My mom was in town last week. She was officially here for her 60th class reunion, but when she comes out she always tries to make time to go visit her cousins in South Dakota. So for the first half of last week my sister, mom, niece and I drove out for a visit.
My mom’s mother, Carrie, was born on the family farm in Arlington, South Dakota in 1898. If you’re trying to make some sense of dates and ages, Carrie was 42 years old when my mother was born in 1940. My mom is now 78, thus the 60th class reunion.
Anyway, Carrie was born on the Moe farm and that farm is still in the family. It’s now run by my cousin Travis.
The farm was passed down from Carrie’s parents to her brothers Gerhard and Knute Moe, and from there to Knute’s daughter Elaine and from there to her son Travis. Travis has six really adorable children so I hope that at least one of them will be willing to continue on with the farm one day, thus keeping it in the family.
These days Travis just has goats, and a couple of llamas.
And currently quite a few adorable kittens who would not hold still for photos. The beautiful grey one was my favorite.
I’m always tempted to take one home with me, but I’m pretty sure my cat Lucy would not approve of an interloper.
Although my mom grew up as a city kid in Minneapolis, she would spend several weeks every summer out at the farm so she developed some very close relationships with her cousins. So whenever it was possible, my mom sent us out to stay in Arlington when we were kids too. That was where I learned that potatoes grew in the ground, not on bushes or trees. I definitely was a city kid.
These days we still love going out to visit the cousins. They are the nicest people and we always have so much fun with them. We tend to do a lot of laughing when we’re there.
While we were out there this time we were playing cards with a bunch of the cousins and at one point one of them looked at his hand and said ‘Well, I went to shit, and the hogs ate me.’ I burst out laughing, wondering what in the world that meant.
Apparently that translates to something along the lines of ‘things went from bad to worse.’ A trip to the outhouse being bad, being eaten by hogs even worse.
After I quit laughing I said ‘that would make an awesome blog post title, if only I could remember it’, so my niece whipped out her phone and texted it to me. So now I have a record of it for posterity, or at least as long as I have my current phone.
Speaking of which, I took all of the photos for today’s post with my new phone. I hadn’t really played around with that yet, and now I’m realizing I might want to change the picture size setting … at least the ratio. But these long skinny photos were fun for today’s post. They certainly do a good job of emphasizing the wide open spaces of the mid-west’s farmland.
Maybe I will just leave it on this setting after all.
And the next time I have a colossal fail while painting a piece of furniture, I’m going to try to remember to use that blog post title again!
q is for quandie 
Omg…the blog title certainly captured my attention!!! My grandfather was also born in 1898. We were fortunate to have him until he was 99 💗 Love reading about your family. My grandfather was a farmer in southern Italy until he uprooted his entire family in the 1960s- he had 9 children – to make a better life in America – small rural towns in southern Italy were really struggling financially. Makes me proud to know he put his family first and I come from fierce ‘survivors’ with exceptional work ethic. Xoxo
LikeLike
What a great family history you have Carmelina! And you were lucky to have your grandfather until he was 99. I bet he had some great stories to tell, especially about living in Italy during WWII.
LikeLike
Beautiful farm and I’m glad you took time off to hang with the family. Always good to have an injection of laughter and love in your life!
LikeLike
It was definitely an enjoyable getaway 🙂
LikeLike
Love the saying…nice to have a good laugh with your cousins. Hope you are feeling better and are done with your cold too!
LikeLike
I did end up feeling a bit like I went to shit and the hogs ate me with that cold. I’m just starting to be able to breathe through my nose again. You forget what a luxury that can be 😉
LikeLike
Although I always read your blog, this was one I could really relate to…Thanks so much
LikeLike
LOL, I’m glad you enjoyed it Suzanne 😉
LikeLike
It was a very fun trip. I always love getting together with the cousins in SD.
LikeLike
Yep, me too sis!
LikeLike
Love your colorful writing. Spending summer’s with cousins is a tradition I hope my kids pass on to their kids. I got to spend my summers on the Jersey shore with my cousins. I’m a California kid so I always looked forward to, well, everything about New Jersey! I hope your family farm stays in the family. The goats are grand!
LikeLike
Today’s writing was especially colorful 😉 Do you follow me on instagram Marjie? I always post travel photos on Tuesdays, and last week’s feature was the Jersey shore! My sister and I went to the shore for the 4th of July in 2016 … or was it 2015? The years all blend together these days! You can check out that post here.
LikeLike
Read you all the time, had to comment on the goat photo…it is WONDERFUL! How did you get them to pose so well?(just kiddin’)
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOL, pardon the pun? I found it hilarious that those three goats were just hanging out up there on that cart like they owned the place 😉
LikeLike
Nice catch, puns are fun, though sometimes, one might feel a bit sheepish…I really love that picture, you should think about submitting it in a photo contest, primarily because the moment, their postitioning is so confident and wicked cute. Oh, and thanks for the farm saying…my father’s sister had all sorts of sayings that I use. I even keep a notebook when I see a quote or saying I like and I think I shall add that one.
(Wicked is a Maine term for something really great. Cunnin’ is when you aren’t quite sure how to express your opinion, “That baby sure is cunnin'” when the tot might not be adorable physically but is still special.
LikeLike
I think the Minnesota version of ‘cunnin’ is ‘interesting’. As in “hmmmm, that’s an interesting color”, or ‘her outfit was definitely interesting.”
LikeLike
I agree with Susan! That goat picture is hysterical!! You need to come up with another funny caption and make it into greeting cards …. or bubble your blog title … “Where’s Harvey?” “Oh, didn’t you hear? He went to sh$t, and the hogs ate him!” Or how about … “Does either of you have SPF 50? This 30 doesn’t seem to be working. I’m burning again!” Have a great day and thanks for the morning giggle!
LikeLike
Now you’ve made me laugh out loud! Love that idea 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love the picture of the goats. It was very nice of them to pose so beautifully for you!
LikeLike
It was gracious of them to pose so nicely for me 🙂
LikeLike
Love the pictures! The pictures of the goats is my favorite ❤️ Thanks for sharing!!
LikeLike
Glad you enjoyed!
LikeLike
Looks gorgeous out there. Goats were adorable and I love the color of the rusted truck.
LikeLike
Isn’t that truck awesome. Wouldn’t it be fun to style for Christmas? You know, those snowy scenes with an old truck with a wreath on the front. Perfect!
LikeLike
The photos are all wonderful but the silo is GORGOUS.
LikeLike
Thanks Marilee!
LikeLike
Definitely a true farm statement. My favorite one I learned when I moved to Texas in 2005…Happier than a pig in mud.
LikeLike
LOL, yep!
LikeLike
Great post and yes that title was a real hook. – hilarious. Never heard that one before. It’s such a beautiful farm. I love it all the kitty, the goats omg, the silo and that dang truck I want a farm truck too.
My grandfather was a farmer many wonderful memories of visiting in the summers, climbing trees and having chinaberry fights. Sorry to hear you’ve been sick.
LikeLike
I’m nearly recovered now! It was just a bit of a head cold, my friend Terri just happened to catch me at the worst of it!
LikeLike
Loved that title and I laughed out loud when I saw it! What a beautiful place. Good to know where your family comes from! I have a secret fantasy about owning a farm so this was wonderful!
LikeLike
It is a beautiful place where you can see for miles!
LikeLike
I’m from the farm! And it’s always fun to see city Folk helping out. glad you were able to spend some time with family this past weekend! I could feel you in a few sayings I’ve never heard the one about the pig!
I have a Furniture related question for you, do vanities sell better with the mirror attached or detached?
LikeLike
Well, first we have to establish what you consider a ‘vanity’. I’ve seen some people call any dressers with mirrors vanities. To me a ‘vanity’ or ‘dressing table’ is a piece that you can pull a stool or chair up to and sit and put on makeup or do your hair like this one or this one or this one, oh, or this one (one of my favorites). In that case, you absolutely have to keep the mirror. Otherwise, it just becomes a desk. But if you’re talking about a dresser with a mirror like this one or this one, then I generally only keep the mirror if it’s fabulous and adds a lot to the dresser. I find that the more primitive style dressers (like this Eastlake dresser) sell better without mirrors because they can be so much more versatile that way. You can use it in a dining room, kitchen, foyer, etc when it doesn’t have a mirror attached.
LikeLike
Oh my word I can’t believe that! My Daddy used to say the same thing and we kids would crack up. I thought it was a West Virginia thing!!! My father had a million of them and mom did not allow us kids to repeat any of them.
LikeLike
Well apparently it’s a South Dakota thing too! LOL, I can just imagine that your mom didn’t want you repeating some of them 😉
LikeLike
So when did Carrie’s parents buy the farm? Curious how long it’s been in the family. That is wonderful, I wish my family had a farm
LikeLike
That is a great question Teresa! I think I’m going to have to dig out the family history for that one, but that would probably be an entire day’s project so all I can say is that Carrie was born there in 1898. I don’t know how long they’d already been there at that point.
LikeLike