Busy and School Starts

School starts today, Kyle's last year. He performed Sunday with Leroy again at a Church function, and when the crowd was told he was going into the Marines, he got a standing ovation. (He takes all of this in stride....we're proud of him!)

Jared is done with training (for now) and is back to doing more boring, "ho-hum" stuff. He is buying a Kayak, and when I asked him what he was doing the other day, he was playing with his new fly rod. I asked him if a paddle came with his Kayak....it's a mom thing! HA HA

We have gotten more salsa and relish canned, we have more tomatoes and zucchini that needs put up. I mowed weeds in the pasture, planted some wheat (experiment for me) and Pat has been working on his truck. He was on his way to JAKES (Juniors Acquiring Knowledge, Ethics and Sportsmanship) Day and the truck started to have major issues. (His Blackpowder club helps with JAKES Day. Read more about it here: http://www.beatricedailysun.com/news/article_bcf20e1e-c6e4-11e0-8fe3-001cc4c03286.html )
He had to change U-joints, and now things are much improved, but he missed out on JAKES Day and his Blackpowder shoot! (Kyle was gone to a Marines PT training session.)
Last week Pat changed the transmission filter and fluid, long overdue! I'm just glad it was a simple fix, and not a tranny rebuild (BIG $$!) So for now, the truck is better, but still needs a little fixin' and TLC. ;)


Everything is growing, the calf, the chicks, the kittens, the turkeys, the garden.....and thankfully things have cooled off. The heat broke last week and we even got some rain, three different 1/2" (or so) rains.

Our town had their 125th Anniversary this past weekend, and it was nice to see lots of people come and enjoy the parade, flea market and festivities! We had fun as well, I took lots of photos (too many probably!). A good time was had for all. I could hear the band late into the night, it was interesting to be doing chores and hearing live music! :)

One of our firetrucks, the guy driving lives down the road. Good to have folks like him who are willing to train and volunteer! (Thanks Steve and fellow firemen!)



Great nephews and niece getting a "candy haul" at the parade, and a "flyover"--very colorful! Had the kids mesmerized! :)

The Canning Has Begun!

A storm is east of us and the sun is shining on the tasseling corn field next to our place. The light makes it look gold-topped!

It's still hot and no rain, we keep getting missed when it is in the area.
Bwocky the Bantie hatched out her three chicks today, not sure if the last one will make it. She was too busy dealing with #1 and #2 to pay much attention to #3. The chicks are not hers, I have her 2 eggs from the Red hens and 1 egg from a Barred Rock hen.

Jared was out in the field all last week, and called bright and early Saturday morning (7:30) to let us know they had pulled him from the field for a jump. He said he had a great landing, but was tired, sweaty and hungry. They had to work on the post Sunday, then back out to the field on Monday until who-knows-when. The rotten thing is, the temps are hovering around 100 degrees for them, and high humidity. Ugh, I feel for those guys!

Kyle is practicing a (trombone) song with Leroy again, I guess Leroy wants to accompany Kyle on another song in Church on the 14th. I just found out about it Sunday when Kyle went to go practise with Leroy after Church.

Sunday we got some salsa canned, and today did some sweet pickle relish. And yes, I've found you can 'recycle' jars/lids from commercial foods. Just once, but it saves me on jars and lids. (I found this by accident one year, using similar jars and tossing the hot canning leftovers into the fridge, and they sealed themselves.)
Here is about half of what we got done, along with my non-fancy labeling! :-) HA