Wrapping Up July...

It's been a busy July...and a hot one. We haven't had one like this for a while. It's been two weeks of yucky sticky weather...with a bunch of rain tossed somewhere in the middle...and then yucky and sticky again.

You know it's hot and humid when you are on your third change of clothes by lunch time...and you can hardly wait to go to the barn and stand in front of the big fans.  The barn smell clings to everything...even my glasses smell dirty.  Sorry, maybe that's TMI...but no amount of washing them in hot soapy water helps.  I guess I should be glad it's time for a stronger prescription even if it's a sign my eyes are getting old along with me.

Anyway...a lot has happened since my last post!

Let me back up to the fall of 1988 and spring of 1989.  I was a student at Ecola Hall Bible School in beautiful Cannon Beach, Oregon.  It was a wonderful experience, and I met a lot of great people that I still keep in touch with today, thanks to facebook!  One of my room mates, Cheryl, has a daughter who was interested in having a new experience...on her own...in another part of the country...on a farm!  My sister and I picked up LuAnn at the Philadelphia airport early last Tuesday morning.  Poor girl...it was the beginning of the hot humid yuck...and her first words as we walked out of the airport were "Oh wow, it's really humid here!"  But...she was a trooper!  She had flown all night from Portland Oregon to get here, but she came right out to the barn and pitched in.

She learned to prep a cow's udder for milking. She got to see a newborn calf. Over and over again, she scraped poop, hoed poop, got splattered by poop, shoveled fresh sawdust under the cows for bedding, fed calves, fed hay and balage, and fed rye to the heifers.  She even fed silage once (that's a heavy job!) helped me mow the yard, and helped to make pickles one day.

Here's LuAnn with the newborn calf...

We did get to do a few fun things too, while she was here.  Our neighbor Jake took us for a ride in his buggy.  That's Roger the horse.  Roger used to be a race horse, and had lots of energy, but Jake said that he's calm enough that an eight year old could drive him...

LuAnn got to take the reins as soon as we hit the road.  We were following another buggy, and Roger wanted to catch him!  Jake had a speedometer in the buggy, and we got up to around 15mph.  Eric and I were riding in the back seat, and I got a video of the ride.  We couldn't figure out how to transfer it here from her phone, but if you're my facebook friend you can see in on my page...

We did a few other fun things too...we rode the Strasburg Railroad and did a few local "touristy" things that I'd never done before!  LuAnn flew home on Wednesday, and I think she probably slept a long time once her head hit the pillow back in Oregon!

On Thursday, Jenna brought me a huge grocery bag of green peppers from the produce farm where she works.  My niece Bethany is staying with us this weekend, and she spent quite a while on Friday chopping them into small pieces...

We ended up with six quarts that I bagged up and froze.  When I need them, I can easily grab a handful at a time.  I like easy when it comes to cooking!

I can hardly believe that tomorrow will be August 1st!  That means both kids are headed back to school in just a few weeks.  The summer jobs will be ending, cross country practice will be officially starting soon, and unfortunately, the hot, humid weather is continuing.  On a positive note, the corn and beans are growing like crazy!

On the other hand...my yard looks like it needs a haybine and baler!

How's the weather where you are?