Want to win an iPad?

Just a quick note to point you to the good folks over at Persevero Films, and their fundraiser for their film project "Jimmy Valiant: Scions of Danger" If you donate as little as $1 dollar to their campain before midnight on the 1st, you will be entered to win one of two Apple iPads! Hurry, less than 31 hours left! Here is a little video from their site to get you interested:

  Join me in helping them reach their goal of $30,000 by tomorrow night!
Andrew B.

What if...

... the Lord had been born in the year 2010? Here is a little video that portrays what it might have been like. Enjoy!



(I did not make this, only found it on YouTube... :-)   )

Finally a little time to build--

--with my Legos! I took a little time yesterday to build myself an all Lego iPod dock! Here are a couple of pictures:

I haven't had time to build with my legos for a long time, but hopefully I will have a little more time in the future...

 Mom is calling me to go help with dishes, so I have to go.

  Andrew B.

The Spirit of Christmas

 As I am sitting in front of my computer listening to Christmas music, I start to ponder the question "What is it about Christmas, that special something that makes people more happy than any other time of the year?" I am beginning to think that it is the joy of giving, that happiness that comes from making somebody happy. Here is a little example:
  Last week I was standing in line at the local Walmart, waiting for the slow moving traffic of overloaded carts to pass through the line in front of me... After a long wait, it was finally my turn. After ringing up my comparatively small purchase, the cashier told promptly told my my bill: $22.20. OH NO! I only have a $20 dollar bill with me, so I desperately try calling my Dad who is sitting out in the car waiting for me, only to get a busy signal... What should I do? I hear a voice behind me ask "How much do you need?" I turn around and very sheepishly say $2.20. The kind stranger promptly pays the extra money! I offered to run out to the car and get a couple of dollars to pay her back, but she replies with a big smile "Don't worry about it, it's Christmas time!" What can I say? I walk out of the store marveling at the change that comes over people at this time of year.
 I think that deep down everybody enjoys giving, enjoys helping out our fellow men. The problem is that from the day we are born we are bombarded by a society that only thinks of self, a society that measures one on the scale of how much they posses, not how much they do for others. But at this one time of year, people are expected to give of themselves, to help other people, to make others feel special. A time of year when society itself takes a turn and preaches the exact opposite of what it is used to. Why would a predominantly God-less society continue to celebrate the Lords birth in such a way? The only reason I can think of is that they actually enjoy the feeling of making others happy! What do you think? Let me know!
  Andrew B.

Quick update.

Hi all,
 Just a quick update of what has all been going on around here... On Friday, Dad, Mom and Jacob went to Bismarck to run a bunch of errands, and to bring home the truck which is finally fixed. YAY! Yesterday we spent most of the afternoon watching Jane Austen's "Mansfield Park", which was pretty good... Today we are just working on odds and ends, although one of the projects on my list is to finish our farm's logo and label for the grain we are planning on selling, and work on designing a website for our farm. :-) That should keep me busy for a little while...
 Best get to work,
   Andrew B.

Blog updating, again...

Hello everybody!
  Today is a nice cold "Almost Winter" day here in ND, the temperature is currently 6.3° outside with a light breeze from the East. There must have been fog again overnight, because everything is covered with a good layer of frost... :-) It is really quite beautiful, but sitting here in front of my computer and looking out of the window, I am rather glad to be inside!
 As the title of this post implies, I have just finished updating several parts of my blog. Be sure to check out my updated list of favorite books and movies on my profile page, as well as the updated list of blogs I follow. ----->
 Yesterday we all (Except Cora, who had to work...) went to Bismarck. Mom had a bunch of sessions to do at her office, Jacob and I were hoping to be able to skate/play hockey at one of the rinks up there, and Dad had to go talk to our banker in Mandan. Unfortunately we weren't able to skate up there, as they were just in the process of flooding the rinks, which will then need a couple of days to set and then a couple more layers besides... Maybe next week... :-) I have been pondering trying to get a Homeschool Hockey League going in Bismarck, if I can find enough people who would be interested... Readers, what do you think of that idea?
 On the joys of a NEW computer:
  For those of you who have been reading my blog for quite some time, you probably know that I enjoy working with anything electronic, especially computers... And you probably also know that I recently built myself a new one. :-) Here is a report of what I have been doing with it, and how I am enjoying the great increase in speed. 
 I have been working on editing some video that I took last summer of our friends, the Dagley's, "Prairie Days". (Keep posted for clips from that...) Now, as anybody who has worked with video before will know, rendering video takes A LOT of computer power, and the amount of time it takes to render a video is directly proportional to the speed of your processor... Now for the fun stats:  My old computer took a little over a minute to render one minute of standard definition video. My new one takes about 9 seconds! My old computer rendered one minute of 1080P HD video in about 12 minutes (!), while my new one can do the same task in a minute and a quarter!  As you can imagine, that drastically cuts down on the amount of time required to work with video files. :-)
 That's all for now,
  Andrew B.

More snow!

It's beginning to look like Winter around here! I know it's actually still fall, but when there is 6+ inches of snow on the ground, it sure feels like Winter! It reminds me of the saying:
"There are four seasons in North Dakota; Almost Winter; Winter; Still Winter; and Road Construction!"
We were up in Bismarck again yesterday, moving Mom's office from one room to another larger one in the same building. We were also hoping to be able to get our truck back from the shop, where it has been for the past three weeks! It went in with a transmission problem, and after we got it back the first time there were several other problems with it, so it went right back... They thought they had it working finally, but after they took it out and drove it a little, they found more problems... ARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! The whole situation has been frustrating, to put it mildly...
It looks like it is going to be a nice day out today, maybe we will be able to have some fun outside! The sun is shining, there is a light breeze, and the temperature is 16°! Just right for snowmobiling... :-)
That's all for now,
Andrew B.

First post from...

... My NEW computer! Yup, I finally got around to building myself a new computer! :-) I just got the package from Newegg this afternoon, and I already have it up and running... Now comes the fun task of migrating all of my files and settings from my old computer to this one... ;-) In case any of you are interested, here are the specs:

• ASUS P7H55-M Motherboard
• Intel Core i3-540 dual core processor at 3.06 Ghz, W/Built in graphics
• 4GB DDR3 RAM
• Western Digital 1TB hard drive
• 585 watt power supply
• More to come... :-)

I am having a blast!

Andrew B.

Snowmobile video:

Here is the video of us with the snowmobile; Enjoy!

Pictures, as I promised!

Hello again!
Sorry I didn't get around to posting these yesterday, but I guess today will have to do... ;-) First off we have a picture of the building as it is now:

Going back a couple of days, here we are getting ready for Thanksgiving:

Cora made these wonderful Pumpkin Pies:

I arranged the cracker and cheese platter:

Some of our decorations:

Our patio door full of Stickies:

Ready for a Feast!

The day after thanksgiving we had a funeral to go to here in Kintyre. It was for an elderly neighbor of ours, who had been having health problems for quite a while... After the services, we stayed for lunch, and got a little time to visit with some of our other neighbors. Here are a couple of pictures of us and the Svanas children:

Olivia, age 10:

Sophia, age 9:

Cora holding Mariah:

And Me with Josiah: (Isn't he cute?)

We finally have enough snow to dig out the snowmobile and see what she can do...

We decided to try towing a sled behind, and Jacob was the first volunteer! Watch out puppies!

After going around the yard several times;

We decided to go out in one of the fields where we would have a little more room:

What fun! Cora took a couple of video clips as well, which I will be uploading shortly... Keep tuned for more fun!

Andrew B.

Snow geese?

Here is a little clip I took of our geese the other day, Enjoy!

12 days between posts...

Yikes! Must be getting forgetful in my old age... ;-)
I have been busy with the normal farm chores, and just keeping up with the day to day things, as well as all of the "Partyin' " that comes with Thanksgiving... :-) Last Sunday we went to Bismarck to be with my Bornemann grandparents, then on Thanksgiving day one of my Mom's brothers and his wife came to visit...

(Later)
I guess I will have to postpone the rest of the details (and pictures) until tomorrow...
Andrew B.

Birthday Recap

Hey Everybody!
Yes, I am still going to blog now that I am 20! :-) Although as you can see, it probably won't be any more frequently...

Friday night, after my last post, we had supper and then I was allowed to open the rest of my presents. First a picture of my cake (and me):

Here are some pictures of a couple of my presents:

PenDragon!

Another new board game!

A rifle case and a shotgun case!

Saturday, we got church done before lunch so that we would have time to play my new game, Agricola! It is a very complex strategy/resource management game, just the kind I like! It took us about three hours to play, but I think it won't take quite as long next time as we now know how to play... We even had enough time to watch "PenDragon" in the evening.

Yesterday we worked the calves, pictures to come...

That's all for now,

Andrew B.

No Longer a Teenager!

Today I turned 20! Wow, Time sure flies!
So far it has been a good day, although the party is just starting now. :-) Dad was trucking all day, and just got home a couple of minutes ago so our party had to be this evening... I did already get one of my presents from Cora, which was a music CD made by some friends of ours. (The Waddingtons) (Thanks Cora!)
It is our tradition around here to let people off of their regular chores on their birthday, so it was nice to have a little break! I did help a little with cleaning the house, so that we would have some time to play a couple of games. ;-)
Just havin' fun today!
Andrew B.

Done Combining!

We are finally done with this year's harvest! We just finished combining the corn, and it is already trucked into the yard and stowed safely away in the bin. And just in time, as it's supposed to start raining and snowing tonight! We were able to get done a lot earlier this year than last year, mainly because we had a lot of sunflowers last year...
That's all for now, but hopefully I'll have more time to blog soon...
Andrew B.

Happy Birthday Jacob!

Today is Jacob's 15th birthday! Hope it is a happy one!

My first Pheasant hunt.

We just got in from our first ever Pheasant hunt! Here are the results:

It Came!

My new iPod that is! It arrived in the mail this morning, and I have been playing with it ever since... ;-) Here are a couple of pictures I took with it:










And even some video clips! Here is one from the front camera:

And here is one from the rear camera:

More comming soon...

Andrew B.

Back to building!

Yup, we're still working on that building... Today we finally got started putting down the plywood for the floor in the loft. We didn't get a whole lot done, as we spent a good part of the day working on the truck: changing oil, changing a tire, fixing a leaky air line, trying to straighten out the bumper frame where he hit a deer a couple of days ago... Now tomorrow he's back to trucking sunflowers to Enderlin... That means I'm in charge of the building again! Not sure if I like that or not. :-)
Yesterday we had an unexpected visit from a friend, but you can read all about that over on Cora's Blog... Always fun to have friends visit, even if it is because of an unfortunate event. Making you curious? Just go read Cora's post... ;-)
Today I finally ordered a new iPod touch! Can't wait for it to get here... :-) I was running out of room on my old one, and I like all the improved features on the new ones, so it was time to upgrade. Anybody else out there have an iPod touch 4G (or iPhone 4G for that matter)? Trying to find someone to try out FaceTime with... ;-P
Best get to bed,
Andrew B.

Back to work...

Well, you probably allready know that Dad and Mom are now back from their vacation, and it's back to work for us all! If you would like to see some more pictures/updates from their vacation you can read Mom's blog or Cora's blog.

Yesterday and today we worked on our storage shed some more, making good progress once again! We finally got all of the joists put up, and got the stairway built too! Here are a couple of pictures I just took:

The view from the top of the stairs looking East:

Looking South:

I guess supper is waiting for me, so I had better go,

Andrew B.

Grain cleaning

Hello all!
The past couple of days I have been busy with some late season grain cleaning jobs, so haven't had time to post... However, I will enjoy having a little more spending money... :-)
Dad and Mom have been having a good time in San Fransisco, and Mom has been keeping up with her blog so be sure to check that out!
I am sitting on the grain cleaner right now, writing this on my iPod, so even though it is 11:30 as I am writing this, it won't get posted until I get home. Maybe I will have time to post more tomorrow...
Andrew B.

Sent from my iPod

Another busy day...

Today was another busy day, although it was a little different from the past few...
This morning Jacob and I went over to the land that we rent by Hazelton, in order to bring home one of the combines, and our swather which was still over there. We also stopped and paid our landlady her monthly rent check, and of course visited for a few minutes. ;-) Anyway, we had an uneventful trip home, (PTL!) and got home just in time for lunch.
This afternoon we worked on the building some more, putting some more nails in the sheeting we put up yesterday, and also put up a couple more joists too... Not as noticeable as what we did yesterday, but still progress!
Mom has been posting about their trip over at Her Blog, be sure to check out all the neat pictures of San Francisco!
That's all for now!
Andrew B.

Lots of Pictures!

Hello everybody!
I woke up this morning to a very beautifull foggy morning, and just had to get some pictures of it... They turned out soo well I thought I would share a couple of them with you here. :-)

I tried a panoramic, and it turned out a little skewed, but still pretty:

Today we worked on putting up the sheeting on the middle wall of our storage shed. Here are the results:

Yup, that's one tired ME!

I started playing around with the Macro mode, and here are the results:

That's all for now,

Andrew B.

Destination:

San Francisco!

As you might already know, tomorrow is my parents 30th wedding anniversary, and us children have been planning a week long vacation for them... The fun thing is that their destination was kept a secret until this afternoon. :-) They now know where they are going, but not what we have planned for them to do... They will be flying out of Bismarck early tomorrow morning, so they need to get to bed now. If you would like to keep up with their trip, Mom will be posting updates on her blog; A Ray of Hope.

I best get to bed now too, as I will probably be getting up early as well.

Andrew B.

Today's projects...

Today we spent most of the day cleaning out one of the grain bins, moving the grain to a different (Larger) bin... Dad was cleaning some grain for a neighbor of ours this morning, so after chores Jacob and I unloaded the "Orange Box", then set up the drag auger in the (First) grain bin as it was getting empty, and started shuttling grain to the other bin... After loading the old Ford truck, moving it to the other bin, and getting the auger running, I had a couple of minutes to work on the lawn mower, as dad had got some parts for it in town yesterday... It's kind of funny, we have 3 riding lawn mowers around here, and none of them were working! My John Deere needs an engine overhaul, the green one has a bad bearing on the mower deck, and the Craftsman needed a new air filter, and a couple odds and ends... At least that one wasn't too hard to fix! :-)
I also spent a little time working on the snowmobile, as I had found out yesterday the mice had been using it as a storage room--Lots of seeds and other objectionable items stuffed in the air vents and the pull starter... I did get it cleaned out and running again, and gave the little varmints something else to chew on--a couple bars of mouse bait! :-)
I guess it's time to get to bed,
Andrew B.

A Milestone...

Guess what? This is post number 100! It took me a year and a half to get there, but I finally made it!

We have been busy finishing up the fieldwork for the year, and also working on our storage shed as we get time... Here are the latest pictures of that project:

Mom just got home from a long day in Bismarck, and the rest of the family wants to watch an episode of Bonanza, so I guess that will have to do...

Andrew B.

Fixing a computer...

Well, I am finally getting a little time to work on a couple of my projects... One of those projects is fixing a laptop that has been sitting around collecting dust... ;-) It needed a new motherboard, but even after replacing that, I was having a hard time installing the operating system... Nothing but errors and the ominous Blue Screen Of Death... After trying many different operating systems and installation discs, and nothing working, I finally realized I had a bad stick of RAM! Now everything is working like it should, no errors, no BSOD: Now for the fun task of installing my OS and finding the right drivers...
That's all for now,
Andrew B.

Video

Finally getting around to posting that video I promised... This is of the Antique Tractor Parade, at the Braddock Threshing Bee... Enjoy!

It's a Girl!

--My calf that is!

Yup, that's right, I am back to milking... I went out to the pasture a couple of days ago to check on Sally, (The cow) as I knew she was getting close to calving. What I found was a several-day-old calf! I guess I should have kept a closer eye on her, but it turned out just fine anyway. :-) It's soo nice to have an abundance of milk again, and to be able to get some cream too. Whipped cream on pancakes, with ice cream for dessert! YUM!

The calf, Laura, is doing very well. It didn't take her too long to get used to drinking from a bottle, and now she is a regular pest!

Today was one of those rainy days where it's just nice to work on things inside... I spent most of the day cleaning up the basement: throwing out a bunch of junk, and setting up a little workbench for some of my projects. Maybe we can even get to the Foosball table again... ;-)

That's all for now,

Andrew B.

Pictures, Videos, Treasures, etc.

Hello again! Sorry for not posting sooner, but I have been unable to get to my computer for the past couple of days due to my room being a disaster! I finally got a little time to straighten it out last night, so I can at least get to my desk!

Last weekend Jacob and I helped out over at the Braddock Threshing Bee once again! Our neighbor, Allan, is a member of the association, and has been asking us to help out with a couple of things for the past couple of years, and we have been happy to oblige. :-) It is fun being around the old equipment for a couple of days, although I wouldn't want to HAVE to work with it... I will be uploading some video clips to YouTube shortly, so keep posted for those here... In the mean time, you might enjoy some pictures. :-)

To give you an idea of how many old tractors there are, here are some pictures of the equipment line-up:

Steam engines, small and large!

Back to the present: Why was my room such a disaster? Because I bought a very nice, very LARGE corner computer desk, (at the auction sale I mentioned in a prevous post) and I was trying to make it all fit in my room... Here is what it looks like right now:

That's all for now, got to go work on that video...

Andrew B.