Plowed Out, An Amish Gem & Work Day

Things have been pretty boring lately, I have to admit. I didn't want to bore you with a post yesterday because there wasn't anything really exciting. However, in the evening, Matt finally got us plowed out from the second snow we had. Check out Mount Schaaf...



Matt wanted me to snap a photo of our snow pile that he made from plowing our driveway with our loader tractor. I had Tuffy sit on the ground to give you an idea of how big the pile is.



Anyway...we were out of a few things, so we decided to go shopping...

We have the privilege of living on the fringe of the worlds largest Amish community. If you go about 40 minutes southeast of here, there is a small town called Berlin. Berlin is in the heart of the world's largest Amish community. This is reaffirmed on a sign outside of town that reads,



So, now you know I'm not lying. I had the luxury of working in Berlin for a while at a veterinary clinic for about six months. Berlin is small, but when it's tourist season, look out. There are people everywhere taking in the quaint shops and daily life of the local Amish. While working down there, not only did I learn about Amish culture, but I also learned where some really neat places were, off the beaten path. I found this absolute gem of a little country market, literally out in the country and called "The Country Pantry", run by a Mennonite (I'm guessing) family. (It's hard to tell who is actually Amish or Mennonite. There are so many different groups. Each group has their own bishop and some bishops are more modern than others.) The Country Pantry sells bulk foods, deli meats, cheeses, etc. The meats and cheeses are half the price I would pay at our local supermarket or even Wal-Mart. It really is a gem. So, I make the trek once or twice a month to restock Matt on his sandwich making supplies.

After The Country Pantry, we headed to the Millersburg Wal-Mart. Yes, we have a Wal-Mart in Wooster, but I hate it. It's always busy and out of everything. Since we were in the Millersburg direction, we just stopped there. It's less crowded, better stocked and just nicer. It even has a covered hitching area for the Amish buggies--not just a bar like most places around here. On our way to Wal-Mart, Matt noticed a sign outside of the East of Chicago Pizza, that said, "Any Pizza, $9.99". He was hungry so we decided to check it out after Wal-Mart. I thought there would be some sort of catch or something, but any pizza really was $9.99!!! Any size, even specialty pizzas!!! We took advantage of that and got the biggest one with lots of toppings so we could take some home. Yum!

On our way back home, we had to make a pit stop in Wooster. I'm cat sitting for a couple right now. They are super nice and have nice cats.

So, maybe I could have posted yesterday. I guess it wasn't sooo boring after all.

Today was a work day for me. Fridays are always work days. It's the "most important day," says my boss. The trading for commodities ends around 2:30 EST and I have to enter the opening, high, low and closing values for the days (Monday through Friday) and then on Fridays I am able to enter the opening, high, low and close for the week. My boss studies this information and uses it to determine when to buy and sell commodity futures. I also keep track of the hog records too. The hog farm where I work is part of a larger group of growers and finishers of hogs. The group is monitored by a veterinarian in Western Ohio. Quarterly, we have to send records to the vet for her to review to make sure everyone is doing well in production, health, etc. Well, a few weeks ago our program we use to keep records decided to go haywire. It was almost two weeks before we got things on track. But, to make matters worse, I had been sick with the flu previously. I was getting way behind on the hog records. Of course, it was time now to send our records to the vet and they were no where near caught up. The boss's wife stepped in and helped me get the records caught up because we could send them today. The vet could wait no longer. Now we're all caught up.

Remember, Sunday is Valentine's Day. Don't forget your special someone...