Saturday, March 29, 2014

Animated music!

Many of you have probably seen the very cool animated video going around on Youtube showing a very cool machine playing music:







I recently came across this amazing video of a REAL version of this amazing machine! Apparently the guys at Intel decided to have a go at it, and did a pretty good job!





 Enjoy!

Friday, March 28, 2014

My new home!

Once again I have been long overdue in my updates here, but as I have some news to share, it's time to post once again!

 A couple weeks ago I finalized the purchase on my very own farmstead! I am SOO excited!


What I purchased is a nice little ~13 acre plot just one mile North of our farm, with an excellent set of trees, a little old house, and an old grainery-turned toolshed...
Here is the view up the driveway, showing the beautiful evergreens lining the road.


Front view of the house, looking North. As you can see the roof needs to be worked on, so I won't be bored this summer...


Here's the grainery/shed, Not much to look at, but some good storage. Looking East


Between the house and shed, looking West/Northwest. Here you can see the HUGE Weeping Willow tree, which I love!


North side of the garage, looking Southeast. You can see the nice little patio, complete with a brick grill! Oh, and the very fruitful Apple tree... ;-)


Partway up the drive looking East:



Today I had to go to Bismarck, and ended up picking up a few pieces of furniture to put in my new place. Took a few pictures after moving it in this afternoon, so here's a little glimpse into the inside:


Pictured above is the living room, with the couch I just picked up... Below is the master bedroom, with a set of bunk beds (minus mattresses) for the time being:


Dining room, with the table and chairs I picked up today as well:



And the kitchen and laundry/entry way, which I haven't done anything to as of yet... :-)


I will be working on fixing it up a little this summer, and until I am ready to move in, it will be used for storage and as a guest house... :-)
 Well it's getting late, and I'm going to head for bed, so I'll stop here. Good night all!
   Andrew B.

Saturday, February 15, 2014

2013 in review, part 2.

Well as 2013 is over and gone, and we are rushing headlong through 2014 at a pace fit to boggle the mind, I think it is about time I finish my "Year in Review" post series. :-)  Keep reading for a few highlights anyway..

 May found us still thawing out, but grain cleaning season was getting under way:


The new chicks were growing fast, and enjoying the sunshine!


And we were scrambling to get all the equipment ready and in the fields.


June was a very busy and fun month! Cora and I traveled to Minnesota for a weekend of fun at the "Family Fun Days" hosted by friends of ours over there. Some of the activities included wheelbarrow races, and an extreme tug of war against a pickup... :-)



Then of course there was the annual "Prairie Days" to attend, which was very fun as usual! There are always plenty of games, this one being a water relay:


And of course, one of the best parts of Prairie Days is all the good music! Here is our family, playing and singing a couple songs...


And something new last year, the Band Scramble! Everybody that wanted to participate put their names in the box with what instrument they wanted to play, (or just singing), then names were drawn from the box to form semi-random bands! Then each "Band" got an hour or so to put together a couple songs to play during supper for entertainment. It was a blast! Here is the Band I got assigned to, we called ourselves "The Nonagons: The Band with Nine Faces!"



Let's see, what else happened in June? Oh yes, we hosted another Appleseed! You are probably getting tired of all the Appleseed pictures on here, but you'll just have to skip down a little to avoid them... ;-)
My good friend Jonathan came down to Shoot Boss for us, and we had some friends come from a pretty good distance to attend. Here is Jonathan teaching one of the History lessons.


You might notice the forboding clouds, we did get sprinkled on a little bit, but the second day was a lot nicer!


This young lady was quite happy with her shooting skills! :-)


During the lunch break, and after the AS quit for the day, there were plenty of games going on in the shop, including pool, ping-pong, and darts!


Yes, we did actually get some shooting time in too... :-)


In July we finally got our flag hung on our massive flagpole! Getting ready for our party on Independence Day!



We had fun playing water balloon toss, and Bocce...


...watching the campfire...


...and the fireworks!


Later in the month we painted our outhouse, in preparation for our second Appleseed of the year:


Our shoot boss who was planning on coming from Iowa had car trouble on the way, and couldn't make it. Thus I had to run the event, with a good bit of help from my brother, Jacob. :-)



The garden was growing well;


 And so was the corn!


I like this picture of one of Cora's many flowers:



August found us busy working on the combine:


Well, on and IN!


We also attended another Family Camp at Crystal Springs, always so much fun getting together with friends, enjoying the fellowship, and games!




September found us attending a friends wedding, me helping out at an Appleseed in Spearfish SD, and my first time visiting the Black Hills and Mt. Rushmore!




Really like how the Big Dipper shows up in this shot:




October was busy with harvesting corn, attending auction sales, and Cora and I went to northern MN to visit some friends and help them with their Corn Maze!


Trying not to get lost in the massive maze!


My brand-new old-used truck! Bought it at an auction sale in Jamestown for a very reasonable price... :-)


November found us wrapping up the harvest, running long hours trying to get it all in!



Thanks Cora for coming out and riding a couple rounds and getting these great pictures! :-)



We also trailed our cows home from the summer pasture, they moved pretty easy as they knew it was time to come home too! :-)





December was fairly uneventful, I bought a snowmobile, so Jacob and I can ride together:


We spent quite a bit of time building a nice skating rink:


And had an awesome New Years Eve party! :-)



Many thanks to all that made 2013 such a great year! May God bless one and all!
   In Him,
      Andrew B.