"It's a great big job when you're working on a farm..."

Those lyrics are from a song my brothers and I used to sing a LOT, and the words still ring true today!

(Chorus)...."When you gotta' be big and you gotta' be quick and you gotta' watch out that the plow doesn't stick.  When you gotta' be tough and you gotta' be strong----'cause this is one big job that lasts a whole year long....  

 Well, we're up with the sun and out in the fields, raising up the crops for their highest yields.  Plowin' and a plantin' and a bailin' up a storm.... It's a great big job when you're workin' on a farm. 

Gotta tractor out here and he's workin' all day, a pullin' and a pushin' and a towin' things away, then it's in from the fields and back to the barn....It's a great big job when you're workin' on a farm."

My dad spent the whole day working up some of the West ground (he got a whole quarter done!).   He brought the tractor home tonight and was just South of Kintyre when he ran out of fuel.   Thankfully, he had his cell phone along and was able to call Jacob and have him bring several gallons of fuel out so Dad could make it home.

My mom left early (after making lunches for 3 people) and went to Bismarck, just returning about an hour ago.   Her trip was less eventful than the last time she headed to the city (when she ran out of gas, due to her vehicle's troubles), although she did have a little excitement when she realized she didn't have her office keys and we searched everywhere they would have been, all to no avail.  Finally, I wrote our friends (who helped her get gas in her vehicle last week) and asked if they'd found any keys?  The answer:  YES!   Problem solved.

I talked to Andrew on the phone tonight and he said things went really well there for "Farmer Dave" and him.  It was a little after 9PM and they were just heading to Bosch's Bayside for some supper.

Jacob helped me all morning with projects and then loaded and spread manure all afternoon.  He had to feed cows tonight; then helped me again with loading lumber onto his pickup; and was in the house only a little while when he received Dad's SOS call and headed back out to fill a couple fuel-cans....

This morning, Jacob and I took off all the old boards from our deck, as Dad bought lumber so we can make our deck safe again.   That took a while.   He also  helped me round up 4 cattle-panels and wire them together to make a pen for our turkeys.  I spent most of the afternoon getting a sunburn while cat-proofing the pen, meaning weaving some twine in and out of the cattle-panels and the snow-fence (which has little holes, too small for turkeys to escape from or kitties to enter the pen either, hopefully).   Then, I used the netting from our old trampoline to cover the top of the pen and had to weave that all together too---just in case cats get on top of the pen or the turkeys would try to fly out....    After I had the bottom part finished, I hauled the 15 turkeys out to their new pen so they could start enjoying the fresh air and sunshine while I finished their pen.  You should have seen them JUMP when our 2 grown toms came over and GOBBLED a loud greeting!!!   After several more gobbles, they quit running around and started exploring their pen.  I brought them all back inside for the night, as it still gets pretty cool overnight.  Even though they've tripled in size since I got them, they're still babies!

Speaking of babies, another of my goats (the sister to the doe that kidded a couple days ago) kidded today!   She had a colorful buckling who seems to be healthy----and even happy, once I held his Mama so he could figure out how to nurse.   :)   I sat down in the goats' freshly-thrown hay for a while (while literally watching the gate for Jacob so the cows didn't come out) and my 3-day-old white kid came up to me and started nibbling on me and jumped in my lap several times.  I praise God for the miracle of new life!