Bird City News

Bird City is home to the Dorsches.   Since 1907 there have been Dorsches living on the farm northeast of town.  The house that Tom and his bothers grew up in is the same one that was built by the Dorsch brothers and sisters that settled the land in the early 1900's.

Last month, the decision was made that Mom Dorsch should move off the farm and into town. After 60+ years on the farm, this was a huge move.  Tom and I extended our time in the States by one month to help her make the transition.

Before the move could happen, however, the Bird City Ladies Pinochle Club had their monthly card playing scheduled chez Hulda (Tom's mom).  Now, with my Mennonite roots, the only card game I was allowed to play growing up was "I Doubt It," and even that was with Rook cards (lots of lying included in that game, I admit).  When I married into the Dorsch family, however, it became imperative to learn to play (and to spell) pinochle.

So...attending AND being asked to fill in for an absentee pinochle player, was quite the deal!

We spent the morning  cleaning house and getting all the details ready. Shortly before 1:00 the lovely hostess (my MIL) was at the front door welcoming her guests.  

The tables were set with the best dishes and coffee was brewing.

The women drew a score card that assigned them to a particular chair/table,

and before any playing could begin, we served lovely pieces of cheesecake with either strawberry or blueberry topping and coffee.

 Usually there are 3 groups of 4 women playing, plus the hostess who doesn't play.  She's in charge of the food. Due to scheduling conflicts there were only 7 players plus me which made two tables of four.

More important info:  these were not just random women chosen out of the phone book, but most of these women have been playing together for years.  As many as fifty plus years ago, seven Bird City couples (including Tom's parents) formed a pinochle club and once a month the seven families would gather for an evening, eat a meal together and then while the couple's played cards, the  kids would play.  The women's club has a long history as well.

After an hour and a half of playing, it was time for a break and iced drinks and snacks were served.

Six rounds later and it was time to tally up the scores to find out who would be the winners of the grand prizes.

FYI:  I didn't win, but I didn't come in last either!

 Mom's move to town could only take place after hosting the Ladies Pinochle Club!  More concerning The Great Move coming soon!

Sweet Summer Memories

So many sweet memories.

Here is a group of random pictures that show a bit of our summer:

The summer was lovely.  Such a glorious break from the heat of Niamey.

Wild flowers had come up in front of our old, aged barn.

I got to putter around in my flower bed a bit.

An extremely tame kitten appeared on the road behind us one evening and then wouldn't leave us. She became a cherished wedding gift to Erika from Linds, but city life was too big of an adjustment for Sir William Othello (Billio for short) and she found a better home chez Troy and Aubrie!

With three sisters, Andrew has always been out-numbered.  Now with a new brother-in-law and the visit of Melissa's boyfriend, the numbers were evened out and made dish duty more fun.

  

I painted our front door RED!

Nothing rivaled taking early morning walks or the evening strolls.

If the walks were with Tom, they often ended up checking the cattle.

We got to spend just a bit of time the morning after the wedding with Tom's family...playing pinochle, of course.

One old, old tree decided to fall down one windy afternoon.

We visited Miss Dorsch's classroom.

I could look out any window of my house and see green fields instead of cement brick walls.

We helped the newlyweds move into their new place.

We watched corn being cut for silage and packed into the bunker.

We got some yummy sweet corn and pretended we were putting up corn for the winter months! Thanks Jeff and Kris.  We ate the last bag the day before we left.

We spent a long weekend in Minnesota with Andrew and managed to buy him a hamburger that was too big for him to finish in one meal!  Loved some time with the Putnam's as well.  

Nine years ago the girls' paint choices for their rooms were bright yellow and purple.  

This time I chose the paint color. 

Wonderful memories and wonderful family and friends.  

There is one more amazing part of our summer yet to be blogged about.  Stay tuned. 

Kansas Days are Over

As of yesterday, we have once again taken up residence in Niger.

The suitcases are unpacked;  there is ice water in the water jug;  there are frequent telephone calls/visitors at the door from friends welcoming us back;  I've exchanged my comfy jeans and capris for African clothes; our dear Kirk and Becca scooped 3 months worth of dirt out of the house and washed the floors so we could move right back in; our next-door neighbors brought over goat meat they had saved for us for 3 days from last Sunday's Muslim holiday, Tabaski; another friend brought delicious taco soup that we've already had for two meals.

I'm mostly glad to be back.

I'm missing the unsurpassed Kansas sunrises and sunsets immensely; the fresh, clean country air (as long as it wasn't southeast wind, Gordon!);  the quiet;  being able to look out windows and see beautiful landscape instead of an 8 foot cement brick wall; the cool fall air; the sounds of newly purchased calves balling; and the visits of family and friends we love so dearly.

Now it's time to turn the page and dive into life on "Mulberry Street" once again!  While I'm doing that I'm going to walk down memory lane and relish again the wonderful times we had during the past 3 months.  You can join me.

I arrived in Kansas at the end of June (Tom stayed in Niger until 3 days before the wedding) to get ready for the big event: our daughter Erika becoming Mrs. Kyle Albrecht.

The weeks prior to the big day were filled with so many fun things and I have to say, that due to so much incredible help from family and friends, we seldom felt stressed or overwhelmed.  There were those momentary times when I wondered if the reason I wasn't stressing was because I was forgetting something important.

We shopped for food for the reception:

and tried out a slider--they were so cute with the little flags!  And delicious!

Erika had painted so many cute signs for the wedding and I got a chance to surprise her with one in our yard...for the whole world to see...at least everyone who was privileged to drive by on 130th Street. 

We had a brunch for Erika and her beautiful bridesmaids.

And the 25th of July came and all was ready and beautiful.

The wedding was celebrated at our church followed by the reception at a barn of some friends.  The evening was perfect.

What a beautiful day celebrated with friends and family.

This was the first month.  Stay tuned for more posts describing the rest of the summer's events.

It Reminded Me of the Times of Boaz and Ruth

Today started with a morning date-walk for Monsieur and Madame Tom!  What fun we had checking out the rice harvest in the fields 1/2 mile from our house.  We left the house around 8, thinking the skies were rather overcast.  It wasn't until later when the mist didn't disappear that we realized it was, in fact, dust.  Sorry for the haziness in the pictures.  

The fields were ripe for harvest. 

Unlike ripe wheat, the head of the rice doesn't stick up above the leaves.

The harvesters were hard at work:  bending over at the waist, grabbing a clump at a time, slicing it off a couple of inches from the ground and throwing it onto a pile for another worker to pick up and carry to the threshing area.

We walked out into the fields to check it out close-up.  These workers are paid 20,000 cfa ($42) to cut and thresh the .32 hectare (.8 acres).

Farmer Tom had to try his hand at it.  I told him he bent his knees waaaayyyy too much! Plus he was wearing shoes.

The harvested stalks are piled up and carried this way to the "threshing floor."

The barrels are stuffed with the rice stalks to make it as heavy as possible and then turned on its side to be used as a "thresher."

A bundle of grain was grabbed and hit across the barrel and the rice all fell out onto the tarp below.

The harvest this year was good, in spite of the fact that there was only one harvest instead of two this past year.  This was due to flood which brought it new soil and nutrients. The .8 acre plot yielded 25 100-kg bags (one kg is 2.2 lbs.) which at 45 lbs/bushel, comes to 122 bushels for less than an acre!

Out in the fields,  women  were allowed to follow the harvesters and pick up any stalks they left.

They threshed with sticks, beating the pile of stalks.  What they found and threshed, was theirs to keep.  It reminded me so much of the story Ruth in the Bible.

The grain was transported, sacked and weighed at a nearby cooperative.

The hay was bound up for livestock feed.

As we were walking by I snapped a picture of this pile of hay and it wasn't until the haystack started moving that I realized there was a camel underneath the haystack.

The last stop was at the bagging, weighing station.  The chalkboard was the way of keeping track of all the details.

Here are a few of the details Tom put together in case there is a farmer out there reading this post:

Rental fee from the cooperative:  $104 for the .8 acre plot
Fertilizer:  1) Urea  2)15-15-15
Average yield/acre:  152 bushels/acre (irrigated, of course, with water from the Niger River)
Price per 100 kg bag:  14,000 cfa or $29