Geoffrey's Home Town

2011-06-27T14:30:00.002-05:00

Cutting Wheat

2011-06-27T08:19:00.002-05:00

Doug helped this weekend in the wheat field while Steve cut brome, raked and baled. With no ac in the swather! He was looking like a lobster yesterday.

Mitch came in and cut by our house. It didn't take him long but then he disappeared, so I don't know what field he went to next. :)

Harvest 2011

2011-06-23T07:56:00.007-05:00

I helped move trucks to the field yesterday afternoon. You just missed out on all the fun!

The wheat is really short.

He was just beginning the first field over at Shelly's, he was working out the kinks so to speak.

So I don't know how it is going yet or how it is yielding either. To early for that info. :)

Home on leave and A Day at the TRACK!

2011-06-18T17:09:00.007-05:00

Kelle's Graduation

2011-05-16T07:19:00.003-05:00

Softball Game

2011-05-14T08:52:00.005-05:00

Kelle sliding into 3rd base.
Seniors thanking parents.

NO idea :)

Really? She thought I wouldn't take her picture. LOL

Tractor Repairs

2011-05-07T17:55:00.002-05:00

It has been a pretty big project to replace apart of the frame. The tractor is so old they were lucky to find what they were needing to replace it. They have a ways to go yet.
They have the part put on if you know which one I mean. The part with the six holes showing in the front. :)

Mitch ordered a small part and they sent the wrong piece that goes with it. That's pretty much what happens when you order parts. But it was their mistake so they are over nighting it at their expense.

Now for some Good News

2011-04-27T10:10:00.004-05:00

Ben and Gina were married on March 22,2011. They are very happy, we are happy, everyone is happy!!!

Errebo Boys

2011-04-27T09:56:00.002-05:00

I came across these photos and decided to post them for you. I can see how you resemble your dad. I won't mention the similar ears. :)
This was Richard holding Steve when he was 10 months old. Ben and Talena used their pointy finger, too. They must of got that from Steve plus their full head of thick hair. I thought I'd pick on someone else, Ben pretty much shaves his head. But he looks good. Really good maybe he'd be lookin better if he'd let me win at word feud. LOL!

RIchard will be Greatly Missed

2011-04-26T07:50:00.003-05:00

When the heart weeps for what is lost, the spirit laughs for

what it has found.- Sufi Aphorism

I found making this post particularly difficult. It wasn't until I found myself spending time to help care for Richard that I grew to know, respect and like him as a person. We all know he loved to run a tractor, fly his plane and talk farming. He took what life gave him accepting it with dignity, patience and a sense of humor. He kept his feelings to himself but he loved all his boys.

We could tell that when what I cooked wasn't the best he wouldn't complain but he didn't eat it as well as usual. Sometimes he would make a comment days later forgetting who the cook had been. :) He definitely loved his ice cream! They ran short of vanilla one day so he started planning how to rig up the truck to haul home a larger supply without it melting. He was a problem solver and He was definitely serious about his ice cream. Steve made sure he didn't run short again.

He would make me laugh. He told a story of when he was a kid, beginning with I bet I've told this story hundreds of times, a time when his dad was stopped on the highway while driving a grain truck. His dad talked to the law enforcement officer and when he got back in his truck to leave, put it into the wrong gear and backed into the policeman's car! He had a good laugh, chuckling all the while he was telling me that story. I enjoyed seeing him happy.

He had challenges with his health taking it in stride just doing the best he could, still feeling self conscious about being too slow.

He kept tabs on the boys and what farm work they were doing each day. The farm seems deserted without him there. He worked hard his whole life to give his family what he could. He told Steve at least with farming you always have a job and work to do. I for one am grateful and I feel safe in saying the rest of his family feels the same. Richard will be missed.

Good friends are like stars. You don't always see them, but you
know they are always there.

Spraying the alfalfa!

2011-04-11T07:32:00.002-05:00

The guy is spraying a field somewhere in our neighborhood today. He buzzed my yard which reminded me to post these photos I took a few days ago.
I had a busy week. Simon got hurt so I took him to the vet. He has an infection in a front leg and wouldn't walk on it. It happened over night so he's been taking antibiotics. One morning he spit it out 6 times before I got it down him but he is getting better.
Doug was in the yard on Saturday, he was helping Mitch pick up fence.
You probably heard Richard is still in the hospital in Lincoln. He is on a waiting list for the home. He was awake the last time I was in to visit thanking me and Haley for stopping as we left. His medication makes it difficult for him to wake up, you have to catch him at the right time and that is just by luck I think.

Kansas Governor Brownback came to Lincoln today!

2011-03-25T17:29:00.003-05:00

My secret reporter(Talena) sent me a few pictures of the ceremony. He signed a bill to designate a stretch of Kansas 18 as the Medal of Honor Recipient Donald K. Ross Memorial Highway. They are planning a sign unveiling on Memorial weekend, the date hasn't been set yet. Steve received a call from our representative to arrange the ceremony today. He made phone calls to get it put together in really short notice with lots of help.

The Lincoln and Sylvan Schools sent their bands to play the Star Spangled Banner together so Haley was there too.

I have been fighting the crud so I stayed home.

Would you just look at this March Snow!

2011-03-13T18:52:00.007-05:00

Haley and I went to the Finch to watch a movie at three this afternoon. Gnome and Juliet! Even with 3 D glasses which were interesting for about two seconds, I wouldn't recommend it. :( The snow didn't start till after we were back home.

Talena was here today. She had a couple drive 8 hours from Colorado today. They decided not to take the dog! I don't know about people sometimes. You would of thought with that much time they'd of decided long before they got here, they ended up thinking about it in my yard for two hours in the cold before returning without a dog.

It was a little cloudy today but I wasn't expecting Winter again.

It was beautiful snowfall, huge flakes.

Simon is toasty by his heater. :)

Saturday Afternoon Drive

2011-02-19T17:19:00.001-06:00

Haley just got her driving permit this week. So you know what that means "HOLD ON!"she drove the pickup to Sarah's east pasture to visit Steve.
It warmed up enough for Steve to get back to work building fence again

We looked the sand pit over before we continued our driving lesson.
It was kind of cloudy today.We let the dogs get some exercise. Simon showed us his best side! LOL

Haley said she could see some beady eyes down in a hole. She was snake hunting I guess.

The ground was plenty wet from the snow melting. After leaving we went around the section and met your dad. Haley swerved and kept going. I think he thought we wanted to talk, he started to roll down his window but she continued on going grandma speed. After unloading the dogs we went all the way to Sylvan. We made it home alive. ;)

Rest in Peace

2011-02-16T08:47:00.002-06:00

Here she is when we first brought her home.

We got her from a neighbor of my brother Bob, in Great Bend. Her and Jaxen shared the same birth year. So she lived 13 years.

She was very tolerant when it came to the kittens. She nursed this bunch even making milk for them even though she never had any puppies of her own.
When Simon came to live with us that all changed. Simon would chase cats and Zoe turned into the Hit Man or Dog. I don't really know what went wrong.

She loved going for walks and bike rides with me, when she was young enough to keep up. She nows lays beneath a huge oak tree that is estimated to be 200 years old. I'm glad we had her in our life, she was a good Dog.

East Pasture View

2011-02-16T08:05:00.002-06:00

I changed our usual walking route and went through the east pasture today.

I've put Simon on a diet again. He needs to get in better shape.

We made it to the east fence of the East Pasture. Most of the snow has melted away. We did find a little hanging around the fence lines. I'm down to three dogs with one leaving this week for New York State. We took molly, the far dog to the vet for a shot and her traveling papers. She weighed in at 66lbs at four months old.

Creek Critter (Mycomputerisnotletttingmepostwords)

2011-02-13T10:51:00.008-06:00

Ice and snow and birds

2011-01-31T12:47:00.003-06:00

I had a large flock of birds come to visit this morning. We had ice last night and we are getting snow today. It is real fine but it is to continue snowing till Wednesday. I don't plan on going out for awhile.
Doug stopped on his route trouble checking the lines and cut the limbs off my wires. I still haven't picked them up but it's good to know the ice and limbs won't take down my wires now. :)

Winter Time

2011-01-27T09:09:00.005-06:00

I was chatting with Talena and this little bird kept landing on the rosebushes outside my window. It was smaller than a sparrow with a little Mohawk hairdo. The big pups kept trying to catch it! Weird dogs.

Steve told me about a few hundred ducks that have been staying on the outlet over West. So I went over one morning but they must of been feeding somewhere else. They have managed to keep the water open with so many of them swimming on it. I will have to be real sneaky and quiet to get a picture of them which is hard to do when everything is frozen and crunchy when you walk. :) I'll try again to get a photo of them on the outlet.

The big pond is frozen. I kept hearing sounds and finally realized it was the ice cracking. It was kinda cool to hear.
A few of the ducks flew up from the west end of the pond.

Steve said some of the cracking ice sounds like rifle shots.
Here is apart of the cows by the dam.
This was a new baby fresh out of the weeds.

Pretty cold for babies. I am ready for spring.

Palco Basketball Game

2011-01-11T13:18:00.007-06:00

I rode to the game Friday night with Mitch.
It was my first game for the season, most of the games are out of town this year.

Kelle made quite a few points toward the end of the game, running across the court at full speed. She made it look easy.
Sylvan got 6.5 inches of snow, Sunday night and Monday with no school on Monday. It started 2 hours late on Tuesday.

Family Dinner

2010-12-23T15:00:00.003-06:00

Scott, Gregg, Kona, and Melanie came to the farm. Kona made lunch. Richard enjoyed himself today. He doesn't always like having his picture taken but I snapped one while he wasn't looking. :)
They posed together before getting back on the road.

Busy working on the Lot

2010-12-03T18:38:00.004-06:00

I took a trip up north, the combine has been stripped of it's broken part.

Oettings' crew were experienced in handling this problem. They jacked it up, removed the drive train(i hope i have that right) in around an hour.
I stopped at the farm to pick up the coat I had forgotten there. Richard was busy taking off his sweatshirt, he had been to the lot with Mitch watching them work. They got the posts put in the ground along the west side.
Next step will be to attach the panels.

As I drove away the sun was beginning to go down and a hawk was sitting on top the creek trees. Earlier, I had seen Doug going west past the farm on his way to sit in his tree stand, I don't know how his hunting went today. I never heard any shots fired while I was at the Lot.

Creek Road

2010-11-27T14:25:00.010-06:00

Jordan was called out to repair the Wind mill at the lot. They were going to have him take it down but he wasn't able to get that done right now, something about his new taller truck wasn't ready, so he worked on the head! Now it will turn and not squeak and squeal so loudly hopefully it will be enough to keep from stampeding the calves this year.
The Lot fence is being rebuilt. Steve is working on Sarah's east pasture rebuilding the fence including that patch of waste land they weren't able to farm. He has wanted to do that for years :)
I checked out the pond, we had a few geese on the west side.

Ducks on the south side.With a few ducks by the pond dam but they floated away after I showed up.

We are having a nice warm day today. I hope to make it back over to the pond soon. I wasn't able to stay very long Steve kept my old truck to change the oil in it so I drove the van home. Not the best pasture driving vehicle.

Northern Plains League Vocal Clinic

2010-11-23T07:30:00.010-06:00

Ken Hakoda choral director for Kansas Wesleyan University conducted several mass choir songs.

Schools including Sylvan/Lucas were from Wilson, Chase, Lincoln, St. John's of Beloit, Pike Valley, Tescott, and Southern Cloud.

Lincoln performing, if you look close you'll see some kids from our church.

Sylvan performing. The singing overall was really good. The best part the entire program only lasted an hour. :)

Kelle

All Shook Up!

2010-11-22T11:12:00.008-06:00

The musical used pictures from the area when they could for the background. He came into the little town from the South. Look familiar?
Chad did a really good job singing. He was a roustabout coming into town, causing trouble. Elvis songs throughout the musical.

I went to see Haley. She was dancing, backup singing and filled in as townspeople too.
Some of the action was at the fair grounds. It was very looooongggg. The clothes changing seemed to drag it out the most. They need to take lessons from the stars on their quick changes. LOL

The wedding scene was in front of a familiar church.

They brought out the stage crew at the end. You might recognize one of them. :) It was a pretty good musical. Stage crew did a good job!

Stupid Cow Award goes to.......

2010-11-16T18:23:00.010-06:00

This is so bizarre it's ridiculous. Steve found one of our cows walking around with a cow skull stuck in its mouth. The cows bottom lip is between the outer nose bone and the upper pallet of the mouth of the skull.

What was she thinking? Obviously she didn't think this one through! LOL
Steve has been building a stretch of new fence in Cheney's west pasture, so he caught her up and set her free without the weirdness attached! She wasn't to upset about it which is good I guess.

All the Milo is in the Elevator!

2010-11-11T17:23:00.002-06:00

The last field of Milo was falling down up north like the feed they chopped earlier. They rented a row head to use, to be able to pick up the heads that were laying over. Then yesterday the auger wouldn't work so the mechanic came out to the field. Then today the drive shaft or train or whatever they called it broke and the bigger double wheels were wanting to fall off!! So they rented the neighbors' combine to finish the last 20 acres before it rained today and it is raining now! So they have the combine sitting in the field waiting to be worked on in the rain. They don't like leaving it out in the rain. That's amazing after putting in months of work on it before they even started cutting this year. At least it waited till the end to quit. Richard rode to the elevator with Steve yesterday in the truck. He sure has been doing good considering everything. I took him the day before in our old party van. We took a loop past the church and elevator seeing the greater down town Denmark. :)

I haven't seen very many pheasant but three walked through my yard this morning. The American legion post gave a dinner today in Sylvan to celebrate Veterans Day, inviting the Juniors from the High School. I stayed with Richard while Mitch was in the field.

This is Talenas' French bull dog baby. She is spoiled rotten. I plan on making a trip to Oklahoma Saturday with her to deliver a dog and pick up another one both of them will be Great Danes.

This is Daisy, she is a sweetie. Next weekend I am going to Nebraska with Talena to pick up another Dane puppy. I hope the roads and weather cooperate. I'm getting off the farm! Woo Hoo!! :)

Milo Harvest

2010-11-05T19:48:00.005-05:00

Mitch hard at work.

I heard one of them say 100 bu an acre on one patch and 80 on another. Either number is pretty surprising with all the weeds but a nice surprise!

Can you guess where they are cutting? I bet you can. ;)

That dust cloud has a combine in it!

The temperature dropped into the 20's last night so I found some ice on a water bucket this morning.

Updates

2010-11-04T09:23:00.004-05:00

Mitch planted wheat across the road from our house, into the feed field.

He used Lance's no till planter to get the job done.

Steve moved the truck and cart to Sarah's hill late one afternoon so they would be ready to harvest Milo.

The Wheat is up and turning the field green on Shelly's.

On the way back to the farm we watched a three legged coyote cross the road and work his way through the neighbors field south of the bridge. When I would stop the truck to take a picture he would run and then I'd drive and he'd stop to look at us. So the photo sucks he wouldn't cooperate! They sure do a good job of blending in to their surroundings.

I got a package from UPS and before I could get it put away the pups were trying to open it!

The guys have started cutting Milo, I stayed with Richard while they were in the field. It is producing more grain than what they expected it to do. It's doing really well. We were glad to hear you made it safely to Kuwait. Need anything just let us know!!

State VB

2010-10-30T09:03:00.014-05:00

The games were running an hour late. I rode to the game with Shari and Mitch. Sharon had a longer day of it with decorating and a pep rally in the morning.
The boys came prepared to support the girls!

The girls were pretty excited about making it to state.

The first game they lost 19-25 and 18-25. It was a tough game.

They did a respectable job against them for short girls. :)

Mitch saving his hearing so he doesn't miss a thing Sharon has to say! He gave her a special flower or maybe leaf arrangement gathered from the creek for her birthday. awww

The second game they won 25-18 and 25-16.

The final game was against the number one ranked team. They won the match over the first team that Sylvan lost to.

They had girls that could stand at the net on their tip toes and reach above the net!
Seth came to the game too. He was with a friend and his friends' girlfriend.

Soybean harvest is over

2010-10-22T12:39:00.003-05:00

Steve hauled the last truck load of beans to the elevator in Lincoln to find they had closed up and went home. They said we'll see you soon but I guess not! We had a chance of rain so Steve brought the truck all the way home and went back for the cart. It made for a much later night.

Richard made plans to go to town on his own yesterday afternoon so I offered to take him to the field. He didn't know if he could trust my driving! :) We made it there and back safely. We had a half tank of gas but he was worried we might run out, too. I've been helping Steve move machinery home today. So I guess back to planting wheat, chasing in the cows (I seen them walking the fence this morning looking for a good spot), and harvesting the milo.

Another Trip to Shady

2010-10-19T14:28:00.005-05:00

Steve drove a truck and I was the shuttle bus again.

Mitch was going to take the header and start cutting this afternoon.

Richard put his hat on and was going to take the header to Shady for the Guys at Lunch today. We convinced him he should go tomorrow and watch them cut. He was ready to go but a little worn out from the trip yesterday.

Making the move to Shady

2010-10-19T13:16:00.004-05:00

Steve and Mitch were driving the combine and grain cart down to shady. So I took Richard along for the ride. We took the scenic roads to keep pace with the caravan. The first attraction was the planter on Shelly's field. They have completed planting this field which is a good thing.

When we got up to the stop sign they were coming down the road crossing the bridge.
Richard and I stopped in Denmark to get a picture of the deer killing Van. Richard told me the names of everyone that lived along the route even remembered his stay in the Lincoln hospital but he didn't want to visit! LOL
A kitty was chillin out on the porch.
Sharon was busy in the kitchen cooking for Richard and Mitch. She was still in her PJ's but don't tell anyone. sssshhhh

The Van has a little problem with its front grill. Mitch said its totaled but I have a hard time believing that he won't fix it. What do you think? Have you seen him part with any vehicles yet?After we got them moved I got back in time for play practice in Sylvan. They hope to start cutting soybeans on Tuesday.

Home Coming Parade 2010

2010-10-13T15:22:00.010-05:00

Legion starting the parade carrying the flags with a strong south wind as usual!

BandQueen CandidatesKing CandidatesLivestock and firetruck!Catapulting toilet paper rolls in between the sacks of candy!

Haley threw Steve candy and he threw her a sucker which she caught!

Pep Rally following the parade.

Soybeans

2010-10-13T15:15:00.002-05:00

I took a trip to Shady to check on the beans, they were about half green yet.

It has rained 80/100 since I took these pictures so the guys will have time to plant wheat while the beans dry. With Doug's help they finished chopping silage last weekend.

VB Senior Night

2010-10-13T14:49:00.008-05:00

Can you believe your little sister is going to graduate this year?
They didn't have very many home games this year. The league tournament will be next weekend. I'll try to go to that too.

The girls won against Lakeside but lost to Wilson.

Dividing up their Days

2010-10-06T19:36:00.006-05:00

The feed is slowly disappearing from the field. The far left is the east pasture gait and on the far right is a little patch left to go. I was driving home from the Taylor Place. Steve said the cows got out twice this morning. They were just having fun! The field queen blew some hoses a couple days ago but Steve fixed the latest breakdown. They cut silage in the mornings and soybeans in the afternoon.

I helped them move to the Taylor Place this afternoon.

Here he is turning around on the west end of the field next to the creek. I don't know if he can tell where he is or if he was on fire or not! Wow! for the dust. They still have apart of the field to cut west of Richard's but it needs to dry some more. They are making some progress. It won't be to long and they'll start planting wheat in the mornings while cutting beans in the afternoons.

We are forecast to have warm dry weather all week so that will help.

Cutting Beans West of Richard's

2010-10-05T20:54:00.003-05:00

I went to Lincoln for rivets this morning so they could fix a shield on the flex head before moving to the next field. I helped Steve move to the field west of the house and cooked lunch while they got started cutting. Richard is home as of yesterday. He lost some weight but is getting along okay. Eating good so we hope to put the weight back on him. The beans are still a little green close to the house and on the north side so Mitch is working on the bottom ground where the beans are drier. The sun was starting to go down when I took this picture. I stayed with Richard and put him to bed while Steve hauled a load of beans to the Hunter Elevator. Another day is done.

Talena, Jaxen, and Haley were here today!

2010-10-03T20:49:00.002-05:00

Here is the crew holding the frenchie puppies.

The white pup is Newman.They are tuff little characters.They are like turtles when they get on their backs. LOL!

Talena and Haley hugging for the picture.

Jax belongs to a traveling football team that plays on Saturdays. He is looking like a beach bum. :)

Doug's driving Truck!

2010-10-02T18:12:00.005-05:00

I counted five poles from one end of the field to the other and they have two and a half to go. So they are my guesstimate around half finished.
I took an apple to Steve while he was chopping and managed to get a picture of the truck driver while I was out and about.He is doing a really good job.I took Simon around the loop and we found Mitch working on the combine. This is the part that broke last night. It is the arm that runs the sickle section. He was busy putting in a new bolt on the shield above this part. He thought this field was making more than the last one but he is only half way finished. It looked like he was still working on the longer section of the field. The test weight was good.
When I got home the little French bull dog wanted to play with Simon and Simon is a grouchy old man. The Dane puppy was trying to protect the little one but Simon was the one who needed protecting. The Frenchies won't take no for an answer when it comes to having fun!

Busy Friday

2010-10-02T08:37:00.004-05:00

Mitch finished cutting beans in Sarah's Field around 2:30 in the afternoon.

I helped Steve move equipment South of the creek before I left to take Haley home for the weekend.

Ben bought a pickup. I was going to p0st the picture but decided showing you Gina was more important! Ben and Gina are engaged. :) After dropping Haley off at home and visiting with Nick and Talena I went to Inman. Gina's son Bradey was playing football at Inman's homecoming. He is a Plainville cardinal and they play 11 man football. Plainville lost the game.

Bradey is number 53, a sophomore,weighing 255 at 6 foot. He was on the line, offense and defense for the entire game. He was matched up against this Inman sophomore who was 300lbs at 6'3, he made Bradey look small! The other player he came up against was 6'1 and 200lbs.

I heard this morning the combine broke down while I was off having fun. Steve said something about helping Mitch load up the welder this morning. And of course the field queen is parked again. I'm not sure what went wrong with it now but I'm sure they'll get it back going again.

Went from Silage to Beans!

2010-09-29T17:53:00.012-05:00

The field queen stopped dead in its tracks around eleven this morning. Steve did some trouble shooting then called for a part, to be express shipped, but we won't know if that will fix it until it gets put on. I took this picture from the road where you turn to Gary and Ruth's house. Sheldons are planting wheat this evening too. I couldn't see the field queen from our road because it was sitting in a low spot. So they fired up the combine and started cutting soybeans.

They put the header on the combine in the usual spot on Sarah's hill.

Mitch got going in the field about 5 o'clock.
I did some shuttle work to get the grain cart and truck moved. I waited around till he started cutting again. So I don't know how it is going yet, I had to get back home for Haley. We do have a few weeds which you can see.

I put a few beans on the wheel of the combine. There are more smaller ones than I remember compared to last year most of them rolled off on to the ground but what do I know? I don't know beans!! LOL

The neighbors are cutting corn south of the bridge.

The cable that reverses the header direction wasn't working correctly. Mitch cut a strip in the field and found he couldn't clear a slug so they stopped to work on it.
It took a few trips into the cab and crawling under the header to finally fix it. They weren't sure what fixed it either! Just glad its going again. :) Just some Errebo Magic!

Rained out yesterday!

2010-09-24T08:36:00.005-05:00

I took an apple out to Steve at five o'clock. He was cutting along the road, it shows how tall the feed grew.
You can see the wind was picking up the tarp on the hay stack.
I'm going to guess around a 30th of an inch yesterday. So they are waiting to get back in the field.
They planted two kinds of feed, the outer rounds didn't have the grain on it like the rest of the field.
Steve was hoping for 30 loads a day but they got around 15 the first day.

The First Day of Fall!

2010-09-22T14:14:00.007-05:00

Steve walked to the house for lunch. It is really windy today. They've just begun chopping. We had a couple of rains that knocked down the feed. The Soybeans by Lincoln had a total of around 5 inches of rain on them the past week. We have a chance tomorrow for more rain. The chopping is going to take a week probably more since it is mostly down and tangled. Steve was hoping by October he would have it done. :)
Steve said he has never seen it this tangled before but I think it always looks the worst when you have to deal with it. It makes chopping a slow process, averaging three stops to unplug each load he gets cut. He was estimating how many times he would have to crawl out of the Field Queen by the time the field was done. He is really looking forward to it too.

Richard is doing better today. He is eating all his meals again. We don't know when he'll be coming home yet.
I walked around my yard chasing butterflies, Finding a dozen or so flying around plus plenty of dragon flies. I had quite a few Monarchs show up last year but I heard that there are less of them this year.

Before I went outside I seen a shoe go by the window so I went out to get a picture. One puppy carried it to the porch door and this one was bringing it back. Nothing like teamwork!This is Talena's latest baby. She is keeping this little French Bull dog girl. They are cute but totally different from the Great Dane babies. These jump right in with the Dane puppies when they hear growling going on. No fear in these hamster size dogs.

Friday Night Football

2010-09-18T12:35:00.012-05:00

Steve was there to raise the flag with his fellow legion members.
Governor Mark Parkinson had directed flags to be flown at half-staff throughout Kansas from sunup to sundown, September 17, in honor of Captain Jason T. McMahon of Mulvane.
Haley played in the band for the first time. She is real happy with school in Sylvan. Nick and Talena came to the game to fetch her for the weekend. She works busing tables on Saturday and Sunday.
Kelle was helping on the sideline.
Sharon was at the game but I didn't think to snap a picture of her. She disappeared into the crowd :)

Going for a TD. We left with about a minute left in the game, Sylvan 32 Quinter 22. I heard that the ambulance took a Q player to the hospital in Hays. I hope he wasn't injured to badly.

Farm Updates

2010-09-04T13:57:00.006-05:00

I went to the farm this morning. Steve has been working on vehicles in the evenings, getting the oil changed,etc,etc... in all of them including Richards. It was looking like a used car lot today! I'm amazed at how many projects they have going on in the yard. Combine, tractor, car, truck and field queen work!! They took Richard to two doctors' appointments this week in Salina. One removed some skin cancer. The other gave him more pills to take. It was a long day for him.
I guess I posted these in reverse order. This was taken as they were leaving the photo shoot of Mitch's newly constructed and painted work bench. Steve needed Mitch's help getting the field queen started, it is time to get it ready to run too.

.Side view of the hydraulics.

He has it looking really nice, he used it once before he painted it.

Buddy was helping model it!
Duke was looking good.
Buddy was claiming his throne.
They have been working on the combine replacing worn out parts getting it ready for soybean harvest. They bought one part for around $1500.00 and it fell apart before they got it home, welds weren't done correctly. So they had to repair it before they could even use it!
Mitch was getting the lawn mowed.

This morning

2010-08-16T10:40:00.006-05:00

Mitch pulled in and killed the green growing in the stubble next to our house. He wasn't here very long.I counted buzzards the other day and we have around fifty living here. I took the puppies for an early morning walk. It keeps the destruction down to a minimum when they are tired. The birds line up on the old railroad tracks or the posts next to it.

Me and the pack scared them off and on the way back we seen them sitting on the fence row across the road.Here is my proof that exercise works, he fell asleep with his face in Zoe's dog dish! On our walk Simon found a bone and became the center of attention. All four puppies were wanting to get a hold of his bone and surrounded him. He finally came out of the crowd by walking under someones belly. LOL!

Sunday evening

2010-08-16T10:17:00.002-05:00

Steve is hoping to ride his bicycle in cruise the blues race this month. So we went out to the lake so he could get some riding time on the trails. It was a beautiful day, not to hot, and busy at the lake.

I spent some time on the trail with my camera. This dragonfly turned out looking more like a fish than a dragon fly. We went into Wilson to eat at Made from Scratch , we took a piece of pie home for Richard.

Dog Days of Summer

2010-07-23T06:35:00.012-05:00

This little guy got a tummy ache after Simon brought him an old rabbit skeleton to chew on and I doubt he learned his lesson either!!! One puppy has gone to his new home. So far this litter will be going to Alaska, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Kansas and a couple that haven't found their homes yet.

The rain brought us a new lake. We've had a summer of rains. This one was around 2 and a half inches.

The puppies played in the lake before I got it drained. They are taller than Simon now. Poor Simon..

Shirley kept her grandkids for a week while they went to VBS, she took them to the zoo, swimming at the lake and they came to see the puppies.

Blane, Sadie, Taryn, Cody, and Robert.They had a pretty good laugh when a couple of the puppies kept grabbing my camera strap while I was trying to take their picture.This is Robert, he is the cowboy!

Sadie is growing up.

After the flattening of two flower beds I wised up and now I sneak out my east door to take bug pictures. I have one batch of flowering mint still standing.

I'm still getting bug butts, they hold still if they don't see me! :) Someday I'll catch some cool spider eyes.

Farm work continues. Steve is baling brome in between the rains. They are working on the combine but I'm not able to tell you what they are doing. I might look into that if I can get away from the pack.

I was glad to hear your surgery went well. Will you be doing any of your recovery time in Denmark?

Baling Brome!

2010-07-12T19:40:00.004-05:00

I went to the Brome field to rake for Steve last night. I started with driving his truck because I had mine filled with limbs that I had cut down in my yard..When I got to the field the front tire went flat!!

The only instructions I was given besides you'll need to put the outside lever in neutral to start it was, DO NOT NO MATTER WHAT HIT ANY BALES WITH THE RAKE! This wasn't the tractor I ran last year not that I'm complaining, this one had air blowing on me and radio and windows too..but a short refresher on how to shut it off would of been nice.

I managed to miss the bales but the rake fell off making a turn to start a new row. Steve stopped baling and hooked it back up and managed to find some more instructions to give me while he worked on it, he must of forgot them when I started :)

I just told him you get what you pay for which in my case was free labor and all the screw ups that go with it....LOL!

Still Cutting

2010-06-25T08:38:00.008-05:00

They finished by the West Pond and started cutting north of our house around five o'clock. Sharon called as she went around the corner by Richard's. I was just talking Richard into eating some leftovers.

I walked out through the trees with my dogs helping the entire way.

.I kept an eye on them so they didn't get run through the combine.

I went to Sylvan in the afternoon to pick up up Milo seed then I went to Lincoln for a tetanus shot and groceries while I was there. It was a long day but even longer for Steve and Mitch.

The sun was setting and Mitch was still cutting. I had hoped he would keep cutting around the field in front of me but he doubled back along the railroad tracks. :) Steve is planting next to Scott's house.

Harvest continues

2010-06-23T09:18:00.012-05:00

On my way to the field looking towards the elevator. You can see the front moving over.
Well I took several pictures of Sharon, she's running the grain cart up to the trucks. I didn't know which one to post so I'm just going to do several. :) I bet you'd like to see her!This one had a good shot of the field behind her but she looks like she could chew nails and spit them out at me!

Then she tried the hide behind the phone trick! She needs to accept it, deal with it and smile!

It turns out much better that way!
Sharon was showing Steve the weather radar on her phone. There was a storm moving over Russell headed our way.
Last night Mitch had a few more hours of cutting to go before finishing the field so It'll probably get done today.
I have a new crew to look after for a little while anyway. There are a total of ten, not all of them are in this picture. Momma will be leaving soon. They will miss her! I don't know how much she will miss the mauling.
You might recognize our shuttle bus used to go between the fields and farm. Sharon said that when Kelle stopped she wanted to get on it and start it up but she was wearing thongs.

In between driving the wheat truck Steve is planting Milo in the next field.

Okay I don't like posting such a bad picture but on the way home this buck was running towards the Taylor place. I even went around to the Taylor place to try for a better picture but he flashed a tail going over the railroad track fence and was gone... At least you can tell he has a big rack. So this is for Doug. :)

Harvest 2010

2010-06-20T12:14:00.008-05:00

I just returned from a mini vacation with Ben, Gina, and Emma. Emma and I spent Friday together, we went to Shawnee Lake which has a 13 mile path around it, which we didn't take but I took pictures of Emma, flowers and baby ducks with momma duck.
Ben and Gina have a nice pool in their back yard so we did spend plenty of time cooling off.
On the drive home I seen combines in the fields. Our crew started cutting on Friday. I seen on a ticket in the truck one patch made 59 bu.
I showed up in time to see Mitch finish a round and unload.
The clouds were moving in and over the field.
There were some bad storms up north by Beloit and in jewel county.
They both pointed, scratched and decided to shut it down for the night.
We had some pretty angry clouds and some lightning in the distance. I bet Buddy was a nervous wreck. Sharon called this morning to say she was going to try running the cart. Steve planned on finishing up swathing, and needed to be planting some more feed this morning before driving the wheat trucks.

Around my yard

2010-06-14T10:30:00.010-05:00

We had storms moving through yesterday. The price of wheat is low but if the hail happened to take it out we'd probably get paid a better price for it than the elevator would give for it, except it never takes the entire field and we have no control of the weather. Denmark had some pea size hail but no damage.
I looked out this morning to see this guy down by the barn. I figured it was worth the effort to try to get closer to him. sigh...Fat Chance that's going to happen! :)
I went out the back door around the house, behind the shed and seen this deer. It was watching something besides me. In the mean time Mr Turkey headed for cover because the gap between the buildings was to wide or I just couldn't run fast enough to make the gap while he had his head down. They have excellent eye sight and I'm obviously to slow.

I did catch a glimpse of a pair of ears, I thought at first maybe a mother with a fawn hidden but I was wrong, after looking closer at the deer I saw it was a young buck.
He was keeping his eye on a coyote. It's time to get the brome grass cut so I can see what's lurking around my yard.
Meanwhile, my watch dogs which kept me up during the night barking....... at I'm guessing our resident Mrs. coyote, maybe a skunk or who knows what, slept through my walk around the yard!
They finally crawled out of the sack. I noticed last week someone had bitten Simon in the butt! They got a little hair but he managed to get away. I don't know who or why. Zoe might of gotten tired of him. :( It's a tough life. Maybe when he gets skinnier he will be able to move quicker and keep his butt out of reach! LOL! I think he gains weight from breathing air!!!

A new heifer bull

2010-06-12T09:48:00.012-05:00

Simon says Hi! You can tell he is still pretty wide, his diet isn't going so good but I'm not giving up yet! Steve needed to get a bull for the heifers they decided to keep this year. We got a heifer bull last year but he's with Charlie. While playing musical trucks the old Cheney pickup ended up in our shed, Steve had been stacking soybean seed on it while he was planting, so first thing in the morning I drove it up to the farm. It was Steve's night to stay with Richard. He fed him bacon and eggs for breakfast. I told Richard I thought Steve and Mitch were doing a good job of taking care of him. He said," I could of told you that!"
Rick and Kathy had a group of yearling bulls in the first pen.

.Steve was wanting a two year old which he had, so we picked the one with the smaller calving weight of the two Angus.Their hired hand served in Afghanistan.

Our group of heifers mowed off the patch of grass on Sarah's east and it didn't take them very long either. When Steve and Mitch took a few to the sale barn the rest ended up in the lot again.
A heifer had a heifer. She looks like she has a Charlie attitude. I'm tempted to bring her home but for right now she will be staying with her mom.
We unloaded our new heifer bull into the lot with the girls. After lunch Steve fixed the fence over west around the north pasture before moving them out of the lot. Duke ran all the way, following him around the pasture and helped walked the group down the lane before going back to the house! That dog is in great shape. I don't think Simon could keep up with him but they do enjoy visiting.

Mitch worked the field east of my house and then I helped him move to Sarah's hill.It's good to know we have one tractor that is in good running condition. I hope I didn't jink it! They just finished fixing a leak on, I think it was the loader tractor, they pulled off the fuel tank to find the leak. Steve planted without a blower or ac for a few days. He has the blower going again. It's just about to hot to endure without something blowing on you. The swather is getting worked on too. It rained this morning so the war on muskies will continue :( they love the rain. Sharon and Kelle have been digging with Mitch.

Thursday-Friday

2010-06-04T13:41:00.004-05:00

Mitch was cultivating the corner field on the Taylor place yesterday afternoon. Steve won't have any trouble with the planter plugging up on this field.

I fixed lunch for Richard after going to Sylvan to pick up seed so Steve will be able to plant late tonight. Mitch put Sharon to work switching it onto the other truck.

Calf across the fence

2010-06-03T07:03:00.006-05:00

Gary called to tell me his musk thistle diggers found one of our calves in his pasture next to Eckharts' grass. I went to the farm to get the calf list to find the mom's tag number. Mitch said he'd go help in case he was a hand full. Mitch and I stopped to talk to Steve when we drove by on our way. Steve was having problems with his planter getting plugged up. There is a couple of mud holes in the field. He was almost finished with the field with maybe another 5 acres to go then he'll move to the Taylor Place.
They had walked the calf up to the gait of their pasture which was nice of them. Having never driven across their pasture I didn't know what hole we'd manage to drop into not that Mitch would do that.

It wasn't much of a rodeo to catch him. He was the last calf born in the lot before we hauled the cows out. Him and his mom stayed a couple extra days in the lot on their own so they would bond. So he is around two weeks old.

Mitch bucket fed him some electrolytes and the calf turned into a fireball so we hauled him back out to the cows. Some calves just won't stay where they are put!

Mitch was going to check on him in the morning to make sure he was still with the herd and his mother.

Tractor Work

2010-06-01T13:10:00.004-05:00

On my way up to the farm yesterday, I took this picture from on top the hill, I thought Mitch was working the Taylor place field but it was Doug enjoying his Memorial Day. Your mom is mowing Richard's today. I'm push mowing mine. Everybody is working somewhere.
Steve was going to the west end of the field along the creek road. He is planting soybeans. I stopped at the farm and Mitch helped me with some transmission fluid for my truck, his motorcycle table is coming together nice, when it is painted I'll get another picture of it. It might be awhile unless we get some rain again or he burns the midnight oil. The guys are getting behind schedule and harvest will be here in no time at all.

Sunday Afternoon

2010-05-30T20:11:00.012-05:00

Steve cooked French toast for Richard and I after church. We talked about putting out the flags for Memorial Day. Richard wanted to go with us to the cemetery so after lunch he laid down for a nap. He did really well walking out to the grave and back.
Steve drove Richard, Mitch came down on his motorcycle and I brought Simon. I brought him because I'm determined to get him to lose some weight.I left some food out for Zoe to eat while he was gone. :)
Betty has the cemetery looking really nice.
I took the back way home. I came across 15 Canadian geese in a field east of Gary's on the north side of the road.
They flew staying low to the ground stopping on the other side of the field.

Yesterday I had a couple from Mississippi pick up the last puppy. Mitch was needing a driver to get his pickup moved to another field and I missed him when he stopped with the tractor. I looked for him up north but I finally found him on Sarah's field, the one where they burned the bails. I took him back to his pickup. Steve just started planting soybeans west of Richards.

Bob and Barb stopped to visit with Richard bringing him family news.

Zoe was looking for the puppy. Awwww... so I took my pack for a walk. The turtles were on their log. Simon got really lost this time. I finally heard barking after making two trips around the watering hole. I don't know if it was Simon or the coyote.

Simon came out of the weeds about the time I seen the coyote going across the field. I don't know if a coyote would try to eat him or not. He'd probably make a couple of meals. :( He looks hungry too.

The brome is blooming along with the clover which makes me sneeze. We had a 10/100th of an inch last night. A chance for more on Memorial Day.

Pasture View

2010-05-23T17:00:00.007-05:00

A view to the north towards the dairy barn. Steve and Mitch are hauling cattle to the Eckhart pasture today. I am waiting to hear from Talena about new puppies. It's like Christmas time you don't know what you'll get till they get here! I took Simon with me on my trip. It is humid and hot! I got Simon cooled off in the far north pond.I'm not complaining just getting red in the face because my truck has no ac and one window doesn't work! But I'm the one who came out here in the middle of the afternoon.

I took a picture to the south, Steve had pulled out of the gait onto the road. I was looking at this enlarged to remove dust. It looks like a deer or I'm going crazier than I thought, which is possible. LOL! Check it out. I took this from across the pasture. Hopefully it will open up larger so you can see what I'm talkin about.

I also took some close ups. I wanted to get a photo of the pretty dragon fly with dark brown bands on its winds but this guy landed in front of me so he'll do today, kinda zebra striped.

I drove around to the south side and the cows were moving away. I think they are as sick of us as we are of them. I walked one pair down the lane before driving here. She was throwing dirt at me or trying too. It was to wet to work very good for her. Simon protected me! :)

This is a pair of swallow tailed fly catchers, that's a mouth full, I'm trying to get a photo of them in flight because they have the coolest tails. I'm amazed when I come across them. I never really noticed them before but there are more of them around then I realized.

Working our way through the cows!

2010-05-19T08:37:00.002-05:00

It's been a marathon at the lot. We started by hauling them from Sarah's pasture. Then we moved on to catch up and work the west group. They all were very loud!
We had a new element added to our cattle working this year. Mitch was going to turn over "THE TUB" which looked like a pack rat had built a nest around but instead he found a skunk sleeping under it so he quickly put it back down. So every time we crawled over, stepped on or moved around the tub we were careful not to wake him or upset him! No picture, not yet anyway. It's kind of hard to imagine him sleeping through it all but I'm just glad he stayed put!
When we came down to the lot yesterday morning a calf was born during the night and when we returned from lunch one was born in the back pen. They might get it done yet.

A group of calves caught up in the holding pen before running them through one at a time. It was a kicking good time! Luckily not a smelly one!!

This evening

2010-05-11T17:38:00.009-05:00

Steve has been working his way around repairing the pasture fences. He put in new gait posts on the south side of the pond. He moved over to the Cheney pasture this evening.

The wheat is blooming west of our house..

This is Dennis the last puppy of the litter, would you believe he is four and a half months old and taller than Zoe.

He goes crazy and zooms around when he gets in the wheat. He is scheduled to leave on Thursday. I took him for a walk this evening, we lost Simon(the grass is to tall for his short legs)!. Dennis manages to chase everything off from butterflies to ducks and even the turtles.

I seen a couple of pretty big ones sunning themselves but not for long. I'll miss Dennis the Menace, puppies are just fun they are so nosy always busy..

Working on cattle and planter

2010-05-09T08:42:00.002-05:00

These were on my cell phone so I'm kinda slow about getting them posted. They came to get the planter out of the shed over a week ago. Mitch had a little helper, the puppy looks like a dog but acts like a puppy.

They discussed the maintenance that needs to be done before they start planting soybeans.
We ran the heifers through the chute, dehorning a few, giving shots, then hauled them out to grass. All with the exception of a few that escaped during a stampede putting themselves back in the west pasture with the cows. Will will get them!!!later.

It took over three hours to find the last one and a good part of the afternoon to haul them to grass. We'll be back next week to haul from Sarah's, work them and then haul them out to Cheney's pasture. The forecast says there is a good chance for rain next week so I guess we'll just have to wait and see. If the county would give us asphalt roads we could haul when it rains. LOL!!! Hee hee...

Mitch and Richard took a tour to Denmark

2010-05-02T18:47:00.006-05:00

Merrill was burning off some grass today. I was taking my own trip with Zoe up north to the little pasture and pond. She was feeling left out after I took Simon yesterday.

I was uploading some pictures I took of bugs and flowers when Richard and Mitch pulled in the driveway.

They had toured Denmark and were on their way back home. They both thought the car was running pretty good for a 1966 Classic!

Mitchs' construction project

2010-05-02T18:11:00.010-05:00

I didn't ask when he started it but he is making good progress.

Bike stand? table? bench? I should of asked!

These were the organ donors! Mitch pulled them out the weeds and stripped the wheels off of them to put on the lift table! The very first Jack the farm bought and it is being put to good use. :)

He said he would probably paint it red. I think it could use a fancy name, don't you think? Hmmm....got any ideas?

Mitch doing a demonstration.

This is the engine that will replace the two guys it takes to get a bike up on his old stand!(:

Fence Building east of Scott's

2010-05-01T19:16:00.008-05:00

After cooking lunch for Richard and Steve I took Simon and my camera, with me to Eckhart's pasture. I left Zoe home to baby sit. Simon got caught messing around in some tall grass by the wind mill and didn't cross the draw when I crossed, so I had to wait for him to go back the long way around. On my way to where the guys were working on the fence I met Mitch and Doug on the road headed to the farm.

I did find Steve stringing barbed wire, Oh how he loves getting his picture taken.

They decided to go from the gate in the pasture to the gate in Scott's yard. Scott was getting his house shingled today. I could hear the Mexican music playing out in the pasture.

I had stopped on the road to take a picture of a buzzard stretching his wings on an old rock building which is why I was able to take this going away picture of Doug. I totally missed them in the pasture. They were lucky, they got away from me today but I'll see them again! :)

Trip to Topeka!

2010-04-29T08:52:00.009-05:00

We waited at the door until they gave us badges to wear onto the Senate floor. Ben and Gina came from work to be there. A lady was sitting on the benches nearby talking to herself about politics and religion. She got excited once and started yelling about arresting someone. The guards said she shows up everyday. Steve overheard her say the closer to the moon you get the lighter your skin. She added to the interesting things to see and hear. :)

They began by reading a list of resolutions the Governor had signed then she read the resolution for Steve. After she read it the Senator gave a speech before the Aye's were recorded, followed by everyone standing and applauding.

Our State Representative Elaine sent the story into the Readers Digest and was behind this event as well. She is on the right in pink. Next to her is our hometown Lincoln Ems Dir, then the Kansas Ems interim director, Al Joe a Lincoln County Commissioner, Ben, Me, and Steve, we were sitting in the visitor section in the Senate Chamber. Gina came in late so she sat in the gallery up above. The Senator's assistant used my camera to take pictures.

Steve receiving his framed resolution.

The short time we were in town we watched two groups demonstrate on the capitol grounds. The first group wanted more money given to the handicapped individuals in Kansas. They had tied 4000 ribbons on the fence for all the applicants that were waiting for help. We talked to a guy taking the ribbons down after they were finished. He said that people with downs syndrome get Alzheimer's in their 30's which I didn't know.

The second group pictured above wanted less spending and fair taxes. It would be quite a job finding balance between all the special interest groups in Kansas.

We also attended a meeting to have the appraisal of residential properties and farm ground explained. It was interesting to hear how the figures are reached, a fairly complicated formula for range land. It starts with the type of soil(some is more productive then other types)plus rainfall then grouped by sections across Kansas, pasture rents and expenses are figured in, then the figure averaged over the past eight years, an artificial floor and cap were added later, which if I understand correctly, the formula was working good as far as providing a fair distribution while eliminating exaggerated lows and highs until the false caps were included in the formula and of course there is always the explanation they have to follow the statutes voted on by our government reps. No one can take responsibility because it isn't just any one person behind it all. And no one likes Taxes!! but how else do we pay for everything everyone wants done by government? Okay, I'm finished. :)

Working the fields

2010-04-27T11:24:00.001-05:00

Mitch was working the field east of us.

Kathy sent wedding pictures

2010-04-20T07:51:00.003-05:00

Sunday Sorting calves

2010-04-19T10:35:00.003-05:00

Church this morning involved confirmation and a potluck. Steve was needed for the ceremony so I ate lunch with Richard. In the afternoon we caught up the calves. Steve and Mitch starting hauling steers to town. We talked to Toby when we unloaded the first group and he called Jay to help haul, one of his loads is equal to two trips for the guys, so that helped out. I finished sorting the boys from the girls while they hauled, then I went up and ate a sandwich with Richard.

Busy weekend!

2010-04-19T09:25:00.005-05:00

Mitch has been busy discing the fields, and they are looking good. I don't know who started to burn the old hay stack on the corner but it burned all of Saturday.
This morning our buddy was back. He or she is after my rabbits.

It was a lucky day for this rabbit. Simon caught a baby rabbit yesterday. The coyote had a smaller friend waiting at the end of the wheat field to the west.
They had the alfalfa sprayed this weekend too. Steve also tore out the fence along Scott's yard. He wants to get it replaced so the heifers can go in Sarah's east pasture for awhile.

Emma played Soccer Sunday

2010-04-13T14:26:00.003-05:00

The coach was originally from Sylvan. She did a good job with the kids. They were moved around through all the different positions.

Emma had a good time. Ben was yelling give it to the white kid, one boy had on a white shirt, I think he had a mustache(ringer). :) He was a good player.

Ben had Emma over the weekend. He brought her to the game.

She was red faced when she was finished.

Catching up Cattle

2010-04-13T14:15:00.002-05:00

Over West I was in charge of the gate. I was suppose to stop this group from leaving while at the same time, for the stragglers that were being brought in, I was suppose to be invisible. LOL! I hid behind a post! They didn't see me at all!! Ha!Ha!
It all went pretty smoothly.

Steve shutting a panel at Sarah's.
They really filled up the holding pen but we managed to get them sorted and hauled. I took these pictures with my cell and finally got them sent to my computer this morning.

Short CHarlie

2010-04-12T11:19:00.004-05:00

I went to see Charlie's new baby but she came running off the brome without it. She is keeping it fed.

I asked Steve what it looked like and he said it was short like it's mom. Which didn't really tell me much.

As you can see she is a little short. I told him he should of kept feeding her like I did and she would of gotten taller! :)

Coyote visiting

2010-04-10T15:08:00.002-05:00

I helped the guys catch up the cows on Sarah's yesterday. We did the same over west this morning. Before I left the yard the dogs kept barking. This coyote just wouldn't go away. He came back three times while I was getting ready to leave.

Zoe and Simon ran him off with their barking but he didn't seem to concerned. Simon probably looks like a tasteee little piglet treat! I watched three more coyotes moving around below the Dam over west before we got the cows rounded up at the lot. Steve said he counted nine one day.

Things are buzzing around the neighborhood

2010-03-31T14:41:00.005-05:00

I walked the creek with the dogs this morning.

We were given a show, Lance was getting his wheat sprayed. The plane finished spraying right before the wind picked up. On my way home we went by way of the Taylor place road just as Steve and Mitch drove by on the main road headed to a fire. The fire department fought a fire south of 18. A controlled burn that shouldn't of been lite.

He looked like he was touching down on some of his passes, his wheels were that low.

He would turn around above me before making another pass.

I also seen my first buzzard today.

Our second annual freedom meal

2010-03-29T11:55:00.015-05:00

Here is what you missed!mmmm......

A few from Wilson came to the freedom meal.

Everyone had a good time. :)

Ron and Marsha did a wonderful job cooking.

We had some trouble-makers on the other end of the tables.

I think Ron counted 39 that attended.

Old Man Winter came to visit again

2010-03-20T10:08:00.007-05:00

I didn't think I would be seeing ice again this year. It started with rain and turned to snow as it got colder.

Steve gave all the dogs a good morning rub down on his way out.

The remaining two pups have out grown Simon but that doesn't slow Simon down any, the first thing he did this morning was go dig up the latest bone and tease them with it. Which is why is nose is so dirty!

They tried some ice skating which was fun for awhile. This was the first time for them to play in snow.

Then it was time to just play with each other.
It wasn't long before they were looking for somewhere to warm up. So I took them back to their heated room and bed.

Replacing the water tank at Sarah's

2010-03-18T15:33:00.011-05:00

The feed wagon broke down this morning.
I should of paid better attention to the story, so I could tell you what broke, but anyway, Steve said something about hooking onto the other wagon to feed. Thankfully they have two feed wagons. Always a spare to be working on!
Mitch went after a new tank in Lincoln. Sharon drove the white flatbed truck with the tank to the pasture ahead of Mitch. She helped Steve fill in dirt to raise up the fiberglass tank inside of the old metal one. Mitch said you had helped him bring the metal one down when you were home. The cows pushed against the old tank and broke it.

Maybe it'll last longer if it has a metal shell around it.
It didn't take very long to get the new one in place and filling up. The wind started blowing. Mitch went to the farm and brought a load of water to the the cows, giving this tank time to catch up again.

Buddy watched from Mitch's truck. Steve guarded the tank from jumpers while I walked in a couple of stray calves.

It feels like summer but the weather man says we could get two inches of snow Friday night. It's Kansas I guess.

Taking a good weather Tour

2010-03-06T13:55:00.010-06:00

It's a tight fit getting six Great Danes into a single dog, okay One and 1/2 size dog house. I'll count Simon, he is fun to watch when he backs into the dog house out of respect for Zoe or maybe just wanting to keep his nose out of danger. I pried them out and locked them up while I was gone. I went first to the coop, Kenny was repairing a gutter for Jodi and I picked up some dog food not that Simon needs any he could live for six months on his fat.

Then I stopped at the cemetery to have a chat with Cecile. They placed her stone this week.

From there I went over east to say hi to charlie. She still remembers me and it doesn't look like she is quite ready to be a mother yet.

There are a couple of calves on the ground. So it's nice that we have good weather for them.

The last place I stopped was the group of cows on Sarah's place. Simon managed to walk underneath a few cows without getting stomped or kicked which kind of amazed me, he is ether a clueless city dog or very brave. I vote clueless!!

Puppy Story

2010-02-28T20:45:00.007-06:00

I went with Talena to KC to pick up some puppies. A vet cropped the ears on two litter mates to this little girl which is of European breeding. She came home to stay with me for now. I met Talena and Haley in Salina, leaving my pickup at walmart for the day. We met Ben for lunch in Topeka. He suggested a Thai restaurant that turned out to be really good. On the way back home Doug and Melissa came up to us in the parking lot which was unexpected. They make a cute couple. ;)

This puppy sits really close to me most of the time. He needs a home fast, he is so sweet and is getting too attached and comfortable.
One of the puppies has gone to California to a Super Bowl winning football player and his family. Sharon helped us out with a shipper which was picking up a puppy for Nevada, there was a mix up but thanks to your mom Hudson went on his way to his new home. It was great that she helped us out.

The boys find more stuff to get into like tearing the cover on the clothes dryer vent off the side of the house! I don't think Steve has noticed yet. Shhh....They are fighting over a piece of duct tape here. They are really entertaining most of the time.

Saturday Afternoon Visit

2010-02-13T17:22:00.006-06:00

Nick, Talena, Haley, Hayden and Jaxen were here for Lunch today. Jaxen kept making funny faces, I finally got a straight face out of him.

The kids hamming it up!

Nick and Talena sold this puppy to a Super Bowl winner and his family!

Here they are all together.

Sleepless night, I found out why this morning!

2010-02-05T10:29:00.009-06:00

This raccoon is injured. He was hiding out in the window well to the basement. The dogs must of kept track of him all night long... He had picked up a dead bird out of the yard so he must of been hungry too. I got him out and back into the trees, the rest is up to him.

When I went out to feed the puppies I kept seeing these little birds sitting in the snow.
I found some that were dead. I don't know what is going on they don't usually sit around on the ground like they are this morning.

While I was out seeing how many of the little birds were around the yard I seen this wood pecker sitting in the tree over the shop.
Here is Simon playing with the kids. He does fine until they start biting his little tail or his ears. He gets sent back outside when he loses his temper. The puppies are keeping warm and getting bigger.

Snowing

2010-02-04T09:28:00.003-06:00

Last night the weatherman showed this storm moving over Texas now it is bringing us snow! We have some really big flakes coming down, predicting up to 4 inches. One of these days I'll take some pictures of the new calves that are being born. Steve is scheduled to meet up with a photographer from Arizona to take his picture for The Readers Digest today. He was going to fly into Salina last night but we haven't heard from him yet. Denmark has a fire department meeting this evening.

Basket Ball Clips

2010-02-02T18:17:00.005-06:00

I took some video of a tournament game in Lincoln. I bet you already know they took second place. I'm a little slow at getting this posted I've been busy with puppies.

Ron and Marsha, Talena and Haley, plus Steve and I ate with Richard Sunday after Church. Talena came up to take pictures of the pups, worm them and take momma back home with her. Bijou is going to live in Oklahoma.

We had some nice weather today, I took the dogs for a walk to the Taylor place and we came across a dead doe lying in the soybean field at the end of the waterway. It hadn't been there for very long just long enough for the coyotes to get it half-way cleaned up.

Our month to clean the church.

2010-01-23T19:06:00.002-06:00

So I cleaned this afternoon.
Then I took a side trip to Shelly's on the way home. As you can see the snow is finally gone but the mud will be with us for awhile longer. The wheat fields have big patches of brown across them now that the snow melted. I'm ready for some green fields again.

City Dog visiting with her crew!

2010-01-23T18:29:00.006-06:00

This is Bijou, she normally has a white nose, I don't know where she had it today. She spent the afternoon barking at a bird chirping, silly city dog.

She is going to a new home in a week but her eight puppies will be here for another month or so. She's a little bit bigger than Simon, kinda like a miniature Holstein.
I'm enjoying the puppies, and I am guessing probably more than Bijou. They are keeping us both busy.
I think they are four weeks old today.
She had eight boys. The daddy was Duffy who was imported from Hungary. Bijou kept the Schwans guy in his truck today! (:

The Last of the Goats

2010-01-17T16:45:00.002-06:00

Talena sent me this picture this afternoon. She was returning Mr. Goat to his owner after selling the last of her girls. While she was talking to me on the phone Mr. Goat started sneezing. All I could hear was alot of giggling out of Jaxen and Haley!

One Twin calf going to the farm

2010-01-17T16:14:00.009-06:00

Our yard is a mess. It turned into an ice rink that Haley and Jaxen were skating on yesterday. The guy from Lincoln came out and fixed the windmill west of Scott's. The pipes were $200 a section. WOW!!

Steve had brought me a twin to feed. Then they had another set born today. I have taken on the job of puppy sitting for a few weeks so Mitch came and took my little one to the farm to raise.

The back bed of his truck was real oily so he put her on the front floor board. He said she'd probably get out of his tie job before he got out the yard.
And she did, she was looking out the back window as he drove away. Steve was going to bring him one of the other twins this afternoon. The elevators are closed so I had to go to town and get whole milk from the store to keep them fed until the coop opens again. We didn't know if they are closed for Martin Luther King Day on Monday or not. We might have to buy more milk with two to feed.

Close Game on Friday night

2010-01-17T16:00:00.004-06:00

Doug came for the game. He is the only Errebo that willingly allows me take his picture.

Sharon wasn't to happy with the refs!!! or me taking her picture. I got her anyway. (:

Kelle sat out part of the second quarter, she had 4 fouls this game. I don't know how many baskets she made here she was shooting a free throw. Our free throw champ!

I used my cell phone to get these photos so they aren't the best quality.

The Game Tuesday night

2010-01-14T16:41:00.005-06:00

Kelle's fouls for the game against Chase. Chase only had seven girls so they played just one game. She made six points in the first quarter when the score was 8-2.

She made a total of 18 points, one basket was a three pointer. They play another game Friday night. I rode to the game with your parents and Steve took care of Richard.

Richard's Photo and two old post cards

2010-01-01T16:47:00.007-06:00

I didn't plan on posting since you are home but I came across these and wanted to share them. Steve and I were looking at YouTube videos with Richard of the p40 plane, the kind he trained to fly in the service.

An old post card of Sylvan Grove.

And this one of the Denmark Small Store but I didn't find a date.

Dogs and more dogs

2009-12-18T18:10:00.009-06:00

This is Forest, their french bull dog. I spent a day dog sitting for Talena.
Forest plays, and plays and plays some more. He grabs Avy's legs until she wrestles with him. It makes it hard for her to ignore him.

He has a hidey hole where he goes when

he needs to catch his breath.

Avy visiting her puppies.
They are weaned but not old enough to go to their new homes yet. The only one that isn't in a picture was an almost pure white one.
This is her favorite little girl which will stay with them. The opposite side of her face is black.

One more of the six jail birds. They really weren't in picture taking condition but what the heck.

This is Nick and Talena's main guy, Matrix. The puppies are sired by another Dane. Matty will have a puppy or two in the house by Christmas.

I had a full day, her rooster woke me when he started crowing at four thirty in the morning.

They didn't have as much snow as we did here. I also managed to have a flat tire which is always fun to change. And the boys were fine. Jax made grilled cheese sandwiches for us. He'll be going to a private school in Great Bend starting in January.

Still Cold!

2009-12-14T10:13:00.004-06:00

When the snow started to melt it formed long icicles along my porch roof.
The snow was sliding off the roof and pointing towards the window so I went out and knocked them down.
I had picked a few Milo heads the last day they were cutting up north. I threw them on top of this bush after it snowed. It didn't take the birds very long to find them.

We had the Christmas program last night and it went really well. They had a live baby Jesus. CD, Julie's little boy was really cute too. William sang a verse of Away in the manger by himself and did a beautiful job. We heard about your accident right before it started. I'm sure we will hear more details when you get back up and going. I hope you can still take your trip to Florida and maybe recuperate in the sun.

Cattle Drive

2009-12-11T14:37:00.003-06:00

Steve lead the cows with a bale of hay from the Cheney pasture to home. I waited at this intersection to keep them from turning off of the right road. Mitch and Dan were following. It was a 4 mile walk for the cows.

They took them across the soybean field to the west pasture. It was cold but they got them moved, they even have a few new babies in the herd.

Blizzard warnings for tonight!

2009-12-08T18:23:00.002-06:00

You can compare the snow fall from this morning till this evening by the pile on top the dog house!

Noon time snow update!

2009-12-08T13:58:00.003-06:00

Steve estimated 8 inches so far. It is coming down pretty good. We could end up with a foot of snow. Mitch is hauling water to the cows. They added cows from John's south and Eckhart's into Sarah's west. Steve was headed to the Cheney pasture with a bale.
A picture taken out my north porch window. And no I haven't gone outside yet. Brrrrr.......!

Snowed Last Night, Still Snowing!

2009-12-08T07:29:00.004-06:00

I woke up to snow covering everything this morning. I took a quick picture before the sun had gotten up. I say quick because I'm in my pj's and didn't set foot outside, just leaned a little. :) And we were cutting milo three days ago!

Steve and Mitch hauled bales, moved cows to Sarah's pasture and fed them before the storm. The weather guy was predicting six inches yesterday. I haven't looked to see what they are saying this morning yet. I think I'll eat some oatmeal first.

Cutting Milo up north

2009-12-05T12:19:00.005-06:00

I took the guys some lunch. They might finish today. He is cutting on the back part of the field next to the pasture.

While I was there Doug showed up and drove a truck load of Milo to the elevator.

This is Doug leaving the field. Mitch is filling up the trucks pretty fast. He has three trucks and the cart to unload in, which keeps him going, but it was nice of Doug to help out. Steve can only drive one truck at a time.

Milo east of our house!

2009-12-03T09:52:00.010-06:00

I need to make a correction. They cut Milo on the Taylor place and finished that little field then moved here. They do have a another field up north as well.
A vehicle drove by and stirred up some dust, Steve just emptied the cart.
The sky was a pretty color towards the north and east but...
It looked a little angry towards the west last evening.

I got a call this morning to shuttle Steve. He brought down another truck for Mitch this afternoon. Steve has to attend a regional economic development meeting this afternoon so Mitch will need plenty of room to hold grain.

It was twenty degrees this morning. Mitch drove in and started fueling up the combine as I picked up Steve. Steve and Mitch visited Richard last night. Richard has a new room mate. Connie's brother Charles.