Challenging Times

I wanted to post just a brief update from Pam and Sherry. About a week and a half after Pam's husband John had his heart surgery, she was in a serious car accident.
Multiple broken bones are making it a challenge for Pam to recover. I have been here for about 3 1/2 weeks, and they are both making wonderful progress. It just takes time.
We all feel so many blessings are present, along with the difficulties. John's wonderful friends and fellow farmers took over his operation the day he went into the hospital, and have harvested his crops. I haven't had to cook a dinner since I came... friends and neighbors have stepped in and it has been awesome to see the love and concern expressed by all.
We hope to soon be back in operation and blogging again. Thank you for your patience.

County Fair

Our County Fair starts on Thursday, so we are in high gear around the farm. I am a swine 4 H leader and I am racing around trying to help the kids get ready, get myself ready, and keep my home from completely falling apart this week.

Daniel has been great at taking care of his pig "Pebbles" with out any reminders. She is a rambunctious and funny pig, who took great delight in dumping her water out every day, and I don't think Dan will be sad to see her go.

Erin has enjoyed her lambs as usual, but even she is looking forward to not feeding them anymore.

Erin is showing both FFA and 4H this year, she enjoys the showing of animals more than Daniel and is looking to repeat last year's success. While Dan is hoping to go to the destruction derby and a large financial pay out.

I love fair time watching my own kids as well as my 4H kids. My 4 H kids are all great, and so are their parents. We always camp at the fair grounds with most of the members of our club, and all hang out and have dinner together most nights. John even manages to get away from the haying for an evening or two. The next week is packed with pen set up, decorating, stocking the trailer and get it to the fair grounds, shearing, completing record books, rodeos, fair food, showmanship, market classes, breeding classes, barn duty, early mornings, hot afternoons an auction and lots of good times with good friends.

Hope you all got a chance to enjoy the county fair this summer.

Baby Owl

Look what Missy (our Cocker/King Charles cross) found in the yard this morning. Missy really wanted to eat it but after chasing her around the tree eight or nine times in my robe, I convinced her that it was a bad idea. The poor thing must have fallen out of the tree early this morning. Mom and Dad owl were in the tree above the baby, hooting, clicking and making a sound like a dog bark and baby had his wings out his fluffy feathers puffed and was clicking at us too. After I got the dog back in the house, I watched him from inside for quite a while, I don't think he could fly yet and was attempting to climb the tree without much luck. A neighbor stopped by soon after and picked him up and put him on one of the limbs (out of dog reach). The baby spent the next hour hopping from limb to limb but not gettting any higher. I had errands to run, so I kenneled the dog and wished him luck. When I got back he was not in the tree, and not anywhere that I or the dog could find. I saw Dad owl in another tree later that day so I think Baby must have been close. Encountering baby owls in the yard at 6 am is just one of the great things about living on a farm. I have heard Mom and Dad owl talking to one another early in the morning and in the evening for months. I'm so glad they chose our big trees for their nest. Hope your home and yard are a blessing to you also.
Pam