What happened to Fall?

Can you believe this??? Yesterday was October 13 and it snowed! Around 9:30 AM I'm sitting at my desk at work and I look out the window to see it blizzarding! It was really coming down... for about 1/2 an hour. Everything was covered in white. It was all gone by 11:00 AM, but wow! We went from 90° temps about 3 weeks ago straight to winter with 40° temps. Crazy. We've completely skipped fall and went straight from summer to winter. Wonder if the trees know that? The leaves were just starting to turn.

It has warmed up some today. It's probably around 50° or so, but the wind is blowing so the wind chill will make it somewhere around the mid 40's. It sure was gloomy looking this morning though. Yuck. The sun has come out this afternoon (along with the wind) and it "looks" more cheerful outside.

Rich finished tarping the hay stacks yesterday.......... just before it started snowing. So I think the farm is all hunkered down and ready for winter. The woodshed on the other hand is not. It's pretty empty. Gonna have to find wood somewhere! Baseboard heaters get too expensive to run all winter so the woodstove is usually roaring nicely. It keeps the main part of the house nice and toasty.... bedrooms get supplemented with baseboard heaters just before bedtime.

John is doing much better. He just has a cold now. Thank goodness. I was afraid I was gonna have to go live with him just to keep him from falling apart. Maybe a little bit for my reassurance too.

Tim is well into Football season with Rich coaching. This weekend is Homecoming....... hoping for a win! as always. Tim is going to the dance..... maybe slightly under protest. Boys don't ever seem to know the details of the evenings happenings. They've just been told they're going. I just want to take pictures. : )

Me, I'm still chugging along. Most days are the same......... work, home, supper, tv, bed........ repeat. Except for Friday nights and Monday nights when I go to the football games. Or when I have an ill child 2 hours away and I'm resigned to sitting and worrying my time away wondering if everything is ok or if I should just get in the car and go to him.

Time goes on, kids heal, games are won (hopefully), and moms survive to do it all another day.

Children

Is it ever possible to let them go? To totally be on their own? I really don't think so. Not only is it hard for mom to see them go and not want to run right after them "just to make sure" everything is ok, I think it's hard for the child to leave that security too. They want to make sure Mom (and Dad too) are still there "just in case".

Yeah, I thought it would be easier when John went off to live by himself, go to college and get a job. I was wrong. Now I have to wonder if he's getting up on time, getting to class on time, getting homework done, getting to work on time, getting enough rest/sleep, eating right......... UGH! Thank goodness for cell phones and texting otherwise I think I might go nuts! Physican and insurance issues have been a hassle too. Something I hadn't thought about either. John hasn't had the best time since he left a week and a half ago to start college. He had his wisdom teeth (all 4) out on the 18th of Sept. School started on the 28th. Seemed like enough time for recovery. Two days after he got to school one of the extraction holes got infected. We had to find an Oral Surgeon for him to go see. Thankfully the Oral Surgeon here called around and got him an appointment near his town. Got him some antibiotics and pain pills. Had to fax insurance info to the pharmacy. Thought we were on the road to recovery. Not so..... On Thursday he started feeling sick, was better over the weekend, but this week he REALLY felt bad. Went to urgent care only to be told he might have appendicitis! So again, I'm faxing and calling in insurance info to the hospital. He went through a mess of tests. Turns out to be a viral infection. Thank goodness....... I guess. More pills and lots of rest. All this in a week and a half! He's ready to throw in the towel and come back home. The mommy in me says "Yes! Come home and I'll take care of you!" The rational side says "It's only been a week and a half. Come on........ give it more time. You can do it!" Still, it's soooooooo hard. What's that saying? A mom holds her child with her hand for a little while, but with her heart for eternity. Or something to that effect. So true.

Indian Summer

Oh it's been absolutely GORGEOUS these last few weeks. The first day of fall was just a couple of days ago, but you'd never know from the weather we've been having. Highs in the upper 80's to 90's. Nothing but blue skies and sunshine. Mornings have been quite chilly. We've had 30° the last few mornings, but it's still beautiful. That's been the only indication that Fall is definitely on its way.

We do have about 20 acres of 4th cutting alfalfa on the ground waiting to be baled up. Rich is going to try to get it up by Sunday. We haven't been haying this late in the year with this good of weather for a while. It's nice.

John has moved off to college........... well, sort of. His classes don't start until Monday the 28th. He cleared out his bedroom on Wednesday and took all of his stuff to his apartment. He will be back today, Friday, to watch the High School Football game. He'll probably go back to his apartment on Sunday. Then, who knows when we'll see him again. I'm expecting it'll be when he runs out of cash......... which could be quickly.

Speaking of football, Rich is coaching the high school JV team this year and coaching the wide receivers on the Varsity team. Tim is playing on the JV team mainly but has suited up for 1 varsity game so far and is suiting up again tonight. He actually got in on about 10 plays in last weeks Varsity game! He's having a lot of fun.

Rich has been quite busy these last couple of months. Trying to get the haying done and keep up with football practices and games. As soon as this last cutting of hay is in the stack things should calm down a bit. All we'll have to keep up with is Tim's sports then. Only one child to follow around this year. Only bad thing is, Rich now rides the team bus and I'm left to beg rides from other parents or drive myself. Not really liking that. But Rich does seem to be having a good time coaching and that's very good.

That's all for now. Enjoy the wonderful weather for now because next week Fall comes in with a vengance.

A Cool Down Period

Whew. We've had a nice break in the weather for the last couple of weeks. It's been much cooler with temps in the 70's to 80's. Even had a sprinkle overnight night before last. Sure was refreshing. This nice cool weather is going to come to an abrupt end I understand though. We're supposed to be back up in the high 90's to 100's by next week. Just in time for the Klickitat County Fair!!!

Speaking of the fair.......... Tim said goodbye to his steers this morning. Rich hauled them to Toppenish to the auction. They were in no way "fair ready". Tim was just way too busy this summer to spend any quality time getting them show trained. So, we get to sleep in every morning next week (well, if you can call 6 am sleeping in). We don't have to be up at 5, washing a steer, cleaning out stalls and keeping the barn clean. We will just get to enjoy the fair as spectators. Tim actually enjoyed doing all the barn chores. He'll still be hanging out in the barn with his 4-H club buddies though. I'm sure they'll put him to work.

This cooler weather kind of messed with finishing up 2nd cutting too. It was really strange. Rich only had 40 acres left to bale. He tried to bale several morning's but there was no dew! You would've thought with the cooler weather there would've been too much, but nooooooo. He finally finished and then the next 2 mornings in a row there was PLENTY of dew. Go figure!

Water is going on for 3rd cutting. Rich get's his daily summer exercise walking the wheel lines to keep them straight. Hopefully 3rd cutting will be just as big or bigger than 2nd. The machinery is behaving now..... so far. We purchased a new tractor....... Tim has claimed it for his self. It's a newer model so it has all the "perks". Rich gets the old new tractor... still has a cab, but the radio, air conditioning, and seat aren't anywhere near as nice as the NEW one.

Cows are being their usual spoiled selves. The're never happy.......... or one could say, "the grass is greener........". We had a cow have twins last week. She didn't breed when the rest of the cows did before the bull got shipped to a freinds place for the winter but when he came back earlier this year she must have......... anyway, SUPRISE! We have 2 new babies... one heifer and one bull. The momma doesn't seem to have enough milk for both so Rich is trying to supplement the smallest of the two with milk replacer. Trying is the key word there.......... the little bugger won't drink from a bottle. We'll keep trying though.

What else............

Oh.... along with our county fair starting next Wednesday, football practice starts for Tim. Another reason Tim won't be showing a steer. They will have daily doubles (2 2 hour practices a day for 3 days, then regular practices start on Monday the 24th and THEN school starts on Wednesday the 26th! Woo hoo!

John tore the transmission out of his truck......... again, and is putting in a new one. He really hates driving the "wascally wabbit" as he calls it. It also has no air conditioning. Gets really good fuel mileage, but with no air conditioning, it's not a fair trade off. So he will be putting in the new tranny tonight with the help of some friends (dad's leaving him alone on this one for the most part) and hoping it works because he REALLY wants to drive it to his apartment in Pendleton this weekend. Yeah, I hope it works too, because I don't want to have to go get him if it doesn't.

Work has been a zoo for me the last 2 weeks. We have a program deadline tomorrow and people just decided LAST MONDAY it would be a good thing to sign up for. AND in the middle of last week I was called for Jury Duty and actually got picked to serve on a jury! Nothing major... just a couple of guys joy riding through the Wishram Curves (a very dangerous part of Highway 14 through the Columbia River Gorge) on sport motorcycles, or as some call them.... crotch rockets, at speeds in excess of 100 mph. Good grief! Anyway, at work, the phones were ringing off the hook... people were coming through the door faxes coming in... e-mails burning up the wires. Just nuts! We're still not done! Can't wait for September to come........... oh yeah another major deadline then too......... Job security right?

Well, that's about the jist of it. Still busy, busy, busy..... wouldn't want it any other way..... or so I've been told. I'd sure like to try it though.

Have a great weekend!

A Midsummer Day's Reality

Second Cutting started coming down today! Wow, summer is half over, well, according to Tim anyway. "And we still haven't done anything fun" he says. Flying to the other side of the country, 2 football camps, and a baseball championship don't count I guess.

Rich and Tim got the smaller, more efficient, loader put back together and running again last night after waiting what seemed like eons for parts to arrive. Too bad it wasn't in time to load the 2 trucks that came in yesterday afternoon. But it will be ready for the next one!

John has parked his awesome cherry red "Clifford The Big Red Truck". Too many transmission problems. It's all because of the big tires and has NOTHING to do with the way he drives. Or so he says. He is now driving a 1980 VW Rabbit that he was given by my nephew. It's nothing to right home about, but it runs. That's the most important aspect of this car. It does get much better fuel milage. It's a diesel. He has made some "modifications" to it. Some too scary to mention. He's 6'2" and has to kind of fold himself up to get in, but........... it runs. He's just hoping he doesn't have to take it to school in September. We'll see............

Monday Tim and I leave for Pendleton for the 14 year old Babe Ruth All-Star State Championship Tournament. We'll be there all week. It's gonna be HOT! It will be fun though. Another "vacation"!!!! I would like to maybe go to the beach sometime though. Somewhere that doesn't have a tour guide cracking his whip or that we have to be at a certain place exactly 1 hour before game time. Maybe later this summer.

The cows have been quite well behaved so far this summer.......... oh, except for Monday morning. They decided the single wire "gate" wasn't good enough to hold them in and made their escape. Rich put them back in and so far, they've stayed put. I suppose the grass (or in this case-alfalfa) was greener on the other side.

John is still working for the county trying desperately to save money. It's difficult when there are so many toys you can buy these days. He just got a call on an apartment that's available in Pendleton so now he has something tangeable to save for. RENT!!

So............. summer goes on. Hot, dry and windy. Until next time...................

Busy, busy, busy........

Made it to DC and back. What a wonderful, whirlwind of a trip! Tim and I had a great time. Saw LOTS of history, learned a lot, walked a lot and decided that there's no place like the Pacific Northwest to call home! I don't know how the people live there with that humidity. You could be dripping just standing still.

Rich and Tim survived Football camp in Spokane. John and I held down the farm while they were gone. John moved irrigation and I fed steers. It's nice to have them back home. They had a great time too. Tim was the only Freshman that went to camp this year. He said they all made him feel like part of the team. It was a good experience for him. Both of them said the food was the best part!

This week is back to some what "normal". Back into the hay business. First cutting got off to a rough start. Plugged up swathers and balers, broken baler, rain storm.... Finally got it finished and stacked. Ready to be hauled out. 4 hay trucks coming in this week. One today, one tomorrow, and 2 on Friday! It's good to see it going out. Makes room for 2nd cutting.

This week is also the start Football weight lifting for Tim as well as the beginning of Babe Ruth All-Star team practice. There is another boy from here that made the team so we get to carpool this year! Practice is in The Dalles at least 3 days a week if not every day from 7-8:30 pm.

Next week Tim is attending an Offense - Defense Football Camp at Reed College in Portland. They actually have Pro-Football players in attendance and it is led by Pro coaches. It should be fun and very beneficial for him. I will miss him again. We take him down on Sunday and pick him up on Thursday.

It will be back to baseball practice when he gets back. By then Rich will probably be ready to cut hay again.

John has a full time job this summer working for the county Public Works/Road Dept. He's supposed to be saving the money to pay rent for his apartment when he goes to college this fall.

Babe Ruth All Star State Tournament is in Pendleton, OR this year! Hopefully John will have his apartment by then and we can stay there! I can also be getting it ready for John to move in when school starts in September! That tournament starts July 20 and runs through the 25th.

I know there's more to look forward to this summer. More football stuff as well as the county fair. I'll save that for another post. Have a great week!

Here we go!

Rich started laying down the alfalfa today. The weather has be absolutely beautiful the last couple of weeks. He's had the irrigation on that whole time. Shut it off on Wednesday and the hay is ready to cut. Temps have been in the 80's the last few days and is supposed to stay there for a few more. Things are going to get very busy around here now.

Next week is the last week of school for both boys. John is graduating from High School and Tim is graduating from the 8th grade. Tim's grad ceremony is on Wednesday with his last day on Friday and John's graduation is on Friday with his last day on Wednesday. We're having a BBQ get together on Friday afternoon before John's graduation. Family and friends will be here to congratulate both boys.

On Monday June 15th Tim and I leave for Washington DC with a group of kids from Tim's school. It will be a whirlwind trip. Lots to see in 6 days! It will be fun though. Something we will remember for the rest of our lives. Rich and John get to stay home and take care of the farm. John will hopefully have a job somewhere this summer too.

Tim has a busy summer ahead of him all on his own. The day after we get back from DC (Monday June 22nd) he leaves for a week of football camp with the high school team (he will be a freshman next year) in Spokane, WA. When he gets back from that he is going to a football camp in Portland, Or for 5 days. The first week of July will be Babe Ruth All-Stars practice then the tournaments for that starts on July20th in Pendleton, OR. The end of August is fall football practice/camp for High School and our County Fair. Tim will be showing a steer again this year. Whew! What a busy kid!

So anyway, here we go............ Our busy season is just starting. Hope you have a wonderful summer!

Spring is here?

Looks like it today anyway. Sunshine, blue skies, fluffy clouds, slight breeze. I even went for a walk on my lunch break. Wore my coat... shouldn't have. It's that nice! Hard to believe yesterday was 25° in the morning then rain/snow in the afternoon. Spring officially arrives about noon on Friday. I'm hoping the "in like a lion, out like a lamb" thing rings true this year. First high school baseball game is tomorrow. We have sat through games in the snow... that's not fun... but it would be really nice if tomorrow could be like today. As for the farming........ we're all calved out....... well, except one cow that insists on being the VERY LAST. Not sure what satisfaction she gets. I think Rich is getting the itch to get outside and do something. He's even helping the neighbor feed his cows! Tim, our 14 year old, is also helping the neighbor feed. He made a deal with him for a beat up pickup truck. They towed it home a couple of weeks ago. It actually runs now. Tim is sooooooo excited! Cracks me up. It's the ugliest thing you've ever seen. Well, I guess that opinion could have something to do with my gender. It's Dukes of Hazzard - General Lee orange, missing one tail light, no tail gate, one of the doors won't stay shut, numerous dents, rust spots..... But, in Tim's 14 year old eyes........ IT'S BEAUTIFUL! He can't wait to drive it to high school in a couple of years. I'm sure all the girls will be soooo impressed. Things are starting to green up around here. Haven't seen any of my bulbs sprouting yet though. Still too cold at night. Still have some water standing in the Swale too. Hopefully the grass hay crop will be good this year. The low land in the Swale flooded at least twice this year! Before we know it, we'll be complaining about how hot it is and when is winter coming.............. Yeah right!

Winter Blahs..........

It's been eons ago since I last posted. Sorry. Yeah, yeah. I know. Just 'cause it's winter doesn't mean life on the farm comes to a screeching halt. There's still cows to be fed, snow to be shoveled..... er... pushed, hay trucks to be pulled (out of the mud post loading). That actually only happened once this winter. My oldest son, the all knowing 17 year old, spent most of his winter pulling his friends out of snowy, muddy ditches. Seems he's the only one for miles around with a 4-wheel drive truck. Or maybe it's because they don't want to call their parents. ??? Not that he minded at all. Nothing like giving the teenage ego a boost! His shiny bright red truck however, has been in a perpetual state of mud covered-ness. Teenage boys, what are ya gonna do? Today we're finally getting some sunshine. After 2 1/2 months of temperatures in the teens to mid 20's, 40° feels like a heatwave! Sure looks pretty out there. Calving started at the first of February too. Out of 17 cows, we have 3 left to calve. I'm such a horrible farm wife! I've only been out to the pasture once and that was right after the first baby was born! Shame on me! I might get out there today..... since it's nice and sunny. Ok, so I'm a fair weather farmer's wife. Shoot me. I did finally get a new pair of barn boots though!! My first pair of my VERY OWN!!! But, alas........ they've still got that "new boot" smell. Barely out of the box. Someday.......... (sigh.......) Ok. So the boys basketball season's have ended.. albeit badly. High school won one game and my younger son's middle school team won 4 out of 8. Thank goodness that's over. On to baseball!!! We'll see how that works out. Baseball season means spring is right around the corner........ after sitting through the first half of the season all bundled up like we're Nanook of the North. The second half of the season we break out the sunscreen! Watch out for those metal bleachers!!!