Music for the next generation

Way back in the 1990's when the kids were elementary school age I did what most mothers do at some point:  sign their kids up for piano lessons and then coerced them into going.  The piano teacher lived just down the road and around a corner so that wasn't a problem.  The biggest hurdle was that we didn't own a piano.  I dragged the kids over to our country church to practice but long term that wasn't a good solution.  My mom, who miraculously still believed in the value of piano lessons after years of making me take them to no avail (I have no talent and only played under duress), decided that she would buy us a piano.  All I can say is, "hope springs eternal in the heart of a grandmother."  She went to the local music shop in Yorkville, IL and bought a nice used spinet piano.  The shop owner, a wiry little old man, duly delivered it to our house and (again miraculously) moved that piano into the house all by himself.  

I wish I could say that all three of the kids did brilliantly at piano and were eternally grateful for the lessons.  They stuck with it for a couple years but I let them quit when their interest waned, probably because I remembered my own indifference to playing the piano when I was their age.  At least it taught them to read music (maybe???).  HOWEVER, the piano remained with us after their musical careers ended.  It was a physical memory of Omi and I just couldn't get rid of it.  It moved to California when we did.  It was loaned to our pastor's children for a couple years (until they in turn lost interest).  It moved back to Del Mar Ave and then back to the farm with us.  And now it has moved on to the next generation.  And I must say, it's current prospects for actually being used are much the best that they've ever been.  The Golden family is musically way out of our league and hopefully Joshua has inherited all those music genes from Grandma and Grandpa Golden.  At any rate, they won't have to take him to the church to practice.

The big question was, how to move the piano?  I priced a couple piano moving services but then turned to YouTube U and watched a bunch of videos on how to do it ourselves.  We ended up doing it that way and it went flawlessly (except for the accident with the truck enroute but that had nothing to do with the piano).  It is now safely moved in and the piano era on the farm has ended.  I think my mom would be very happy to know that her gift is still giving to the next generation.

Partially wrapped, strapped and up-ended, all hands on deck.

After more wrapping and strapping it's out the door to the lift.

Up-ended, it fit into the lift which saved the guys having to take it down 8 steps.

Around the corner, down the ramp and over to the trailer.

MORE wrapping and strapping and tying down.

Then down the road towards Minooka!  it does look suspiciously like a sarcophagus at this point.

One more doorway then into place and unwrap.

It's getting the Joshie seal of approval.

Now we just have to wait for the talent to show through!

The first snow day of the 2018-9 winter season

Beginning Friday afternoon of last week weathermen were warning northern Illinois of the first major snowstorm of the season. We could expect to get 10" or more starting Friday night. But storms are fickle things and this one waited around until Sunday to really dump on the area. Although parts of Chicago did get buried under 10" of snow, we didn't get more than about 2". It did rain much more than expected and when it turned colder that turned to ice. The ice brought down branches and power lines in the area around us, but fortunately we didn't lose any trees, though we did lose power.

This first shot of our home reminds me of similar winter pictures of the house's earlier incarnation - before we raised it 6 feet and had a new foundation dug and poured under it. The picture almost looks like a black-and-white photo because the snow is so bright. 

Annnnnnnnnnddddd ... the color is back! On the left of the picture you can see what remains of our "to split" wood pile. Micah and Lucas were over last Friday, to work with me. They took turns feeding me logs to split and collecting and stacking the split pieces of wood. I'll probably need to do a little more splitting this winter in order to finish the season with a warm wood stove.

This is a shot of one of our native prairie plant areas. What you don't see is the grave I dug in the brush here for the old tomcat that used to hunt the mice, etc., for us on the farm. His name was Stanley. Apparently he had done too good a job of it, because he took up hunting across the road from us, too. It looked like he had been hit in the head by a car. He must have been killed instantly, because he was laying by the side of the road, as if frozen in the midst of running and his tail held high. Life and death are all part of life on a farm. He was a good cat - I gave him a good burial.

I don't know about you, but my first question when I saw this photo our daughter Anne took today was: where is the other dog?! After a minute I saw him (just above the sheep on the right). The dogs and sheep love the cold weather. The sheep's coats are so thick, that the cold is a relief - and the dogs aren't much different. They have a shed they can go into, where we keep their drinking water from freezing and there is nice soft straw to lay on. Do you think they appreciate it? Not!

We have a new neighbor to the east. They haven't moved in yet as they are still working on renovating the house. He texted me this afternoon to ask if they were the only ones without power or if really that many of the neighbors here have generators. I answered in the affirmative about the generators. Apart from the power going out on average maybe once a month for a few minutes (more annoying than damaging), we seem to lose it for half a day or longer about once a year ... and today was the day. The power went out about 1:30am and hasn't come back on yet (it's after supper already). That can be pretty serious if you depend on electricity for water or heat, not to mention internet or TV (like maybe for a Christmas movie or a football game). Or for a farmer who uses electricity to keep his animals' water from freezing. Or someone who is handicapped that relies on powered assist devices. We had a whole house (+ farm buildings) unit installed that will kick out up to 22kW if called upon.

Today I was thinking back to past snow days in our home ... days when the kids were smaller, much smaller, long before the days when we had a generator. God provided for us then just as faithfully as He does now. Drinking water we got from family or neighbors who lived nearby and had power. To flush the toilet, we went to the creek behind the house and got a 5 gallon bucket of cold water - maybe after breaking ice, if there wasn't any free flowing water. No - we didn't use the bucket for "you know what". We used the creek water to flush the toilet. The kids would often go outside to play in the snow for an hour. And when they came in, we hunkered down around the wood stove, which we fed religiously. And then we read books or built with Legos or played games together. Life was good.

While I was writing that last paragraph, the phone rang and Becky answered. It was a neighbor, calling to let us know that the power came back on.

And what better way to spend a snowy day than working on a Christmas jigsaw puzzle!?!