Farm Life: Snow Day?

I have a goal to post about life on the farm about once a month, usually around the 20th.  Although it's been on my calendar for months, I never seem to actually get around to doing it.  Today seems like a good day to start....

Many in the Midwest woke up today to snow, a blizzard to be exact... falling snow, blowing wind that's blowing the snow, and cold temps.  Yesterday lots of things were being cancelled in anticipation of the coming blizzard - Christmas programs, school, the last day of a dairy course Dan is taking.  Around the farm we did a few extra things... closed gates so they wouldn't be frozen in place, and unable to move, made sure the cows were near their shelters for the night, and helped our friend, the scrap metal environmental recovery guy, get the last piece out of our former decades old junk pile before it was froze in for the winter, an old corn picker. 

But the biggest thing Dan & his parents did to get ready for today's blizzard, was to set their alarms for 5am, just like they always do, because the cows need to be milked.  Everyday, twice a day, no matter the temperature, if it's raining or snowing, or a heatwave in the middle of the summer the cows need to be milked.  Cows don't take snow days.

Of course there are lots of other professions that don't get a snow day today... our milk truck driver who picks up the milk the cows give, snowplow drivers (my uncle was one!), EMTs, doctors, police, and other public servants, factory workers b/c you can't shut down a production line that easy, and so many more that I can't think of right now.

I'm thankful that Dan's commute is short, just a walk across the yard to the barn.  Days like this remind me why we live in a RV travel trailer for now - it's worth it to live so close to where you work, especially when it's a 24/7 job! 

So to all who still had to work today, maybe spending more time driving slowly to work, or being out in the cold snow and wind, or helping others to be safe... thank you!

And then there were FOUR...

It's game day... and next year there'll be FOUR of us cheering on the Cyclones!  

I realized I put this on Facebook before the blog... I guess that shows how my media preferences have changed :)  We'll try and post some more pics and info in the coming months!  But life will be getting even busier :)  

Our Trip to Turkey

It's been a long time since I've blogged, but I thought a post about our trip back to visit Turkey this summer would be a good way to revive things and get back into it.

In mid-June we headed out to to our former home.... now in mid-August it seems so far away!  We felt so blessed we were able to do this trip, based on such amazing support from family & friends.  Dan's parents especially worked overtime while we were away from the farm for 3 weeks... they had a record number of new baby calves.  Dan's cousin pitched in, helping out while we were gone, which we're thankful for!

Our first stop was a long layover in Germany.  Since it was for most of the day, we headed out to explore Munich for a few hours.  We enjoyed seeing the old churches, having a (non-alcoholic) drink, exploring the markets, and seeing how much the country-side reminded us of Iowa.  Here's a picture collage of our short time in Germany.

Our next stop was to help out at a retreat for expats, lots of which were our friends!  It was a blast to see so many familiar faces and catch up after being part of a that close knit community while we lived in Turkey.   Our hotel was right on the beach and Amara (and her parents!) enjoyed  hanging out at the pool or beach everyday!

Then we were off to our former hometown... we didn't know exactly what awaited us, since our American friends had moved back only weeks before and we knew things would be different after the earthquake.

We were surprised to find a lot of people back in town.... it seemed as busy as ever.  The range of the state of buildings was amazing.  Some didn't seem to have been touched since the earthquake and you could see huge cracks throughout the entire facade.  Others we in the process of being repaired, with scaffolding all over.  Some looked brand-new... although they probably weren't, they'd been repaired beautifully.  Some were being torn down in front of our eyes, and others were already long gone. Everywhere we turned we saw something familiar yet different.

We found our old apartment complex.  From what we understand, it's being repaired for people to move back in.  As you can tell from the pictures below it has scaffolding around it.  The complex right behind us was demolished as well as our friends' place just a few blocks away.  Hopefully our place doesn't have any real structural damage and is just cosmetic, it's always hard to know.

 We were blessed to be able to see a lot of our old friends.  The week was full of visiting but we're so glad we got to share in a bit of their lives again.  We had lots of Turkish tea and lots of other yummy Turkish food!  We also got a bit of shopping in, for a few items we can't find in America!  As you can tell from the pics below, Amara did great!  I think she was a bit confused when we were talking Turkish, as in her recent memory she hasn't heard us speak Turkish.  Our Turkish did come back to us quickly, and we were so thankful for that!

We stayed with our good American friends during our time in Van, and had so much fun with them!  It was such a blessing to see them again.  One day we went on a picnic to Lake Van, a tradition that's hard to pass up!  We had a blast!  Thanks so much for your hospitality!

Our time in Turkey wrapped up with a few days in Istanbul visiting friends, which was wonderful as well!  Overall we're so glad we were able to spend 3 weeks revisiting Turkey.  It was good timing as we feel like we're settled into our home and community here in the States now, but we want to stay connected to Turkey, as it's dear to to our hearts!