200th Blog Post (Observed)

Ok. It's here. This is it. The Official Observation of the 200th blog post to PrairiePonderingsMT! Fanfare! Confetti! Noisemakers! Woohoo! I've made it to 200 posts! Well, 201 to be exact. :)

With this being the 200th Post (Observed), I thought this would be a good time to reiterate what the main purposes of this blog are. I'm not sure I even knew what the purpose or theme of this blog would be when I first started out with it back in 2011, but over time a few themes have emerged and I think I'll stick with them. They are as follows:

1. Agriculture Education. We in agriculture must do our best to promote our industry and what we do on our farms. I believe that the public should make informed decisions about food supply and there is a LOT of misinformation out there.  One of the biggest reasons this blog exists is to explain why and how we do the things we do on our farm. We are just one example, but we are part of the dialogue nevertheless.

2. Rural is Cool. I have come to understand more and more about the rural lifestyle as I've lived it, and have definitely come to appreciate it. I believe that we need more people moving back to rural areas so that these smaller communities can continue to thrive. Another mission of this blog is to show what life is like in a rural area and why we are important.

3. Women's Leadership. What can I say except that this is one of my passions so it often works its way into blog post topics, especially as related to the first two themes.

4. Other Minor Themes- Family, Sports and Outdoors (especially teams I follow), and some of my hobbies (cooking, sewing) are also thrown in occasionally.

Thanks to everyone who has stuck with it this far, mostly family and close friends who have started reading from the beginning. Thanks also to those of you who have started following more recently. I really appreciate it.  I am not trying to make any money off this blog. I hope you've noticed it has stayed ad-free. However, I am trying to spread the word about some of the aforementioned topics. With that being said, if there is a blog post you ever feel particularly connected to, please share it on your Facebook wall, email it on to a friend, or give it a Google+ share, etc. Leave comments (I think I have fixed it so it's much easier to do that) or Click over there in the sidebar where it says you can follow through email. My traffic on the site has grown over time but I think together we can spread the word farther. And-- Please, Please ask questions!

Now on to the celebrating!
I thought and thought about what might be fun to commemorate my 200th post. I thought about doing another slide show like when I got to my 100th post- but wasn't sure I could come up with 100 more good images. I thought about writing 200 words but then remembered I'm too verbose to condense to just 200 words. In the end, I came up with a list of what I'm calling "You Know You Live In The Country/On a Farm When..." There's not 200, but there are quite a few. These are all things I have learned since moving here in 2011. Some are funny, some are true, most are silly. If you think of anything to add to the list, leave a comment!

You Know You Live In the Country/On a Farm When... 
(In no particular order)

1.  You see more than two other vehicles on your way home from work and refer to it as a heavy traffic day.
2. You learned about the birds and the bees by witnessing farm animals in action.
3. You know not to make outside commitments during calving or harvest.
4. You've driven or seen someone drive a farm implement to town.
5. You've ever used the phrase "Going to Town" literally-- not to mean that you're working hard on something.
6. You can see for miles out your living room window.
7. You can hear coyotes on a nightly basis.
8. You have a riding lawn mower because you need one.
9. You know what a "road soda" is.
10. Your neighbors live more than one mile down the road.
11. Part or all of your morning commute is not paved.
12. You have to drive more than fifteen minutes to get a gallon of milk.
13. You have more food in your pantry than your local convenience store has on its shelves.
14. You don't have a morning commute because your farm is your full time job.
15. You cherish your unobstructed sunset/sunrise views.
16. Your dog doesn't know how to be on a leash because he never is at your house.
17. You no longer use earphones when you run outdoors because you'd rather listen to the sounds of nature (and keep an ear out for rattlesnakes!)
18. Your jogging/hiking route is a cow path through a pasture.
19. You'be perfected the understated art and technique of going over or under a barbed-wire fence.
20. You know the difference between a truck and a pickup.
21. You seldom eat out for dinner because the restaurants are few and far between.
22. Eating out for dinner usually means eating a home-cooked meal at a neighbor's house instead of your own.
23. You can name five root vegetables- and probably grow them all in your garden.
24. You know what a "Kozy Koat" is.
25. You regularly sacrifice fashion for functionality in clothing choices.
26. You own and wear regularly a pair of Wranglers, Carhartts, or Red Ants Pants.
27. You've eaten a meal outdoors in a farm field on more than one occasion.
28. You've become quite comfortable using the bathroom in the great outdoors.
29. You notice a difference in taste between home-grown and store bought meat and produce.
30. Getting dressed often up means putting on your nicest clean jeans.
31. There are more deer or antelope around than people where you live.
32. You wear Western clothing or boots as part of your regular wardrobe, not as a costume on Halloween.
33. You know how to put on your big boy/girl boots and use the pointy end.
34. You might need four-wheel-drive to get out of your driveway.
35. You hear "news" about yourself before it's even happened!
36. When you pass other drivers on the road, they almost always wave-- and they're not doing the middle-finger wave!
37. If you are having car trouble on the side of the road, passersby actually stop to help.
38. Your Valentine's Day date is watching Senior Night at the local high school basketball game.
39. You DIY because you have to.
40. The nearest town is literally a one-horse town.
41. Your school district is comprised of two or more towns and includes more countryside than city blocks.
42. The nearest farm is 0.0 miles away.
43. You know the difference between a Red Farm and a Green Farm.
44. Your dinner came from your own backyard.
45. You get overwhelmed by all the "traffic" in town.
46. You own a pair of mud boots or overshoes... and may or may not have worn them off the farm on occasion!
47. Your day begins with feeding animals.
48. The only high-rises where you live are grain silos or elevators.
49. You know an elevator is not just something in a hotel or skyscraper.
50. You have or know of a local sports team with a farm or ranch themed mascot. Sugarbeeters, Cornhuskers, Wranglers, etc.
51. You have fed your animals in every type of weather imaginable because they gotta eat, no matter what the weather is doing.
52. You have spent more than three hours in a single day on the seat of a farm implement. Perhaps even more like 8, 10, or 12 hours in a single day during certain times of the year.
53. You know what month or season it is by how tall the crops are.
54. You can name more than five native plants or grasses in your area.
55. You can identify your state tree, flower, or bird on sight- and may even have one or more of them on your property!
56. You rejoice when the road-grader comes out-- and you may even bring him cookies so he'll do your driveway, too!
57. Your local church consists of less than 20 regular parishioners.
58. You know the difference between dairy cattle and beef cattle.
58. You know the difference between a bull and a cow.
59. You know the difference between a steer and a bull, a heifer and a cow.
60. You know what 4H and FFA are- and have probably been involved with one or both organizations as a kid.
61. You have or have found Native American artifacts or prehistoric fossils on or near your property.
62. You think anything can be fixed with duct tape, a hammer and a spritz of WD-40.
63. You know what WD-40 is.
64. You are a member of the local rural fire department by default.
65. You can name every kid in this year's class of graduating seniors in the local high school, if not every kid enrolled in your school.
66. Your house uses water from a well.
67. You still have a landline because cellphones are still not always reliable where you live.
68. Anyone has ever seriously asked you when you got indoor plumbing or electricity.
69. Upon hearing you live in the country, you are often asked by city-folk if you have a horse.
70. You understand and appreciate how the change of seasons impacts your day to day life.
71. You know the gestation length of one or more different types of farm animals.
72. You know there are many, many different varieties of each type of grain.
73. You have actually touched farm animals outside of a petting zoo.
74. You know that not all farmers are white men over the age of 60.
75. You can drive a manual transmission vehicle.
76. You know which window to stand by or direction to face to get the best cell service at your house. Bonus points if you do a special dance to get texts to send.
77. You buy gas in bulk.
78. You can have chickens in your yard if you want to- without a city ordinance.
79. You don't play Farmville because you have a REAL farm!
80. You have gone from the ski slopes to the cow pen in the same day.
81. You know the names of everyone who lives within ten miles of your house, and probably more.
82. You know of places where you can see for miles and see no sign of human life.
83. You know what a PTO is.
84. The first vehicle you learned how to drive was a tractor or 4-wheeler.
85. You understand what a "flyover state" is because you live in one.
86. You think "Home On the Range" was written about where you live.
87. You and your spouse are just like the couple from the old TV show Green Acres- or you know someone who is.
88. People come to your house when they want to be inspired by countryside or the beautiful view.
89. You don't use turn signals when driving on country roads because no one would see them anyway.
90. You can sunbathe or wash your care in the nude and not worry about people driving by or neighbors seeing you.
91. You don't worry about closing the blinds when you change clothes or shower for the same reason.
92. You seldom lock your car at home and often leave the keys in the ignition and don't worry about it.
93. You can walk to your own backyard to see the stars on a clear night.
94. You have your own backyard.
95. You've contemplated life while gazing at the sky from the bed of a pickup truck.
96. You have literally counted sheep...or cows, pigs, chickens, etc.
97. The phrase "Make Hay While the Sun Shines" means something to you.
98. You have eaten garden produce immediately after picking it- dirt and all.
99. You have wondered while eating a hamburger "Whatever happened to Bessie anyway...?" Pass the ketchup!
100. You have had to explain to your kids "how that calf got in there," and gone through the whole birds and the bees story only to realize that your kid only wanted to know how that calf got into that pen.  Good Talk, Son.
101. You know what "hauling sunshine" means.
102. You know what "shit kickers" are.
103. You know that the color red doesn't really make bulls mad.
104. Less than 5 radio stations come in clearly at your house, but at least one of them is country.
105. To walk the perimeter of your land/yard would take more than 15 minutes.
106. Your town *might* actually have just one stoplight. Maybe.
107. All you have to do to get some fresh air is walk out your front door.
108. Your favorite part of the evening news is the weather.
109. You no longer watch nature shows on TV because your own backyard is just as interesting.
110. You know that the road to happiness might just be down a gravel road.