Baling In The Heat

 Hannah tedded our alfalfa Thursday night.

Today was miserably hot and humid

which made it a great day to square bale!

Ben, Molly, Jack and I were the only ones home.

They only did two wagons

but they stacked them seven high!

We were all more than ready to crawl into bed last night!

Jack's New Camera

Jack got a new camera.

He's been saving his money 

from working at The Tomato Project

to buy a camera to make stop motion movies.

He was excited to start taking pictures.

Then it took us forever to figure out how to transfer them.

 But now we have it mostly figured out.

And I can start sharing his pictures.

He's got great ideas.

And takes some super pictures!

Clean Up

Monday was a great not-too-hot day

to do lots of clean-up from last week

and lots of maintenance work on equipment.

Most of the equipment is cleaned and ready for the next cutting...

when the rain stops and there are enough dry days in a row!

More First Cutting

Last week was a week of late nights and early mornings.

Luke and Ben were cutting the Industrial Park late Thursday night.

The hay wagons from the church cutting 

needed to be put in the hayloft 

after a friend bought all that he wanted.

The WD was put to use.

Then there was lots of tedding, raking and baling to do.

Near the end of the day Saturday

we made a quick stop at home to move cattle

to different pastures

before delivering the last load of bales to a neighbor.

The first cutting is about half done.

Now if the rains would stop.....

More Broilers & Tess and Her Kittens

It's been crazy busy.

I don't think I've ever had this long between posts.

Oh well,

now I slowly play catch up.

84 more baby broilers came Thursday morning.

The kittens are getting really good at drinking out a syringe

when Tess isn't feeding them.

That's one tired mama!
Those six babies keep her busy.

This one is watching mama drink.

The kitten is hard to see because she is all the same color,
but I love how she is looking up at Tess.
Maybe she's wondering why mom is making such a goofy face?!

Strange Dogs

Hershey and Tess are 4-year-old sisters.

They are both incredibly nurturing.

They helped raise Uriah, 

a calf who's mom wouldn't take care of him.

They watch out for little piglets.

But kittens are their specialty.

Hershey found her first orphans three years ago this month.

 We named them Bonnie and Clyde.

 Since then they have raised several litters.

 Yes, we even saved an old mattress for them to sleep on!

Snuggled in for the night.

And now Tess has taken over the care

 of 6 little ones 

whose mama has gone missing.

MWR YoYo Competition

Saturday was the big day!

The LONG awaited for day!

Midwest Regional YoYo Competition at the Mall of America!

There's Jack warming up with some of his fellow yo-yo-ers.

He was waiting for Dazzling Dave to announce him.

He did the same routine that he did for States in April.

How fun to see the crowds watching!

The place got more and more packed as the day went on.

Made for great people-watching!

It is so wonderful 

to see the players supporting each other 

and cheering each other on!

Jack in Third.

Jonathan So in Second.

Levi White in First.

Mud & Muck, Muck & Mud

Will it ever end?

.4" Saturday.

.25" Sunday.

1.18" overnight Sunday.

We are floating!!

It's Hot So We Baled

Highs in the 90s and heat indexes in the100s this week.

Time to bale!

Not everything got cut.

But everything that was cut 

was baled before the rains.

Elsie took over driving.

I'll have to try to get a picture of this wagon 

before these bales are sold this next week.

The whole thing is stacked 7 high!

 When Paul got home from work 

he came out to join in the fun

and rode the wagon with Elsie and Molly.

Jack wanted to learn how to bale.

So Ben taught him.

Then Elsie and Hannah went to work at Unhinged.

Ben went to work at another farmer's.

Luke went to work there too when he got off work.

Which meant Paul and Jack were left to load up the round bales 

and deliver them to still another farmer.

Fear not!
This picture is only at the Industrial Park.

Jack didn't drive the tractor and wagons on any other roads!

So the whole first cutting is far from done.

But at least all that was cut is baled
and didn't get wet
 in the rains that came this morning.

These tractors aren't at our place,

but they struck my fancy when I saw them

so I had to take pictures.