Last weekend was beautiful for November… sunny skies, highs in the mid to upper fifties. It would have been a perfect weekend to finish up the porch or dig carrots and potatoes. Instead, I spent the weekend with Sissy at a 2-day version of Stock Show University’s Grad Program.

Stock Show University is an educational clinic open to all stock show youth. Clinics are held across the country through out the year and range from hour-long clinics to comprehensive, in-depth 2-day clinics (called the Grad Program). ‘Professors’ in the business focus on animal selection, showmanship, feeding, daily hair and animal care and show day grooming/clipping. The Grad Program are intense, 2-day clinics that cover everything listed above.

A clinic was within driving distance and several of Sissy’s cousins were going. She wanted to as well. So, at 4:45 on Saturday morning, we loaded her heifer on the trailer and started on the hour long drive to the arena hosting the clinic.

The arena hosted a haunted house last month… not everything was picked up yet.

The days were split between ‘classroom’ type presentations and time for Sissy to have hands on experience working with her heifer while getting pointers and assistance from a ‘Professor.’

Taking the calves back to rest in the trailer before sitting in ‘class’

The first portion of the clinic was focused on Sissy’s favorite portion of working with her heifer… hair care – washing, combing, drying, brushing, more combing, more drying, more brushing. Sissy has been doing this with all of her calf projects over the years, so she was comfortable with it and quickly picked up on some of the tips and tricks.

Dry, dry, dry

From there, things got a little more challenging for Sissy. The clinic went in to clipping and fitting a calf. Two things Sissy has never done before. The clinic was designed to have parents hand over the clippers and fitting supplies to the kids as a learning experience and whatever happens… happens. It’s only hair – and Sissy’s heifer has all winter to grow back any mistakes, so it wasn’t a big deal to me – parents with kids that planned on showing their calves in a couple weeks weren’t quite so relaxed.

‘Gluing up’ a leg

After a bit of instruction from her ‘professor’ and some encouragement from me, Sissy took a can of adhesive and started ‘gluing up’ a leg. (For those of you that aren’t familiar with showing beef cattle just know that there’s a beauty pageant aspect to it that requires a lot of makeup, hairspray, and hair cuts. Knowing how to use that makeup, hairspray, and clippers can make a good calf look great – misuse can make a great calf look horrible.)

Deep in thought before clipping.

If it took a bit of encouragement for Sissy to use the adhesives, it took twice as much to get her to use the clippers. Per Sissy – “Glue washes out. I could make her seriously ugly with this thing” – referring to the clippers. But in the end, Sissy came to the clinic because she wanted to learn – and after reassuring her that she wasn’t going to ‘ruin’ the heifer – she really got into it. Slowly and steadily she trimmed away. Planning out each pass with the clippers before she took it. And, asking a lot of questions as she went.

The finished product.

It may have taken here a lot longer than it should have, but for her first time using a clippers and fitting a leg I was impressed with the end result. More importantly, Sissy impressed herself – and had some fun doing it.

In honor of our veterans on this upcoming Veteran’s Day, I thought I’d share with you some information about the Quilts of Valor Foundation. For those unaware, here’s a brief background from the Quilts of Valor website:

Blue Star mom Catherine Roberts, began the Quilts of Valor Foundation (QOVF) from her sewing room in Seaford, Delaware. Her son Nathanael’s year-long deployment to Iraq provided the initial inspiration, and her desire to see that returning warriors were welcomed home with the love and gratitude they deserved, provided the rest.

She hit upon the idea that linking quilt-toppers with machine quilters in a national effort could achieve her goal of cover all returning service men and women touched by war. These wartime quilts, called Quilts of Valor (QOV’s), would be a tangible reminder of an American’s appreciation and gratitude. Since 2003, QOVF has become a national grassroots community service effort, connecting the home-front with our warriors and veterans.

QOV’s are stitched with love, prayers and healing thoughts. Our troops who have been touched by war are awarded this tangible token of appreciation that unequivocally says, “Thank you for your service, sacrifice and valor.”

A Quilt of Valor is a generous lap-sized quilt (minimum of 55 X 65) made by a quilt-topper (the piecer) of quality fabrics and beautifully quilted by a longarmer. After it has been bound, washed, labeled and wrapped in a presentation case, it is ready to be awarded. Quilts are awarded at many different levels: they may go to military hospitals where Chaplains award them to service members; there may be awards of QOV’s to entire service units returning from deployments; they may be awarded at VA’s or awarded individually. But no matter how a Quilt of Valor is given, the impact it delivers is unequivocal. As one recipient said “My quilt isn’t another military medal to be placed in a box and sit on my shelf. I was moved to tears.” – SSgt RC, US Army, Iraq ‘05

Over the past two years we have been fortunate enough to honor both my dad for his service in the Navy during Vietnam, and the DW’s grandfather for his service in the Navy during World War II, with a Quilt of Valor. In both cases, the majority of the work was completed by my aunts – adding a unique specialness to the award.

As of last week, The Quilts of Valor Foundation had awarded just shy of 126,000 quilts since its inception. Anyone looking for more information on the program can visit the Foundation’s website at www.qovf.org.

Despite hitting a minor bump, I finished up the new floor on the porch by adding the last of the base trim over the weekend. Overall, I was pleased with how the floor worked out. I knew the floor wasn’t level – which is one of the reasons we went with the vinyl – but I also knew the room wasn’t square and was concerned the tile pattern might highlight that fact. Happily, that wasn’t the case.

From there, the DW has been diligently working on painting. All of the white trim is due for a fresh coat. But first, she has been working on covering the bright pink. It’s amazing how some colors just don’t seem to disappear. We’ve used the same yellow paint we’re using on the porch elsewhere in the house to cover up some dark colors, but even after two coats over the pink, I swear I can still see it. I hope we don’t regret not using a primer.

And back to that “minor bump” I started this post with. The porch project was supposed to be simple… new floor, new paint, done. I’ve mentioned before that with an old house it’s often hard to tell when to cut off some projects. That seems to be the case because a hole in the wall in November wasn’t in the plans…

I guess that means there will be a third update on this project.

It’s probably something that shouldn’t work as well as it does and I may get burned on it some year. See, we plant some decorative corn in the garden each year, but the seed we use is a bit of a mystery at this point. A number of years ago one of the kids brought home an ear of decorative corn from a school trip. We saved a handful of kernels from that ear and planted them next spring. Just to make sure there wasn’t any disappointment if those kernels didn’t sprout, I planted them with a packet of decorative corn seed I picked up with the rest of the garden seed. Both of the seed varieties grew. Both of the seeds were likely hybrids – which generally perform great in the first generation, but not as well in future generations. Still, every year since that first year we’ve saved a few kernels from some of our favorite, most colorful ears of corn and planted them the following spring. This year was our best year yet, with some of our widest variation in color.

Guess what we’ll be using for Thanksgiving decorations this year…

There’s only one room in the house that we haven’t touched since moving in… the back porch. While every other room has received some sort of upgrade, the back porch has remained in it’s wonderful move-in state of bright pink.

With the current layout of the house, the porch is the main entrance. The kiddos shed their muddy boots here. UPS leaves packages here. Friends and family drop by here. It’s the mud room and main foyer. And, oh yeah, it is covered in a tan carpet.

The porch before moving in.

The DW and I agreed that we’d get to the porch in due time since we both knew how well the carpet would hold up. Maybe in different circumstances it would be fine, but with having four kiddos using the porch as a mud room the carpet never had a chance. We held out as long as we could using various rugs and carpet remnants to protect the carpet the best we could. Eventually, it was just too much and one day this summer I just got tired of it and tore the carpet out.

While I was pleasantly surprised to find painted fir flooring under the carpet in decent shape – after the carpet was out, we cleaned it up and used it that way most the summer – it still wasn’t in good enough shape to paint with a porch paint and leave as is. Instead, we were lucky enough to find the same flooring we used in the kitchen (on sale) and last weekend I started laying the new floor.

Laying underlayment for the new floor.

The nice part about installing a glueless vinyl floor in a basic rectangular room is that once the prep work is done, it goes very fast. I was finished installing the underlayment and vinyl in just a few hours. All I have left is to reinstall a few more pieces or trim. How does it look? We’re still painting… I’ll share more next week.

Cleaning out some old files I realized there were some summer photos we never had the chance to share…

The guard dog found some mud… and was eager to share.

Early spinach from the garden. This bowl full was frozen for this winter.

Potato Boy clowning around at a display at the Iowa State Fair. At first glance, you thought that turkey was real, didn’t you?

Peanut with fresh green beans for her shake. She goes through a lot of green beans.

A rainy day enjoyed at Adventureland. An inch and a half of rain fell while we were at the park. Not ideal, but perfect if you don’t like to wait in line.

Potato Boy on the Log Ride at Adventureland saying “I’m gonna stay right here.” A rainy day meant no lines and he stayed on the ride without getting off for over 90 minutes. Two days later Adventureland announced the Log Ride would be torn down and replaced by a new roller coaster. Good thing he got his time in.

Sissy’s show heifer (rt) for the year at the county fair.

This old tomcat spent the summer dreaming of a chicken dinner… he’s still just dreaming.

Silliness at the hotel after a long day at the Iowa State Fair.

Peanut has been on a bit of an anti-red-sauce rampage lately. Spaghetti? Not with red marinara. Pizza? Not with red pizza sauce. Enchiladas? Not with red enchilada sauce. See the pattern?

She’s three, it’ll pass. In the mean time, it’s given us a reason to look for some new recipes in place of some our favorite stand by meals. Last night’s test run was a BLT pizza. Not creative or new – we’ve ordered it numerous times before, we’ve just never thought of making it at home.

We basically followed the recipe found at food.com but used ranch salad dressing on half the pizza instead of the mayo sauce given in the recipe to see which the kiddos preferred. If Peanut is on an anti-red-sauce rampage, she’s also on a pro-ranch bender. (I think most parents can relate.) So trying the ranch dressing seemed like a prefect fit.

Overall, it was a hit – even with Peanut. And for how simple it was to make, it tasted (surprisingly) good. As far as the ranch vs mayo comparison… the ranch was quicker and preferred by the kiddos. Something to keep in mind for next time.

I can’t remember why we ended up with a packet of Musquee de Provence pumpkin seeds at this point. It couldn’t have been with Halloween in mind, as it looks nothing like a traditional jack-o-lantern. With its deep ribs, this heirloom variety is often referred to as the Fairy Tale pumpkin since its appearance congers up memories of the coach in Cinderella. Instead, I can tell you why we keep growing it… it is great for cooking.

Compared to modern field pumpkins, Musquee de Provence pumpkins have been grown for years for cooking and not carving and aren’t nearly as stringy when cooked in puree. It also isn’t quit as easy to grow. Needing a full 120+ days to produce mature pumpkins, I normally need to start seeds inside and then transplant outdoors early with some type of protection from cool nights. The pumpkins start out a deep green and they slowly turn a rich brown color as they ripen.

Another great aspect is that this pumpkin will keep for extended periods through the fall and into the winter, slowly growing sweeter. And while I’ll be the last person to claim to be a “pumpkin taste expert”. (Is that even a thing?) All I know is that the deep orange flesh is often claimed to be a particular favorite of chefs for its fine flavor. Personally, I don’t care what the chefs think, I’m more concerned with what the critics around here think – and these critics think we need to grow more next year.

One of the hardest parts of working on the house is where to draw the line on a project. What might start with replacing an outlet can lead to hanging new drywall and if you’re not careful the room is completely remodeled before you stop to question how replacing an outlet got to this point. After tearing up a large section of the yard to trench in new electrical lines, I was torn on how much time I should spend shaping the yard back up.

The most recent mess

Obviously, I filled back in the trench and needed to get grass growing. But, one section of the yard was especially bad before I even started trenching. A portion of it was an old garden plot and the years of use stole away enough soil that the plot was sunk in. Another spot was mounded up over an old water line abandoned years ago… maybe to keep it from freezing. There were a half dozen other spots of old ruts, mounds, etc. I’m sure each spot had a story to tell, but the lawn mower was tired of hearing about it each time it tried to smoothly pass over. To sum it up best, while we wanted to put the kids’ swing set in this portion of the yard, it was simply too rough. While part of me simply wanted to fill in the trenches and move on to the next project, the other part of me wanted to shape up this section of yard while a part of it was already tore up.

I was getting a few tips from Lulu while eyeing up the grade

Ultimately, once you’re trying to grow grass, what’s a little more? I cut down the high spots (over two feet of dirt of top of the highest spot) and filled in the low spots (almost a foot and a half in some places).

Almost finished.

Despite Lulu shaking her head and telling me at one point that “the lawn looks terrible, Dad, just terrible,” the entire thing shaped up a lot quicker than I expected. (And eventually to Lulu’s satisfaction.)

Now for the grass seed

Now that this section of the yard is finally level, my only complaint is that you notice how much the section next to it should be worked on as well. Where to stop? Where to stop?

Completely from scratch – yes.
Simple – yes.
Tasty – yes.
Fun with the kids – yes.
Got me out of a pinch – yes.

Will I ever do it again – probably not.