids have gotten the chance to learn about Veteran’s Day.  In the elementary school the students have an assembly that honors any local veteran who would like to attend.  At the middle school the 8th graders are assigned a large project for Veteran’s Day.  Addie has worked on her project for about 6 weeks. 
She didn’t have too look to far to find someone to interview.  Her great-grandfather is a Navy veteran.  Addie and I went over to his place so she could interview him.  She was asking him some big questions, such as “What where some of the lessons you learned.”  Keep in mind this was many years ago.  So her 92 year old grandfather replied, “I learned to follow orders, and do what I was told.” 
On Friday the middle school had a come and go reception at the school. All of the projects were on display.
We played Monopoly this weekend.  Weston really likes playing the game for about the first 30 minutes, then the game gets longer.  Then I am reminded my husband is a risk taker and a control freak.  I am left wondering, has Monopoly actually brought families together, or just caused fights.
Recently I noticed that the TV remote was hidden in the crown molding above a doorway in our house.  Luke has been putting it there so the kids won’t lose it.
I have decided to call my column Franching.  What is franching you ask, it is a word that represents people who both farm and ranch. I know lots of farmers who do not want to mess with cattle, but most cattlemen dabble a little bit in farming.  Did I mention that my grandpa came home from the Navy and spent the next 50 plus years franching. On of his favorite things he did was to build terraces.
As Christmas approaches keep in mind that BILLIONS of dollars are spent on advertising.  Keep in mind that all of the images also can plant a seed of discontentment in our hearts. 

On Friday I could no longer procrastinate and I had to face my peers.  We all met at our old high school at the basketball  homecoming game.  It was time to meet up for our 20th class reunion.  Except it was really our 21st.  There were few who came from out of town, but mainly those of us that live close by and never get to see each other.  We stayed out way past my bedtime.  The laughs were worth it. Basically people had not changed too much; we all just looked different. I wore my old cheer leading jacket just to be funny and for those who stopped to see what I was wearing they did in fact chuckle.
Addie and her friend attended their first middle school dance and of course had very little to say about the event.
The next morning Allie had a basketball game 8:30 Saturday morning.  The girls played the team that they played in the season opener.  The other team had been working hard.  They had improved, however we still managed to win.  Allie even made a basket.  She was rather surprised and pleased with herself.
Next we loaded up in the car and headed to Manhattan for the 4-H day with the Cats.  This is an annual event.  The kids get a special meal package and an event T-Shirt.  The Lady Cats played Iowa State and managed to pull out a win for their crowd.
Next we headed to Cox BBQ because that’s where the kids wanted to eat.  We enjoyed some I-70 seasoned French fries and headed home. We stopped in Hutch at DQ and Weston enjoyed his first Butterfinger Blizzard.

A home for Hannah

This was a full week but the main event was the adoption of a dog. It all started at Christmas time.  “We want a puppy.” Those words were being uttered by my three children over and over.  “Fine with me, but you are going to have to convince Dad.”  I told them.  Somehow they managed to clear the hurdle of approval with their dad.  We have one good dog.  He is nearly perfect.  Scout sleeps on the poach and stays on this bed.  Politicians should learn from him, because I see him frequently snuggling with the cats.  He does not bark at strangers, but it would be nice if he did.  If coyotes are near by, he is faithful to bark ALL NIGHT LONG.  Scout is 8 years old, and my kids have never had a puppy.
So the search began, what kind of dog?  Lab, Golden Retrievers, Labradoodles, German Shepard or Shollie?  When I searched on the Internet people were trying to sell puppies and some of them just seemed out of line.  We resisted the Christmas puppy and assured the kids that the right dog will come to us.  I even visited with one of my friends who is a Veterinarian and she to encouraged me that a good dog could be found without spending an arm and a leg.
It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.  I was talking to one of my friends and mentioned we were kind of looking for a dog. She said, “Really my sister-in-law has a nice dog that they no longer want.”  As it turns out “Hannah” had killed a few chickens.  She was good with kids, only about a year and a half year old and not too big.  Hannah is a miniature Australian Shepard.  We are going to have to teach her how to play fetch.  The kids love her. Hopefully we have found a good home for her, especially since we have no chickens.

A Mom for Teddy

I won’t deny it’s been a few weeks since I have written anything.  The paper has been full and so my column was not needed to take up space.
Today Weston is playing “Farm” and getting popcorn all over my floor.  He seems to be having a good time, we can sweep it up later.  He has a grain truck, auger and combine out.  Perhaps I should remind him to go get the grain cart? His preschool teacher says that he is progressing.  Most days he even seems to enjoy school. Last week we did some water color painting.  At the end he was just using black.  So then I made him use any other color but black.
Last week he told me that Teddy his bear needed a Mom.  I told him that he was kind of like Teddy’s mom.  Weston then said, “Do I look like a bear?” Next I told him “Well you are like Teddy’s dad.”  Next Weston replied, “I lose him sometimes you know.”  So far in his 5 year old mind he has a few ideas about what it takes to be a parent.
On Wednesday Allie has basketball practice.  She enjoys walking across the street after school and going to practice.  The coach was one of my older sister’s friends in high school.  He has a daughter on the team also.  I could tell she was nervous her first game, but she really loved it too.
Addie has found plenty of things to do even though her basketball is over for the year.  She is participating in scholar’s bowl and mainly just enjoys spending time with her buddies.  We took Addie and two of her friends up to horse panorama this weekend at Rock Springs.  Even though we had no idea what we were doing, a good time was had by all.
Luke of course is busy calving out heifers.  The cow business can be tough; it’s hard to lose a baby calf no matter how long you have been in the cattle business.  It also makes a person happy to see a calf born with no problems.
From time to time we need to make a few changes at the Rural Messenger.  We tried to do a current event series for a time but after trying for sometime that idea just isn’t successful the way we had hoped.  I also have shuffled a few of the pages around.  However I don’t think they will be hard to find.   As always thank you for reading our paper.

Bull sale time

This weekend we made a fun trip up to Manhattan, Ks.  It was our third trip to the K-State and 4-H Day with the Cats.  They played Baylor, and came up short.  But we still enjoyed the game and got to take in the bittersweet moment for 5 seniors. They were given framed jerseys and their parents were all on hand to shed a few tears.
We spent the night and attended the church where our former pastor in Pratt now preaches.  They had a good time seeing how much our kids have changed, and it was nice to see all of their kids too.
This paper is a very full one.  I hope you don't find any errors but with 48 pages it could easily happen.
Take a look at all of our upcoming auctions.  So many bull sales to get ready for.  I sure hope they all have nice weather for their upcoming sales.