The Muench Bunch

Tuesday was my friend Paula's birthday. I have been in a group video message with her and  Jess for a few weeks. We send messages almost daily. Both Jess and I sent Paul good morning happy birthday messages.  Not long after, my mom called to let me know, Paul's dad had been found, he committed suicide in the night. So devastating. Her brother Grant's birthday was the next day. Al Oskvig lived just around the section from our family only a few miles away my whole childhood. Paula and I were friends from littles. We were playmates, childhood friends, rode the bus together, did ballet lessons together, played sports together, and had many sleepovers. Al and Gina divorced sometime after Paula graduated. Al had been a huge race fan dedicating much of his life to working in the race pits. Around 14 years ago, he was in a terrible accident. While in the pits, a car wrecked out of control and struck Al. After surgeries and therapy, broken bones and more, he recovered but the health

I have decided not to write a daily blog, I feel I am spending too much time blogging. Sunday is the Lord's day, a day of rest, a holy day to be honored. In this day and age many events are planned on Sundays, sports, graduations, 4H meetings, jobs and more. Field work is a choice and one that we typically try not to do on Sundays. On occasion, when the timing becomes a major factor at the end of a season we need to work; late planting from wet weather, planting when the forecast shows rain for a solid week ahead, or harvesting before the snow falls. Sometimes it becomes necessary because of the season. Mark's Uncle Lavern has never worked a Sunday in his life. He too is a farmer. What an awesome example of honoring the Lord's day.  It is still very early to plant, we have a lot in the ground, we have finished our beans and covered a lot of acres of corn already. I do not understand why we work on this Sunday. When we work, we also are requiring our hired help to work. We

Today is day 40 of isolation. We only go to town for groceries and chiropractor. There is still so much that we don't know about the virus and we are advised to stay home.  We still have employees coming to the farm and see both our parents on occasion. Living out here in the country makes me feel even farther out in the middle of nowhere. Out here we are so isolated it is easy to forget what is happening.Being home isn't terrible when you live on a farm. The weather has been great, sunshine and warm. 

Another beautiful day! The sun came out and warmed things up. It was mildly breezy, but t- shirt weather for sure. In the afternoon, Jake went to work at Nate's and Luke went to help Grandma. I went on a walk and rode a horse. A light rain shower briefly went through, followed by a rainbow. It was a lovely day to be outside. Sometimes I am reminded life doesn't have to be running here and there. I can stay home and soak up God's creation. Apparently President Trump has had a daily news conference on television with the latest updates. I have never watched one, only caught a few minutes of one. The same goes for Governor Reynold's.Mark pointed out they have been on every single day. I sure dont watch television much, I thought it was probably a weekly update. Trump uses the words "amazing" and "fantastic" so many times it's cringy. There can't be that much to talk about every 24 hours. 

We have carried on with school like usual. The public school stopped classes the second week in March. This week the school started giving some online schooling options, however it is all optional. Jake is in an Animal Science class and Industrial tech class, both have a simple assignment or video for the week. I am having Jake continue with his assignments and adding a little more to it. The public schools are missing 3 months of school that won't be made up. There will definitely be a hole in education. I wonder how this will effect them long term. High schoolers going off to college will have gaps in there learning that will make it very challenging when jumping into a college course where they needed pre-requisites. Most colleges went to online classes right away, however they made them pass/fail. For someone like Jayden, who has been putting fothr the effort and getting good grades, those grades affect her overall GPA. For her, she could end her classes now and still pass. For

Another Sunday morning watching church from the couch. I am starting to miss sitting in church more and more. I wonder how many more Sunday's until we can attend inside the church and what will it be like. I want to go back to sitting next to people, shaking their hands and not seeing a mask. It seemed sunny and warm, but it was windy and chilly. I wanted to have lunch outside, but it was just a bit chilly. I had  been craving a Casey's pizza and had the idea of ordering one. I told Karen and Orrie if they wanted to join us and have pizza they could. Karen is extra worried about COVID and didn't like the idea, so we settled for frozen pizzas.

Today's high was 48 , breezy yet sunny. I do hope we get some nice spring weather. We missed a nice fall, it turned cold and winter too soon. There is so much talk about global warming, I think its more like global cooling! Yesterday Governor Reynold's made the official announcement that schools would not return for the remainder of this school year. I think most people knew it was coming, but so many were holding on to that last bit of hope, that it would resume. My heart goes out to all the Seniors in high school who were robbed of their final semester. The sad reality of missing out on so much at such a milestone time in their lives. Sports, theater productions, vocal and band competitions, sports, prom, and of course graduation. They never got to say goodbye and some of their classmates they may never see again. Such heartbreak for the senior class of 2020.

 He may be trouble, he may chase cats, chickens, and cars. He might chew your gloves, your shoes, and anything that you leave on the ground. He might run and chase the horses, kill any bird he sees and dig holes in the yard. He might bring dead animals into the yard and roll in them. Buster is all puppy, chew chew, chew and full of energy .He is happy, loves affection, and loves to go places. He will hunt anything, catching squirrels, rabbits, and ground squirrels. He will chase anything that moves, ants, crickets, butterfly, grasshopper, and toad. He loves his old green sweatshirt we call his Linus blankie. He is a funny dog to watch and wrestles with Tuff all day long. I have worked with him and he does great with sit, down, and stay. He has been chasing load trucks that go by and we are looking into getting an invisible fence put in.  He might be trouble, but he sure is cute and we all enjoy him, especially me. He is my big baby puppy labradoodle.

Another day waking up to snow on the ground. This time it was a white powder lightly covering everything. It was very cold , but it did melt fast. My girl loaded up her trailer, hopped in two horses, gave hugs and headed south. It was extra hard to see her pull out of the driveway. I had so many mixed emotions. She kept saying, Ill be back and why is this any different than when I left for college? It is different. She is leaving with 2 horses, heading south to Oklahoma with so many unknowns in the middle of a pandemic! I was not thrilled with the idea, but I could see the excitement in her eyes. Life is a journey, she is young and living her dream, going on adventures and living out her goals. She is older now and we have to let go and help her make good decisions on her own.  Luke was extra emotional after she left and told me he really missed her. She is the only person who he can be silly with, that makes him laugh and smile. He said he really needs her during this social isolation

Now that Jayden has been preparing to return to Oklahoma, she has been herself; happy, silly, fun and smiling all week. She is happy to be going back to Alva. She has been packing and getting her trailer all tuned up, cleaned up, and packed. I am not excited for her to leave. I love having her home. She brings a kind of joy to each day that we all need. I like having her here where I know that she is safe. I just wish she could wait until we know this COVID thing has fazed out, but at the same time I wonder when that will ever happen. What if this is the new normal? What a horrible thought! To be prisoners in our own homes, completely controlled by the government and at their complete will. Ugh, that is a terrible thought. I pray it never happens.    Farmers are impacted by everything. The markets are dropping and prices are too. IT's planting season and once again the farmers get to work putting in long hours and labor. Knowing what prices are doing, sure makes it hard to be exc

We woke up to a winter wonderland, everything, tress and ground were covered in white. It was very cold, low 20's and feeling like winter. Mid morning, the snow began to melt and the green grass re-appeared. Then there were big snow flakes falling. Late afternoon, the sun was shinning and trying to be warm. It was such a crazy weather day. After morning school, the kids and I worked at the fancy house sanding trim. Jayden and I had some long chats about her OK trip. I have mixed thoughts about her going, but I am praying and trusting God has a plan. 

30 days of isolation, 30 days without events or activities. 30 days without seeing any friends or being around people. I am doing ok with this change, but I don't really like it. I think I am a little introverted and a little extroverted. I do enjoy quiet time and like to have peace in my schedule. I like to be home with family and not having to be somewhere all the time. Yet, the extrovert likes to socialize and be with friends.    After school and lunch, Jayden took Luke to pick up his little motorcycle that needed a new tire. The motorcycle was Jake's that he got when he turned 13.  I took Jake with me to get groceries. We ordered Mexican and ate it in the car.  It had been a couple weeks since I had been to Fareway. There were a handful of people wearing masks, and only a dozen customers in the store. It felt different from the last time. I could feel eyes on me because I had Jake in the store with me. I felt a sense of "shame on you" having a kid with me. I had J

Staying in your homes and staying away from others has been the recommendation for the past month, We have followed that for the most part and so is everyone else, some are taking it more serious than others. At some point, you just have to get out and live. We can all be cautious and continue life. I really feel if a person has some health issues and needs to stay home, they should. As for the general public, jsut wash your hands, cover your sneeze and be smart. It really shouldn't be so difficult and cause this much craziness! My parents decided it was time to get out. They had been good about staying home and even order their groceries for pick up. We are slowly and gradually expanding our little circle of social distancing. My parents brought Alivia along too. They came to sit and visit and see Jayden before she heads back to Alva. Just for fun, my mom brought a couple of my high school prom dresses for Jayden to try on. They fit her pretty good.

Day 28  Even though we are not able to attend church, go out in public, and celebrate with all our families, we will still celebrate the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. This is the day we will rejoice and worship Christ and the greatest sacrifice he made for us. There is a song I have heard many times the last few days and it just keeps running in my head. The song is called, "Is He Worthy?" And sure enough, that was the first song I heard this morning when we turned on the live church service from Cornerstone. They had a group of over a dozen people singing together over zoom. It was like a virtual church choir. It turned out beautiful. We sat on our couch in the living room and watched live with hundreds of others. Here are some of the lyrics to "Is He Worthy" Do you feel the world is broken? (We do) Do you feel the shadows deepen? (We do) But do you know that all the dark won't stop the light from getting through? (We do) Do you wish that you c

I spent the morning hours in the basemnt on my sewing machine making a quilt block for a pillow case. It is something I am learning how to do and it will be a keepsake of something I made during this crazy COVID time. I am not good at sewing and had to rip seams out at least three times. It didn't all come together in perfect squares, but i have never been a perfectionist and I am always happy with however it turns out. Jayden went to Grandma Karen's to make an apple pie. Luke helped too and loves her apple pie! I found this cute  poem on the internet and thought I would share it.....    How the Virus Stole Easter By Kristi Bothur (With a nod to Dr. Seuss) Twas late in ‘19 when the virus began Bringing chaos and fear to all people, each land. People were sick, hospitals full, Doctors overwhelmed, no one in school. As winter gave way to the promise of spring, The virus raged on, touching peasant and king. People hid in their homes from the enemy unseen. They YouTubed and Z

I havent seen Ali and her kids since her birthday at a restauarnt. I had goodies for the kids for easter and decided to just drive to her house to drop them off and see everybody briefly. Both Jayden and Luke went along with me. In order to social distance, we stayed outside and just went for a walk. With Ali working at a pharmacy and the kids mother running a daycare, we thought that it would be best. It was plenty cold, only 50 degrees and breezy. We did get to see everybody except Blake who was working. We could only stay an hour as Ali had to leave for work too. The kids showed us their new bikes and all their barn critters. Ali was glad to see us and was sad we can't get together more often and for a real visit. It is such weird times we are living in and it's hard to know what is right. Mark and Jake were vertical tilling and I got some photos of them working in the same field. Jake was sad that he only got to work a few hours here and there this season. With Mark's

The wind came up and the temperature dropped severely. It's 42, but feels like 32 and there are little snow flurries. The wind gusts are up to 55 mph. It is a very unpleasant day. I haven't looked at the numbers lately, but here is the latest map. I don't watch the news much. Last night I tuned in and the Governor gives a daily tally. She tells how many people have tested, how many people have tested positive, how many were negative, how many are hospitalized, and how many are on ventilators. It just seems unhealthy to hear that everyday. Jayden went with her friend Erica to get horse feed and get a snack even though people aren't supposed to be socializing out and about. Here is a chart with the latest numbers. I

Everyone's idea of how far to take the social distancing is very different. For example, Hy-Vee, which I have avoided, has arrows on the floor in order to keep the flow of customers apart so nobody crosses paths. This seems completely absurd. They also have dots on the floor as to where to stand, plastic shields at the checkout, and almost all employees wearing gloves and masks. On the other hand, Fareway has early morning hours for the high risk and elderly, otherwise when you shop it is as if nothing has changed. That is the environment I want to keep. Today Jayden and I went to my chiropractor. I can make an appointment without any problem, yet most medical clinics won't see patients for routine care.  Then I went to Menards and bought some storage cabinets. In the store it felt pretty normal and an employee even helped me load my items and strap. If an employee works in a store all day and is around a couple hundred or more people all day, I figure my going to a store to ge

Great weather day, temps up to 80. Motorcycle Jake bought a motorcycle through an online add. He picked the bike up on March 31. Once home he took it for a ride. 24 hours later he drove it to the shop and it quit on him, and he was certain he blew the engine. He was angry, frustrated and beyond sad. He thought maybe he mixed the oil wrong and he blamed himself.  Mark and I told him we would figure it out and try and have someone look at it and fix it. Nate S told Jake he could work on it himself, he would learn something. He tore it apart, but didnt know where to begin. He found a Suzuki dealer in Winterset and Jayden went along to drop it off, an hour and a half drive. On the way back, they spent some time on the side of the road. Jak'e truck hasnt been driven farther than 40 minutes anywhere, and it kept overheating. It was in the80's, the warmest day so far and the truck has no air conditioning. It was a hot one as they sat on the road a few times letting it cool. Jayden was

The masks, gloves, and plexi glass shields are bothering me most. Over the weekend on the news, they are recommending people wear face masks. Ugh! We are creating more anxiety and paranoia in people. Again I think we are pushing more problems on people than the virus itself. Seeing people in masks, makes you feel as if you are diseased, contagious, and gorss. You feel like an alien and people are avoiding you. You can't see people smile. I just don't think it's healthy. Now, don't get me wrong, if you are immune comprimised, elderly, or actually ill then yes maybe you should be wearing a mask. Those are the people who need to be cautious and stay home. In my opinion, the young, healthy average person can decided for themselves.

We had church on the couch all together. I could barely keep Jake awake, having to bump him every few minutes. Not much has changed, I do the same thing while sitting in our actual church. In the afternoon I loaded the kids up along with 2 dogs and a couple bikes and drove to my favorite park, Spring Lake. It was 60 degrees and sunny. Not being able to go places, you look forward to outings. Being outdoors away from home was prefect. There were a dozen other people walking and fishing,  everyone was so spread out so there were no concerns. After our walk around the lake, we made a trip into Jefferson to go through the A&W drive thru. Luke rode in the back between the dogs. I am not sure who was happier, Luke or the dogs.   I had to get this moment on camera. Mark offered to help with dishes. I had him unload the dish wahser. First time ever...not kidding.

We had a roping day in the afternoon. Little did we know all the usuals would show up along with a lot of extras.  We typically have a maximum of 10 people out in the arena including our family. The wives, kids and some extras came today. Jayden asked Erica to come, Nick invited a roping friend  and Tucker invited his roping partner who brought his son. A kid came to look at one of Nick's horses and brought the whole family. We had 20 people in our arena. It felt very crowded and stuffy. I didn't even ride in the indoor and took my horse and rode outside. It was nice to see people and talk, but there was no social distancing at all. It didn't bother me much, yet you just don't know where all they have been.

Day 19 The temperature dropped significantly and icy drizzle and little balls of ice came down. 28 degrees today is not spring in April kind of weather. During school today I had the boys help me paint on greeting cards. When they dried, I added some designs and journaling. I will send this to encourage friends and family and to thank those that are working in the health departments during such a trialing time. Last night I discovered a friend on facebook that I met in a Cornerstone bible study had a baby last week. She had her baby 4 weeks early while in quarantine and her husband, baby, and self are all COVID positive. I also got a Marco Polo message from my friend Sue Ann who has had a cough and has been concerned of her own health. She was tested yesterday. We wait for her results and for her to stay healthy. We are praying for her healing. She is immune compromised, has krone's disease and recently became aware of a thyroid condition. She has a very large thyroid which is al

I drove to Boone with Jayden, took recycles and dropped a wedding prop off in Stafford. We took Mexican home for lunch from a Boone restaurant. It is interesting to see how restaurants are having to adapt.. The restaurant made a drive up window on the side so they could hand you your order. You have to call in the order and cannot go inside. In the afternoon, the kids helped grandma paint the basement floor at the fancy house. That was a big job for them. They say Grandma is super picky and it had to be perfect.

April 1, Day 17-Today the temperature is 65, however with the wind, it feels much colder than yesterday's 57. There is a chill in the air. After morning school, Jake was anxious to ride his bike. He made his way through fields to the shop when his bike quit. He called to tell me he blew his engine. I helped him get it loaded in his truck. He was pretty sad and disappointed. He just spent all that money hoping to have a bike to jump on and ride and 24 hours later, its toast. He worked hard for his money and was so excited about the bike. He was devastated and I felt so bad for him. Jayden was in a good mood as she talked to her boy, Shark for an hour and a half last night. She is still convinced she should go back, or better yet, just go to Texas. He isn't helping matters, showing her video of the horse barn where she can bring her horses and telling her about all the things they can do on the ranch, the lakes they can boat, fish, and swim, and how warm it is there. I can't