Holy Cow....We Could Use Some Rain!

Here is one of our many pastures of cow/calf pairs.....Do they look like they could use a rain too??!! I have heard of some producers just to the west of us losing up to 500 head of fat cattle. Chad's cousin runs a rendering (dead animal) route and he has been extremely busy. You gotta feel sorry for those producers!

Rough Day

Jeremy had his wisdom teeth (all 4 of them) surgically removed by a wonderful oral surgeon in SF today. This was the first time he has gone under general anesthesia so it was a new experience for him. He has been a real trooper about the whole thing and I am hoping he has a quick recovery.This nice face is pretty swollen today and I am told will be for a few days and they are pretty sure he will turn black and blue....one lower tooth was impacted and coming in sideways and the other tooth on the lower had 3 roots instead of 2.

Feeling OLD and WEEPY!

We took our oldest on his very first college visit today which has left me feeling old and a little weepy. Don't get me wrong, I am excited to be sending this awesome young man into the world but yet am still a little sad thinking about having him away from home. He and I get along very well and he is such a help and treasure to me. I am going to try to get through this Senior year of his as happy as I can but deep down there will be a little sorrow in my heart along the way too. (I am counting on you, Laurie and all of my blogging friends to help me through this year).

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Ok, enough sappiness (is that a word?), I want to tell you what I saw when I got home. Jeremy and I were taking a semi to the field and couldn't get through the road....a neighbor kid (about 15 years old) had their semi jack-knifed, the tractor part was in the ditch with the trailer taking up most of the road and the back wheels were in the air. I asked if he needed help or had gotten ahold of someone to come help him....his answer was "I called somebody but nobody has shown up yet". Ok that's cool but knowing this family, I think he had been sitting there awhile and the thing is right over a hill, so if anybody would have come from the other direction, they would have crashed right into him. He made another phone call and after about 5 minutes, a suburban with the driver being about 10 years old, maybe 11 and her passenger was maybe 6 or so. Those 3 must have pulled the semi out themselves because we were backing our semi down the road to turn it around in an approach and when we looked back, their semi was out. Ok, so I don't have a problem with the kid driving the semi because both of our kids were about that age or younger when they started (the driving age in our state is 14 if you are wondering) but I really have a problem with the young girls driving (about 2 miles) to help pull a semi out. Laurie....I bet you can guess who it was!

Do you think I am way over-reacting to this situation?

Wheat Harvest

We started the wheat harvest today....along with that comes the baling of the straw. We don't have a lot of acres of wheat so it shouldn't take us too long but Chad/Jeremy do some custom baling of straw so that will keep them busy for a few days. We are going to teach Courtney how to bale so please be praying that we keep our sanity. She has only baled once (and only baled about 3 bales and then I took over...she was too hard on the tractor...and me).Harvesting the wheat.
Courtney.....notice the combine in the background. Are we harvesting or having a photo shoot??!!
Baling the straw.
Dropping a bale.

I love this time of the year...it is so beautiful with all the crops in the area.

Today's Description

I have 2 words that describe today....HOT and DRY! It has been so hot that we have had to get up really early to get our things done to try to beat the heat of the day. It was already so hot by 9am that is was almost unbearable. We quit by 11:00 and are going back out to work some more pretty soon. It gave us a good chance to get some paperwork and other things in the house caught up and the kids finally finished a few 4-H projects (yeah)! I however did not get any cleaning done which really needs to be done too. Oh well, it always waits for me.

If you wouldn't mind, we really could use your prayers for some much needed rain. The crops are really starting to suffer.

Tough Question

My friend Lori asked me this question and we thought it would be a good one to put out there for all of you to ponder.....

If you could change 3 days in your life what would they be? She threw a few exceptions in..... You cannot bring anybody back from the dead and if you are in a bad marriage, you cannot say the day you were married.

I thought long and hard about this question...was even up during the night thinking about it the first night she asked me this question. Here are my answers.....

1. The day I tore my ACL....I still have alot of pain in my knee, even after surgery and would really like to take that day back.

2. The first day I smoked a cigarette...I have since quit but smoked for almost 20 years which I really regret.

3. The day in high school my sister and I stayed out all night long, drinking and having fun (without a phone call or even telling my mom that we were leaving)......Now that I am a mom, I realize the pain that I must have put my mom through and this was just months after my dad had died. I was dating Chad at the time and put him through alot that night too (my mom called him to see if he knew where I was and of course he didn't because I didn't tell him where I was going either).

This was a tough one for me, I had to think long and hard and had a really tough time coming up with 3 days. If any of you would like to use this as a post...feel free or if you want to put it in my comments that would be great too.

It's a Sale!

My sisters and my good friend Laurie and I are having a rummage sale today. No time to work on the barn today and I did very little yesterday. Hubby and Son worked on it some. Courtney had a basketball team camp so I was there most of the day watching her and then on to set up for the Rummage. I also had time to attend a jewelry party at my good friend Jackie's last night...showed up late but hey, at least I was there!

I love to go to rummages but haven't had time this summer....any of you like to hit a sale and find a bargain?

Clean Up

The clean-up phase has been finished.....whew, what a job. Now onto the rebuilding.

Nice and clean...well, as clean as a barn site can be.

A side view with the south part missing.

Let the Destruction Begin!

In May, one of the many HUGE wind storms we had blew the tin roof off the south side of the barn and almost got the North side...you can see the tires that we put on top to keep the roof on. The wind took many of the old wood shingles underneath the tin and scattered them about the yard and pasture. After picking them all up, we noticed that the roof was not in very good shape on the south part (and the walls are not the best either) so we decided to replace the whole south side. We have spent the last few days gutting the inside of it out and pushed in in today.

Front view...before destruction.

Back view before destruction....the right hand side is the "bad" side.

Chad pushing the roof in.

There she goes.........

Now the not so fun part of cleaning up the mess and then the rebuilding process can begin. So...now you know what the next few days of mine will be spent doing.

Rain Dance

Erin and I are thinking about starting a rain dance...anybody want to join in? I don't know much about rain dances....maybe Erin does....but any dance right now couldn't hurt. Her garden and our crops are in desperate need of a soft, gentle, soaking rain. Prayers are always welcome too if you don't or can't join in on the dance!

Harvest

The wheat harvest is quickly approaching. Here is Jeremy in a spring wheat field of ours.I just love the looks of a ripe wheat field. We could use some prayers for rain so the corn and soybeans do well.

More About Me

Susan tagged me for this quite a while ago...thought I would do it today.

What were you doing 10 years ago? I was a stay at home mom with a 5 year old and 7 year old.... helping out on the farm and with the cattle as much as I could.

What were you doing 1 year ago? Same thing as 10 years ago only add the hogs to the operation. I was helping out on the farm much more since the kids were older.

Five snacks you enjoy? trail mix, licorice, cheese and crackers, anything chocolate and of course DQ cookie dough Blizzards.

Five songs to which you know all the lyrics: I Love Rock and Roll by Joan Jett, Blessed and Concrete Angel by Martina McBride (and I don't even listen to Country), Hit Me With Your Best Shot by Pat Benatar (awesome karaoke song), 1985 by Bowling for Soup (reminds me of my high school days).

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire? Pay off our debts, Give to the American Heart Association, donate to church, donate to our school, put my kids through college.

Five bad habits? talking without thinking which usually ends up with "foot in mouth", eating too much, not enough exercise, blogging too much, holding grudges. I know, I really need to work on these!

Five things you like doing? spending time with my family, farming, watching my kids' activities, drinking a cold beer in the evening after a hard days work, and duh! eating of course!

Five things you would never wear again? Bikini, short skirts, leggings, tube tops and turtle necks (they choke me).

Five favorite toys? Our 4-wheelers (ATV), digital camera, cell phone, computer and my suburban (not sure if it is a toy or second home).

I think everyone has pretty much done this one so I tag anybody that wants to and has not done it yet....Michelle, I know you haven't since you are new to all this.

Bling...part 2

A few months ago, Courtney got her ears pierced for the first time. Jeremy has wanted his pierced for several years now and I keep telling him NO! I finally caved and signed for him to have his ear pierced. We did reach an agreement to have a small earring, not one of those huge ones since it has to be in for 6 weeks, so you have to look really close to see it. I also had him get his haircut right before while I was running other errands and I really didn't want it this short but as his dad keeps reminding me....he's a man now and we have to let him make his own decisions (he'll always be my little boy though, no matter how old he is).Look at the smile on his face!

What is your opinion on boys/men and earrings? Be honest, I can take it!

Horsin' Around

I was lucky enough to watch my nieces compete in the County 4-H Horse Show on Tuesday. They work really hard all summer going to Rodeos all over the state so it was fun getting to see them compete.Kennedy...she got purple ribbons in all the events that she participated in.
Kennedy mastering the Poles.
Kassidy...going through the gate for Trail.
Kassidy....she got bucked off her horse twice this day and sprained her wrist pretty bad but was a trooper and got back on and finished all her events.

Summertime Fun!

One thing I love about summer is the PARADES!

One of our local towns just had a centennial parade and Chad drove our kids and a few others from their 4-H club in the parade. Notice they didn't have much time to decorate so it is very plain but they all had fun despite the VERY hot temperature...98 degrees and very humid. Chad driving them through....they were entry #117.Courtney in front...Nolan (my nephew) with his back turned...Jeremy in the back with the yellow shirt...and a few others from the 4-H club.
Don't they all look thrilled...it was so HOT!
My sister-in-law on the Snow Queen float. She was the State Snow Queen in 1990 (correct me if the year is wrong, Kristi). She's on the far right and told me not to blog this picture....hence the picture....Gotcha Kristi!

I just love a PARADE!

Family Fun

First of all, my friend Michelle just started a blog and would love to have some visitors...if you have time, check it out.

I got together with my 3 siblings last night and we had a great time. Our kids have such a blast when we get together, which isn't as often as we should or as often as we would like.The cousins...taking a break from playing volleyball to pose for a picture. Nolan and Jeremy in the back....Nikki, Courtney and Mitchell in the front.
The 4 of us....Eric and me in the back, Rochelle and Cheryl in the front.
Uncle Eric helping the kids roast marshmallows and make smores. He loves his nieces and nephews.

FAMILY AND FUN TIMES....IT DOESN'T GET ANY BETTER THAN THAT!

Knee High by the 4th of July

Jeremy in the corn field behind our house.

Here's how tall the corn has gotten. It definitely made "knee high by the 4th of July"....an old farmers saying in case you hadn't heard it before. Like my mom and dad used to say you can almost hear it growing on the hot summer days.

Vacation Photos

Took some quick photos out the suburban window on our way by Pactola Lake....it was beautiful!I love the flag on top of the rocks!Pactola Lake again.
Chad and Courtney right before they rode the 1880 train. We were short on time so they only got to ride one way and I picked them up at Hill City.
Chad and Courtney at the end of their train ride. They took pictures along the way.....will post them when I have some time.

Hope you all had a great 4th of July....ours included a parade, volleyball game with friends, grilling out with friends and ended the evening with a few cocktails and a bon fire... and of course some smores!

God Bless the USA and all those who serve America....we thank you!

Friends

Right before we left for our vacation, I found out that one of my best friends from High School was going to be on vacation in the Hills, camping with her family. She moved to a neighboring state after graduation so I don't get to see her as often as I would like. So....we hooked up while there at the same time and had a great visit. My friend Michelle and me at the City Park in Spearfish. A beautiful place to camp.
There was a stream right by their camper that was gorgeous.
Courtney and me by the stream.


Michelle is one of my best friends and also a cousin. Her mom and my dad, who are both in heaven now, were first cousins. We had so much fun in high school and share many good (and not so good) memories! I am so blessed to still have her in my life, even though it is now from a distance. Michelle just started a blog....her site is on my side bar under Michelle, go check out her royal family, she would love to have you visit.

Thanks Michelle for taking time out to visit with me last week....I had a great time!

Vacation Lodging

We were lucky to be able to stay with my Mom, step dad and brother while on vacation. They have a house just a few miles outside of Rapid City so we got to spend some time with them which also helped on the vacation budget (who am I kidding, I wish we knew how to have a budget).This is the view from my Mom's backyard, isn't it beautiful??!! Out her front yard...just a little ways (almost walking distance) is a grocery store, java shop (they make the best frappucinno's), gas station and a restaurant.
This is my brother, Eric and his dog, Teary. I don't have a picture of my mom and step dad, will have to get one next time we get together. Eric is my baby brother (and only brother) and I kinda helped raise him since he was only 7 when my dad died. We have a really special bond and I love him to death!
This is Eric's dog, Teary (she is an Alaskan husky and has 2 different colored eyes). It is his baby since he isn't married and doesn't have any children.
This is THE BEER that Eric and I shared one night.

Back Home Again

Jeremy's team placed 6th in Silhouettes, 5th in Rapid Fire, 3rd in Slow Fire and ended up placing 5th overall in the .22 Pistol discipline. Jeremy shooting at silhouettes.

.22 Pistol team....Jeremy, Cory, Chad and Mandi

There were 450 youth from 32 states at the National Shoot.

We had a chance to do some site-seeing and had some fun with my family. I will post pictures this week.