What A Summer...

What a summer it's been so far!

We've been incredibly blessed with some gorgeous weather this past week...gorgeous enough that it almost makes me forget the horrible, humid, hot days that we had a few weeks ago!  The breeze is blowing through the house, the birds are singing outside the windows and the blue sky with puffy white clouds is welcome.  When we look south out of the barn in the mornings and see the hills clearly, we know it's going to be a good day!

We've had a lot going on here, and I haven't had much time to read or write blog posts lately.  I have a few minutes today, and some pictures already on the computer, so here's a snap shot of what we've been up to.

Jim finished 2nd cutting hay on June 15th, and baled barley straw that week also.  That Saturday, June 17th was my parents' auction.  They'll be downsizing and moving in less than a month, to a house right across the road from us.  That's our big project this summer.

Here are a few pictures of the house renovations...

The original owners liked the "Bermuda" look.  It looked very nice in it's time, but we were ready to make it our own, and it was sorely in need of new paint and new flooring...

My sister and I, and Jenna started painting the second week of June. Because we knew we were replacing the carpet, it was nice to be able to not worry about dripping paint on the floor.  We chose a darker shade for the front living room, and a lighter shade for the rest of the house.  As you can see, it has a very open floor plan, so it would have been tricky to paint several different colors not in the same family...

Jim ripped out the carpet over the past several days, and the new flooring is scheduled to be installed soon!

I spent most of yesterday pulling up tack strips where we'll be putting vinyl instead of carpet.  Namely the bathrooms, kitchen and laundry area.  They were glued and nailed to the concrete floor, so it took a while.  There was a little damage to the concrete to the floor where we pulled the nails out, but shouldn't be too complicated or time consuming to repair before the vinyl goes down...

While I did that, Mom did some more painting, and she and Jenna did some clean up work.

Next we have to decide what to do in one of the bathrooms where the wallpaper is coming off, and we need to repair some loose ceramic tiles around the shower.  It's been quite a project, but it's been fun to see it coming together!  

If I'm awol from the blog for awhile, it's because I've been just a little bit distracted.  Bear with me...and stay tuned for some "finished" pictures soon!

Hay, Straw and a Heat Wave...

Jim says that the week that the barley is combined is always the hottest week of the summer, and this year is no exception!

But first, there was hay to unload.  Jim's in the middle of 2nd cutting of hay this week, and with no rain in sight for several days, he was able to get several wagon loads of dry hay.  We pulled a small crew together and they got it unloaded this morning.  Oh boy, was it ever hot! I think the temperatures were close to 100% today.  Yuck.

Just a few short weeks ago, this mow was completely empty, and housed a puppy kennel for the chilly nights (which are but a distant memory)...

We'll see how full this mow gets this summer.  It's not quite at the half way mark yet.  I climbed up the elevator for a different perspective.

The crumbs left in the wagon got shoveled into the hay racks in the meadow, for an evening snack for the cows.  That's the first place they go when they're left out of the barn for the night...and if there's nothing in the racks for them, do we ever hear about it!

Then it was time to head over to the barley field.  Those windrows of straw are what was left behind by the combine...

Jim started baling around lunch time, but the straw was still a little tough, so he stopped and waited a few hours to try again. It was nicer (drier) by then, but still not as nice as he would have liked, so he left the rest lay for another day.

I'm glad today is almost over, and right now, I'm thankful for a shower, clean clothes, and for the cool breeze blowing in the window beside me.

Corn and Beans..."Episode 2"...

They're still growing  (they'd better be!!)...

A few weeks ago I posted pictures of the tiny corn and bean plants that were beginning to grow in our fields. We've had a lot of moisture, which is good...but the temps have been cooler than usual, so the growth in the fields hasn't been quite as fast as some years.

Here is the corn today, 16 days later...

And here are the beans...

The corn always seems to grow faster than the soybeans, but when you figure how much taller it has to grow than the beans do before maturity, it makes sense.  If we continue the pattern of plenty of moisture and the temps soar next week like they're calling for, everything should grow like crazy!

All in all, it's doing really well for 3 1/2 weeks.