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!