Three day weekend

Because the 4-H was having a crazy day of activities, we had Saturday dinner.  Evie discovered that the karaoke machine gives her an edge on her ability to be heard when singing, as well as bossing people around.  She makes us all laugh.  I am glad that the kids come over on the weekends and hang out with us, it is a blessing to have the time to spend together.  

This weekend was 48 hours of 4-H, which is a national event that encourages clubs to participate in community service, or doing some other project together as a club.  Our club participated by removing some mulch that was left behind after stumps were ground up.  When we were asked to do this, I thought oh that is a small cemetery, it won't take too long.  There were 21 stumps.  I was expecting 2 or 3.  It was a lot of work.  The people who live across the street from the cemetery paid the kids to place the mulch around their fruit trees.  I was not expecting that the project would take us a few hours, or that it would be quite as warm in October!  We did get it finished.  I was very proud of the kids.  They all worked really hard!  

We also had our fall party after the work was done.  The whole party was planned by some of our senior members, and they did a really nice job.  I think the kids who were there all had a lot of fun.  

Holding these events during this weekend means we can say we participated in a national event, which helps our club when it comes time for the year end paperwork.  It was a fun, but exhausting day!

Which means I am super duper happy that the kids (and Jim) had today off.  No school means I got to sleep past 5:00 am and that they are all available to help me with a couple of projects that we need to finish today!  They might not have been quite as excited about pool winterizing, and pear processing as I am!  :)  We had over 5 inches of rain overnight.  I had to work this morning, and had a hard time getting to work.  One direction had a tree down in the road, so I turned around.  The bridge the kids like to fish off of below our house was roaring.  The creek was nearly to the bridge.  It honesty hurt my stomach to drive over it.  I did make it safely!  It is crazy how much water was flooding everything, and it is about 45 degrees cooler!  Welcome October weather!  I have been wondering when you would arrive!  

A week of unsure

Have you ever gotten to the weekend and you are absolutely bone deep exhausted, but you can’t even remember what you did that would cause such exhaustion?  That sums up my week perfectly.  I feel like we ran a marathon. But I am pretty sure I have had busier weeks before this.  Anyway, the weekend was much needed and I am happy we arrived here unscathed.  

Monday, we had 4-H, I had a bus safety meeting and Jim had a town hall meeting.  Preston was “hired” to drive the girls and I would meet them after my meeting.  He was not happy about it, but he did it anyway.  They had installation of officers, Preston is the Vice President and Saige is the club reporter for this upcoming year.  

Hard to tell from these pictures, but they were harvesting the corn behind our house.   This was a huge source of questions from Evelyn.  She was very worried about the cows needing their food.   

We still have the goats, and we have been letting the graze the yard. I’m about tired of them pooping on my front steps though, so I believe after their debut in a petting zoo a couple of weeks from now, they will be going to the auction.  Dale Pink loves eating the dead leaves off the deck.  He is growing into a beautiful bully goat, but since his new hobby is head butting us, he will also be going to the auction.  

Last night, Preston and Quincy performed at the football game. Mallory had Evie and she was the band’s biggest fan!   

This weekend we have a lot of weird stuff to take care of, and some fall 4-H activities.  Luckily, it is a 3 day weekend for Jim and the kids.  

Sunday? Where did you come from?

We have had a great, but super fast weekend around here.  I guess that is just life.  One would think i would be used to it by now.  

This morning, Quincy was the reader at church.  I had to take a picture, because she was dressed like a girl, and looked very pretty.   She did an amazing job of reading!   Saige served as an acolyte by herself for the first time.  I didn’t get any pictures of her, but she did a great job too.   

When I took the above photo, Preston leaned over and asked why I didn’t take his picture!   Wish granted boy.  

We had Sunday lunch, and also managed to get the house sort of cleaned up and all the laundry caught up.  Saige went to a birthday party for a friend.  She was the only girl at the party, despite the entire class having been invited.  She still had a lot of fun. She was a little indignant about one of the boys telling her since she was the only girl, she should play with the moms.  She said she told him that was just insulting.   She is a little on the dramatic side. 

Carlos is a little under the weather.  He gets like this sometimes, and then we usually figure out he has eaten something he shouldn’t have.  If he’s not better tomorrow, I will take him to the vet.  He’s been very snuggly today, including when Daisy Paige was here, which is totally out of character, as he loves to play with her!   

We have a little spider outside the dining room door.  Saige is not pleased that he has taken up residence there, and she is even less pleased that I refuse to relocate him.  I have enjoyed watching him spin his webs and eat all sorts of bugs.  He is a good spider.  He can stay.  What doesn’t stay?   The weekend.  

Farm tour ‘21

Yes I took a lot of pictures today. And no I don’t have any shame about it.   We planned an event.  Events need photos right?   Evie spent the night with us so we could get up and head out to the Kaw Valley Farm Tour.   We absolutely love this event, and can’t say enough good things about it.   We didn’t hit up quite as many places this year, because the weather turned bad in the middle of the afternoon.  We still managed to see the alpacas (a favorite of everyone), visited a family friend’s turkey farm, and hit the South Baldwin farm for some pumpkin picking and apple cider. 

We always aim to learn something new, and try something new.  This year, we learned that you can tap more trees than just maple and make syrup.  We saw a demonstration about tapping walnut trees, and tried walnut syrup.   I was surprised. I expected it to taste like walnuts, but it doesn’t!  We even brought home a small jar for Jim to try.   I’m not thinking that we will be tapping any of our trees, but hey, if times get hard, it’s a possibility!  

It was busy.  We had to be mindful about social distancing.  I am happy the event was well attended.   I distinctly remember last year thinking that by the next farm tour covid would be a thing Of the past.  I was wrong.  I certainly hope by next year……