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!