A boy and his tractors

Preston has been fascinated with tractors since day one.  It's in his blood.  With Pa-pa and Uncle Kent manning the family farm, he's had a lifetime of riding in tractors and combines.  Not to mention the fact that he's been given tractors as gifts since birth!  One of his favorite things to do is go to the Farm Heritage Museum when they have the tractor shows each summer.  He's like a kid in a candy shop!  He would go from tractor to tractor, climb up and ask me to take his picture!  I should've learned from past experience that this would turn into a photo shoot and dressed him in some nicer clothes, but if you could've seen his feet/legs when we left, you'd understand why he wore play clothes!  And if you couldn't tell from the photos, we're a family of International farmers- no John Deere for us!

Besides the tractors, the kids both had a lot of fun playing in the replica fort and shooting the wooden guns they had inside.

They were also beyond fascinated with the animals, including a mess of three and four-horned sheep.  It's that genetically modified feed, I'm telling you!

And then there were the horses.  If there's one thing Kate has always been drawn to, it's horses.  She's not nearly as horse crazy as she once was, but she still wants one.  Poor Pa-pa had to listen to her beg all the way home to buy one for her.  "PLEASE, Papa!  I promise I'll come to your house EVERY day to take care of it!!!"  Now with Abbie and Issie being horse crazy, too, I'm wondering how long it will be before he buckles.  He's a sucker for his granddaughters!

And lastly, there was a train ride.  Each year we go there is more track completed, and now it goes all the way around the museum grounds.  Don't let Kate's face fool you...  She couldn't wait to get back across to the train station to ride and was so afraid we'd miss it, then as soon as she gets on, she gets the too cool for school look.

I'm so glad the weather worked out and gave us a wonderfully cool break in the 80's.  After nearly a month of 100's, this felt cold!  Next year we plan to go for the whole day-Preston just didn't have enough time to sit on each tractor!

Raaaaandooooooom

Today's one of those days where I have so many thoughts, too little time, and none of them qualify for their own blog post.  So here goes...

I took the kids to see a "free" movie today in Greenville.  They hook you with the free movie, but you have to fork over $11 for 2 small popcorns and 3 small drinks.

The guy we had an accident with last Sunday has already called our insurance company asking when they're going to pay to fix his car.  The ins. co. thinks he's at fault too, and they're taking that into consideration before taking any action.  He certainly doesn't have $500 worth of damage to his car, so I don't know why he's even bothering- other than to be a bigger jerk than he already was Sunday!

Speaking of the accident...  I called about Christopher getting court supervision so the ticket won't go on his record and he has to go to traffic school!  I don't know why this was so funny, but it is!  He can take it online, and that's what he plans to do.  I just think traffic school is funny!

Preston ran into me at the library the other day while I was wearing flip flops and his foot bent one toenail all the way back to the nail bed.  HOLY MOTHER OF PEARL!  It's still on, it's just a lovely color of purple.  Note to self, always wear proper shoes...

There are exactly 3 weeks until school starts.  I'm really worried about this heat since two schools in town aren't air conditioned.  They always let out at 2:00 until Labor Day anyway for heat, but triple digit temps and no a/c is just plain stupid.  Hopefully someone will come up with a plan before then...  Not crossing my fingers.

Preston has a new and improved, super-sized vending machine now.  He no longer has to contort his body to fit inside and has room to arrange stuff inside.  But now, instead of handing stuff out through the top, he pushes it out quickly, sending it flying across the room!

Our neighbors got a new dog.  A Husky puppy.  Their last two dogs lasted 4 weeks max before they got rid of them.  We're wondering how long this one will last- probably until it's too big to be in the house or they get tired of its barking...

I am so ready for fall clothes.  I hope it gets cool enough to wear them!  It's usually jean weather by Preston's birthday, but who knows how hot it will be then.

I'm in full planning mode for Preston's party.  I've got two months, and I should've done this earlier.  It's an Angry Birds party, and it should be super fun!  I don't know how I ever threw parties before Pinterest!  We're having chili, soup and sandwiches.  I'm hoping fall food will bring fall weather, but the last time we served this, it was 85 the day of the party...

Kate and I found the BEST hats at a thrift store today, but didn't buy them yet.  She's having a British party come April and it's going to be a proper British party, which means proper ladies will wear hats!  I better check when Easter is, though, because a proper lady doesn't wear a white hat before Easter!  Just checked, it's March 31.  We're safe!

I found a GORGEOUS vintage crushed velvet wing back chair for $20 at said thrift store that I think I'm going to go back and get tomorrow.  It will be perfect for taking outside for pictures.  I'm thinking Abbie and Issie's 3 year and some for Kate.  I just hope it doesn't have bedbugs...

The other day, Kate was saying that her head was hot, and I launched into the best Pedro I could and quoted the whole scene.  Geek, I know, but Napoleon Dynamite has got to be the best movie ever!  Not familiar?  Here ya go!

Drought

Yes, I know, I'm beating a dead horse, but this blog is a family journal, and being in a farming family, this is a big deal.  Just bear with me.  They say come October we'll break this pattern- unless something forms in the gulf before then.  Until then, we're stuck.

Let's take a look at one of the fields my father-in-law farms...

I don't know how familiar some of you are with crops, but I will tell you that corn is NOT supposed to look like this.  The old saying "Knee high by the 4th of July" is an old standard for crop standards, but usually it's knee-high by Memorial Day, and around 6-7 feet tall by late July.  By no means should it be 2 feet tall, brown and "dropping" its ears (if it even has any).  They did a yield report last week and they estimate 7 bushels per acre.  Compare that with the 175 bushels per acre they got last year and you can see why this is a big deal.  What's even worse, is that the stress on the corn can cause it to develop alphatoxin, and if it does, it all has to be destroyed- it's not fit for human or animal consumption.  Right now, it looks like the crops will be a total loss.  For the farmers that don't have crop insurance, they've lost every cent invested.  Farmers in our area can apply for federal disaster aid, but that only goes so far. 

As for things on the home front, everything is pretty much fried.  We got an inch of rain 2 weeks ago- the first rain since early June, and it did nothing.  Our grass is still brittle, brown and blowing away.  The only part that isn't is where our septic laterals are.  Christopher decided to mow that area Saturday and our "monkey see, monkey do" neighbor must have thought that he needed to mow his yard as well.  I went outside and saw this plume of brown that was so thick you couldn't see through it, and sure enough, Roy was mowing his dirt...  Our blackberries have stopped producing and are all but dead.  I've been watering them hoping that the new canes will live since they'll have the berries next year.  Our garden is done with the exception of our potatoes and sweet potatoes which are better off still in the dry ground.  We were able to get a good yield from the plants that produced while they could.  Had we gotten rain, we would've been overloaded!

But at least someone got a good harvest...

Preston's been playing farm this week, and when your grandpa farms, you get to play with real soybeans.  Mind you, these were picked when he was in preschool so he could take them for show and tell.  Those were the days when he'd get to spend the afternoons harvesting with Pa-pa, and he loved every second of it.  Farming is in his blood!

And, yes, I instantly regretted letting him dump beans on the basement floor.  I'm still finding them everywhere I step!

Accidents happen

Well, we've had an adventurous day!  We had a little accident on the interstate this morning, but thankfully it was minor and no one was hurt.  It could easily have been much different, and we're all thankful that it turned out the way it did.

We were on our way to Effingham to have lunch for Grandma Shirley's birthday.  A few miles before Effingham there's a bridge that's been under construction.  We'd gotten over in the left lane right before the construction and we see this car coming up beside us really fast, trying to get around us before merging.  Well, this guy was running out of lane before hitting the cones as his lane ended, and started to get into our lane while we were still in it.  We had to hit the brakes and get off on the shoulder to avoid an accident, which we did. 

Two miles down the road, it went back to two lanes and we were in the right lane.  Christopher tried to pass him (same guy) and get over into the left lane, and the guy obviously didn't want us passing him- he was a pretty aggressive driver.  C signaled and went to merge over and we got hit.  More technically, and according to the state police, we hit him.  Ironically, we were right before the Effingham exit and pulled over at the gas station across the street from the restaurant we were supposed to go to.  The guy gets out, scowling all the while and calls the cops. 

While we were waiting, the guy gets out and starts taking pictures from afar, of our car.  Not of the damage, but the car itself.  I called Keith and Dee to tell them we'd be late, so they stopped by before they headed to the restaurant and the guy comes out of the gas station and starts taking pictures of THEIR car!  That's when it got a little strange.  It took *50* minutes for an officer to show up.  Granted, there's a state police headquarters in Effingham, yet they sent an office out on patrol.  After talking to the officer, she deemed that it was our fault since the other lane was occupied, and so we got the ticket.  By the time she was done, it had been an hour and a half since the accident, and we were an hour late for lunch and everyone had already been served.  We stopped by to say hi and had decided we'd just grab some fast food  on our way home, but everyone insisted we stay and we ended up being served within 5 minutes! 

So our day didn't go as we had hoped and it ended up being a little more expensive than it should have.  But the damage was minor and Christopher was able to wipe it all off when we got home (it was mostly just the other car's paint).  The other guy's car was damaged even less than ours, but you'd think from the scowl that never left his face that we'd totalled his car and ruined his entire day.  And this guy, for a 75-80 year old man, was a demon on wheels!  Here Christopher drives an hour each way to St. Louis 4 days a week on the same road and has an accident on the way to Effingham.  Really, though, aside from this and the time he hit ice and ended up in a multi-car pileup, he hasn't had any issues on his commute, which is something we all worry about.

Oh, and yesterday, Christopher was cleaning the wheels on the Explorer and had me back up so he could clean the other side.  I had my door open so I could hear him tell me to stop and I hit the refrigerator as I backed out with the door.  Smooooooooth!  Thankfully, all it did was move the refrigerator, but still, it was a bit embarrassing!

Our own personal vending machine

A week or so ago, Preston got a box and made himself a vending machine.  It was the box they'd drug home from my mom's months ago for Nonnie's Kingdom, and I'd told them that since the cat never went in it, we needed to get rid of it.  Well, if the cat won't use it, Preston will!  He took all of the goods from his "shop" and put them in the box.  We made up a list of the items and the prices and he got out all of his change to use since he said you had to use real money!  Oh, and it's exact change only because it's too hard to see inside the box to make change!  Here's his vending machine.

As you can see, there's a wide variety of items in his store.  Kate pointed out that when you buy from his shop, the prices are MUCH higher.  I don't think I've ever walked away from his shop without dropping at least $500 for groceries!  But in the vending machine, you could get a water bottle or white milk for a penny!  He even has medicine in his shop- Christopher gives him his old medicine containers- so you could even get prescriptions on the cheap! 

When you wanted something, you'd check the list and tell the vending machine what you wanted.  Preston would stick his hand out and you'd give him the money.  You'd hear a rustling and then out it would come!  Oh, look!  Here comes my Honey Smacks!

Every 5 minutes or so, he'd come out of the box saying, "Oh, my neck!" from being curled up inside the box, but he'd get right back in and do it again!  We played vending machine MANY times!  We got a new computer chair Sunday that's still in the box and it's bigger than the current vending machine, and Preston's already asking if he can use the box for a new machine!

Putting her to work

Kate recently got an update to her bedroom.  It was still the bright blue we painted it to match her horse bedding when we bought the house, and it was starting to be a little too little girlish.  So we poured over paint swatches and settled on a nice grey that would allow her to be able to change the color scheme/bedding any time she liked.  This was her old room with everything moved away from the walls.

And what do you do with your 13 year old that's been BEGGING to paint he room for 6 months?  You put her to work!

You can bet that she had to help paint, and it wasn't as easy as she thought it would be.  It didn't take long for her to start in with, "My arm hurts," in true teenage fashion.  By the time we were done, she knew why I didn't just jump up and paint as soon as she first wanted it done.  It's hard work!  It took most of the day and two coats, and it looks nice.  Plus, she loves it, so that's what counts.

See that Union Jack clock?  That's the inspiration for her new room.  It's complete Brisith Invasion around here, and I wish I could say it was because I've done such a great job instilling a love for the Beatles in my daughter (I've got P hooked), but she's mad about Harry Potter.  Now we have to find some red/blue bedding that doesn't look little girlish or boyish.  Let me tell you, it's HARD!  My mother in law brought over 2 comforters last night after they went back to St. Louis to pick up the credit card they left there Friday, and neither one works.  Something will turn up and then I can do something with her windows.  I'm tired of them just having blinds. 

And just because he's so cute, I had to share what Nonnie did while we painted- he napped in the extra paint pan.

Sorry for the blindingly unedited picture- I've got better things to do right now.  See also the Harry Potter book in the corner and the peg board she swiped from Preston to make a witches hat from rubber bands.  I told you she's mad for HP!

Busy bees

This weekend has been a huge non-stop rush, and that means that the camera hasn't been touched.  I know, I'm sorry.  I really wish I'd taken it along last night- we had a really fun time!

Thursday morning they called to say that Preston's swim plugs were in.  I knew we didn't have time to go to Effingham to pick them up that day, so I told the kids we'd go the next morning, stop at the nature center and have a picnic, and then head to pick them up.  We had a quick picnic and went through the nature center and the kids really enjoyed it.  They had a new display this time that was pretty fun.  We can't wait to go back when it's cooler to do the walking trails- it's always so hot when we go.  After that we ran a few errands and then picked up the plugs- we didn't even have to see the audiologist this time to fit them!  I'm so glad we won't be having to wear the ear band anymore! 

Saturday morning Keith came back and he and Christopher finished our little deck.  It looks SO much nicer than our old one.  That thing was such an eyesore.  We had plans that evening to go out to eat for my dad's birthday.  We got there and were super surprised to see ALL of my dad's family there!  I had no idea my cousins from up north were going to be there with their kids!  There were 22 of us in all and we had a really fun time!  We had fun enjoying my nephews who sat across from us and kept us entertained while we waited for our food.  Cooper was a riot!  My favorite was him calling my dad Grandpa Herny instead of Henry!  By the time we waited an hour for our food and then ate and waited for everyone to finish, all of the kids were done being well behaved and were getting restless, so we called it a night, but it was a fun one!!!  I wish we could all get together more often!

I'd told Granny the other day when we juiced a bushel of tomatoes that we'd can them this afternoon, so that was our big event.  We canned 11 quarts and have enough tomatoes already since Thursday to can another 11 or more.  We've got tomatoes running out of our ears, now!  I LOVE making chili with home canned juice, so we'll be having a lot of it this winter.  And even though the triple digits are coming back this week, fall will be here before we know it!

And if I'm not already a glutton for punishment, I've started a whole stack of bibs to sew.  I just finished another knot dress Friday night for Keri.  I had one wreath order that's ready to ship out and a new order today.  I'm sure Christopher loves coming home each night and seeing my sewing table a complete disaster, but I love it.  My mom made a comment last week that she'd seen some cute things that I'd pinned on Pinterest and asked if I'd made them.  I told her that the problem with Pinterest is, that I spend my free time at night on there pinning things that I want to make, and then have no time to make them!  It's crazy the amount of stuff I have waiting to make.  Once the kids go back to school, maybe then I'll have some time!

Rain!

See that folks?  Rain!  On a day when we weren't expected to get a drop, a little cell popped up right over our town and stayed there for nearly 2 hours, dropping a steady shower of rain!  I kept checking the radar and that little cell never moved, it just hovered over us like God was saying, "You guys need the rain!"  Now maybe our brown yard will be green again.  I noticed when I went to get the mail today that a lot of the grass had just crumbled and blown away, particularly where we walked.  So how much did we get?  Good question.  This is why we don't know.

We had a little construction work done today, and the rain gauge had to be taken down.  We had this little porch and stairs coming off of our sunroom that were ROTTEN.  It got to the point where it was a safety hazard- Preston informed me the other day that when we was outside with Christopher, that his foot went through enough to rip the carpeting.  And we certainly didn't need a lawsuit from the meter man trying to read the meter right off the porch.

Christopher and his dad ripped it all out this morning and set to building a new deck.  So far, the deck part is built, but there are no stairs.  They quit just 15 minutes before it started pouring.  I imagine they will work more on Saturday.  What they have done so far looks really good- MUCH better than the nasty carpeted stuff that molded every summer.  We dearly love the people we bought the house from, but they didn't always come up with the best ideas when they did DIY projects!

Out of the ordinary

Sometimes life gets too routine and you need something to shake it up.

Last night, Preston pulled one of his teeth.  Obviously, this child has no problem with tooth pulling!  He was supposed to be in  bed, but this very loose tooth proved to be too much temptation, and an excuse to stay up late.  He kept coming downstairs, "My tooth is BLEEDING!"  "Yes, Preston, just leave it alone and go to bed." -- Can you tell by this point I'd had all I could take?  By the way, he'd been put to bed 90 minutes earlier...

I finally went to take a hot bath and read my magazine when there's a knock on the door. "Mom, I pulled my tooth, but I dropped it and I can't find it.  Kaitlyn won't help me look for it."  Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!  I got out of the tub, threw on a towel and went to go find the elusive tooth.  A minute later, the tooth was found under his bed.  I put it in a baggie under his pillow and tucked him in for the umpteenth time.  As I tucked him in, he said, "When I couldn't find my tooth, I asked Kaitlyn if she'd help me find it and she said, "Nooooooooo!" and hid under her covers!"  You may recall the horrid tooth-pulling ordeal from two weeks ago.  Kate is STILL traumatized, and she wasn't going anywhere near a tooth!

Of course, there was something else out of the ordinary that I was going to write about, but I have no idea what it was, now!  Must not have been that outstanding!

Gardening

We've been busy with our garden this year.  It produced a huge amount of green beans and cucumbers- probably our biggest crops!  But being that we haven't had rain in just shy of a month, and 11 straight days of temps in the hundreds, it's just not doing so well.  Our tomato plants are loaded with tomatoes, but they are all rotting on the vines because of no rain and high heat.  It's sad.  I watered them like crazy tonight in hopes that they'd do something.  It thundered like crazy this afternoon, the sky was black and the wind picked up, but we completely missed it- our only chance of rain for the next week.  Thankfully we're getting a nice break from the heat!  Dad called tonight and said it rained at his house for an hour today, and he lives just south of town.  That's how close we came to rain... 

But we did pull potatoes today and came home with a nice bucket full.  I can't wait to eat them!  We only pulled a few plants because it was still hot at that point.  The others can wait.  It's usually late August anyway before they're even ready, but with the crazy seasons, everything is a month ahead.  Preston loves pulling potatoes, so he was ready to pull them as soon as we got to Granny and Pa's!

Our sunflowers are growing well, too, and we even had a few that were ready to cut and dry today!  Kate is going to be happy- sunflower seeds are the only thing she'll eat from the garden.  This is our tallest sunflower- a good 10 feet tall!

I know I keep beating a dead horse talking about this drought, but this is terrible.  No one can remember it ever being this bad.  My father-in-law farms several thousand acres and he's lost all of his corn.  If we get some rain, his beans may be salvageable.  Thank goodness for crop insurance!  Still, it's just getting worse.  I think maybe the only positive to come out of this is that we now know exactly where the laterals for our septic tank are.  That's the only thing in our yard that's even green!  They even had to cancel girl scout camp for next week because of the burn ban.  That's how they cooked all of their meals, and without a fire, they're up a creek!  GS camp here is rustic.  There aren't any comforts or electricity.  They all get good lessons in roughing it, but I think this year would be a little too rough!

Stay tuned for some fun changes I'm excited to share!

Happy 4th!

It's been a low-key 4th this year.  With the burn ban, there are no fireworks, so it's a quiet one.  We usually spend the day in the pool and the evening making our own fireworks display.  This year, we spent the afternoon in the pool at Keith and Dee's, but instead of the entire extended family joining us, it was just Christopher's parents and sister's family.  Our evening consisted of a few party poppers and some smokers kept well on the rocked driveway.  It was nice, though.  The whole family does plan to get together Friday night, but there still won't be any fireworks then.  Rain just won't come, and the heat just won't let up (we're still in the triple digits). 

But we're all thankful for our freedom, thankful for a peaceful country.  Thank you to all who have served to make this country so great!