No one probably noticed, but it has been months since I posted on this forum. Last May my parents decided that it was time to sell the family farm on the western Minnesota prairie. My wife and I decided that we wanted to raise our family in a rural setting so in one amazingly short summer and fall I quit my job, we put our house up for sale, relocated and finally sold our St. Paul home after a few months of nervous listing.

We now reside on the family farm that I grew up on-320 acres of Minnesota prairie in a 1912 farm house. I was able to persuade a rural telephone cooperative to trench in over 2 miles of optic cable so I am finally able to get online and communicate freely with the rest of the world. We are now trying to decide what we want to do with this piece of the earth. I was a dairy farmer for much of the 1980's-dairy farming is not in our future, but some kind of sustainable, family friendly farming hopefully is. My wife has documented the move in a blog at:
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/draeg001/regionalpartnerships/.

I just want to wish all of you Happy Holidays. It's great to be able to get back online with this forum.

Welcome back.

I am not so sure I would be as brave to uproot like that, but as you were just going back to your roots I guess it wasn't as scarry.

Interesting story. Good luck and Happy Holidays to you and your family.

Sounds great! I was raised on a dairy farm too until I was 14. There are still, once in a while, a few aspects that I miss. Good luck in your new endeavours.

Mike I have profound respect for those who have the courage to live their dreams. Good luck, and much happiness to you all.

GREAT HONK! There really are 10,000 lakes in Minnesota.


May I assume that the homestead nestled among the trees is yours?

Welcome back, lucky guy!

Jack, I didn't think I'd ever see anyone other than my father or myself who would actually use the phrase "Great honk!"

Hey, everybody! Eeyore's back!

Just call me Threadkill.

"Kills threads DEAD!"

I've watched The Music Man probably a million times.

Tommy Djilas - "Great Hog!"
Mayor Shinn (The wonderful character actor Paul Ford) - "You watch your phraseology!"

The Irony is I've always heard Tommy's "Great Hog" as "Great Honk" which is why I say it that way.

It's not "Great Honk?!" Seriously?!

That's quite a change, jorge016. Bravo for taking the risk and doing it! Glad to have you back on the boards.

jorge016,

A VERY nice read, AND bold move...as well. My Wife and I just completed a similar move from Florida, to our old hometown in Illinois, ourselves.
Well done!......good luck, and may God bless.

Larry

Well, according to the Internet Movie Data Base (about 18 quotes up from the bottom), it's "Great Hog". But, I'd have wagered money it was "Great Honk."

I've found two other web sites who have it as "Great Honk." I think IMDb has it wrong. They're usually pretty reliable, but maybe not this time. Boy, am I relieved.

I think I will wager it's Great Honk as well. I have the movie here; I'll check the subtitling.

Good to hear from you again Mike, and hope that you'll be able to visit more often now. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and best of luck for the future.

Merry Christmas and good luck in your new life. Although anybody who can convince a Telco to run two miles of fiber, probably doesn't need anymore luck.

Enjoy your new home. Christmas in the country is always special in my books.