Sunday, July 20, 2008

Workin' In The Mud...

Joe found his creative side on this hot morning...
Decided it was time to pour "cement".
Over on the road is 2 loaders, with the trowel smoothing out the
boy made cement. You can see the hose over to the left,
washing the water down into the puddle.
Dumptrucks await to haul.
All in the mind of a farm boy, who doesn't watch t.v.
He watches his Dad.

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Welcome to CANADA!!!


We were so lucky to have the Clark Family come visit us all the way from Hawaii!!
I think by the end of their trip, it might be a slight resemblence to the Clarks on the Chevy Chase "Vacation" movies...but that will be told after. :)

Jim, Becky, Teresa and Alan...have lived in Hawaii for the last few years, as Jim was stationed there with the Army. He spent 15 months in Iraq...and a while after returning, they were told that they would soon be relocating to Kansas.
What a transition! But, I am sure they will be just fine, as they seem to make "HOME" wherever they go.
While they were sad to go...I started plotting that this could be good for me!! This would mean that they would ship their van to Seattle...fly to Seattle...which is only 2 1/2 hours from the Canadian border...and below...you will see...it happened.
We had a GREAT visit.
The kids (who have been pen pals) finally got to meet, and soon became great friends in person.

Jim and Becky...we hope the rest of your trip goes well. You will love Yellowstone. Thanks so much for making the trip up here to see us. It was a GREAT day. We forgot to say thankyou for the coffee and chocolates...The coffee was promptly opened the next day...and the chocolates...well, lets just say....every hand in the house soon found them.
ALOHA...

Now I hope Teresa and Alan didn't think lunch was free...
They were put to work collecting eggs right away!

This is Alan holding Penny...


Nicki and Teresa in their matching Hawaiian dresses!
Two peas in a pod, those two girls...
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After playing shy for quite some time, Ryan quickly warmed up to Becky, and out of the blue started singing all 3 songs that he knew..."And a moo moo here, and a moo moo there...and a moo moo here...and a..."
Below...Jim and Tony are just trying to figure out how they can incorporate manure spreading with trips to Iraq...hmmmm...I am sure they came up with some sort of plan.


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Great Job on that tractor, Alan!!
You just might be a farmer one day!


Joe and Alan have the same toothless grin...

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Time to get back to Farmin'...

Joe and Thomas had been waiting all year long to get to make hay...
As luck would have it...as the Clarks left...It was hay time.
Finally, after a years wait...THE HAY WAS READY TO BALE!!
Joe got to drive...Oh ya...
Farm kid turns Tractor driver...
Does it get any better???


I made them stop for a picture...even Lilly jumped in.
I didn't even ask her to. :)

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Nicki's turn to drive...Tony is a very patient teacher.
She got the hang of it pretty quick.
As soon as the comfort was there, the singing in the tractor began.

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July 17, 2008...


Happy Birthday to my Grandad...

I wish you were still here.

It has been many years, but I would have loved to

have known you as an adult.

In my eyes, you were the last of

the real cowboys...

It is funny, two things I still remember. I remember your hands.

Your hard working, hands of leather.

They were rough, wrinkled and always held a cigarette.

And you had a smell...probably your smoke, cowboy sweaty smell, :),

but still, sometimes I smell it. And I think of you.

There are days I would like to go back to my past...and

enjoy the days of branding at the old corral.

I loved the times we would ride in the back of your old white truck,

and you would drive through the land under the old oak trees.

Sometimes we couldn't duck quick enough and the

branches would hit us right in the face.

(Now that I know better, I think you did that on purpose.)

Watermelon will never be as good as it was at your place.

I still don't know who shot the seeds the furthest.

Now it wasn't all fun and games.

You had a temper.

The stories have been told.

But in my eyes,

as a child...

I didn't see it.

I still don't see it.

I just choose not to.

I prefer to remember it through the eyes of a child...

In my eyes, you were my Hero.


I was trying to scan a picture or two, but my scanner isn't working for some reason. So I will post this anyways. If I can get it going I will go back and post the pictures later.
Things aren't the same.
Your house and land...old, run down and
falling apart. But the memories keep it alive.
There are "issues"...some we can't seem to fix.
But the memories keep it alive.
You are gone...
Grandma is gone...
But the memories keep it alive.
I heard once, if you continue to tell the stories, that is how
you keep them alive.
I choose that.

Anyways...I still think of you on your Birthday.

And quite often on other days.

I wish you were still here...

Until we meet again...

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Thinking of you...

This post is for some special friends of mine. I just wanted the Tolsmas to know that I am thinking of them today. 4 years ago your life changed in a very sad way and I cannot even imagine what life has been like. I just wanted you to know I was thinking of you...

We thought of Kristy today, but that is nothing new. We thought of Kristy yesterday, and will tomorrow too. And we also think of you as well, even though you make no outward show. For what it means to lose a child, we will never truly know. Remembering Kristy will be easy, she was such a special joy each day. But we will remember your heartache as well, which we know will never go away.
-Author Unknown

July 4th and 5th...

Well, we celebrated the 4th of July in Canada this year...I was in the RED WHITE AND BLUE spirit though...:)


Nicki was asked to sing at the Berry Festival. Friday, she sang "Hero", (it just isn't a song she does too well at.) That night we decided she probably shouldn't sing it again on Saturday. So she went searching through her music and came up with a Mandy Moore song called "Only Hope". She hadn't sung it in awhile, but practiced that night, and then sang it on Saturday. She did a really nice job. Once I get it downloaded, I will post it here. I am still having something go wrong on my camera, that makes it shut down after 3 min of recording, so it messed it up a bit. But I will figure it out someday! We took Nicki's "BFF" :) Julia along. They had a great time. And later in the day, we went to see the American Girl movie...(see, I was keeping it RED WHITE AND BLUE...just a day late...)


Here she is singing...click on the play button, and be sure to stop the music on the sidebar of this page...














Joe hanging out with the magician...




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Farm Cats...


Kitty Jet and Orangie...getting settled for their afternoon
nap...I believe it makes no difference if you are a human
or an animal...John Deere tractors are the preference on this farm!
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Happy Canada Day...July 1...

We spent Canada Day at Rotary Stadium...where Nicki was asked to sing, "O Canada". It was a beautiful day, and I actually got my first sunburn of the year!! (This is the only way I can tan. Sad, I know.)

Here she is singing...it is a small picture, and actually says, "MOVIE" on it...but it is not a movie. Just a picture.
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