Merry Christmas Eve!

Since this is somehow the first free moment I have had in weeks in which I haven't had to crochet a gift or bake something or unpack something, I thought I would take the opportunity to post some pictures from the last 3 (yes 3) months...We made it to Madison in October to visit the World Dairy Expo. We could only get there for the Holstein cow show on Saturday but it was well worth the drive. There were some amazing cows there! It made me get the itch to show again!The Faulkner's had their baby in November so, of course, I crocheted them a little gift. I like it much better than the last hat and blanket that I made. The biggest thing that happened to us, obviously, was that we moved into our new house! We moved everything over Thanksgiving (post-call for me) and the dogs a couple of days later once we had the fence in. It snowed within the week after the move- which the kids (above) didn't entirely appreciate. And, because the neighbors do not enjoy hearing our dogs barking, we bought a bunch of accessories to make them happier including a heated water bucket and the rubber ball (above) for Beau. He has already succeeded in chewing the handle off but the ball itself is still intact. He really does play with it-it's hilarious watching him run back and forth along the fence throwing the ball around!

Above are some pictures of the kitchen and main bathroom right after the move (hence the mess). I will post pictures of the master bedroom before and after the painting I did this last week in my next post.

We decorated for Christmas soon after moving. Here are some pictures from of the living room decorations (plus Del in his new recliner next to our crooked tree). Obviously I didn't learn how to set up a straight tree even after all of those lovely afternoon spent helping Dad!

Will post better (ie neater) pictures soon of the house and Christmas!

Life has been busy lately! I switched from hospital service to newborn nursery at the beginning of September. The calls are more frequent-every third night instead of every fourth- but much more relaxed. I round on the babies in the well child nursery every morning and then take call for labor and delivery, meaning that if there are concerns that a baby is not going to do well/is not doing well during delivery I am there to provide any help that baby needs (stimulation, oxygen, intubation, etc). I do love being at deliveries-it's so exciting and there is nothing like being one of the first people to hold a newborn baby and to see them open their eyes! I also like counseling new parents on what to expect and answering their questions (even though I've never had a baby).
Anyway, enough of work. Here's a few things that have been going on at our house:TC is a mouser! Our cat caught his very first mouse in our house (which is a whole other story-can't wait to move.) Needless to say, we are so proud!
We visited the Minnesota State Fair, which is supposedly the second largest state fair in the country (first is Texas). We saw the requisite state fair things such as the state's largest boar (over 1300 lbs) and the state's largest watermelon (surrounded by the state's longest green beans)! We also ate a ridiculous amount of fried food including fried cheese curds (yum!), corn dogs, funnel cake and ice cream.I have also had a wealth of time to crochet this month. I am currently working on a certain someone's long overdue birthday gift that I ripped apart after getting halfway done with because I didn't like it (at the same time discovering that I was doing it wrong anyway.) I just finished a baby blanket and hat for Mom to give to someone at my home church (pictured below). I like it so much that I'm going to make it for another little boy that will be entering the world in a few short months! I am undecided on the "noodle" on the top of the hat-I think it's cute but am unsure if it's one of those things that only I think is cute and nobody else does! It is easy to remove (mom) if other's do not agree. I love the blanket because it is chunky and the stitch is very 3-dimensional. I have been feeling extra-crafty lately so I am trying to come up with a new sewing project. Any suggestions?
On call again tomorrow but am off on Saturday. Looking forward to it very much as we are planning to sleep in, watch football and do nothing all day! We haven't done that in awhile as the last several days I have been off we have been looking at houses and packing in all that we can do outside before it turns cold. We went canoeing in Cannon Falls last weekend which was a lot of fun and are planning to go camping (I know-I historically don't camp but I have finally given in with the promise of showers and an air mattress) sometime in October on the north shore of Lake Superior (supposedly looks like the ocean!) More pictures to come for sure!
Miss everyone!

I have been lucky enough to have two weekends off in a row this week. So, after sleeping in (Del tried to make me wake up at 7 am but he is completely crazy if he thinks I'm getting up early on one of my five days off each month) we headed out to Whitewater State Park. This is a park that allows hunting, so initially we just drove around to try to find places where Del could go hunting for deer and ducks. We then found the park office and found out that to park in the park you have to have a permit that is either $5 a day or $25 a year (we went with the year permit obviously because we spend lots of time in state parks). We finally got out of the car and went on a hike to Chimney Rock (does every state park have a rock named this?)

It was a hike straight up and then down a hill but was well worth it because the scenery was beautiful.
We then drove to McCarthy Lake WMA on the Mississippi River. It had a beautiful view of the river and held a very large refuge (240, 000 acres) for waterfowl and other birds. It advertised that 50% of the continent's canvasbacks take refuge here at some point during the year and that there are 160 bald eagles nests. Del was in heaven!

Tomorrow we are going to church and then heading to Pine Island, a super-cute little town just up the road. It's on the Douglas Trail, which is a very well-maintained trail for bicyclers, hikers, horseback riders and snowmobilers from Rochester to Pine Island. Pine Island has a Borrow-a-Bike program where they allow you to borrow donated bicycles to use on the trail. Del has a bike so I will be borrowing! Tomorrow night we are going to cook out for Del's big (31) birthday on Tuesday! Unfortunately I will be post-call on Tuesday so instead of celebrating his birthday then we are grilling steaks tomorrow and ordering pizza on Tuesday!
Have a great week! Miss y'all!

So this past week I was lucky enough to have Friday and Saturday off (what normal people call a weekend!) and so after sleeping off a long and horrible call on Thursday afternoon...
Del and I were ready for some fun for our "weekend". Friday we went to Minneapolis and visited the Game Fair. I did not take pictures but I'll describe it to you. It is a yearly event that is designed for all outdoorsman-hunters, fishers, etc. There were over 100 tents there with different vendors, at least 10 of which were selling puppies (so cute!) There were also sessions throughout the day with various famous outdoorsmen. We went to one on duck hunting with Jeff Foiles, who makes videos, calls and other duck hunting equipment and who lives a very fun life, in that he gets to get paid to hunt and gets to travel everywhere to do it. It was really interesting to learn about the science behind duck hunting (I'm an awesome wife-he didn't even make me say that!)
After that, my part of the day began and we went to Trader Joe's, which is possibly one of the best grocery stores I have ever been to (yes, Rebecca, I know I'm a dork). They had this amazing wine store where you could get good wine for very cheap and a great cheese section. I got Wisconsin cheese curds, goat Brie and three kinds of goat cheese which have been awesome! Even Del thinks so and he is so not into trying new things! I also got some Thai Green Curry sauce that I'm excited to try.
Moving on.. Saturday was the main event. We went to the Downtown Oronoco Gold Rush Days. It is billed as the largest antique show in the Midwest. And it was definitely huge!
There were definitely 100's of vendors and it covered an area probably 3/4 mile long and 1/3 mile wide with just tents and tents and tents of mostly antiques, but also the requisite crap.

Haha! Love the MJ exhibit sign...too scared to go visit though.
And yes, that is goat on a telephone pole (did you notice it in the first picture?)!

One highlight of the day was lunch- fried cheese curds! These things are amazing!

We also got a homemade ice cream sandwich!

Anyway, that's all for now. I'm post-call (again) and so I want to eat and go to sleep. I am off again this weekend (ridiculous that they let me have that much time off...) so will blog again.
Miss you all!

My apron is finally finished!

Just wanted to post a picture of my latest craft project, which has taken over 2 months to complete, thanks to moving and starting work! I actually had everything done except for sewing on the tie prior to moving but it has taken me this long to do the last 5 minutes of the job. My favorite parts are the pockets!
(Note: Ignore my "crazy" eyes but do focus on the handiwork and lower right corner. He always has to be the center of attention!)

Delmer Keener's Post

Today I finally went to the Zumbro River and went fishing. Since I have nothing better to do I am going to write about it here so that all the world can read about it, or whatever. It started this morning off hwy 27 by an old bridge. The water
was beautiful as was the one fish I caught today. Sadly, it got off before I could land it and take its picture. I met a fine old gentleman who, by his accent, was from around here and he told me of all sorts of places you used to be able to fish but can't now. Strangely he really didn't tell me anywhere I could fish now besides where I was standing at the time.






Next I drove down the road a spell and found a nice place to try. I met this lovely little 65 year old woman named Diane who lived through a hurricane of the same name whilst living in Jacksonville waiting on her husband to come home from the military (seemed like a lot of info to me but I don't know). I asked if it was ok for me to park in front of her house while I fished and she went on and on about how nice it was for someone to ask unlike other people (had she not been outside when I pulled up I would have been grouped with the other people, good lesson though). By her accent, she too was from around here. I also discovered that she and her husband were going to be selling their house soon and moving to the Carolinas because they don't like the snow. Go figure, a Tennessean moving here for the snow and a Minnesotan moving south to get away from it. I fished for quite a while but to no avail. I could see plenty in the river but I couldn't get them to hit. I did meet two more fine Minnesotan outdoorsmen who came floating down the river while I was there. Aside from the fact that they weren't catching anything, they were pretty tight lipped about everything else. I don't even know their names, blood types, ss, etc!

Since I was tired of fishing, I took the long way home through some beautiful country where I was able to take some photos. All 3 were from the top of a hill where 2 different dairies were. Talk about a view!























And so, children, this brings us to the conclusion of Delmer Keener's first (and possibly only) blog post. I hope you all have enjoyed it immensely and that it has in some way bettered your lives!

So, as it turns out, this blog thing is harder than I thought-especially when I forget to take pictures. Del and I had several members of my intern class over last friday for a grill out but I totally forgot to take pictures! Del grilled steak kebabs, chicken and corn on the cob and I made basil-parmesan dip with pita chips, guacamole, a tomato pie, deviled eggs, peach cobbler and brownies! It was a lot of food but turned out really well!

obviously thrilled to be at the country's largest mall

The next day Del and I drove up to Minneapolis and checked out the Mall of America. It really is as big as they say and has a full-size Nickelodeon theme park inside with multiple roller coasters and water rides. We didn't ride any rides - we're saving that up for when visitors come! I don't think it will be someplace I go regularly to shop because it's way too big which was disappointing because the mall in Rochester is tiny with possibly the worst Macy's I have ever been to! I guess it will help me save money though....

This has been my last week on the NICU. Saturday I switch to general hospital service.Tomorrow night is my last NICU call until November when I'm back again. I have really enjoyed this month and have added it to the list of things I might want to be when I grow up. I love babies and I like critical care so, looking back, it's surprising it wasn't on my list before! I will miss "my" babies-they won't still be there when I get back in November! It will be nice to move on to something else though-see what else is out there. I'm also looking forward to getting to work with more members of my class though.

The weather has been beautiful here this week and so Del and I have spent a lot of time outside. Here's a look at some of our favorite parts of our house-the yard and deck!

View from the back deck including the kennelapple tree in the backyard-artsy pic by Del

Bell pepper plants on the deck
Assortment of herbs

How to write your first blog post

So I guess I should start by saying why we started this blog.  We moved very far from our family and friends in the last month and we wanted to have a way to show them what was going on in our lives without sending out mass emails.  We also wanted to prove what a foreign land the Midwest is.  Everyone talks different, eats different things, drives differently and, most of all, acts different than what we have been raised with.  Don't get me wrong-people are, for the most part, very very nice but there is definitely such a thing as "Minnesota nice," which one of my new friends let me in on.  It's the type of "bless-her-heart" southern nice that I am used to but with a more dry undertone (unlike the "kill more flies with honey" that I was raised with).  With that in mind, here is what we have been up to in the last month:

We moved into this lovely establishment....

We have made a few new friends-pictures to come later!

      The cat has 24 hour a day entertainment....

And we have been able to spend a little time exploring the area....

Lake Pepin-which is actually a naturally-dammed portion of the Mississippi River [that's Wisconsin on the other side] where the big activity is sailing.  After living further south on the Mississippi, I couldn't believe that this was part of it-no dishwashers?!

Hopefully I will be able to keep up with posting (I hate to say that already) but with call every fourth night for the next 2 1/2 months, it is a little questionable.  But since I have a sweet husband who let me get this...

I have no reason not to!

Next posts: What I actually do with my days (it's not all glamour!), pictures of the house, dinner party with my fellow interns at my house