The post 30 Things I Love: Christmas Music appeared first on Carolyn CAREs.
]]>I love Christmas music! Every year, I cannot wait until the local radio stations, and Sirius Satellite radio start playing Christmas selections.
The music in the photo is just a tiny representation of my collection. I love listening to winter songs, Christmas songs, and carols performed by many different groups and in different styles. Maybe it’s the lyrics that are always positive…no one is dying, except when Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer, relationships are flourishing or being mended, and how can you not be inspired by a capella renditions Silent Night or O Holy Night?
When I am stressed, I listen to music which helps to calm me. Before my first experience flying on an airplane without Jonathan, I needed to redo my playlist on my iPod so I would have relaxing music during my flight. Looking at what music was available, I decided to put Christmas music on there. In August. The jazz of Vince Guaraldi’s soundtrack for “A Charlie Brown Christmas” is so soothingly familiar, and brings happy memories of watching the Charlie Brown specials on TV when I was little. The sounds of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra go from a mellow synthesized orchestral sound to rock. Mannheim Steamrollers sound is also good for calming me. Who knows…when I need to fly in 2015, I may still have Christmas music on my headphones!
I also love singing Christmas choral arrangements with the church choir. The older madrigal style pieces really challenge us, but they are some of my favorite songs because of the harmonies. I always look forward to the candlelight Christmas Eve service, and singing Silent Night in harmony. Most years I have goosebumps, and some years, there are tears. It is such an emotional time. I love when we end that service with the singing of Joy to the World. It sets the tone for the rest of our Christmas celebrations. I love how Christmas music makes me feel!
What are some of your favorite Christmas songs or albums?
The complete list of the 30 Things is listed here:
Day 1: Pizza
Day 2: Shoes
Day 3: Shout Stain Remover
Day 4: The Ability to Vote
Day 5: My Heritage
Day 6: NASCAR
Day 7: Black Velvet for Photography
Day 8: Strong Coffee and Strong Hairspray
Day 9: Peacefulness
Day 10: Winter’s First Snow
Day 11: Freedom
Day 12: Dairy
Day 13: Jonathan
Day 14: Coffee
Day 15: Seasons
Day 16: Scones
Day 17: #AgNerds
Day 18: Playing in the Dirt
Day 19: Friends
Day 20: My Church Choir Family
Day 21: OxyClean
Day 22: Small Town Celebrations
Day 23: Clouds
Day 24: Thanksgiving
Day 25: Sisters
Day 26: My Minivan
Day 27: My Daughters
Day 28: Viktoria
Day 29: Agriculture Organizations
Day 30: Christmas Music
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]]>Over the last few days, Jonathan has made sure the stand-by generator is in working order. We would need that in the event of a power outage. He also made sure the LP tanks were filled, to ensure plenty of fuel to run the heaters in our barns.
We like raising our pigs in barns, especially during cold spells like these! When Jonathan does chores every morning and evening, he is looking at the health of the animal, the food and water supply, the high and low temperature swings, and the quality of air in each barn. Even with the temperature at -10, and windchills at -26, the barns never went below 73 degrees F last night. The heater is set to turn on at 72 degrees, so it never had to run.
I wrote more about how we care for livestock in winter storms in December 2012. Click on the title to read Blizzards and Caring for Livestock.
Another benefit of raising pigs inside is disease control. There is a horrible sickness that is spreading like crazy between pig farms. It doesn’t matter if you raise your pigs inside, or outside, they can catch it. All pig farmers try to keep their pigs as healthy as possible, but sometimes that becomes really difficult. Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus has been found pretty close to our farm. By eliminating the ability for birds to land in their pens, and restricting the people who come into contact with our animals and equipment, we can hopefully keep them from getting sick. (To read more about PEDv, click here.) We hate when our animals get sick, just like we hate when our own kids get sick. We are thankful for a good veterinarian who will help us figure out the best treatment for our animals when they do get sick. We treat our animals a lot like we treat our family. We keep them safe, warm, fed, and as healthy as possible. When they do get sick, we treat them according to the advice of the veterinarian. The difference is, we know we are raising the pigs for meat – meat that we feed our family, and meat that will feed many of our friends.
For us, climate controlled barns are a good way to raise pigs year ’round in Minnesota.
My friend, Janice, of A Colorful Adventure, has complied other storm related blog posts. Head on over and check them out!
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]]>Call me crazy, but I love winter. The first snowfall has always been met with excitement. Most years, I bake (and we eat) the first batch of Christmas cookies on that day. When Jonathan and I were first married, our house was pretty tiny. In order to delay turning on the fuel oil furnace, I would bake. The heat of the oven was enough to warm up the house.
There are so many things to like about winter. Sweaters, curling up with a good Cookbook, Russian Tea, puzzles, and snow. I love to take my camera out the morning after a blizzard, and see what patterns the wind made in the snow. The photo above was taken after a December blizzard last year. The skies were a brilliant blue, and the contrast between the sky and the snow was stunning. There is no way I can totally capture that, but the photos I take bring me back to the feeling of the cold, crisp air, the birds singing, and the awesome colors.
I’ll admit, taking care of the animals is a bit more challenging in the winter, especially during a blizzard, but we know they are safe and warm in the barns. Other farm work is a bit more relaxed. Jonathan will crunch numbers, make decisions on what varieties of seed he wants to plant, and we’ll attend farming conferences. I love attending the conferences and seeing friends that we only see in person a couple times a year. We also sit in on sessions where we can learn about what’s happening with the Farm Bill, what we can do to help foster communication between farmers and consumers, and what the latest agriculture research says that will help make our farm better.
Mostly, I am thankful for winter, which is not only beautiful, but it gives us a chance to recharge our batteries for the next growing season.
Want to read more 30 Day Challenge blogs? Click here to go to Holly Spangler’s blog where there is an updated list of fellow bloggers.
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]]>The post Patiently Waiting appeared first on Carolyn CAREs.
]]>Not this year! Instead of spending time in the tractor we use for preparing the seed bed, Jonathan spent time in the tractor used for clearing snow.
While he was busy clearing snow, I was getting ready to make some of these delicious little treats. Jonathan brought back this box of Beignet Mix from New Orleans when he was there with our youth group last summer.
I made a few, and decided I needed to practice my food photography a little bit. You know, things that help you stay sane on yet another snow day.
The good thing about spring snow storms is the fact that the snow will melt into the thawed ground instead of just running over the top. We can really use the moisture here, so we’re trying to be thankful. To be perfectly honest, though, I can’t wait until I see this out my window:
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]]>I have a camera collection that I display above my built in buffet. There are some really special ones in my collection that I love looking at. They are not special because of their monetary value, but for their stories.
This camera came from my father-in-law. He was drafted into the United States Army during peacetime in the 1950’s for two years. One year was spent in Germany. He had many entertaining stories about his time there, and about the ship ride home. It was on the ship that he came into possession of this camera. According to FIL, there were a few guys gambling to pass the time. One of the guys offered to sell his camera for $30 so he could pay his debt. My FIL agreed, and bought the camera. He used it for a while before updating to a newer Argus camera. He was a pretty good hobby photographer, but mostly used his cameras to take photos at family gatherings.
In this photo, I used natural light from our large east facing windows, and had black velvet behind and under the AGFA. Other settings: Canon 60D, Av mode, ISO 800, f/2.8, 1/125, 34mm focal length. The technique I was playing with was using Av mode to achieve a shallow DOF. I also used the manual focal point setting aimed at the lettering on the top ring of the lens.
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]]>This is one of our little trees on Saturday morning. I ran out in flip flops and a fleece jacket to take this photo since it was a beautiful 34 degrees.
This is what the tree looked like early Sunday morning. It was still snowing pretty good at this point. I wore my snow boots with my fleece jacket this time. The snow was coming in over the tops of my 10 inch boots.
When the winds picked up around 2:00pm, the temps dropped from 34 degrees to 16 degrees in about a half an hour. When trees and power lines are loaded with snow, and the winds kick up to over 40 mph, chances are good we’re going to lose power. The first time the power flashed, both Jonathan and I held our breath. Then, it was lights out. This meant a trip to our other farm site in a whiteout.
Our pigs are housed inside barns where they are warm and dry in the winter, cool and comfy in the summer. They have curtain sides that act like windows in the summer, and, when opened several inches, are emergency ventilation systems in the winter. The barns were built on the farm site where Jonathan and I lived for the first 10 years of our marriage.
When the power goes out, we hook up a generator that attaches to a tractor, keeping the barns running as normal. This means that Jonathan must bundle up and drive the tractor the 2.5 miles to the other farm. The tar roads were somewhat manageable, if he drove slowly enough. The turn onto the gravel road meant that all ditch edges were pretty much invisible. It really made me think about all the stories of people getting turned around in blizzards, and being found miles from home. This is the part where I did a lot of praying!
The kindly neighbor, who lives on the corner where Jonathan turned, said he would check on Jonathan when I called and told him the situation. That was a good thing! Jonathan had gone off the road, and had troubles seeing which direction he needed to go. He finally could make out the edge of the grove at the kindly neighbors, and headed back in that direction. That is where he ended up staying for the night.
Fortunately, the renters in our little house on the barn site were home. The husband agreed to check on the barns, and make sure the automatic curtains dropped for emergency ventilation. The power was out for just over 5 hours…the first time. It stayed on for about 20 minutes before going out for another hour. The last time we lost power was in the middle of the night, for about an hour that time as well. The outside temperatures were in the -14 degree range at that point. Our renter went out to the barns and adjusted the curtains to make sure there was plenty of fresh air, yet the pigs weren’t getting too cold.
This is what we woke up to. A gorgeous December day.
After Jonathan finally made it home, he went to work clearing out our yard with our little cab-less tractor. He cleaned enough snow to get the pickup out of the yard, then went into town to help his sister. After dinner, our friends went over to the other farm site with their big tractor that has a blade on the front. In the summer, this blade is used for pushing silage into piles. In the winter, we hire him to clear snow. When the barn site was cleaned out, they pulled our tractor out of the ditch, then they came over to our home place and cleaned out our yard.
While our yard was being cleaned out, Jonathan was over checking on things at the barn. There were a few things to take care of due to the weather, but thankfully, all the pigs looked good!
We are so thankful that Jonathan had a warm place to stay last night! This was the first time in 14 years that he hasn’t made it to the barns in a storm. He has driven over in blizzards, tornado warnings, and severe thunderstorms. To him, it’s the right thing to do.
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