37 Weeks

I can't believe how fast time can go sometimes. Three weeks left till a new journey. Somewhat scary, very exciting. I don't always look at my past blog entries, so please forgive me if I repeat myself. We can just blame it on being pregnant. Last Thursday Rustin and I went to St. Cloud and purchased a computer. Neither of us know a whole lot about computers so we talked to our dads and got some good advice. When we got it home and tried booting it up, we had all sorts of problems with it not starting, starting and then freezing up, and numerous pop-ups of how some stuff was installed wrong. Thankfully the Geek Squad had installed everything so we knew it wasn't our fault. We took some pictures of some of the pop-ups and headed back to St. Cloud on Saturday. (There is some benefit to a week of rain in the fall.) The hour and a half trip there was a little tense, not knowing what type of service we would encounter. The Geek looked at our computer and said it didn't look like anything was wrong at the moment, but since we had pictures of proof of nasty pop-ups and since we had just purchased it a few days ago, we could swap computers. Without any hesitation I said "YES." I didn't think we needed a 'lemon' sitting around the house, and Rustin hated calling the HP hotline and talking with hard-to-understand help, so we waited while they installed the new computer with anti-virus/spyware software and we headed home. Thankfully when we arrived home and hooked everything up, it worked. This brightened our weekend. I know computers tend to have minds of their own so I'm sure things won't always be peachy, but I am going to enjoy it until that point. Everyone has their opinion of Best Buy and the Geek Squad, but Rustin and I decided that they were very helpful to us, and we were glad to talk to actual humans face-to-face.

This week, thus far, has been sunny, so today marks the beginning of my temporary widowhood. Rustin is now applying anhydrous to area fields, so I will see little of him for a couple of months. Hopefully when I go into labor, I'll be able to reach him. At this time last year, we were engaged and I spent many nights up till 11 or 12 talking to him while he was finishing up a field. I think it will be different this year with me actually living up here. Ask me in a few weeks if I'm cut out to be an Ag wife.

One of my dear cousins reqested a picture of how I look pregnant. So after reading this section, you might want to exit out before you are forever scarred. Rustin delighted in taking many pictures, much to my dismay, so most of them have been deleted. Here are a couple.

It's still raining

Sometimes we just have to face the fact that we don't always get our way with the weather. It is still rainy and gloomy. This makes it difficult for Rustin to get into the fields and apply anhydrous. Last Saturday was a nice day though, so we finally finished the rock part of our landscape. We needed about half a bucket full, so thankfully some of our friends had an over-abundance left from their project so we could use that. We don't have the mulch down on the one side of the house yet, but we are going to wait for spring to do this. Last week I went in for my 36 week check-up. Everything looks okay, so now we just wait for the baby to come. I'm ready for it sooner rather than later, but I guess I'll just have to be patient. I have weekly appointments now so the arrival seems more real. At this point I would say that I would take the first 7 months over the last 2. I think this is because I felt better then, and didn't feel so clumsy and nauseous and big. I'll stop complaining though, because a lady at church told me that she vomited every night from month 3 till the end. I just don't know how she did it. Last Friday we helped at the first annual Fireman's chili/hamburger fundraiser. (It replaced the Fireman's Auction, which I thought would've been neat to go to.) People kept showing up, so I think they did pretty well for the first year. I am finally beginning to recognize people from Hancock besides church people which is exciting to me. Rustin was giving fire truck rides around town to whoever wanted one. There were four of us in his truck at one point and his pager went off signifying a fire call. Luckily we were only a block away from the fire hall, so he whipped the truck around and dropped us off. One anxious fireman was in such a hurry that he practically drug me out of the truck. Obviously he has never been pregnant. Since all of the firemen except one were gone, some of us wives stepped up and helped a little more. It ended up that the fire was in a different county, so they all came back in about 10 minutes. I'm always comforted when I hear of these dispatch mishaps. If my house was burning I don't think I'd be impressed if it took two or three tries to get the right people there. I guess so far nothing drastic has happened so that lives were lost, but if you get a chance ask Rustin to tell you some of the rather humorous Hancock Fire Dept. mishaps. It will make you glad you live elsewhere! Because it was raining yesterday, Rustin was able to take off a little early and we went to Alex shopping. We purchased a curtain rod and a toilet for our bathroom project. Thankfully we cleaned out the office so there is room for all this stuff. We also did a little Christmas and baby shopping. It's good to get out and enjoy different scenery!

The Philistine Army

Last week was kind of a slow one. It rained most of the week, so this was a good chance for me to do some house cleaning and rearranging. We bought a computer desk that has two wings for storage underneath. The armoire and one of our desks left the office and are now on the front porch. The office is less messy and things are more accessible. The store-all table is now used as my drafting table. This fall I have a couple of drawings and proposals to do. One of them I need to get done this week because they will be done with harvest by next weekend and the men can start on the landscaping. I enjoy the design aspect of landscaping and am hoping to acquire more business in this department. I am looking to invest in a computer program for design which will make my job much more efficient.
The title of my entry is what stuck out in the sermon yesterday. I don't remember where we were reading, but the theme of the morning was - allowing God to remove the Philistine Army(s) from our lives. It is easy to get bogged down with weights or fears or whatever else Satan can bog us down with. But, if we put our trust in God and give Him our whole heart, He will help us to destroy "the Philistines."
Other Sunday highlights were that my old roomate, Mindy Wulf, was engaged to Jonathan Joos. He was an usher at our wedding. We feel they will be good for each other and are excited to have another young couple in Morris. In the evening we went to Rustin's parents with some other families for a fish fry. It was some good fish! Hopefully this week will be a little sunnier so the fall weather can be better enjoyed.

Big and Bloated

Two weekends ago we went to Tremont. It was a very nice weekend, but by the time we reached home I was sore and my feet swelling. This was the first time this happened. Sometimes I am ready for our child to come out right now. I suppose it's better if I just acquire a little patience and realize that soon enough he/she will be here. Last week was in the 40's and 50's during the day. True Minnesotans were commenting how nice the fall weather was. I personally thought that it was a little chilly to be considered fall weather. This week it is back in the 70's which is more my cup of tea. The garden is finally done. I enjoyed working with it and reaping fresh produce, canning, freezing, etc. but after awhile they can become somewhat of a burden. The only thing we have left to freeze is potatoes, but we are going to wait to do this until later. We may as well eat them while they're fresh. Last Friday I did something I don't usually do for the City. I don't totally understand it, but the runoff or something from the sewer plant empties into a drainage ditch. The phone company was running fiberoptics through the area and cut through a sewer pipe, so this caused a problem. An excavating company came in and had to redig the ditch and needed trucks to haul the mud/grass/sewage to a nearby field, so for most of the day I got to drive a big dump truck. (It is used for a snow plow in the winter.) It was fun but I felt like a definite beginner. The excavator finally would put his bucket out to the exact spot he wanted me to back up to. My only consolation was that a fellow truck driver said it looked like I had been doing this all my life rather than for my first time. He might have just been making me feel better. It was pretty enjoyable except for it would get muddy from stuff slushing out our trucks, and then he would have to push us out with his back hoe. Also carrying a baby and driving over extremely bumpy fields isn't exactly the most comfortable always.

I also started another job last week. It is couple days a week over noon time. Doug Nohl started a business called Wurst Machers which translates to Sausage Makers. We travel to area companies and grill (on a huge grill like Famous Daves' uses) pork burgers and sell them. He has a man named Benji who kind of runs the show. Everything we do is in a trailer pulled behind a pick-up. A lady named Jeannette and I mainly do the bag packaging and meat packaging when it comes off the grill and distribute food when people come to our window. This is the second week of business and we have high hopes for the future.

Today I started pressure washing the trucks from last week. It was a disgusting job that I think would have been easier to do on Friday. Then in the afternoon I went shopping in Alexandria. I have decided to start Christmas shopping while I am feeling up to it.

Babies R Us

Michelle Mueller stayed with us last week - one last vacation before school started. We went boating on Sat. We mainly stayed close to shore and viewed the spectacular lake homes. Unfortunately both of us had to work so Michelle had the mornings to her self. (I don't think she minded the R & R.) My boss' dad passed away so I worked by myself the entire week except Friday. More mowing, painting, and branch clean-up got done. There are 57 fire hydrants in Hancock and 55 of them were painted by me. The other two were brand new. In the afternoons we had to do some canning, but one of the days we went to Alexandria shopping. It is a quaint little tourist town. The mainstreet is lined with shops so we stopped there. Rustin had to truck a couple evenings, so Michelle road with him once. She decided trucking maybe wasn't for her. As she headed home on Sat., we headed to the Cities to clean-up Rustin's dad's business. It took all day to cut and haul branches, so I was beat by the end of the day. We stayed at the apt. down there and went to Cities church on Sunday. It was the same weekend of the State Fair so there were several visitors. For those of you who don't recieve the Minneapolis Star Tribune, you missed a top story involving some of my relatives, the Wulfs. Wulf Limousin Farm was unloading their bulls when one of them got loose at the Fair. It couldn't find any other bulls so it got scared and took off running through the crowd of fair-goers. For some unknown reason (I think it was meant to happen) it bucked a fire-hydrant and fell dead on the spot. Fortunately no one was hurt and the city people had some excitement for their day. We didn't go to the fair, but instead after church went to the Mall of America to walk around. Our purpose for going to the cities was to baby shop. On Monday we hit Babies R Us and Target and purchased items such as crib, changing table, stroller, carseat, pack n play- using our parents' gift money. Since it was both of our first time in Babies R Us, we thought it was a neat store. After an all day shopping spree, we now feel like we are more prepared to have our baby. I'm glad Rustin was along to help choose items. Soon he will have no time to go shopping as he will be in the fields. Tomorrow we leave for Tremont, and sadly enough this will be the last time before the baby arrives. Just a side note: I have had dreams about the baby being either sex, so I think there is no clear sign as to what we are having. We will wait and see!

The Bat Fiasco

I really thought I was going to have to move before I was even in this house for one year. In an 8 day period we had 6 bats. Mostly they would come out at 3 or 4 in the morning. We were thankful for the tennis racket (and for Rustin). I think by the end he was sick of killing them. We found a company called Exclusive Bat Proofing on the Internet and called them up. We were put on a 2 week waiting list but given high hopes. Let me tell you, it was a long two weeks. They came the day we left for IL and did their job. As you can see, first there is proof of bats in our house. They put a 25 year sealant on all the cracks around our house, mainly on the roof. They also put up wire mesh doors, so the the bats already in the house could get out, but no new ones could get in. Thus far it has been a sucsessfull investment. I still cringe when I open the basement door, but I suppose in time, I will get over this. Unfortunately if you have bats and live outside of the state of MN you will have to find someone else to service your problem, as they only cater to Minnesotans.

Life otherwise has been hectic. Rustin is now hauling silage for the Dairy and does this when they need him from 4pm to 2am. I rode with him till midnight and decided I needed some sleep. I have been doing much canning and freezing in the past weeks. Since it has rained and temps are falling I have been helping my boss with his side job of seeding lawns in the afternoons and evenings. This explains the lack of updates. It's too bad that computers haven't advanced to where you think a thought and it types. Well maybe they have, but it hasn't reached MN yet.

Detroit Lakes

This is a picture of my two cute nieces. They seem to like each other. We had an enjoyable time at Detroit Lakes. On Saturday evening Dad S., Eric, Rustin and I went fishing. This was the first time I remember going fishing with die-hards. (minus Rustin) I caught a Northern, but unfortunately I don't have a picture of it. It got thrown back into the lake. We were on the lake for 3 hours. This was plenty long for me considering how many fish I caught. On Sunday afternoon we went to a flea market. We got some bargains and lots of sun. Other than this we mainly lazed around and went swimming. Very relaxing. This week has consisted of working in the mornings and canning and freezing beans and corn in the afternoons. Also I am currently in a pitch-all mood so there is major organizing going on. I got our brick-edge finished one afternoon, so now all we need is mulch and a little bit of rock. This weekend is the Stevens County Fair which is a mixture of the Tazewell County 4-H fair and the Tremont Turkey Festival, downsized. We plan to go there tonight and delight in greasy fair food. We leave tomorrow for Tremont for the weekend.