Empty Nest

Both of my kids are now at college.

Chad and I are officially "empty-nesters"!

So how has it been?

So far I haven't noticed a huge difference, only that they do NOT come home at night. They were at the age where they were out working or doing their own thing but managed to come home some time during the night, anywhere between 10pm and 3am *yawn* to sleep. I don't think is has totally hit me yet, when it does, I am afraid it is going to hit hard! So in the meantime, Chad and I continue to farm and enjoy each other.

*Courtney is having a hard time adjusting to college life as I am sure most freshmen do. I hear from her often via phone calls and texts (several a day). So, I am trying to enjoy those moments as I know some day I will not hear from her very much at all!*

State Dog Show

I finally got my pictures downloaded from the State Dog Show held several weekends ago.

Courtney and Madyson and Nolan and Chips in the ring for TEAM. Team consists of 4 kids with their 4 dogs doing synchronized tasks.

My niece Kennedy showing Maggie in OBEDIENCE.

A friend's daughter Chloe showing her dog Tinkerbell in RALLY.

Courtney showing Madyson in SHOWMANSHIP.

Nolan showing Chips in SHOWMANSHIP.

Dylan and Cooper, Courtney and Madyson and Nolan and Chips during TEAM. Not pictured is Ryder and Tess, also part of the team.

Courtney and Madyson (can you tell she loves her dog and her dog adores her).

Courtney showing Madyson in RALLY.

It was once again a very long, hot day (not as hot as the county show though, thank goodness).

It was a new experience for us and Courtney had fun showing her dog at the State Show. She ended up with blues in TEAM, RALLY, and SHOWMANSHIP and a purple in OBEDIENCE.

Achievement Days 2010

4-H Achievement Days are being held this week in our county. This is the week all the kids get to exhibit their homemade projects and show their animals that they have been working on all year.

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Courtney did very well on her projects. She received 14 purples and 1 blue.

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The dog show was yesterday.....

My nephew received purples in Rally, Agility, Obedience, Showmanship and Team!!

He also received Grand Champion in Obedience, Reserved Champion in Showmanship and Reserved Champion in Agility.

Here is Courtney with her dog Madyson.
Courtney received purples in Rally, Showmanship, Obedience and Team and a red in Agility. She also received Grand Champion in Rally.
It was 95 degrees out yesterday and we were at the show for 9 hours. Even with the heat, all the dogs and kids did GREAT!

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The cat show was held today.....

Here is Courtney playing around with her cousin Nolan's cat aka her moustache!

Nolan showing his cat.

He received a purple on the cat and also Reserved Champion Showmanship!

Farm Life

We have been crazy busy here on the farm!

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We got second cutting of hay put up and road ditches cut and baled.

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We have vaccinated all 3300 pigs TWICE now....wow, what a job!

If only they would stand still like this when we vaccinate!

Don't I look glamorous after vaccinating? NOT!


We started the spring wheat harvest yesterday...

after a few minor problems were solved.

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4-H Achievement Days are next week so Courtney has been busy getting her projects done and practicing with our dog Madyson, getting ready for the dog show.

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We were going to try to take a family vacation this summer but it is looking kind of bleak now, the summer is almost over for the kids, they both go to college at the end of August.

Window Wells

We had two of our window wells fill up with water during one of the many rainstorms we have had this summer and one window leaked water into the spare bedroom in the basement so we had a little investigating to do.

We dug down to the tile line to find out what the problem was....

Chad is 6' 5 " and when we got done digging, he could not see out of the hole...
and of course he picked one of the hottest days of the summer, also my birthday, to do the work.

We had no pea rock down to the tile line (just mostly clay) so we filled it with pea rock so it could drain properly....and have not had a leak since, even though we have had several more rain storms since, so I think it is fixed.

I did not take pictures of the other window well. That one was under the deck and was a PAIN to work on!!!!!

Hail Damage

We had some really bad storms roll through the area on Saturday. We were pretty lucky, only have one corn field damaged, one bean field destroyed and a window cracked in the house. Some people were not so lucky and had a lot of their fields destroyed. Please remember them in your prayers.

Our corn field that was damaged.

One corn field that was destroyed in our area.

Trees blown down all over the county.

Girls Camping Trip

I went camping with 3 of my best friends from high school last week. Jodi is moving to another state so it was our farewell/send off party for her. Jodi, Michelle and Michele

Jodi, talking on the phone to her "love".....she spent a lot of time on the phone to him!

Michele "helping" me with the fire.

Jodi and Michelle getting the fire going.

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We had such a good time even though we got stormed on one night.

We spent hours reminiscing, laughing, telling stories and listening to music. Michelle downloaded 5 hours of 80's music onto her Ipod touch. It was so great to listen to music from our era. It brought back LOTS of good memories!

Thanks girls for the great time and best of luck Jodi in California!