Grandpa's Farm

I feel kinda silly saying it but I have never been to a farm before, at least not a real, out-in-the-country farm!  So when Nathan suggested that we go out to Eureka, Nevada to visit Grandma and Grandpa Andersen on their farm I jumped with excitement! (*this is the Gma and Gpa that Nathan and I rented from/lived with in North Las Vegas those first few months right after we were married)  Eureka is located in central Nevada with flat land perfect for growing alfalfa (and marijuana, haha, but don't worry that guy got caught) and surrounded on all sides by mountains.

Gma and Gpa's farm has the old house and the new one.  The old house is where Dad grew up.  It has this pinkish stucco on it that Nathan remembers putting on when he was a young teenager.  The new house in only 2 years old and much bigger and nicer.

Nathan and I got there Thursday night and stayed through Saturday noonish.  We had a grand time being with Gma and Gpa, Dad, Sara, Dave (Dad's friend from work), and his son Cole.  It was relaxing and busy.  We used every ounce of day we could exploring, shooting, taking, laughing, cooking, working.  It's open skies make your cares feel like they are a million miles away.

Dad, Nathan, and Dave (Dad's friend) walking out to bale some hay

Yes, baling hay is a TWO MAN job! They are heavy!

*I elaborate this more further on in the post

Grandma has 3 dogs: Sassy, Ezzi, and Curly.  The hired hand have 4 labs.  A few weeks ago Gma and Gpa found 6 pups from one of those labs underneath a trailer.  Gpa put hay down to keep them warm.  They had recently opened their eyes when we got there.  SO CUTE!  We couldn't get enough of them.  Everyone individually made special trips multiple times a day out to check up, watch and hold the puppies. (*one peed on me...that's how you know they like you, right?)

I ran in the morning down the long stretch of back road.  It is so wide and open that it gave me the feeling that I was running in place.

I ran past farms with cows.  It was strange to get the sense that I was being watched.  I looked over and like 6 of the cows were stopped, staring at me.  I bet they don't see people running up past their little grass field very often.  They probably thought "this one's weird" 

A man came to buy Grandpa's hay.  Baling hay is nothing like in the movies where one guys picks up a bale and tosses it in the back of the truck like its nothing.  Each bale weighs 100lbs!  That and the shape make it a two man job 

My handsome hubby climbed up top the hay stack to uncover it so the buyer could see and choose what he was buying.  Fiufiu!! 

We ran into problems because the hired hands of Gpa didn't bale or stack the hay right and the bales were falling apart...part of the haystack got knocked over and poor Gpa was stressed and frustrated!

This machine is called a squeeze and can pick up 30-50 bales of hay at the same time...that is it could if the bales had been tied and stacked the correct way.  Instead the men had to load the 50 bales of hay this man was buying by hand.  The whole process took a few hours...poor Gpa, poor guys

One of the main reasons for us going down to Eureka was to shoot rabbits.  Rabbits are a huge problem for farmers.  In a year that rabbits are overabundant they can eat 10 ft into the field a night!  and for farmers that's your money.  There are farmers who will buy the ammo for shooters if only they'll come and shoot the rabbits off their land...we didn't get that lucky but good thing 22 ammo isn't super expensive.  We were all shooting 22 rifles.  I shot with a Ruger 22 with a sweet scope on it and our Browning Lever Action.  Awesome guns! Nathan shot many rabbits...I not so many.  In fact, when we were shooting out into the big fields I couldn't tell if I was hitting any of them (kinda frustrating but still way fun).  Nathan was so sweet and patient.  He took me out, just me and him in the car and we went shooting.  He gave me tips like keep looking at the rabbit after you shoot so that you can see if you dropped him or not...should have been common sense right?! Well not for this city, never having hunted before girl!  I shot 2 birds and 9 squirrels!  Go me!  This was my first time ever killing something on purpose, kinda a weird feeling but cool too.  *It helped me to know that we were helping with the rodent problem.

Here are Sara and Nathan shooting

We'd drive up to an open field and all jump out.  We would have the chance to shoot for a while and then they would stay hidden in their holes so we'd move on to the next field.

Having never been to a farm before I tried to soak it all up.  I enjoyed walks through the old tractor parts and open fields.  I jumped in the truck with Gpa a few times and listened to him tell me stories or peppered him with questions about how a farm works and when to do's and how to do's.  I loved being out there on that farm and I learned so stickin' much!  I think its good for people to get out and have these experiences.  Nathan and I have joked about having a farm someday of cows and horses and such...maybe we're not totally kidding though!  Would anyone come visit us?

Coming Home

Coming home from Eureka Nevada, ipod playing and Nathan and I dancing and singing our little happy hearts out!  It had been such a wonderful weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Andersen on their alfalfa farm!  Well we were singing so loud that when the Garmin GPS system spoke we couldn't hear it...at first we thought that maybe we had missed a turn...we'll never know what it really said...Nathan looked down and on the charts it has a max speed and it said 105.  There was NO WAY we had been going that fast!  We startedthinking maybe we had...maybe that's why the Garmin spoke up, saying "Hey! You Crazy?!"  so we decided to be a little crazy and try to see if we really had been going that fast and if the Garmin would speak up again...We hit 100 and then heard the most horrible sound...the engine was being murdered and then it shut completely off, cutting off the power steering and not just not running but actually wanting to restrict the forward movement of the car.  We quickly pulled of to the side of the road in the middle of NOWHERE!   Nathan walked back a bit and picked something up off the side of the road...a piece of the engine block!  Oh my goodness, the stress of it all setting in!  I just wanted to hold me dear husband, the stress was written all over Nathan's face.  We hugged each other and said a prayer that the people who would be able to help us would be sent to us...we saw miracle after miracle! We know that Lord answers our prayers!

We didn't have service on our cell phones and evidently neither did anyone else cause it's just plain not out there.  We had 3 people stop to try to help us.  One of those took us into the nearest town 10 miles behind us...you really can't even call it a town.  Welcome to Boarder Nevada, located on the Nevada Utah boarder on highway 6/50.  There you'll find the Boarder Inn with a motel, casino, restaurant, gas pump, and RV park.  It is this tiny dot on a long stretch of highway.  65 miles to Ely and 96 to Delta - the two nearest towns.

We jumped on a pay phone to call Dad Andersen but really had no plans of what we were going to do.  We started asking around about towing companies and charges.  All options were expensive and small town mechanic shops in Ely and Delta were probably not even going to be open tonight or Sunday...Dad called us back and said that Uncle Jeff had AAA and would try to work it out to get us towed.  Both Nathan and I had tears in our eyes when we heard the news.  Just then this beautiful and kind faced woman approached me.  She said that they couldn't stop thinking about us.  They had just dropped off their motorhome and wanted to help tow our car from off the side of the highway and back to where we were with their truck!  I ran and told Nathan, who jumped into their truck and off he went.  I stayed to get the rest of the towing info from Uncle Jeff.  He said that we would be able to be towed for free and that they were on their way from Filmore to pick us and our car up. 

Nathan returned and we were smiling at all the blessings we were receiving.  "Come meet Tamara and Dave Cummings!  They are amazing people Liz".  He took me to their motorhome.  They were so concerned for us and willing to help.  They were prepared to be our step-in emergency Mom and Dad.  and Nathan was right, they are totally amazing and loving!  We feel so blessed to have met and been helped by them.  We went to eat dinner but were invited back to pass the time with them until our tow truck came.  (*for a super small place the food was very yummy. chicken bacon wraps on herbal tortillas...if anyone else stops there I highly suggest getting that!)  After dinner we went back and felt right at home talking to them and seeing pictures of family.  They drove us over to our car and sat an extra 20 minutes with us while we waited.  Talk about people who just went out of their way to help two stranded strangers. (*we so wish we had gotten a picture with Tamara and Dave)

The tow truck got there at 10:30 and off we went.

Richard was the name of our towing rescuer, also a super nice man.  Kinda hearted, generous, and amazing people are all around us! and we were so glad we got to meet so many of them.  I passed out shortly into the drive on the backseat of the tow truck but Nathan was a trooper and helped Richard stay awake on that long, dark drive.  We got to Filmore a little before 1am.  Our engine is fried!  We've thrown rods and we'll need to have a completely new engine put in...$2400...but other than that we have no other expenses.  The towing was free and Uncle Jeff and Andrew drove down to Filmore at 1am to pick-up us two hoodlums!  We got back home to Provo around 3am Sunday morning but were able to get up and be in church for our 9am meeting.

So our car is still in Filmore and we're trying to figure out what to do next!  Do we pay to have to all fixed up or do we not worry about it...we'll have to think on this...

Long story short: There are AMAZING people out there, who are willing to help.  The Lord answers prayers and helps lead people who can help right to you even when they didn't plan on being there!  A HUGE Thank you to Tamara and Dave Cummings, Richard, Uncle Jeff, Aunt Monique, Andrew, Dad, and mostly the Lord!!