Well, between rainstorms we're making hay.
I heard tonight that one of our near neighbors lost 10 cows with one stroke of lightning during one of our recent storms! I have a suspicion I know exactly which stroke it was, too. Yowsers was it ever electrifying that morning! (One of the hazards of cows out on pasture can be that during thunderstorms they'll congregate under trees, especially a lone tree in the middle of a field. These tend to be targets for lightning strikes which are, of course, very high voltage. One strike and the whole herd can be knocked down in an instant. This isn't the first time we've heard of this happening!)
Paul took the children (except Trevor and Clay) biking on the trail tonight with our friends Don and Linda and family. The girls aren't crazy about biking generally, so having some friends go along makes it more fun for them. Paul likes to see them out enjoying the fresh air and exercise so he tries to persuade them to go along at least MOST of the time.
During last summer and this we try to go biking once a week. Since the baby, I'm not up to it yet. I need to come up with a solution for taking Clay with me then I am GOING. Paul likes to race down the trail, but he likes it even better when I go along so he goes slow for me when I'm with him. :)
They even got Blake and Christine to go, too! Surprise. Well, Christine going wasn't so surprising, it's Blake. He works and works and works and barely stops. I didn't even know he had a bike anymore, actually. They came back to the house with the rest of the family and all of us consulted how we might give Blake a haircut. He's been married for, what, over a year and a half and he's had, I think, three hair cuts now (counting tonight). It was a bit daunting at first, but after the first couple inches came off....I recommended he come back in something like a month for the next one instead of waiting six or seven months.
Garth is going with Poppy tomorrow to fix a lawn mower at some lake quite a distance from here. After that I think they'll be using those fishing poles I saw Poppy stashing into his van earlier tonight.
Tomorrow I believe there are more chickens to dress. That's been a daily event for the past few days. My daughters are WoNdErFuLLy allowing me to skip my turns out in the butcher shop these days. I did go out and cut up about 130 chickens this morning, but they did all the bagging and lifting the crates and such. It wasn't that big of deal; Clay took a long nap during that time.
Maria accomplished three, no wait....four....new things this week: she learned how to drive the tractor*, she learned how to skillfully back the manure spreader around**, she learned how to haul manure***, AND she learned how to finally make strawberry pie just like Grandma's! (And Grandma makes the most DELICIOUS strawberry pie, so that is really an accomplishment!!)
*My girls have long lamented that they've never been given the chance to learn to drive the tractors because the boys always do it. Yes, true. I actually just admitted to Paul the other day that I never really knew what I was doing on any tractor he put me on in our early marriage....Maria decided to sit under Garth's tutelage and LEARN! Audrey declares she's next.(*)
**Backing anything hitched to anything else is a coveted skill any time on this place. To some it comes as easily as breathing. To others of us, well....not so much.
***Haul manure.....not the job a lot of girls like, but hey, it was a change of scenery for a while.
So, there's a quick update. Clay, by the way, is starting to plump out (in an ever cute sort of way). He's given me the most dashing crooked grins for the past three mornings and, yes, he only smiles in the morning.....How special I feel to have such a sweet little person look at me with such ardor and admiration and actually SMILE at me like I'm somebody special! Awwww.
(*) Correction, correction, correction. Maria pointed out to me this morning that she has, in fact, driven tractor before. I had forgotten about this. They put her on the tractor with the hay rake last summer. I stand corrected.
~Colleen
