Mango Non-holiday Activities

In between our family gatherings we have found time to do other things.  Last friday was spent in amish country.  It was a nice day.  Not too cold and the roads were clear of snow.  We got home after 10, but I enjoyed my day with the 'bookend' girls.

Saturday morning we got up early and we went to the 3 0n 3 basketball tournament at the local school where T-Bob plays basketball.  He had organized a team.  It was all guys older and more experienced than he was.  He did play some defense, but his offensive game has yet to take off.  He learned a lot playing against high school and college guys.

Even the Boss got out there and played on T-Bob's team.  In fact 3 of the the players were 48 or up.  They did great the first game and pretty good the second, but then they went down hill from there as their legs got tired.   The shots started falling short of the rim.  They had fun anyways as they spelled each other every two minutes or so.

Elizabeth spent her time working on her dribbling skills as she watched the games.  She is learning a lot, and someday she will be a good player if she wants to. She definitely will have the height.  I'm pretty sure she will end up over six foot, like Michelle is.

T-Bob's Team

 Here are the rest of the guys who played on T-Bob's team.  The only one missing is another of the old guys, Ray G.

T-Bob's budddy, Chase was also there and he and T-Bob played one on one in between the games.  They weren't tired!

After the basketball I FINALLY got to a project that I had wanted to do all autumn.  I had scraped the porch railing in October, but the weather changed and we got busy with moving before I got it painted.  I have been waiting for good weather on a free day since then.   Saturday afternoon got up to 50 and it was dry.  I finally got it painted.  It makes such a difference in how the house looks to have a trim looking porch.  Another job crossed off my list.

The snow has returned and everything looks fresh and clean under it's blanket of white.  It is still coming down today and we are supposed to get another 4" tonight.  Love it!!!

We have enjoyed visitors over the holidays. Both for big dinner celebrations and just for a chat.  The Hendersons stopped in from Pennsylvania.

Elizabeth really enjoyed having a little one around for a bit.  She played ball and showed her the chickens and just had a nice time.  More company is coming to help us celebrate the New Year this afternoon.  

Happy New Year!

Swartzentruber Amish Pt. 2

Probably, the easiest way to tell a Swartzentruber Amish person, is by their appearance.  The men all have untrimmed beards and a 'dutchboy' haircut.  That is essentially a long 'bowl haircut' with the face cut out and bangs.  Swartzentruber men only wear royal blue long sleeve shirts for everyday and white for dress.  They usually wear a jean vest also.  Swartzentrubers only use straight weave cotton cloth, no knits or polyester for clothing.  They also don't use any elastic in their clothing.   This eliminates many things that the rest of us consider essential.  They always wear black boots, but  they don't always buy black boots.  If another color boot is on sale they will purchase that color and black leather dye and voila you have black boots.  Thriftiness is such a big part of their culture.  They wear amish cut jeans with triple weave material, unless they are going to a wedding, funeral, or church and then they wear black.  The Swartzentruber  men wear broader brimmed hats than other amish men, but this is a pretty subtle distinction unless you are around the amish a lot.

Swartzentruber ladies wear dark color dresses, either navy, forest green, deep maroon, or black.  They wear black high topped boots and knee socks.  Their cap has many tiny pleats.  They put them in with starch.  They have to redo it every time they wash them, I have watched them and it is a very tedious chore.  The women all use royal blue strings that they make to put up their hair.  It is amazing to watch them do it.  They tie it up rather than using lots of pins.  They wear black capes rather than coats in the winter.  When they are out in public, they wear a hard black shell cap over their white cap.  It has deep sides so that you can hardly see their face.  They carry black bags with handles that they make themselves.  They usually have baby stuff and snacks in there.

Swartzentruber field

Swartzentruber children dress very much like like their parents.  They wear black high top shoes and outfits like Mom or Dad.  The girls dresses are simpler than their mom's.  They are like little gowns.  Boys have suspender straps on their pants.  The Swartzentruber's (children and adults) go barefoot most of the year, unless it is cold and they are outside.  ALL Swartzentruber babies wear dresses, whether they are boys or girls.  Little boys don't move into pants until they are potty-trained.  So don't assume the little one toddling around in a dress is a little girl.  Swartzentruber children spend most of their time helping their parents with work around the farm.  Little boys follow after Dad and little girls help their mother.  They are not allowed to have bicycles or other riding toys with wheels.

Swartzentruber house

Swartzentruber Mom's keep their babies well swaddled.  They make all their own baby clothes.  The little ones wear long sleeve t-shirts, and a dress.  They are not allowed to put pampers or pre-folded cloth diapers on their baby unless they are going to a doctor's appointment or to an english house.  At home they wear a flannel single layer diaper without any plastic covering.  When a child wets the diaper it does run through on whoever is holding them or on the floor.  Diapers do get changed frequently!  When they are going out with their new babies they wrap them in a thick black wrap and put a black hard shell bonnet on them, with a black gauze over their face.  They almost always will have a pacifier pinned to their babies outfit.  All the baby clothes are also made of straight weave material.  No soft cotton knits allowed. For a baby toy, they string little plastic beads on an elastic string shaped like a necklace.  This is a common baby gift.

NOT Swartzentruber Horses

Now, you should be able to look at an Amish family and tell whether they are Swartzentruber or not.  Amish, except for the new, new order, don't want pictures taken of themselves.  I try to respect that,  so I am not able to show you photos of them.  I hope you are able to picture in your mind what I am talking about.

Swartzentruber Amish

Lane in Amish country

As one drives down back lanes in amish country and see the farms and fields, many wonder what it is like to be amish and what their lives are really like.  As I drive around making house calls, I get the opportunity to be in their homes and get to know the amish personally.

Swartzentruber fields

The Swartzentruber Amish are the least modern of any of the amish.  They still live the life of "Little House".  They resist using any modern or manmade products.  You will not see generators or motorized machinery on their farms.  They still use reel mowers to cut the grass.  They try to live as people have lived up until the late 1800s.

Swartzentruber Farm

If you are driving you can pick out the Swartentruber farms as they are the ones with brick red barns.  You will also see many of them with houses linked to houses.  They look like small compounds.  With everything having to be done by hand, it takes many hands!  Most farms have a "Dawdy Haus", a house where the grandparents live or if they are not around, they will let a young couple live there.  It is common to find several related families on the same farm.  The farms tend to be self-sustaining.  They will raise everything they can that they eat.  They will have their own dairy cows, chickens, fruit trees, and gardens. They have to milk the cows by hand which limits the number of cows they can manage.

Swartzentruber field with machinery

The Swartzentrubers still do not use any indoor plumbing or have any kinds of refrigeration other than ice houses.  If you go into their homes, you will find a dry sink and maybe a hand pump in the back hall.  They heat their homes with wood or coal stoves in the living room.  They keep their homes very warm!  They laugh at me when I come and complain about how hot it is.  They will sometimes wait until I leave to stoke the fires, or they will open a window.  I am not used to temps over 75 degrees in the winter.

Swartzentruber Barn

The houses have minimal decorating.  The houses are painted according to their churches regulations. I have seen either all white walls or  gray on the bottom like wainscoting and gray trim with white walls.  They are not allowed to have pictures on the wall or books other than the Bible, Prayer books, and a Hymnal.  The only thing they can have on the wall is a calendar. Most have wood floors or occasionally I have seen a few with linoleum.  I have heard that there are still some houses that have dirt floors, but I have not seen them.  They do take out the big stove in the summer as it takes so much room.  They do not have any 'stuffed' furniture.  They just have wood benches around the walls and usually two rockers in a central place.  This is where the parents sit in the evenings or where a Mom will sit to nurse the baby.  They will also have a twin bed in the living room.  This is where the babies nap during the day or someone might lay down to take a nap.  They will have a desk in the living room where they store their important papers (checkbook) and a dresser or two.  They hang their clothes on pegs.  Their wood furniture is always beautiful as it is the girl's job to give it a coat of varnish every year.  They paint their walls every year or two.

Swartzentruber farmer 

The kitchen has a wood or coal stove to cook on.  I have seen one house that had a stove with propane tanks, but that was unusual.  The kitchens get VERY hot in the summer.  You may see a small ice box in the kitchen but never a refrigerator.  There are no faucets and not every home has a hand pump in the kitchen.  They wash their dishes in a dry sink.  You will see the girls working on dishes from a very young age.  The boys do the chore work in the barn, and everybody helps with the milking.  If they want to bathe, they have to haul their water in and  heat it on the stove and take a bath in a large metal tub.  They have a looser standard of personal hygiene because of the work involved.

Took this picture in front of our farm. This was a Swartzentruber buggy.

You can tell a Swartzentruber buggy in Ohio as it won't have an orange triangle on the back. They line the outside of the back of the buggy in gray reflective tape.  They are very difficult to see.  They do hang a small kerosene lantern on the side at night, but it doesn't give much light.  It is dangerous!  They also don't have any windshield in their buggies.  The front is wide open.  They are very cold in the winter. If you see a buggy with two horses that is also probably a Swartzentruber family.  The Swartzentrubers are well known for using their buggies to go long distances compared to other amish.  They will only hire a driver to go to the doctor or hospital, usually.  Their world is pretty small.

I will continue talking about the Swartzentrubers in another post.

Our Day in Amish Country

Many of you may not know that I am a  chiropractor and nutritionist.  I also do a lot of work with neurologically injured children.  The injuries can be from birth or genetics or trauma.  I also work a lot with pregnant mom's.  One part of my job is to make house calls in the local area with lots of Amish.

I usually go on Fridays and try to leave early.  We take the Big Red Beast and pick up groceries along the way plus whatever else we need.  I get most of my things direct from the farm.

I always take at least one of the older children along.  When they were younger I used to take all of them along.  That is where we got our first interest in farming and learned a lot of basic skills.  The kids have gotten to help butcher, gather sap from maple trees, cut ice from the pond,  milk both goats and cows and many other things.  Now they have other things they would rather do than ride around in a car most of the day.  I don't really blame them.  I have gotten a lot busier through the years and many of the stops don't have anything for them to do.

Amish farm- Old order

I have gotten to know many amish families well as well as having gotten to know their culture and even a bit of their language.  Amish children don't learn much english until they go to school.  If I want to talk to them I had better learn a little 'Dutch'.  I work primarily with children down there.  There are a lot of genetic problems because of the small gene pool that they marry from.

Amish School house

I find that many people are fascinated by the amish and their lifestyles.  I have opportunities to be in their homes and on their farms. I have gotten to know a lot about them. I thought I would do some blog posts on the different kinds of amish and how it impacts their life.  In our area of Ohio there are five different types if amish.  Starting from the most conservative they are the Swartzentrubers, Dan, Old Order, New Order, and New New Order.  Some people call the Newer Orders the "tractor Amish".  If you read through this series, you will be able to go to Amish country in Ohio and meet an Amish person or look at a farm and know what kind of Amish they are.

Old Order Barn and "Buggy Port"

If you want to know anything specific, just leave a comment and I will try and answer it.  The largest group of Amish in Ohio are the Old Order.  They are the group that many people think of when they think of Amish.

Amish Old Order Farmhouse

The Amish lifestyles are very varied.  Many of them no longer live on farms and farm.  They have wood shops, do cement work, and any kind of carpentry.  They run shops and are always very thrifty.  Forgive me the stereotype, it doesn't cast any of the groups in a negative light,  Q: Do you know the definition of an 'Amish Man'?

Two Swans with their cygnet (aka 'the Ugly duckling')
Can you see all three?
Picture taken on an amish farm.

A: He buys from a Jew and sells to a Scot and makes a profit.

There are huge differences in the lifestyles of the different amish groups. They range from the Swartzentrubers who still live like the days of "Little House" to the New New Order who live just like you, except they still drive a horse and buggy. We will look at some of the distinctions in future posts.

A VERY Long Day

Some days are really sweet. Some are not. Yesterday was in the latter category. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it. ( 1 Corinthians 10:12-14)

Yesterday was our tri-monthly trip to Amish country to see patients and procure food for the homestead. I brought the two older girls along and a friend. It promised to be a delightful day. The sun was shining and the roads were clear. The first two house calls went well. Got in and out of the long FLAT lane no problem. Last time we were there we got stuck and ended up denting the siding on one of their out buildings and dinging the van. No problems yesterday. We had to drive past our favorite resale shop. We decided to stop in and drop some things off and see what they had that we needed. We were in the store about 20 minutes - we hurried you see. When we came in I turned the key in the ignition and NOTHING happened. One quiet click and that was it. Tried again a couple times and then decided to see if we could find someone to give us a jump. There was someone right there with a big F10 pick-up that came right over and hooked us up. He revved his motor and we tried several times to get our big van to start, nothing but the almost silent click. The lights came on and the buzzers were working, but the engine wouldn't start. I called my DH and asked his advice. "Call AAA and see if they can tow you somewhere that can work on it right away. Have someone check the starter. He gave me detailed instructions on how this should be done. Let me call your brother the mechanic."

I did call AAA and somewhere along the way I must have hit a wrong button or two. Suddenly, I was listening to a "dirty" phone call. The fantasy she was talking about was not a AAA cruise trip. Yuk!! I hung up and tried again. This time I got an old guy who wanted to know the location of where my vehicle was. I told him the road and the place. He wanted to know the crossroad. I told him there was only one crossroad in this town and I didn't know the name of it. He persisted in asking and I told him he should be able to figure it out as there was only ONE in the whole town!! Finally, I sent JoAn into the store to get the address. He said a truck would be out there in an hour and a half. I needed to be on the road sooner.Someone else came along and tried to jump start the van, but that didn't work either, needless to say. What to do.

I thought harder and remembered a farmer up the road and decided to call him to rescue us four damsels in distress. He was willing to come, but reminded me that he was a farm mechanic and not a fancy car mechanic. I decided to take the chance. Joe (his real name) came and did all the things my husband had told me to have done without my saying a word. This gave me confidence. He then checked out the starter. "Yup, the starter's bad, the whatever won't move, gotta have a new starter." He called the closest NAPA store and sure enough they had the part. He took his little boy, the Jr. Mechanic, and drove off to NAPA. He brought the new starter back and put it on in about 10 minutes. He said, "It was as easy to do on this big van as it used to be on my Daddy's old pick up." (His voice sounds just like Jimmy Stewart) I turned the key and it worked. Hallelujah! God bless farm mechanics! Joe is one of my new heroes.

We were so relieved to be on our way after a more than two hour delay. We hurried through our next couple errands. We made a house call on a icy hilly driveway that had some steep turns. When we were ready to go we knew that we would not be able to easily back through the maze. We decided to drive down to the barn and turn around. Key word there is 'down'. Now how to go back up to turn around. We were stuck. We tried for about 10 minutes pushing and rocking trying to get the beast up the hill backwards. The farmer came along and moved some obstacles so we could get to some clear concrete. It worked. We got enough momentum to get the behemoth up the hill and into a spot to turn around. We were once more on the road.

By now the farmer at the next stop was calling to make sure we would be there soon. He was waiting on us to milk. We were hurrying our fastest. It was after 5 when we arrived.

This stop was blissfully uneventful. We hurried on. We were so late that the next stop had rescheduled and the butcher was closed. We will need to do some changes in the menu plans

I was a little worried about the next stop which was a house on a hill. I planned carefully, like a general going to war. We made it in and out without a hitch. Yippeeee!

The temp was dropping as the sun was down and things were freezing hard. The next driveway was pretty flat, but at the end there was a slope down to the barn. JoAn and Michelle went in the milk house and got the yogurt while I turned the van around. Rats! Stuck again. We jockeyed around trying to find someplace without ice and where we could get some traction. After about 10 or 15 minutes we escaped, with the girls help in pushing. My nerves were beginning to get a little frazzled. In the meantime our poor friend riding along discovered that she was ill to her stomach. She said that she hadn't vomited since grade school, but apparently we bring out the best in people. :-( We stopped along the road, next to a fence post. The trip was getting longer by the minute.

The next stop was a drop off at someones house. Never had been there. The house was on a hill (aren't they all in Amish country?!!) with a long straight steep driveway. We pulled up as far as we could until the van could go further no more on the ice. I got out and banged on windows and doors. There were coats and boots lying all over the house and lights on everywhere, but not a person to be seen. I knocked until my knuckles were sore. I went back to the van and looked for the phone. I was standing beside it when all of a sudden it was sliding down the ice down toward the road. I didn't want to get knocked down, so I jumped in. I got it started and put it in drive before a calamity could happen. Can you say seriously stressed? I was. Only one more stop to go.

It was now 8:45 and we were getting tired (er). The mom had kept her baby up so that she could have her adjustment. She was telling us about the way she had helped her daughter's therapist out of the snow when she got stuck, by putting down ashes. Did I mention that this house was down a hill? I had never gotten stuck here before. I even bragged about how well I could back out of her driveway. "Pride goes before destruction and a haughty heart before a fall." You would think I would learn. I knew that if I stopped I wouldn't be able to get up the hill. I kept going- right off the driveway and almost hit the pasture fence. I was in the deep snow. Once more the girls got out and shoveled and pushed, to no avail. Then Martha, ( her real name), came out with her buckets of ashes and helped push out the van. Back downhill first and then up the hill. We learned yesterday, that what goes up must come down, but not necessarily the same way. LOL We were back on the road and heading home.

Now I was beyond tired. But the trip home should be easy. Things were going along fine until we came to the detour sign. What, a detour? Surely it must be for something just beyond the main road we were turning down. Alas, no, it signified the closing of the entrance ramp for where we wanted to go. I was thinking that maybe they put it up just for me. No sign of construction or anything. Just an electronic flashing ramp closed sign. I wonder if they moved it after I went by. Fortunately, I know my way around, and was able to drive through the city without getting lost or too delayed. We were on our way at last.

The last thing that happened was that as I was merging onto the interstate a pickup pulling a trailer came by. He didn't have any traffic next to him or even close. He wouldn't move over and let me on. He forced me onto the berm. My DH says that I should have thrown an egg at him from the back, but I think he was kidding. I am afraid that I did yell at him and call him an "idiot!" . I think it may have been accurate.

I did make it home safely at a little after 11. It was a very LONG day! Over 14 hours. I am taking it easy today and trying to recuperate. Life is never boring at the Mangos.

Random Thoughts

This post is just some random things. Michelle did a photo shoot on our last trip to Amish country while I was busy with patients. It kept Elizabeth occupied too. I really like how many of them came out. This is a sampling.

This week has been busy with school and work. Too many late nights and full days. Only one early morning. Today. It snowed last night. Spring is still dallying.

Please be praying for our friend Lily. She was the young girl who had the severe injury to her leg when she was struck by the ATV. She is needing another surgery on Monday. The bones in her leg are not healing and the growth plate is damaged. Please pray that she will not have too much pain and that the bone will heal now.

Our friend Angie finished her radiation on her tongue/jaw about a month ago. She still has a feeding tube because her mouth is so sore. Please pray that this will heal quickly so that she can once more start eating. Otherwise she seems to be doing well and is able to take care of her family again.

My sister Miriam and her husband Todd leave tomorrow to fly to the Philippines for two weeks . Please pray for safety for them. The children will be spending the time with both sets of grandparents. Please pray that this will go well. They are planning to move there in July for a couple years. Todd will be teaching at Faith Academy.

Thank-you!
~Mom