Sunday Morning Picking Apples

(As you can see I am doing all the posts for the later part of September at once/I get so far behind).
The kids came over after church Sunday morning to pick some apples. I like to pick what we will eat and have them really fresh!










We sliced them up and sat on the back porch and enjoyed the nice morning.

Aspen Trees Turning to Gold and Red

A drive up to the Grand Mesa on September 21 to view the aspen turning was pleasant. The aspens are getting their color later this year, so the trees were mostly light green and the ones that were turning were not bright gold and red.

I told farmer Ken that one year I would play hooky from harvest and just drive around Colorado and Utah and bask in the color!

Bench Hike

Farmer Ken and I spent a week in Western Colorado. Farmer Ken got a couple rounds of golf in. We did an impressive hike up to the bench trail on the Colorado National Monument. The first photo shows the formations.


We climed to the bench/ledge below the large formations. We went up a rocky ravine that you can see to the right below the formation in the photo. I felt like a mountain goat for awhile!
The veiws were awesome once we reached the bench below the formations!

There are so many fabulous trails, we've only gotten a few done.

HC & DC Fun!

A warm fall day was a perfect day to go to the zoo before the harvest season starts. We enjoyed the animals and a lunch at the famous Zesto's in Omaha close to the zoo.

After a good nap everyone was ready to play again.

Dad came ot get the boys and we had more nature fun in the garden. We found a green frog and some interesting spiders in the garden. I made the comment that this is as much funas going to the zoo and HC agreed.
DC has a gift for his mom!

HC helped haul a couple trees to take to their place to plant.

Lots to do to get ready for harvest!

Hanging Lake Hike

Farmer Ken and I are enjoying the sunny days of late summer in western Colorado.
We took friends Shana and Tom to Glenwood Canyon and all enjoyed he Hanging Lake hike.
It was cool in the forest on the trail with the mountain stream rushing down through the canyon. There were numerous small waterfalls as well as the stairstep falls in the photo.

A 1.2 mile hike with 1,000 feet of elevation with lots of rocks to climb over on the trail, led to a beautiful lake suspended in the narrow rocky canyon.



Hanging Lake is crystal clear turquise and we could see fish in the water.



The last part of the hike (not to be missed!) is above Hanging Lake to the Spouting Rock where water spouts out of a large hole in rock wall and makes a waterfall that feeds both Hanging Lake and the stream in the canyon. (unfortunatley by the time we reached the Spouting Rock, my camera batteries had died so no photos).
On the way back to GJ we stopped at the orchard Tom and Shana own in Palisade. We picked up a few peaches that had dropped off the tree and we so ripe and the very best flavor! What a treat!
As always whether on foot or in the car, we take the roads less traveled.

Late Summer August Days

Late summer days in August, bring cooler nights and the feel of autumn.
HC had swim lessons a for couple weeks and we helped get him to lessons. It was fun to be in the pool (heated!) and do some swimming too.


An evening at the county fair was great fun for HC and DC, as well as mom and dad.

After too much rain in June that led to problems getting the soybeans planted, it gave way to no rain for about 4 weeks and the corn starting to dry up and the soybeans waiting to fill the pods.
Thankfully Rain finally came last night and today.
We Have enjoyed lots of gorgoues tomatoes at the farm, as well as fresh peppers, squash and a few other vegetables. The sweet corn benefited from the rains earlier in the summer and was a great crop. HC enjoyed corn on the cob for lunch on the porch at the farm one day!


Farmer Ken and I are enjoying the late summer days in western Colorado. We came through Steamboat, Craig and Meeker on Sunday.


Rabbit ears pass is a beatiful area appropriately named for the rabbit ears formations.

We had not been in Steamboat since 9/11. We were at Winter Park at the condo at the time and were planning to golf that day, when we saw the morning news and could not think or concentrate, so we took off in the car and drove to Steamboat.

We did the Serpent's trail "hike" in the Colorado National Monument Tuesday. Farmer Ken hit a few gold balls at the driving range and will probably golf tomorrow morning.
This morning the resident quail parents and youngsters were enjoying preening in the morning sun on the rocks in the empty lot. They later came to the patio to drink out of the water that runs out of the bottom of the flower pots after the irrigation is on.


Note the male and female parents in the photo and the little chick tucked under it's mom.
Autumn will soon be here and in Nebraska that will mean the end to hot humid days. This year it will be such a relief after all the heat and high humidity we had!
From the second week in September through October is the best weather in Eastern Nebraska.

Error on Farm Family Award Post

I have changed the farm family post (unfortunately we cannot change the Plattsmouth Journal article!) . It was incorrectly stated that David was the great nephew of Lars Peter Olsen. It should have read that he is the Great Grandson of Lars Peter.
Ken and I feel very bad to have not caught that. We were on a time crunch for the article and got goofed up nad still didn't catch it when I did the post.
Our apologies to the family!

Farmer Ken's Birthday 69 going on 40!

Farmer Ken celebrated his Birthday Saturday as he has done since he was a child, by attending the Cass County Fair. He watched the tractor pull in the morning and watched the beef cattle sell in the afternoon on Saturday. He always talks about when he was litle and his parents said "it is going to be a fair day today" and he assumed it meant they were going to the fair!

Sunday, we had a family get together with Aaron and Tina, Elza and Zoey and Henry and Dashiell at Dan and Shannon's for brunch. Henry helped Ken blow out his birthday candles.

SOOO next year is the big one! Parties are in the planning stages.

Lauitzen Farm Recognized for Nebraska Pioneer Farm Status

The Lauritzen Farm was recognized by the Knights of Aksarben for Pioneer Farm status. This award is given to farms in Nebraska who have been owned by the same family for 100 years or more.

The photo below was at the presentation at the Cass County Fair on August 6, 2008. The present owners of the farm are siblings Alice, Doris, Evelyn and Kenneth (David Lauritzen great grandson of Lars {Peter Olsen, was not present for the photo).

The brief history of the farm is below. If you have more information to add, please e. mail me, or comment. Everyone in the family will definetly have alot of memories associated with the farm!

Lars Peter Olsen (an immigrant of Denmark to the United States in 1893) purchased the farm on the west side of Hwy 50 north of the Weeping Water spur in 1908.

The farm was the original site of Weeping Water in the middle 19th century. A post office, a greenhouse as well as a couple other buildings were originally on the site where the farm is now.

Current family members who own the farm, include Lars Peter Olsen’s grandchildren, Doris D, Evelyn R, Kenneth L (who actively farms the land as third generation), Alice S and great grandson David L (son of Richard L).

(Lars) Peter Olsen moved to Weeping Water in 1918, but continued to farm and went to the farm every day until he passed away in 1955. (Another interesting part of the areas history is the house that (Lars) Peter Olsen moved into in Weeping Water, has been in the family for over 90 years and is now occupied by Doris Duff. Parents Dagmar and Rasmus were married in this house in Weeping Water.).

(Lars) Peter Olsen raised oats, wheat and corn. He built a state of the art corn crib in 1916, on the farm.

Daughter Dagmar Olsen Lauritzen and husband Rasmus (who had immigrated to the United States from Denmark in 1920) farmed the land starting in 1937.
Son Kenneth had been involved in farming the family farm and took over the farming operation after graduating from the University of Nebraska in the 1960’s.

Brother Richard Lauritzen (David Lauritzen’s father/now deceased) was a talented machinist and kept things in running order. He made whirlwind terraces (an early form of terracing) in 1950.

The present house on the farm was built by Rasmus and Dagmar Lauritzen in 1959. Dagmar operated a self serve egg and cream business out of the garage of the then new house for 15 years. 200 laying hens supplied eggs. Many locals will remember driving out to the farm to purchase eggs and cream from the self service in the garage. A refrigerator in the garage held the eggs and cream and a muffin tin sat on a shelf with the change for honest customers to help themselves.
After retiring from farming in 1968, Rasmus continued to help on the farm until his death in 1976. He helped with the several milk cows and the chickens after retiring.


Kenneth and his wife Alice, continue to farm the family farm and contiguous land, for a total of 1000 acres. Besides row crops, alfalfa and hay, Kenneth and Dagmar had a cow calf herd. Kenneth was one of the first to be involved in breeding Semintal cattle. Kenneth was one of the first farmers in Cass County to use no-till planting to preserve the top soil and conserve moisture for crop growth. Large stands of woods and fence rows remain in abundance to provide wildlife habitat and natural beauty.

Ski Telluride, cranes and flowers

More to catch up on!
Early spring skiing at Telluride was fabulous in early March. The views are across the valley that leads to Telluride from Palcerville. Check out the airstrip on the left! We were way above it on a run on the mountain.


The photo below is the town of Telluride from See Forever ski Run. Would you ski down that run to town?


The photos below are Grandpa Ken and HC checking out the new tractor!


Unloading corn from the bins to take to the elevator.


Easter Sunday we enjoyed the sandhill cranes in south central Nebraska.


Western Colorado, is home of the famous fruit orchards including peaches, apricots, cherries and grapes for wine. The photos below are apricot blossums. Mount Garfield is in the background of the first photo.




Now we are preparing for planting on the farm. The garden is planted (just had to add some extra cover the last few nights with the cold nights!).
More to come. Will try to get more up on a regular basis!

Lots to catch up on!

Autumn and harvest season were busy times last year and looking back I realized I never got the photos up frm corn and soybean harvest. The photos below area glimpse of the harvest.

Escape to warmer climates

We have been on our annual January escape to western Colorado. We take time to enjoy some nature, host family and this year took a very quick trip to Arizona to enjoy some warmer weather and to see an area that neither Farmer Ken nor Farm Wife have been before. We also do the dreaded work of preparing our income tax, as farmers need to file by March 1st.
I have again neglected to keep current with the blogs (and have had some e. mail to ask if I could put something new up). I had viral crud for two rounds, as well as a secondary bacterial infection the last round and finally now can say that I feel better relatively normal after 2 months! SO, now I won't have an excuse for not getting everything done!
We arrvived in western Colorado New Years Eve, after a horrendous blizzard in the mountains closed I-70 and we took the Scenic route southwest via Buena Vista and back to I-70 at Minturn. Was bitter cold, but interesting.
Uncle Harold and Aunt Sharon came for their annual January visit and we had fun touring in the 4-wheel drive pickup. The view below is on a high ridge above Glade Park on the Colorado National Monument of the Grand Valley at sunset.



We visited some wineries as well and the gloworm joined us as usual. He says "Hi" to HC!




We took some neighbors up on their invitation to join them in Green Valley Arizona for a couple days and headed south through Utah on 191 and then on south through Arizona to Tucson and south to Green Valley.
There has been record amounts of snow in the Colorado Rockies, as well as in western Colorado and Utah, so it was an amazing site to see the sonw everywhere and the contrast with the red rocks and formations. It was a beautiful drive through Moah south on 191.
The following two photos are from the Salt River area. The second is a beautiful old bridge that was preserved when the new bridge was built. It is the Apache Bridge.




Neither of us had been very far south in Arizona and loved the cactus! would love to see the dessert in bloom!




We joined neighbors in the wonderful AND WARM area of Green Valley. They took us on a tour of the Tumacacori Mission, which are the ruins of one of the Spanish Missions that were started to colonize the Indians. It is a beautiful and spiritual site.




We enjoyed lots of southwestern food and the great company and hospitality of our good neighbors Gene and Mary.

We drove back to western Colorado through Monument Valley.



Utah, again was still white with the snow and unusual colder weather, but oh so beautiful!





Again, we always try to take the roads less traveled (we will definitely use our 4-wheel drive vehicle to explore more!). There is such unique and awesome beauty in our United States, that many will never experience. We are very blessed!