..and these are the Days of Our Lives.

Sanford & Son, Part 2
Originally uploaded by klycolllins.

ENTIRE MESSAGE REDACTED DUE TO SENSITIVE MATERIAL INVOLVED

Sanford & Son, Orangevale Style

Sanford & Son
Originally uploaded by klycolllins.

ENTIRE MESSAGE REDACTED DUE TO SENSITIVE MATERIAL INVOLVED

Crate & Barrel Sucks

Originally uploaded by klycolllins.

Not exactly a great picture, but I was too annoyed to take the time to find my digital camera. What you're looking at is my new dining room table from Crate & Barrel. It doesn't look much like a table because it didn't actually come with "instructions". Lots of pieces, but no idea how to make them look like a table. I called the store where I bought it and they weren't exactly helpful. Something about, "Ummm, let me have somebody call you back". Sure. Not being too patient, I called C&B's 800 number. The instructions aren't available on-line, but they offered to fax them too me. Great. I guess I need to get a fax machine for all the times I get something from C&B that (probably) won't come with instructions. I guess they haven't heard of the "internet". Needless to say, C&B got a nasty e-mail from me. I'll probably be barred from shopping there ever again. So sad. Oh, well. I wasn't planning on eating anytime soon anyway. UPDATE: Somebody at the C&B store in Roseville said they would leave the instructions for Rachelle to pick up on her way home from work. Fortunately, Rachelle decided to open the envelope and saw that she had page 1 of 2. They hadn't bothered to print page 2. The page that actually tells you how to connect the base to the table top. Bastards.

Combine Rides

Combine Rides
Originally uploaded by klycolllins.

Possibly the highlight of my country vacation. Rachelle's Uncle Bill was giving us a tour of the farm, answering my stupid city-boy questions (fyi, combines don't get "miles per gallon"; something about "not driving miles"), when he asked if I wanted to go for a ride. I said, "Do pigs crap in the hog barn?" (yes, but it falls through gaps in the floor to a retaining tank and the pigs don't have to wallow in it) and off we went. Riding in a combine is like taking a two story house for a ride in the park. I'm pretty sure this particular combine was bigger than my first apartment, and the engine compartment is big enough to walk around in. Standing up. If I didn't get spooked by small towns, and if I had a "work ethic", I think I'd enjoy being a farmer. At least the harvesting part. The rest seems kind of hard and complicated. That and the fact that the only plants I've managed to keep alive in my yard are, technically, weeds. Oh, well. I'll always have the memories.

Vacation on the Hog Farm

Vacation on the Hog Farm
Originally uploaded by klycolllins.

Rachelle and I just got back from a week visiting her family in New Hampton, Iowa. You know, up in the northeastern part of the state, between Charles City and Spillville. Her uncle has several hundred acres of soy beans and corn, but I was mostly interested in the hog raising operation. He just had a new, state of the art hog barn built (not pictured here; this is the old fashioned hog yard) that holds 1200 pigs. Seriously, 1200 pigs in one barn. And there were another 2800 or so scattered in other barns and pens. Speaking of which, I wish I'd known what a pig-pen looked like when I was living with my mom. All that talk about my room looking like a pig-pen was a load of crap. The pigs are much cleaner. Anyway, it seems that there is much, much more to farming than putting some seeds in the ground and waiting for them to grow. And Bill didn't seem to impressed with my one (1) ear of corn that grew in my backyard last year. Not a good crop in Orangevale. More pictures will follow showing the different parts of the farm. Stay tuned...