I'm a farmer now!!

Dad and I arrived into Omaha, NE around 11:45pm on Thursday. We still had about an hour and half drive ahead of us to get to Lenox, IA. We jumped in our rental car and grabbed a soda and we were off. We arrived to Lenox around 2am Friday morning. Tacy had offered to put us up for the night so once we got there and we were off to bed.
Once we were both up and moving (I was actually up and ready to go before Dad!!) it was off to Slim's for breakfast. Now, for those of you not familiar with Lenox, Slim's is a gas station/convenient store/restaurant. It's an all in one place and a very popular hangout for the locals! Dad loves it because they have a soda fountain with Dr. Pepper! They are also known for their biscuits and gravy so I was excited to try it. As we walked into Slim's we saw Walt (my grandma's brother so my Dad's Uncle) sitting there having coffee. He knew we were in town so he knew Slim's was a good place to try to see us. He joined us for breakfast and we just sat around chatting. It was great to see him!!!

Here is Dad, Walt and me in front of the awesome truck that Walt won a few years ago at the casino. Lucky guy!!!
After breakfast Dad and I were off to see Uncle Shorty and Aunt Lois. Aunt Lois was as spunky as ever and Uncle Shorty was up and about and doing GREAT!! It was so nice to see them both again and doing so well! We had a good visit with them and then we were off to the cemetery to visit with Grandpa Brown. Now, I have not been back to Iowa since we buried Grandpa in 1996. I felt awful that it had been that long and I made a promise I would get back more often. It was hard being there for obvious reason but I had to remember that Grandpa was in a better place. We gave Grandpa some flowers (some pretty yellow ones) and I told him I loved and missed him.

Now, since I had completed the two things I wanted to do it was time to go have some fun! My Uncle Allen was already there to help Kurt with his farm so it only seemed right that I should also help! Yep, that's right I was ready to do some farm work! See Michelle I can help on the farm too!! I mean I didn't ride on a pig but I was there for work not fun!! : 0 )

Here I am with Uncle Allen releasing the soy beans from the wagon to go through this machine that takes them into the storage silo. That wheel was really tight so it was hard work!!

Dad is checking to see the soy bean level in the storage silo.

This is the Combine (I made the mistake and called it a compound and they never let me live it down!) that is used to collect all the soy beans in the field. This is what Kurt does while Uncle Allen unloads the beans.

Kurt gave me a ride in the "Compound" so I can see what it does. This is the view from the co-pilot chair. The soy beans go into this thing and gets separated from it's shell and then will be ready for storage. It's actually very cool!

Here I am on the Cobmine after I drove it!

Yep, that is me driving it and YES I really did drive it!! I mean I didn't collect any beans I just got to drive it back in the open field (I mean Kurt wasn't willing to let me touch his beans he is trying to make a profit!). It was a lot of fun and it actually drove very easily! BTW this thing has A/C and a radio so the old days of "roughin it" as a farmer are TOTALLY over!! Sorry Kurt I didn't mean to sell you out just had to tell the truth!! : )

After a few hours of "helping" with the farm work Dad and I ran by Walt's bar in Corning for a drink. Then it was off to dinner at Vera's in Lenox. It was really nice that everyone was able to meet up with us for dinner that night. It was a great night so thank you to everyone who came out for dinner!!

Here are all those crazy Iowa Brown folks!!!

Once we were done with dinner most of us went back to Aunt Lois and Uncle Shorty's house to play some cards (500 of course). Now, most people know I'm new at this game and still learning. Well, that is not something these cut-throat Iowa Brown Cousins look for in a partner so needless to say no one wanted to play with me! Good thing Ashley was there to play me! Thanks Ashley! : )

Now, we did the best we could and we won one out of the three games we played so that wasn't too bad. However, I plan to practice over the next year so that when they all come out here for Stacey and Adam's wedding in 2009 I will be ready to kick some butt!!!

They made us do this since we were losers that evening but my "L" stands for Lindsay!! At least that's my story and I'm sticking with it!! : )

For those of you that don't know when my Dad, Uncle Allen and Kurt get together they all do a Tequila shot. It's a Brown boy cousin tradition. Since all three of them where together that evening it means it's time to drink!! See how crazy my Dad is holding the bottle......I think we might have a problem here!!! ; )

Bottom's up boys!!! Did I mention Dad was our driver back to Omaha that night!! Nice huh??
Just kidding it was only one shot!! He perfers Dr. Pepper so no worries!

This trip was short but sweet. I got to see everyone and do everything I wanted to and more!! I would like to thank all my family back in Iowa for making the time for me and Dad. I know it was short notice. It was great to see everyone and I can't wait to see everyone again really soon!! Much love to you all!!

More to come!

xoxo