Wha'da ya' know...

I'm actually postin' pictures for a change. :)

I took this one quite a while back, while Jacob was teaching Mom how to farm on his farming simulator. She said it was harder to combine there than it is in real life. Hmmmm....

It was so lovely outside today, just sunny enough to bring out a few gophers even. Jacob and I were home alone, so on our cow-checking spin around the pasture, we spotted 3 gophers and he and I each shot 1. The 3rd one was too smart and stayed down in its hole after seeing us approaching!
While looking for newborns (we found 1 new baby and 1 in the process of being born), we came across 2 cows in the far South part of the pasture, just standing there. When we got closer, I saw a calf head sticking out of the ground! Hmmmm...
Apparently, the said calf fell or slipped into the hole backwards and was very snugly stuck there. I wish I'd thought to take a picture of him there, but alas, it was not until after I'd pulled it out and set it free that I thought about the camera I had tucked in my pocket! I did get a picture of the hole (about 3 feet deep) however, which we filled with rocks later. I'm guessing it was a badger hole?

The baby was pretty stiff at first, but did get to walking better by the time we moved on. He was pretty hungry too! There they go:

I stopped the pickup while on this hill to pick...

...some crocuses! Maybe it's time to put the snowmen away? ;)

Dad and Andrew cleaned grain all day again, arriving home late in the evening, Andrew just in time to get in on the 2nd half of a conference call regarding the GOP convention that is taking place the next 3 days here in ND. Mom was gone in Bismarck most of the day, so that left Jacob and I to do the chores, laundry, dishes, bread-baking and fruit-pizza-making, and the trampoline bouncing!

It was a good day and I thank God for the loveliness of it all...

A picture post!

I took the time to upload my pictures tonight and thought I'd share a few of them with you all...

Here is the boxful of cake divider-plates that my neighbor brought over and that I bought from her:

Brother Andrew, cleaning off the trailer he used to haul a few round hay bales home.

This is the big kettle (it holds 4 gallons) I ordered when I decided to experiment with making hard cheeses:

My not-so-fancy but very practical, use-what-you-have cheese-press: :)

....and the resulting 2 chunks of cheese: NOTE: I did not wish to add any artificial coloring to the cheese, so that is why my Colby cheese is cream colored! The cheese dries on these mats for several days, then it gets dipped in hot cheese-wax and put away in cold storage. It still needs to be flipped over every day for a while...

This last picture is of the cake I made per request of one of my coworkers. Her granddaughter, Kaitlyn, died last year on this day in a car accident (slippery roads). My coworker was having a special memory-birthday party for her this evening, so I took this cake to her at work this afternoon:

That's all for now.

I just want to say a huge "PRAISE THE LORD" for the wonderful price we got on the calves we sold today! This will help so much..................

Good night everyone.~

We're selling our calves---

----tomorrow in Napoleon. :) If you so desire, I think you can watch the sale by going HERE, clicking on the "Internet Auction" button, then scrolling down until you find Napoleon Livestock and pushing the button there. The calves will most likely be sold sometime in the middle of the afternoon or on into the evening. Sadly, I need to work in town, so will not be able to be at the sale, but the nice thing is that, every Thursday, several of the TVs are turned to the channel that shows the sale and so I might be able to see some of our calves sold if I happen to be in the right room at the right moment....

We sorted the calves this morning and loaded a couple loads before I left for work, then the others finished up this afternoon with loading and hauling. I hope it went well, although I don't know for sure, as everyone was in bed when I arrived home. I praise the Lord for granting us safety while working with those rather large animals!

'Twas a busy day!

I got up early and went babysitting at Helen's. Since she and her husband are supposed to return this evening, the children and I spent a good portion of the morning and afternoon making a "Welcome Home" banner for them----complete with lots of colors, scribbles, hand outlines, and stick people. :)

When I got home, Jacob and I made a double batch of cookies and cleaned the kitchen. Dad was hauling hay home again and visiting with our neighbor when he stopped in for quite a while. They talked politics, I hear. This gentleman/friend said he likes Ron Paul and what he stands for, "But he just won't win". Dad agreed, diplomatically of course, that, no, with that attitude, he won't win.... It's all simple logic: If we don't vote for the guy we really want, he won't win! We, the people, need to support the men we really want to be running this country and then they can stand a good sporting chance of winning--and WIN--of course, all with God's help and blessing!

Mom and Andrew went to Bismarck to hear Ron Paul speak this afternoon/evening. I had really wanted to go along with them, but it just didn't work this time. They just returned home about half an hour ago.

We spent part of the last couple hours chasing cows in, as the cow-feeder this evening had forgotten to close the gate behind him, and the cows took full advantage of the situation. Dad, Jacob and I thought we had them all in, but when Mom and Andrew drove in, they said there were still quite a few out by the back driveway. Thankfully, they went in pretty easily. Dad just went out now again, as he saw one more cow out. She must have been hiding in the trees?

That was our day! I'm so glad that tomorrow I get to stay home (unless God has other plans for my day, that is). :)

Lending some helping hands...

Guess what? It's snowing!!! What a novelty that white stuff is---floating through the sky....

Mother said "Praise the Lord for this gorgeous weather" at least 6 times while working calves this morning. :) Yes, it was that lovely out! Just the perfect day. We agreed that it was even nicer than when we worked our calves in November!

My family and I got up on time this morning, did our chores, then drove apprx. 60 miles to our friends' place. After getting a tour of their house from Mrs. K. while Mr. K. fed cows, we all headed out to get set-up for some ACTION!

I realize now that we failed to get pictures of/with Mrs. K., as she was in the house preparing our food most of the time. This is the one and only one that I have with her on... (She's a great cook, by the way!)


Heading out of the house with Mr. K.....

He had a couple barrels handy to set supplies on:

They really have a very nice set-up for working cattle! It was nice to work with such sturdy and organized equipment. :) Hopefully we'll get our own dream corralling built one of these years....

Andrew was the head-gate operator again and did a GREAT job, only letting one of the very first ones escape (when he didn't have the technique of the new head-gate mastered yet.) We were able to get that one back in a pen and worked him later.... Andrew also gave the shot later in the day.

Jacob helped bring the calves along the runway...

Dad offered to do the banding and nobody fought him for the "Privilege". Mr. K. showed us another technique to do while banding, so we'll probably use that in the future. Dad also did a lot of the "Pouring" (putting on a liquid designed to kill any and all lice). Oh, and he knocked off the 4 sets of horns that were found throughout the day.

Mother had the job of giving the Tetanus (vaccine) shot and doing misc. jobs in the morning (she stayed inside in the afternoon to help Diane with cooking and visiting. :) )

Jacob kept the bander filled and handed Dad the knife when needed.

My job was holding the calves' tail so Dad didn't get smacked in the face. Then, I opened the bottom part of the shoot and trimmed the underside of the bulls with a scissor so they'd look nicer when they get sold. I figure I gave 70+ haircuts today---Mr. K. doing the first ones 'til I knew how. :)


Mr. K. kept the calves coming up the alley-way. I think I told you last night how he isn't able to do a lot of bending currently on account of being run over by a (large) calf recently and having sore ribs consequently...

Here are some of the steers, taking it easy...
After we were finished with making the bulls into steers, we ran all the heifers through and "Poured" them also. That was after lunch. By the time everything was done, it was getting close to being dark outside. We went in for more food (supper), visited; did dishes; then Mom played piano and Mrs. K. played organ while some of the rest of us sang hymns and the others visited. We left there about 6:30 to head home and take care of our own animals.

It felt good to help our friends. They insisted on paying us something for our assistance though, so we figure we'll use the money to help pay for going to the family camp this weekend..... :)

Yes, it was a good day (and nobody got hurt too bad---just Dad cut his finger with the sharp knife when he was just getting started. As Mrs. K. is a nurse, she bandaged him up good!).

Was she serving me tea???

That is the question that was running through my head while I was playing piano this evening and saw (out of the corner of my eye) my mom entering my room, mug in hand. Something seemed suspicious! Then, my dad came in too, something clenched in his fist. Mother set the mug on my piano and Dad reached over and---plink, plink, plink, plink----dropped 4 quarters in. They said they really enjoyed my playing and wanted to show how much. How special was that? :)

Mom and I spent a good portion of our day (finally) working on our annual family newsletter. I was trying to pick a few pictures out of the hundreds we have and Mother was trying to write about this very busy year. We're about a third done, I think...

Dad loaded out 3 loads of hay to go down South and then also loaded a load for our own cows and brought that home.

Andrew went to Napoleon this morning, but spent the rest of the day working in the shop with Jacob and catching up on some computer work (looking up how large District #28 is, etc...)
Oh yes, we also put some "Ron Paul for President, 2012" bumper stickers on various vehicles of ours....

If you think of us tomorrow, please pray for safety for all, as we're going to go help some friends work their bull calves. They'd planned to have it done before this, but Mr. K had got banged up while they were separating out the cows/calves to wean them and has sore ribs, so hasn't felt up to working them. We just recently found out about this and offered to help them. Hopefully it will be as lovely outside tomorrow as it was today!!!

I'll try to get a few PICTURES too.

The cows are awake tonight!

Why?

Well, probably because my family (except myself, who was babysitting at Helens') sorted off all the calves today and weaned them. It helps that the cows are able to get right alongside the calves (with a fairly-sturdy metal-panel fence in-between them) so they can at least see their babies and touch noses with them. They are still quite noisy though. Dad recommended we all turn some nice music on tonight to fall asleep to. :)

By the time I got home from Helens' at 3:00, Mom was in Bismarck doing sessions for clients already. Dad and Jacob put in some extra fence posts along where the calves are (a little panel-stay-up insurance) and Andrew and I headed across the road with screwdrivers, a big metal bar, and lots of hot water to try and thaw out the water fountain for the bulls (my family sorted them off today too and ran them across the road to that pen). We never did get the water working (my dad ended up just hauling some water over there for the night), as it was getting dark and we had to eat an early supper and head for Bismarck, all except for Dad who stayed home to do chores.

We 3 younger people met up with Mom at the library for another United States Constitution over-view meeting. We'd invited several friends and were so glad to see some of them show up, plus a few others that had learned about the meeting from other sources. The speaker tonight was a gentleman from MT. It sounds like there is interest in getting another 3-part meeting set up in Bismarck in the near future, so if you're interested, you can let us know for more details (I'll probably be blogging about it too.) :) We learned several things once again tonight (about how our government works--or doesn't, and how it's supposed to work) and how, if we just will work together to hold our Senators/Representatives/Etc... to their oath to uphold the constitution (get new, honest people in charge if need-be), there is hope that this country can turn around from the dark road it's now following. Good stuff!

I know the John Birch Society (named after a wonderful missionary man who was murdered by "Important" people who didn't like all the good he was doing) has had some bad things said about them (FYI: they are MOST definitely not in favor of communism--and actually speak against such things--and they're NOT racists!) but then, that is the case with anything right and true, good and wholesome, isn't it?

This society has been around for many, many years too.... I just wonder how we never heard of them before this last March? I'd strongly encourage people who are concerned/worried/depressed about the way this country is headed to check into your local JBS chapter, or, if there isn't such a thing, to create one. If you don't have any idea how to start, please come to the next meetings that are set up! :)

Remember, "Evil prospers when good men do nothing!"

Yes, I believe the Lord is in control of all that happens and that He can (and does) do wondrous things, but I also believe that He wants us to do our part in fighting for what is right! Got your armor shined up?

Wait! Is it Spring already?

It was absolutely gorgeous outside today--in the mid 40s! The sun was shining; the birds singing; the snow all melting.....I even got some mud on my shoes when I took a box of rags I'd cut over to the shop. :) Oh, and besides all that, we've had some very early arrivals in the cattle department yesterday and today! Two of Dad's cows had calves and one of mine had TWINS!!! I thanked God several times today for the lovely weather for those little babies. If they can just get dried off and get up and going, they should hopefully be able to make it through the Winter alright..... Unless, of course, we've just skipped Winter altogether this year, which would be fine with me, except I don't have any seeds ordered for the garden yet!


Our 3 guys worked out in the shop almost all day and are about ready to put Andrew's motor in his car. I think Dad was also working on the 1486 tractor.


Mom and I worked in the house most of the day, working on odd projects that needed doing. I cleaned out my top "Miscellaneous" dresser drawer and got that all organized, which took a while! Mom did several sessions and we both worked together on laundry and dishes... I baked some Peanut Blossom cookies and made a pitcher full of eggnog. Yummy!
Several of my coworkers (at the nursing home) and I got to talking about eggnog one day and I was surprised to find out that so many of them did not like it!! So, I thought it would be fun to take a blog poll, just to find out if this is a nation-wide trend (people not liking eggnog as much as I think they would) or if it's just a Napoleon thing? :)


I'd appreciate if you'd please vote on the poll on my side-bar!

Day #29~

I am so very thankful tonight that God provided such nice weather (nice, for the end of November, that is!), as we worked our calves this morning/afternoon. Towards the end of the day, we were getting cold and our fingers were getting numb, but it could have been a LOT worse, so we are grateful! Hopefully next year, we'll get this job done a bit earlier in the year?

Anyway, thank you to those of you who prayed for us as we worked! There were a couple injuries (Jerome got kicked in the hand by a cow and Dad on his shin by a calf), but the bruises are on the minor side of things, so that is a blessing.

Here are some of the calves, needing to be worked...

We were also so very grateful that Jerome came and helped us! Here he and Andrew are waiting for Dad to bring the next calf up the alley way. Andrew's main job was catching the calves and he did a great at it this time---not missing any of the 121 calves we did!

Dad brought the calves up from the small pen at the end of the alley... ...and then banded them. Jacob kept the bander loaded and handed Dad the special knife when needed. We band the bull calves in the Fall, as we've learned that they grow better as bulls than they do as steers.

Mother and Jerome were the main shot-givers, although Jacob and I filled in when necessary...

"Caught'cha!"

I had the job of writing down the calves #, color, gender, etc...; mixing up more vaccine as needed; and tagging any calves that needed a new earring. :)

We have 3 baby calves that were born this Fall sometime. They were too small to catch in the head-gate, so we caught them by hand and "Worked" them. This little guy was quite spry and, though it probably didn't take 3 of us to hold him down, we (my brothers and I) all did so anyway!

Jerome and Jacob, checking out my record-keeping system. :)

The calves on this side of the corralling are "Done".

And now, we can scratch "WORK CALVES" off our to-do list, for another season.

Day #28!

Please pray for us tomorrow as we will be working our calves.... My dad's cousin, Jerome will be coming to help, so that's a blessing for which to be thankful for!

Speaking of cattle, I was so glad to be able to make my cattle-loan payment today!!! Now I just need to be able to make my operating loan payment in Feb. and I'll be good for another year (the sale of this years' calves should easily be able to cover that, Lord willing and all, of course)....

I worked in town again this afternoon/evening and was glad to meet our new CNA, as a couple of my coworkers have quit in the last couple months and we need the help! She said she knew where I lived and every time she drives by our place, she wants to stop and swing on our huge swingset. :) I said she was more than welcome to do so!

Well, I'd best get some sleep now as tomorrow will be a very busy day, I'm sure.

Blessings to you all~

Cora

Day #15~

Tonight, I am thankful that God kept Jacob and I safe while we ran around and around and around for nearly 3 hours, trying to get our cows back in the fence after they broke out. Half the time it was dark out, so driving around on a 4-wheeler and dirt bike could have been dangerous indeed! We ended up herding them all into our East pasture. The cornfield they had been in just had electric wire around it, and they decided not to respect the wire today. It was quite windy out and snowing a bit, so that's probably why they wanted to get out.

We also spent a good portion of our morning making bread, and most of afternoon topping carrots and sorting through them.... Mom and Jacob were in Bismarck and our dad was gone trucking and then had to load up another load of hay to sell to a farmer in Texas.

Please pray that Jacob and I stay well, as I don't feel so good right now, plus I'm a bit hoarse from hollering.......

It's a wonderful life!

Almost every year for as long as I can remember, my family and I have had the tradition of watching "It's a Wonderful Life" on this day/night of death and darkness. This year however, Dad and Andrew were not even home until a few minutes ago, so the rest of us watched the sweetened condensed version of our old favorite. (Be sure to skip the ad in the beginning if you watch it.)

Then we watched "Sergeant York" which is another wonderful old movie (starring Gary Cooper, who becomes a Christian in the film....). That movie can be viewed on YouTube, part 1 HERE and part 2 HERE!


Here are a few pictures from cattle moving day:
(Dad on a 4-wheeler...)
Mom drove the trailer to pick up a couple little calves that were born this Fall....

Andrew's on his dirt-bike in this picture, although it's a bit hard to see him on account of the bright sunshine!

Jacob was on his dirt-bike that day and I drove the other 4-wheeler.

If you look closely, you'll be able to see my other brother in the picture below! I took this photo this morning, when Jacob went out to check the fence to make sure it was still zapping...

Mother, Jacob and I got several things accomplished in the house today. Outside of schoolwork, we got another batch of apples done, and worked on switching our clothes around (Summer to Winter). I also baked a crumb cake so we'll have something sweet to put in the guys' lunch boxes again.

When Dad got home tonight, he informed us that he sold another 7 loads of hay today! What a blessing. He also got a call from somebody who may be interested in buying our Temvik house....

Have a wonderful November everyone! We are preparing for the boys' birthdays which are just around the corner. :)

The cows are home!!!

Most everything went well and we had them all home and in the harvested cornfield just in time for lunch. Then, I headed for work in town and that's all I know about what happened here, as everyone was in bed when I got in the house tonight. I have two days off now, so am looking forward to getting many things accomplished at home in the next couple of days. :)

We played Cranium...

...and had some pretty good laughs with it (especially when we had to draw something with our eyes closed, or act something out)! Andrew had bought that game for very little at a second-hand store a while back, but we'd never played it, so today we decided it was time we did. "Cranium" will probably go back to a second-hand store though (unless one of you who reads my blog wants it), as it is really designed for a younger "Audience" and we probably won't ever play it again.....

Andrew and I did chores this evening. We're not milking any goats now, so I was done with my part of chores (hay, grain and water to the goats) by the time he was ready to get his cow in the barn. The calves/cows had spooked again tonight, so Sally ran away into the dark with the rest of the herd and Andrew had to go get his 4-wheeler (which thankfully has a bright headlight) to get her in. Once he got Sally to the barn, I drove the ATV back to the shed in the rain so Andrew could get to his milking. Sometimes I really miss our other milk cows and the fun times we all had together milking twice a day, but then other times it's really nice to not have so many chores to do anymore, especially when it's cold outside!

Well, tomorrow's a new day and a new week. I should get some sleep so I'm ready for it! I think we're bringing the cows home soon----maybe tomorrow even......

Moooving cows...

This morning, after chores, my brothers and I went up to the pasture and moved the cows to their next cell. They had to go through one other cell to get to the one they were supposed to be in, so it took a while. I thanked the Lord for helping there to be no bull fights this time. :) We had to fix the fence in a few places and set up the electric fencer to electrify the top wire, and then headed home for lunch.

I worked in town today. It was a quite, peaceful day there, so that was really nice!

My family worked in the fields again. I'm not even sure what they all got accomplished? I do know that when Mom and Jacob got back to do the chores, they discovered the neighbors' horses in our alfalfa field. I guess they called up the owners and had quite a time helping them get the horses back in! It was dark before they were done.

And that, my dear friends, was our day.

Did you know...

Today is/was Constitution Day!

"On this day Sept. 17th, 1787, the U.S. Constitution was signed by our founding fathers."

However:

May we all stand up for what is right in this present day and age!

...Just wanted to make sure you all knew what day it was!...

We also got the annual phone call we receive (at least) once a year about this time, stating that our cows were out and were headed home. :( It was supper time, but our guys bundled up and hopped on their bikes/4-wheelers and went and chased the cows, calves, and bulls back in again. Then they had to fix the fence for quite some time. Jacob came back with his bike and he and Mom did chores. Our pizza was well done by the time we finally all sat down around the table to eat it!

We then watched "Ever After"; had family prayer and visiting time; and now we are heading for bed.

Have a great new week, everyone, and may the Lord make clear the things He has for you to do in the next 7 days.~

Bull fight.

Andrew and I did chores this morning, then jumped on the 4-wheelers and headed up to the pasture to move the cows. They had moved themselves (by breaking down the fence) and needed to be in that one cell for a few more days. While moving them quite a ways, two of the bulls got feisty and decided to push around on each other. They wouldn't stop for the longest time, but thankfully, God had the strongest bull be in back, so he was pushing the weaker one in the right direction and slowly moved along behind the rest of the herd. Eventually, just as we got close to the gate, they quit fighting and walked nicely through to their old stomping grounds....

Happy September everyone! It felt like Fall here all day.

I worked in town again today. Now I'm done for the week though. I'm very tired tonight, so will post this without further ado. :)

Quite the busy day!

Much happened at our place today.

Dad got up really early and headed over to Grand Forks with a load of grain he was hauling for a farmer.

After the rest of us got up early (but not as early as Dad), Mom and I cleaned the kitchen up a bit and tidied up the house. After Mom and the boys did chores, a man from our local meat locker came out to butcher one of our steers. The boys helped him get set up, and then he was able to do the rest on his own. Once the hide was off and it was gutted, he took the carcass to town, where they will let it hang for some time, then cut it/grind it up for us and put it in red and white checkered packages. :)

At 9:30, Mrs. H., my FSA loan officer came out to our place for my annual record and animal inspection. I was very grateful that Andrew drove us up to the pasture in his 4-wheel drive pickup, as I'm almost positive I would have gotten stuck if I'd been driving, as I'm not familiar with the wet areas up there. All went well with the inspection, thankfully! PTL!

Then it was time to make lunch for the boys. I changed into another skirt and a scrub top and put my hair up so I would be ready to head for town when the time came. I worked there the rest of the day.

From the looks of Andrew's blog tonight, he spent some time working on his car and got it running! "Congratulations Andrew on another job well done. :)"

I'm sure much more was accomplished too, things I'm not aware of just yet. Mother probably started packing for her trip to Montana... She may be leaving tomorrow even, either then or else very early Friday morning. We're not sure yet if Dad or Andrew will be going along, as it all depends on the weather and what all needs to be done on the farm yet.

I look forward to sleeping in a little bit longer tomorrow morning. Working in town always makes me tired, but especially so while on this cleanse. I've actually decided to do what Mom does on days she needs more energy---to drink some protein powder now and then, and that does seem to help me keep my strength up, but I'm still pretty tired.

What is the best thing to do when you're tired? Sleep, you say? Good idea!

Name that thing...

Dear friends,

I had planned to write last night, but then there was a flashing lightning/thunder/rain storm that made our electricity go off for a while and messed up our Internet connection again, so I was not able to do so.

Do you all know what these blossoms are? Here's a hint:

*Tea made from these flowers supplies you with all of the B vitamins*



Yesterday was a very eventful day around our place. I only have pictures of our morning project though....

After Andrew & I had done the morning milking/chores, Dad (on his 4-wheeler), the boys (Andrew on his 4-wheeler and Jacob on his dirt bike) and I went up the road to move the cows to their next cell in the pasture. I used to help with this a lot more before I worked in town and miss it in a way. The pasture up North is very, um, wild. It feels like a whole different world when you get up to this part of the "Road". We rent about a thousand acres of pasture from our hunting friends, who helped us section it off into many different cells that we move the cows to every one to two weeks, depending on the size of the cell.

Here Dad is bringing the solar-powered electric fencer back to me (I had the Ram, so had more room to carry things than he or the boys did.) At this point, I turned the Ram (a very old, bouncy charger sort of thing) around and drove the long way around to the other side of the pasture where I was supposed to open the gates for the cows to move from one pasture to the next.


Once I got the one gate open and the other loosened so it would be ready to open when it was time for the cows to go through (there is a curving road inbetween the gates), I sat down on an old tire that was in the fence-line for some reason and took some pictures and enjoyed the beauty of the Lords' handy work....



(This beautiful lake is officially called "Stink lake", although I don't think it stinks any worse than any other lake does when it's been standing stagnant for a while!)



I zoomed way in to get this picture of the long line of cows coming:

The cattle had to cross this water in order to get to where they needed to be. The guys told me later that they didn't even hesitate, and just plunged in, swimming across, the calves included!

Andrew was able to make it to the other side in another, drier spot, as his 4-wheeler (also known as an ATV---All Terrain Vehicle!) can go through almost anything. Dad and Jacob, however, had to go out and around by way of the gravel road, the way I did, to come in from the front side. By the time they got to where I was...

...Andrew already had the cows up on the North side, ready to go through the gates.

There was one problem though... There were 2 calves together on the wrong side of a fence down South farther, one of them being Andrews and the other belonging to the rancher on the other side of the fence line. Sooooo, the guys spent at least half an hour getting the 2 separated and returning the one calf to the neighbors' herd and then getting Andrew's calf back with ours.

While I waited, I was able to get some fun pictures of our cows and calves, as they were right there by me for a while before they headed East to graze a while.

Here is Jacobs' big steer: He was a bottle calf a couple years ago. His horns grew back for some reason, which is why he didn't get sold with the others, as buyers do NOT like to buy animals with horns and will dock you tremendously. He is nearly large enough to be, well, slaughtered.

How does that saying go? "The grass is ALWAYS greener on the other side of the fence?" In this case, that's true. The cows like grazing in the corner where the gate is, so there is not much grass left there. The alfalfa/grass growing on the other side definitely looks more appetizing, to a cow or calf....

Here is one of my growing boys. :) He's so nice and stocky, isn't he?

~Snack time!~

"For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills." Psalm 50:10

After the cows were moved and the fencer was set on the post, Jacob and I headed for home while Dad and Andrew stayed up a while longer to go around the fence.

Shortly after arriving home, we received a phone call from a friend, Mr. S. who said he was in Napoleon and on his way to Steele, and could he stop and visit us. Of course, the answer was "YES" and so he joined us for lunch. He talked some more to us about the John Birch Society and my parents signed up to be members now.... :)

We visited until 2:00, at which time Mr. S had to get going and we had to get our kitchen cleaned up as Mom was getting a new client (from Grand Forks!) at 3:00. While Mom did the health session, Dad was raking and baling the ditch hay and the boys and I headed out to our potato/carrot/onion patch in the field to do some major weed wacking! Andrew mowed inbetween the rows while Jacob and I weed wacked closer to the plants. Then, Andrew took over Jacobs' job; Jacob took over mine; and I headed in the house to work on some laundry. Later, Mom and I made apple crisp, tater tot casserole, and a delicious fruit salad (which the boys helped with too). Andrew and I separated cream, then he and Jacob did chores while Mom and I cleaned the house---QUICK! We had supper around 9:00, then had family prayer time and settled in for a long nights Summer storm, which resulted in nearly 2 inches of rain!

Well, it is time for family hymn singing time, so I'd best post this and go join the others. Mom's playing in my new Marty Goetz books currently. :)

Have a great Saturday, what's left of it, that is!