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My Unkymood Punkymood (Unkymoods)

The Lord has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy.
Psalm 126:3

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Location: United States

I'm 59 years old. I've been married to my hubby for ... WOW! 30 years! I'm Mom to 4 great kids - 2 girls, 2 boys - and one granddaughter, now 12, and a grandson who is 5! I am a firm believer that Jesus Christ is my Savior, and I struggle daily to be the woman He wants me to be.

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    Thursday, April 30, 2009

    Indiana ... Moooo!

    Mar!!! This one's for YOU!!!
    (I did stop and buy mOre cheese here on my way out
    of Wisconsin...)


    Oh we had FUN today! This was a very good travel day! But first, I want to answer Quilly's question about why I had to stop and by the shirts for Dennis. Quilly dear... Harley Davidson T-shirts are collector's items. Every Harley dealership in the country (and abroad) has their very own shirts with a special logo for them and the name of their store on the back. MOST of these dealers do not sell their store shirts on-line. A few do. I always manage to find him a couple for Christmas each year. But most do not. Also, H-D has 3 manufacturing plants in the US -- one in York PA - he and I visited that one when we took Krysti to the NY college - they make the bodies there. The one in Milwaukee (outside of Milwaukee actually) makes the drive trains. Dennis would have loved to be here... and if he had been we would have actually taken the tour. I'm not all that interested in drive trains - so I didn't. I did VERY much enjoy the tour in York though! So... anyway - that's why it was important! :)

    Now... for today. We only made it just barely south of Milwaukee last night - and I decided I was not going to stop in Chicago again. NOW I'm mad at myself that I didn't because I saw billboards for a place in St. John, Indiana (up near Chicago) called the Shrine of Christ's Passion. I would have LOVED to visit there... I just didn't know. The billboards were on the Southbound side of the road.... so I thought I was getting closer to it instead of farther from it. Wasn't until I got here (to Indianapolis) and into the hotel that I found out how far off it is. *sigh* BUT... we DID have good fun today!
    We stopped in Fair Oaks, Indiana and went to the Fair Oaks Dairy. Sadly they do NOT do a cheese factory tour. They dO have a cheese factory and do have a virtual tour which I did indeed watch. It was fascinating! But mainly they do have a huuuuuge dairy!

    One of 3 huge "free roaming" barns they have.
    They "say" the cows mill about and socialize and "choose"
    their bed each night. Each of these 3 barns holds 1400
    head of cattle. To me that doesn't leave much ROOM for
    milling about!

    And a bus tour through it all. We saw the whole milking process for this 10 farm dairy. They ship out 250,000 gallons of milk per day!!! PER DAY!!! That is 40 big tanker trucks full! PER DAY!!!

    State of the art milking carousel. Line 'em up! The "eagerly"
    walk themselves into the milking stall, and back themselves out
    at the end of their 8 minute ride.

    Annnnnd we got to see not one, but TWO baby calves BE BORN!!! I'm tellin' ya! This was big stuff today!
    Mama 1
    You can see the little feets stickin' outta her butt!

    She was havin' a bit of a time of it, so Dr. Farmer Girl
    came in to help out. (she ended up needing to use a chain)

    But awwww... it's a GIRL!
    And Mama is takin' good care of her.
    (never mind they will be separated within an hour and never
    see each other again....)

    I have to say... I found the whole tour positively fascinating -
    but I don't agree with how it's done. I knOw ... I knOw...
    modern days, it's a business, blah blah blah...
    I just wonder if God ever really meant it to be like THAT!?

    When we were done with the entire tour, we went back in the cheese place and ... well, they ALSO make their own homemade ice cream... Mom had strawberry and I had butter pecan! It was THE creamiest ice cream I have ever had! And surely the freshest!

    I just gotta tell ya - that bowl full was what they called
    ONE scoop! I could not finish mine - but Mom finished hers
    ... AND mine! LOL! She does love her sweets!

    Then it was on the road again, and we finally rolled into Indianapolis around 5:30. I drove around the city for awhile and got a feel for where I wanted to "be" and then found parking. We walked down to Monument Circle and there we got a horse drawn carriage to tour us around the city. Mom LOVED that!

    Boy, if this picture doesn't put me back on my diet
    nothing will!

    Monument Circle
    (it's a Civil War memorial)

    The thing about cities is that from a distance they all look alike. And from up close they look very similar. You really have to have time to explore a city to find it's very own fun characteristics. And I don't have a lot of time. Every time I go to a big city I say "I wanna come back here for about a week!" ... and sadly I do... want to. But I probably won't ... ever. *sigh*

    Alright! Enough about ME! Now it's getting late - and I really DO want to come see what I've been missing on YOUR blog! So, I'm gonna get as much in as I can before I fall asleep!

    Labels:

    posted by Melli at 10:44 PM

    17 comment(s):

    Good morning Melli, I could not sleep, so here I am up and reading blogs. Thanks for this great tour of the cows..the birth of the baby calf was awesome!! It is sad that the mommy cow is separated from her baby so early in life.The baby can not nurse her mom?? how sad is that??

    Wishing you a safe and fun trip back home..it sounds like it is going well so far... better than the beginning of your trip..
    Love ya, Baba

    By Blogger Baba, at 5/01/2009 1:03 AM  

    You and Mom look like you're having the time of your lives, although it did not start out that way! That dairy factory looks like one of the most modern farms I've ever seen, but awwww!!! Cows should be in green pastures, and mother cows should not be separated from their babies after an hour ( that sounds heartbraking) but that would not make enough money, would it?
    And what you said about exploring a city, it's true, you have to take the time to do that. I want to take one or two stops on my way to Quilly's but I'm not sure where yet. It's a very long distance to do it in one go. Oh and um, Melli? Never say NEVER. You just never know, do you?

    By Blogger Jientje, at 5/01/2009 2:17 AM  

    I just read all your posts since you left Dr. John's. I had to laugh about your "Lakeside" and it hurt a little when I remembered Lake Michigan. But never ever would I have visited this cow factory ! that's truely horrible, the poor cows, no wonder that the meat has no taste anymore. If they would run free eat good green grass everything would be better, but of course money money money and the well being of the poor animals is not important. When I see that I start to think of becoming vegetarian and don't eat meat anymore !
    But I am glad for you that you have such a nice holiday and that mom enjoys it too ! I think she got used to it, it's not unknown anymore to her to sleep in other places.

    By Blogger Ingrid, at 5/01/2009 2:24 AM  

    Thanks for that first picture, Melli, how wonderful of you and what fun!!!! that's the biggest single scoop of ice cream I have ever seen! Glad Mom was happy with it (them) too.

    One certainly needs time to explore places ::sigh:: Enjoy the rest of your trip, it seems you have been on the road forever!

    By Blogger MaR, at 5/01/2009 2:50 AM  

    Man! How big is their ice cream scoop?! That looks like a two-spoon bowl (as in two eaters).

    Thanks for the t-shirt explanation. I did not know that each dealership was unique.

    I am so glad you and your MIL have settled in and are having fun. I can't wait to see what's on tomorrow's agenda!

    By Anonymous quilly, at 5/01/2009 3:03 AM  

    Dairy farms are always fun. That one is huge, like their scoops.

    By Blogger Nessa, at 5/01/2009 4:52 AM  

    Oh how cruel that they take the baby from it's Mama! I know Anneliese would have flipped out if I'd done that!
    I would have so liked some of that ice cream. We could have split one.
    Mom looks happy. Now we know, just give her ice cream! lol!
    Drive safe.
    PS: I have a Harley Davidson shop near me. In fact not too far away is where they have the Weirs Beach/Laconia Motorcycle week in June each year. 300,000 + bikes! Woo-hoo!!!

    By Blogger Maribeth, at 5/01/2009 7:36 AM  

    That is one huge dairy farm, and they serve huge dishes of ice cream.the tour in the buggy i would enjoy.

    By Blogger bettygram, at 5/01/2009 7:46 AM  

    Thanks for stopping in at the house, it was nice meeting you and your mil. Also thanks for the wishes regarding my dad.

    By Blogger Lori's Minute, at 5/01/2009 9:32 AM  

    This is a great trip! Seems like you and mil are having a fun time. Those are huge scoops of ice cream!

    By Blogger Amber Star, at 5/01/2009 11:39 AM  

    Well thats not right. Nothing worse than a depressed cow. She should have her baby and her baby should have its Mama.
    It is all new to me how they handle animals Its a good learning experience.
    Maybe people should keep their own animals on smaller farms.

    By Blogger A Lady's Life, at 5/01/2009 11:56 AM  

    What a fun day that must have been. I have never seen such huge scoops of ice cream.. I want one. Safe travels :)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5/01/2009 12:06 PM  

    Hey! Looks like you've had a great time! I love Indy and Circle Center...there's a GREAT steak place downtown there called St. Elmos. Has the BEST Shrimp Cocktail you'll ever eat...not to mention the mouth-watering steak. Anyway, it's a fun place to spend time. The zoo and the children's museum are also places that you (and Ms. Luz) would LOVE!!

    Hugs,

    Susan

    By Blogger Susan, at 5/01/2009 12:20 PM  

    Wow, sounds like a great time. What a huge diary farm! I bet the ice cream was great. Gotcha all prayed up. Miss you.

    By Blogger Lazy Daisy, at 5/01/2009 1:15 PM  

    Fancy finding time to write your blog! The cow looks very patient while giving birth!!

    By Blogger Rinkly Rimes, at 5/01/2009 2:42 PM  

    Glad things are going well on your way back. We are getting back into our old routine and not missing you as much. But you did make an impact.

    By Blogger Dr.John, at 5/01/2009 5:54 PM  

    That's sad about the mama and baby cow being separated. I can't help but think there is some type of mother's instinct being violated there.

    It's good the mama didn't mind an audience! Well, you know what they say about losing all sense of modesty while in labor...

    This one sounds a little better than some milking factories where they keep them chained up -- but it doesn't really look like free-roaming, either.

    You are so brave to drive around in strange cities by yourself! (well, with your mil -- but I'm sure she doesn't help navigate.) I'd be a basket case. My husband's the traveler and explorer, and I'm the homebody.

    By Anonymous Barbara H., at 5/01/2009 10:21 PM  

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