January 2011.

2011 is going to be a good year.
I was looking at the pretty snow when I noticed the shocking difference in the quality of corn stubble between the two hybrids I planted:
A lot of people talk about the tougher BT cornstalks, (in fact people say a lot of things regarding BT, triplestacks etc... that in my opinion are simply not true) but in this case the BT stalks were on the right. This will definitely be something I pay attention to when choosing hybrids in the future. Better stalks = more snow catch = wheat yield.

Later in the week Mr. LaBoeuf's front plate came. He felt a lot better.


And I finally got the room done.

Chris and Dad helped me move.

And The Lerkim opened for business.

We took advantage of some nice weather to pull the tanks off of the 8100.

Then I hauled some wheat from Boots's. The new kindle worked perfectly.


The next day we went to Baby class where we learned all about tattoo placement options. Then we had Streit Christmas. They were all nice enough to come to GCK so Betsy wouldn't have to travel.

Anna and I traded hats at supper.

And Anna got a duck to love in the gift exchange.

It was a good night.

Anna made sure that the new duck felt welcome at our house.

And then Heritage called and said they wanted their corn. I waited each day until it was in dual digit temperatures to start the trucks, so it made for short days.





Galen got a new toy while I hauling in one day.

The delivery guys kind of got in the way.

I guess that's what reverse is for.

At least I didn't have to back in like the other guys.


That there is a big generator folks. Galen said it would power half of Sublette.


When I was done hauling corn I emptied out some of the wheat bins.

That weekend I assembled some stuff for Anna's new room.

And we moved her in (with a lot of discussion.)

She loves her new room.

Then Betsy and Katrina did some wedding planning Skyping with Chelsea.


On Monday I hauled in a touch more wheat.

I hauled in the last load through the rain.

I have never been so excited about so little rain in my life.

The next day I checked out some of the wheat.

It looked like we made it through the cold alright.

And everybody got a little rain.




Mr. Laboeuf enjoyed getting out and about.


Then I took Mr. Labeouf to get his new nerf bars, compliments of GMC.
I got the kind that help you get the wrench you just dropped in the bed of the truck back out.

We celebrated with some ethanol.


And some more pictures.



Anna liked the nerf bars. Pregnant Betsy LOVED them. Mr. LaBoeuf was now serving as our primary means of transportation due to Lady needing some (warranty) transmission work.

And then we finished the nursery.

And the crazy nesting lady decided to make Anna a quilt.

Anna helped out in The Lerkim.


And here are Betsy and Tummy at 39 weeks.


We decided to have one last Grand day out as a family of three. It was 70 degrees outside in honor of Jeanette's birth, so we went to the zoo.


And to the museum.

And had supper in the park. (Anna's favorite Burger King, of course.)




The next day was Kansas's 150th birthday. It was also Gameday. So I took some poetic license with my favorite piece of Kansas:
And Linda wanted to celebrate right. Marci posted something to do in each county in Kansas to celebrate and so we picked four out to do. I am counting our trip to the zoo from Saturday 28th, since that was the fun in Finney County.

The fun in Haskell County was to find a lonely county road and revel in the flatness:



Then we went to Gray county to pick up Betsy's new sewing machine. Can you say 20 year mechanical warranty?

Then we went to Montezuma for lunch. I had the official Kansas Explorer meal of chicken fried steak. It was perfect.

Then we went to the wind farm as per Marci's suggestion.



Finally, we went to the Ford County Santa Fe Trail tracks.

Happy Birthday Kansas! I can't for the life of me remember how the game turned out ;)