Knolltop Farm Wife

Driving through rush hour traffic in Chicago, on our way home from World Dairy Expo, my phone rang, it was my son. He was calling to tell me his girlfriend had just been in a car accident and it was bad. I comforted him as well as I could from 150 miles away and told him we were coming home as quick as we could. But the most important thing he needed to do was pray. Much to my dismay, my son called back and told me she had died. It was a shock for all of us to absorb that this young, vibrant, freshman nursing student at U of M was gone. She had just posted on Facebook that she was going to the fair with JW. She was home for the weekend and was looking forward to hanging with her friends. She was on her way to pick up her best friend but would never arrive that afternoon. When I finally arrived home that evening, I sat down with my son and we both cried. I felt like the mother of a young boy again, like I could fix it all, but this time there was nothing I could do. No words would m...

It's a typical fall Sunday afternoon on the knolltop.  A little cloudy, a little cool and quite lazy! Normally at this time we would be loaded up and headed into the Hillsdale County Fair for a week of fun, but this year, instead we are going to World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin.  We've been planning this trip for a year now and to say I'm excited is an understatement.  I have not been to expo since I was pregnant for Sarah! JW was 4 years old and Luke was 2. I can't imagine what I enjoyed about having two toddlers to keep clean and out of everyone's way at such a show in addition to having a big belly and an appetite to match.  Let's just say the cream puffs were my mainstay! But now Sarah is 14 and Jake is 13 and JW and Luke are old enough to stay home and milk cows!!!! Life just keeps getting better and better! Right now, JW is in Madison getting ready to participate in the judging contest tomorrow morning.  They left on Friday and will be back som...

It must be the mohawks that are doing the trick!  Good morning from a cool morning here on the Knolltop! Last night Luke's team won their third consecutive football game!  Not only did they win, but Luke and his buddy, Dewey both scored touchdowns! In addition, the game was on the radio and so their names were announced over the radio waves! Dewey ran the ball while Luke caught a pass and ran it in for the score. So I asked myself the question, why are they doing so well?  Is there extreme athleticism?  Is it because they are savvy football players?  Is it because they practice hard and have a great team this year? Nope. Although all of those are great thoughts, I'm giving full credit for their football prowess to their stylish haircuts --the Mohawks! A couple of weeks ago, our good friend and hair stylist, Sue, came over to walk and brought her trusty scissors with her and ended up giving Luke and Dewey a mohawk.  Now some folks don'...

Good Monday morning from the Knolltop. It's cool and a little overcast but oh so nice! Yesterday I said I would be back with more about Luke's baseball showcase, but it's today now.  In July, Luke received a letter inviting him to a recruitment baseball came by IPFW. Indiana-Purdue Ft. Wayne University...or something like that.  He was excited and so was everyone else.  Because it was an all day thing, I was the lucky one who got to take him to Indiana!!!! We arrived and signed in and he went on the field with about 100 other baseball players while all the parents sat around the field and watched.  It was fun to just sit and enjoy the day but honestly, it was like watching a glorified baseball practice. I sat in the sun and got toasted to a crisp.  It was 90 without a cloud in the sky and a slight breeze.  As hot as it was, I so enjoyed being able to just sit and focus entirely on my boy.  I watched him run bases, hit, catch a bunch of p...

It's a beautiful Sunday morning here on the Knolltop. Since we were too late for the early service, I've got extra time before the late service so I figured I would update this blog.  I'm so neglectful of it. The past couple of weeks has been fun.  Not only are the kids in full swing with football and volleyball practices and even a football scrimmage last Friday evening....JW had a singing contest and Luke went to Indiana for a recruitment camp. First, JW--he decided to enter a Kareoke contest at the Jackson County Fair.  We left chores for Sarah and Luke and we headed north to Jackson.  After witnessing two people in a brawl and the arrest of another guy while walking into the fairgrounds, I knew this was going to be a fun night in the city!  I took a picture of the guy getting slammed up against a building with the cops cuffing him and this guy walking by just laughed at me.  I remarked, "This just doesn't happen back home!" Then we went and listen...

Good Monday Morning from a sunny, warm Knolltop! It's Dairy Days this week and while we have no cattle going up, the kids will still participate in the contests.  Today is quiz bowl, so Luke, Sarah and Jake will go up for that while JW will be working for Koebels all week.  Yes, JW is back in our midst, if only for a matter of hours before he leaves again.  I've been following him around like a puppy since he got home asking all about is NASCAR adventures.  We have laughed so much, mostly because of his story telling, he's very good at it, but his view of NASCAR compared to so many others. JW works for Competition Tire and they will go to a NASCAR race and mount and balance all the tires used by all the race cars.  Some of these cars will go through 15 sets of practice tires and then 20 sets for the actual race.  That is  an amazing number of tires if you ask me, especially at $500 per tire!  Anyway, JW and the crew work down in the pits d...

It's a beautiful morning here on the Knolltop.  A very hot day is in store for our neck of the woods! Sarah and I will head to go pick blueberries before it gets too hot and then I'm just not sure what we will do. Last evening, in the heat and humidity, Sarah had a volleyball workout and Luke went and played basketball.  When they got home, Luke's shirt was soaked!  I asked him if that was all sweat and he assured me it was and then said, "That's what happens when you want to win every game...you get sweaty." Today he's off again to bale more straw and then will take his Farmall M to a tractor show a few miles south of here.  JW is in St. Louis at a NASCAR race.  He is mounting and balancing tires for Comp Tire.  They provide all the tires for the racing teams and he gets to go to the races and do his tire thing.  Last weekend he was in Chicago for a race and the highlight of the weekend was that Danica Patrick (sp?) said "Hi" to him.  He w...