An Iowan Pace

Now I’m back sitting here in the rat race,
Wishing I was still living at an Iowan pace.
Grossmann Farms is where I’d like to be,
Eating yummy bread and drinking iced tea!

-Satisfied Guest Tycen, Grossmann Farms






This past weekend we had four good friends from Washington come back to stay with us. I think all of us thoroughly enjoyed our way-too-short visit. It's been awhile since I posted, so we have a lot of ground to cover.

We visited the Amana Colonies (although it closed about 15 minutes after we got there... it was still neat to see). We should have taken more pictures of the place itself, but we did get a picture of this old well pump and you can kind of see the front of a house in this picture. Ok, we did a bad job of being tourists, you can just say it.

The three guys did a lot of work outside. They took down at least two trees, and moved nearly all of the wood to the other side of the property and split most of it. The outside looks a lot different now. I think they all took some tractor and chainsaw time, and cleaned up the border of our property a lot.

















While the boys were outside, the women were inside working. We made a great pancake breakfast, three loaves of bread, cinnamon rolls, the kind of dinner rolls that need to rise, a pork roast, and cookies for desert. I think we all got a small taste of what those Amish and pioneer women used to go through when cooking. We were so worn out at the end of the day, and we still had dishes to do. We would have to admit, the food was wonderful, though!

We had a bonfire last Saturday, trying to burn up some of the branches the guys took down. It was very neat, but very hot. Something we could not have done in Mountlake Terrace!

While we were at the bonfire, I noticed something interesting; there were lights in the field next to us. It is spring, or "plowin season" out here, so we have seen a lot more trucks on the road, and even a few farmers here and there. However, with the amount of turned-over ground, we definitely do not see as many as we should out working their tractors. Taking a look around, I noticed more and more of these lights.

They were tractors- at 10pm at night! I asked Amanda and Chuck why they would be plowing in the dark like that when we didn't see them during the day. They explained that many corn farmers also have pigs. So, when it is plowing season, they tend the pigs during the day, and they plow through the night. I guess it goes on for about a month and a half, depending on the size of their farm. No doubt farmers know how to work.
So, this is a bad picture, but since I rarely see tractors out plowing in the day, I thought at least you could see a tractor plowing at night.



And, no Washintonian gets through a 6 day trip without wondering where the nearest Starbucks is...so we took them past our Iowan version of the famous coffee company. They weren't too impressed...but I bet they even serve coffee! Says quite a bit for brand recognition, doesn't it!












Before everyone got here, we needed to paint and un-carpet two of the bedrooms upstairs. It was a rush job, and and we sacrificed a night of sleep to get there, but I can't believe how well the rooms turned out. I am still looking for the "before" pictures, but at the very least, here are the "after pictures". The first one is of the master bedroom, the second is of the room that will soon be Ryan's.


You don't get a very good view of this room, but you can get the idea of the colors...etc. I will be searching for my before pictures, as that does make for the complete story.

Phil is in his play tonight, the Living Last Supper. He is playing "Philip," and we have decided that he might just get up there and tell his own story rather than that of the disciple. Anyway, two more days until the weekend...we will try and get some planting done this weekend. My calendar says that we are supposed to plant between March and April, and you know, we missed the boat on the March plantings. It was so quiet around here, we really should do more!