I found this picture of my grandma a while back and decided I needed to put it somewhere where I could see it more often. Unfortunately, pictures in a book (or a box) pushed way to the back of a cupboard tend not to be seen.
I love this picture. So much.
I wish I could have known my grandma at the time it was taken. I don’t know much about the person she was at this particular season in her life. But, the back of the photo has her full name, using her maiden name. So, I’m going to guess she wasn’t married yet. She and grandpa got married in July, 1940. She was born in 1919. So, if I had to guess, I would guess she must have been 19 or 20.
I love her contagious smile.
I love her outfit.
I love the fact that the background is a dirt ravine or ditch. Nothing fancy and just enough information to make the viewer think it was probably taken close to her home in Kansas.
When I look at this picture, I see a free-spirited young woman. One that surely enjoyed life and lived each moment to the fullest. I wish I could have known this younger version of grandma.
Isn’t it funny to think about the people in our lives and the lives they have lived? To think about them being in a different season or stage of life? I often wonder if my girls could have known me at their current ages if they would have liked me. Would I have been one of their friends?
I hope so.
They see me who I am now. They probably don’t even think of me being anything more than mom. It’s sort of sad in a way. We have people in our lives who are who they are but were once someone else. Does that make sense?
I’ve mentioned this before…how much I wish I could go back in time. Just once in awhile and view people and situations all over again. And if I could, I would want to be the same age as my grandma in this picture. I think she and I would have been really good friends.
When we see each other again, we will have so many things to talk about.
I can’t believe the last time I really wrote anything about what the heck was going on was in October. So much has happened since then.
Some not so big things…and some quite large.
And I struggle with the whole catch-up scenario. But, I must. I need to finish out 2019 so I can pull the entire year together and get printed.
So…let’s just get started. See where it goes and how it goes.
We got through the fall harvest. Jim and The Beast went one way and I went another. A local farmer/friend of ours hired me (again) to run their combine. So we were still in the world of harvest, just not together. Jim finished mid-November and I was only a few days behind him.
Nora was supposed to spend the day with me in the field. But we didn’t work, so she spent the day making me look beautiful instead. …and we went to the park to play. Colten and Taylor’s “diaper keg”. What a great evening!!When the sun went down, it got pretty chilly so we kept the fire good and hot!Putting the Cottage on Wheels in its winter home. Jim and The Beast in action. Thanks for the pictures, Joe!One of the final sunsets from the cab of the combine (for me).After the corn was finished, it was time to clean everything up and put away for another year. Backing the corn head into its winter home.
We had been invited by MacDon to attend their 70th anniversary dealer and staff meeting in Phoenix. We both wanted to go but knew there was no way if we were still in full harvest mode. The meeting was a week off and we were both done. So, we decided to rent a car and drive to Phoenix.
We saw beautiful sights and had a wonderful time. It was an awesome way to end the 2019 harvest season!
Making our way into The Arches National Park – Moab, UT.After this picture was taken, we got back in our car and headed for Monument Valley. I got online and rented a cabin for the night. It was pitch dark when we arrived. The next morning, I opened the blinds to this AMAZING sight! 👇The view from inside our cabin. “Our” cabin. Jim was thoroughly soaking up the beauty of the morning. From Monument Valley, we made our way to The Grand Canyon. 👇The Desert View Watchtower is a 70-foot-high stone building located on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. The view from the top of the tower. I told him to smile….Arrived in Phoenix after dark.The first day of the MacDon event included a tour of a gold mine. Of course he went around to the back of the buildings. What took him back there in the first place? Was it the propane tank or the dirt bike? 🤷♀️Making our way to the Dolly Steamboat for a lunch cruise. Sharing our table with friends – Jim and DeAnn Deibert. The MacDon equipment show. That’s a whole slug of Jims (and one that probably wishes he was). The evening meal took us to the Corona Ranch and included Mexican food and a rodeo. Waiting for the rodeo to start with Mark and Candi Rathe. Gene Fraser of MacDon. The second day began with a tour of T & K Red River Dairy in Stanfield, AZ.The day ended with our final meal together at Chase Field. And, of course, it included the infamous MacDon bagpipe players. Checked out of the hotel the next morning and began our trip back home again. Just one of many sights on Highway 66.
Taylor was due November 30 but knew she wasn’t going to be allowed to wait that long to deliver. Her doctor told her he felt she needed to be induced (due to her pregnancy being labeled high risk because of her blood pressure) on November 25th. We got back home from our Arizona adventure on the 23rd.
Layne Parker was born at 9:31 on November 27th. She weighed 6 lbs 15 oz and was 19.5″ long. When Colten let me know the baby had been born, he didn’t tell me if it was a girl or a boy. He said to find out, we had to go to the hospital to see them (this was after a very long labor and c-section). I told him Taylor needed to rest. So, we went up that evening. This was not a very nice thing to have done to an excited Grandma!
When we entered the room, we were greeted with a baby and a bow…it’s a girl!
Taken on Thanksgiving (in the hospital).Our little Gloworm. They’ve come a LONG ways since my babies were under lights for jaundice. Nora turned five on December 5 – her “golden” birthday. I got to go have lunch with her at school on her birthday. We inked her up for a Christmas ornament and for a page in her baby book. She was NOT happy with us!Nora’s 5th birthday party. Round two of many more elementary Christmas concerts. I helped at Eli’s kindergarten Christmas party. So much fun! ❤And later that day, we watched Nora’s preschool Christmas concert. One day while Taylor came over to hang out, I talked her into helping me wrap presents. Jamie’s 34th birthday. Still Jamie’s birthday but we made Christmas cookies to be decorated the next day at Gramma’s house. The traditional cookie decorating on the afternoon of Christmas Eve at Gramma’s house. It was so nice outside on Christmas, we walked to the park to get out of the house and enjoy the sunshine. Christmas with the Rathe’s.Baby Wayne (as the kids call her because they can’t say their “L’s” very well) – one month old.
And, finally, this concludes the last few months of 2019. Thank you for following our journey. 2019 was one very long year filled with challenges, adventures and lots of love! See ya in 2020!!!
Two weeks ago tomorrow we arrived “home, home” – the end of wheat harvest 2019.
As is typical, as soon as we park the equipment and get the cottage on wheels parked in the driveway, it feels as though the previous 100 days of being on the road never happened.
I don’t like this.
The transition of coming home is so much more difficult than leaving in the spring. When we leave in the spring, we’re leaving a world that we are used to and have accepted. The world we leave revolves around the clock and a schedule.
Harvest has it’s own schedule. It is, by far, more simple and I like that! Until you’ve experienced this simplicity, it’s difficult to explain.
I began working on emptying the trailer house the very next day. There’s nothing worse than living out of two homes. I figured I may as well just suck it up and start the process of moving back into the house.
We came home to Nebraska to summer…leaving the very cold temps and rain to the northern country. The first night home was nearly impossible to adjust to the heat and humidity. Sleep was not good since we were still sleeping in the trailer house (and we can’t run the air conditioner).
The very next day, the weather we left up north caught up with us. And it’s been cool (and very rainy) ever since. Goodbye summer! This was another motivator of getting moved into the house – it was warmer. Crazy weather!
On Saturday, October 5, we celebrated Taylor and Baby Josoff. Jamie, Jenna and Callie planned a wonderful baby shower – and I got to be there to enjoy it! I was afraid with the way things had been in Montana, I wasn’t going to be able to attend.
The day was absolutely gorgeous – and the party…even better!
We celebrated Callie’s 22nd birthday the next evening. At home. In our teeny, tiny little house. We are so short on room when everyone is together but I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world (well, maybe for ONE larger room). How in the world can my “baby” be 22????
The past two weeks have been a blur! The trailer house is empty and cleaned. The flower gardens are showing less and less weeds. The equipment has been changed over to fall harvest (Jim has even had a couple of days in the soybean field). I’ve emptied nearly 8″ of rain from the rain gauge. We’ve had a couple of things to celebrate. Life is beginning to be feel more “normal”. It seems to take me a couple of weeks to get to that point.
And then I did this…
For those of you who kept up with us on our Zeorian Harvesting Facebook page, you probably watched my daily videos. As the season got longer…so did my hair. And towards the end, more and more gray was showing through. My TRUE color.
I started coloring my hair in my late 20’s. Recently, I’ve been feeling like it was time to just quit. There has been a lot of soul searching, thinking and reading.
It’s just hair…right?
Well, that’s what I say about a haircut. The decision to quit coloring my hair has been a very difficult one. It’s like a step into the next stage of life. I mean, my birthday tells me how old I am. I just never really wanted to LOOK that old. My brain tells me I’m still 25. 🙂
The process of going all white scared me. I didn’t know if I could actually live with the drastic line between color and gray as my hair grew. I did a lot of reading on Pinterest and realized it could be done easier by blending the color into the white. Becky (my most awesome hairdresser) reassured me if I absolutely hated it, I could always go back.
Okay…I’m just going to do it! It’s time to be 100% me. No more fake color!
Now, how in the world is the rest of the world going to accept it? Another scary thing to think about. The shock of seeing something different. Change is different. Change is scary. Change is something we can all count on.
The reactions from the family have been varied. The best was watching Ben stare at my hair while I talked to him. Eli and Nora are surely wondering when their other Grandma will come back. Each time I pass a mirror, I have to back up and wonder who that person is looking back at me.
Social media needs to have a place to click, “Embraced the Gray”. You know, like “in a relationship” or “married”. Maybe one that says, “accepted the next stage of life”.
Looks like I’m going to have to get Taylor to take a new profile pic!
This custom cutter business of ours is one low-budget operation!
What I mean is…we do things on a pretty low-scaled manner. There’s nothing big and/or impressive about our crew – except The Beast.
We do whatever it takes to get by so we can be on the road again next year. This “crew” that I speak of is just the two of us. Jim and me…me and Jim.
It takes us a whole lot longer to do anything. More so than most crews with hired men. It’s okay – it’s how we roll.
It was a week ago Jim told me we were done cutting wheat for 2019. Since then, he’s done quite a little servicing and maintenance on trucks, dug out growing wheat from the combine and header and cleaned. Well…I cleaned. I cleaned trucks, pickups and the trailer house. Needless to say, once we roll into home, home for the last time, we’ll be ALMOST ready to cut beans and corn. (In Nebraska, we pick corn.)
We finally left Jordan this afternoon about 3:30. We’re parked for the night at Belle Fourche, SD. And because we are the low-budgeting kind, we will be spending the night in the parking lot of the livestock sale barn…in the luxurious Hotel Pete.
Because I have time tonight (not much to do in a semi), I thought I would share the beauty of the mountains we saw on our raincation.
It was such a welcome break! We spent three nights out. First night in Thermopolis, WY. Second night in a cabin in Silver Gate, MT. The final night in a lovely cabin south of Anaconda, MT.
We left Jordan a little after noon on our first day (Monday). It had been drizzling most of the morning. Traffic in Billings, MT. The pickup hadn’t been washed all summer. Jim knew it was probably a silly thing to do (because of the forecast) but he paid to have it washed for the trip. It lasted a day. Making our way to Thermopolis. Entering Cody, WY. Heading into Thermopolis. Thermopolis, WYOur home for the first night. I loved this! The next morning, we walked to the hot springs bath house. You’re only allowed to sit in the free bath house for 20 minutes. But that was plenty long enough. This is the Bighorn River. This is outside pool at the free bath house. And the inside pool. Ohhhhh…it felt so good!The only one of six hotels built in the early 1900’s left. It looked amazing. Unfortunately for us, it was full or I would have booked a room here. Hot Spring’s State ParkHeaded back north towards Cody, WY. Those dark clouds were right over the area we were going towards. Those clouds you see held snow. We just missed seeing it falling from the sky. The clouds were crazy!Home for the second night. It was so cute! We went to Cooke City for supper. We went to the Miner’s Saloon for a really tasty meal! The moon was so bright as we were headed back to our cabin. The next morning we headed for the road that went across the northern edge of Yellowstone Park. FINALLY! After 50 some years…I saw a bear in the park! We spent the third, and final, night in a cabin at the Sugar Loaf Lodge and Cabin Resort. This find was a Godsend. When we arrived, Monica (the owner) met me at the door with the key to an upgraded cabin and a grocery bag. The grocery bag held all we needed to fix an amazing steak supper. Everything she did for us was appreciated so much more than she will ever know! What a perfect way to end our raincation! Jim looks pretty relaxed – considering there was NO TV or cell service. If you ever get to the Anaconda, MT area and want a beautiful place to get away from it all, this is where it’s at! Headed back to Jordan. The Rimrocks on the north edge of Billings. Downtown Billings. I really dislike seeing mountains in the rear view mirror!!The sun setting on our little getaway.
I didn’t have time to prepare for the last day of wheat harvest 2019. It just happened.
The last time I was in the combine, cutting wheat, was Friday, September 6. It seems the weather pattern is in some sort of weirdness where it rains every Friday. (It’s supposed to rain again in two days – Friday.)
If I had known this was going to be the last day I was going to climb the ladder and watch that header cut my favorite crop, I would have done things a whole lot differently.
I would have prepared my soul for the last acre. I would have soaked it all in a bit more. I would have taken a few more pictures.
The girls are tired of me saying, “we need a family picture”. But they are usually so good about just giving in…most of the time.
One more pic before we’re all going in separate directions.
Memorial Day was spent working outside. Jim on the combine and me doing whatever I could. The days without rain have been few and far between. It seems the moisture in our part of the country has been way more than needed since about January. It just changed from snow to rain.
Julie contacted me with an idea about a fundraiser. I have to admit, when she wrote the note to me, I loved the idea but was unsure how it was all supposed to work.
She and Rod run Sizzlin’ S Outfitters near Jordan, Montana and wanted to donate a 5-day Eastern Montana Mule Deer Hunt valued at nearly $5,000 for a Facebook auction. I had never seen anything like this done before. There would be 100 numbers and each number would cost $100. When it was all said and done, they would generate $10,000 to donate to the Nebraska Cattlemen Disaster Relief Fund. 100% of the relief fund is distributed to Nebraska cattle producers affected by the recent flooding.
As with anything else that’s new to me, I hesitated. But only briefly. As long as Julie could explain how it all would work and what my involvement would be, I didn’t see why it wouldn’t be possible. But 100 names at $100??? THAT seemed impossible.
Well, as we all know…with God NOTHING is impossible.
The auction began on Saturday, April 6. My job was to collect the money through the Nebraska Wheatie “Shop” and keep the numbers updated with names of purchasers on the original Facebook post.
Order notifications became something I looked forward to seeing in my email. Every time a number was purchased, I would receive a copy of the transaction. I would immediately go to the Facebook page and update a blank number with the name.
I couldn’t believe what I was witnessing! What seemed impossible (100 numbers at $100 each) began unfolding into something VERY possible.
And do you know why? Because people care! Because people want to help. I had contact with several of the purchasers via email. Each one of them said basically the same thing…they felt bad for the Nebraska ranchers who had experienced such loss and all they wanted to do was help.
The definition of help – the action of helping someone to do something; assistance.
Everyone stepped up to the plate with this fundraiser and it worked! The last number was purchased at noon on April 9. The auction lasted all of 2 1/2 days! WOW!
The lucky number was chosen last night. Lucky number 81!!! I was “rooting” for all of them because they are ALL winners in my eyes! Thank you to everyone who purchased numbers and made this possible. I know most would have liked to have won but knew this was one way they could help those who needed help.
Thank you, Rod and Julie, for allowing me to help YOU! For trusting that I could help you create something that would mean so much to so many. You’re THE BEST!
And…now an update on Jenna’s t-shirt fundraiser. We have sold 232 shirts. This is getting very close to a $2,000 donation to the Nebraska Farm Bureau Disaster Fund. Shirts are still very much for sale! They are $28 each and the price includes shipping. If you’re interested, be sure to go to the Nebraska Wheatie “Shop” and check them out!
With another very intense spring storm about to hit most of Nebraska, people’s nerves are a bit weary. I know we can and will survive but the help of the helpers is what’s going to get everyone through this. We are Nebraska, we are persistent, we are built to carry on and we will continue! We are Nebraska Strong!
The following post was written by Jenna. She put into words what the rest of us have felt. The weather event, which began over a week ago, has affected so many Midwest farmers, ranchers and communities (large and small).
To all who have been directly affected by the “bomb” which dropped on the Midwest a week ago, please know the entire Z Crew has prayed for you, thought of you and cried with you…and will continue to do so!
Social media gets a bad
rap. I get it. Most times it’s not good things you see or hear on social media.
However, I would have
never met Jonnie Roughrider @MagnumJw aka John Kennay had it not been for
social media. Twitter, to be exact.
John and I shared the
same love for the combine and for our family. His presence was always there. I
could count on a tweet about the combine when he was sitting in the cab. He
loved the fact that his 92 year old dad still ran the newer model combines and
hadn’t missed a harvest…ever. He was always talking about coming for a visit one
summer while we were on the road.
I learned of John’s
death on January 24. It was one of those things where you read the words but it
just can’t be true? It was true.
Twitter began lighting up with the same feelings as mine…how could this be? We were just…I was just…I just… Dang it! Why can’t there be a little warning about these sort of things once in a while?
If there had been a warning, I would have made that quick trip to Omaha a couple of months ago and met him. I would have visited with him a little longer about his dad during that last “conversation” we had on Twitter. I would have…
I watched the video his
family prepared for his funeral. It is part of his obituary. Although I’ve
never met John, I can see in his face the love he had for his family, for his
Harley and for his farming. I felt the
emotion he was trying to capture with those pictures of his dad running the
combine. I felt the warmth of the sun hitting his back while sitting on that
motorcycle. And I felt the love and concern for his grandchild who had just
fallen off the sled he was pulling behind the four-wheeler. The pictures
clearly captured Jonnie Roughrider’s love for life.
And this made me wonder
about those of you who don’t know me. I wonder when you watch the video
prepared for my funeral if you’ll see that same love of life as I witnessed
while watching John’s? I admit, the tears were flowing and my heart was hurting
for his family. They did a fabulous job of capturing John for who he was. And I
didn’t even know him.
Will the camera capture
your love for life? Or just there in the moment? Will the smile be genuine? Or
will it be one that was asked to be there on demand? I hope it’s the genuine
kind.
I wish I had a picture
with John like many of the others on Twitter do. I wish I had had the chance to
meet him in person. I know I would have thoroughly enjoyed visiting with him. I
know it because I see it in his pictures. I know it because I read it in his
words. You made an impact on me, Jonnie Roughrider, and you didn’t even know
it.
Until we meet again…I
will forever miss you and our Twitter conversations at harvest time. I will
forever think of you while I’m sitting in the cab of that combine knowing there
was someone else who shared that same love for it as I do. Thank you, Jonnie
Roughrider aka John Kennay for making this world a little bit better for so
many of us!
