It’s a beautiful sunny, breezy and warm morning here on the Knolltop. I have the window open by my desk and the breeze is heavenly as I listen to the birds outside singing up a storm.

The big boys had their first game last night. For the first time ever they played in a color other than green and white and boy was it strange. They donned their orange Jerseys and black hats with a J on them for Jonesville and debut on their Mickey Mantle team. JW played short the first game and pitched the second game. Luke sat the bench the first game and played second the second game. Sitting the bench is not something Luke is used to, but it will give some incentive to step it up and work a little harder. They are an unknown quantity on this team and that can be good and bad. It was fun to watch them play together again even though they lost. I only saw the last two innings of the second game, Jake had a game in Waldron. As soon as they won their game (they mercied them) we flew up to Jonesville.

Today I’ve got to write more and mow the lawn. Jake is going to Kalebs, Luke is gone with Mr. Kyser, JW is gone with Rodney and Sarah is stuck home slaving away for me!

Tomorrow Jake will play in the morning and the boys have a double header on Sunday night in Sturgis.

So much to do! So little time….it’s a good thing, I only get things done when my back is against the wall!

Have you ever felt like you had to keep a bunch of plates spinning on top of long sticks? That’s what I feel like today. Only my plates are my kids.

It’s summer break and the last thing I want is for my kids to veg out all summer in front of the TV. So, to keep that from happening we had a family meeting to discuss the summer projects and the daily expectations. The only problem is when you have three procrastinators and one self starter with a girlfriend, it’s a full time job to keep them busy. Hence the spinning plates.

So, this morning the boys are out working with their dad, Sarah has been doing dishes, folding clothes and is now making granola. While I write today, I will be listening for vegetative children and keeping them from sitting too long in one spot. It’s a good thing I have ADD, I welcome the interruption of having to get up and go assign jobs. It keeps the creativity going!

It’s a foggy morning here on the Knolltop and now I’m getting very anxious! First off, the folks at Pryorvu have the mega garden! And it’s all planted…well…almost! That makes me very jealous! Plus, they live in a dry climate where water is precious and I live in the middle of lush green fields with water all around me and my garden doesn’t even compare to his!

Secondly and closer to home, Lori at Knolltop Morgans up on the other hill has her garden in. I don’t think she’s ever had her garden planted before me….ever! I think I might have to go do some garden inspecting, I think she’s writing fiction again. Now it’s really time to get busy.

We just came back from the elementary awards ceremony where Sarah graduated from the sixth grade. It’s very nice, but I just don’t see the point in sixth grade graduation. They don’t even go to another building to Jr. high school, they just go down a long hall and there they are…in Jr. high and Sr. high school. Yes, it’s a very small district, we only have about 450 kids K-12.

Anyway, Sarah kept the run going on citizenship awards by getting it for the sixth grade. I was so proud of her! But Jake broke it, he’s the only one in the family who didn’t get it. I’ve got the summer to get him into shape and then we’ll go at it next year!

JW and Luke have their first summer baseball practice tonight in Jonesville. And their first game is tomorrow night. I can’t wait to see them play together again. Jake also has a game tomorrow night, I just don’t know how that’s going to work, but one thing is for sure, I will be sitting at a baseball game!

The kids last day was today, they should be home shortly and boy are they excited!

It’s a rainy morning here on the Knolltop. We need the rain, but, the neighbors hay got wet and that’s not good!

Last evening Jake’s game was a blowout. They won 17-3 in four innings. Jake caught most of the game and then came in to pitch and had three K’s to end the inning. He was on fire. But then it started to rain and we were so far ahead, they decided to quit. And I almost forgot Jake’s double and a triple with an error that brought him home. While it’s great to see him have success, he tends to strut around like the lone rooster in a hen house. He needs to stop that and I think his brothers have decided to help him quit his cocky habit.

Today I will work in my flower beds since the rain has softened the ground. I still have to get the rest of my garden in….now I’m getting a little anxious. Does anyone else have their garden totally planted?

And I’d like to address a comment left by a Wisconsin dairy wife about my writing. I so appreciate your kind words about this blog. I’m glad you find this a good place to visit and while we are isolated on our farms, we can still be a “community of farm wives” here. I love to read about life on other farms and how they compare. So, don’t worry about this commentary changing too much, this is where I can just write with reckless abandon. I don’t have to proof it as much as I do when I write for the papers! This is fun writing! Thanks again for your kind words of encouragement!

Summer has arrived, I guess we’ve just forgotten about spring! It’s supposed to be in the 80s this week.

While trying to get details about the Pinehurst Sale I came up with very little. My “Source” was is done with that sale and has flown across the country to North Carolina for the Kingsmill Sale or what they’ve named it, “A Night at Kingsmill.” The sale will be Friday night and if you want details on the cattle you can go to http://kingsmillfarmii.com/ and get all the latest updates.

Although my info is skimpy, I did find out they had to have a change in venue for the sale. I guess the health department didn’t like the thought of live cattle inside the country club where there was food being prepared. So they moved the sale ring outside under a tent. I guess they’ve never been to a county fair were you walk into a cow barn with tack areas filled with crockpots full of food.

Okay, now for the Knolltop update. I’m proud to say I have one more nephew who has graduated from High School. Tom, out in Montana, the dairy farmer extraordinaire is now out of school! His mother, my sister, has successfully homeschool three kids through graduation with two more to go! With only two in the house to homeschool she’s on easy street. Now she can sleep in til 10, eat bon bons til noon then think about school work! Just joking…she’s busier than I am, that’s why she doesn’t have a blog! I should write a story about her sometime….it would be a good one.

Saturday was a very busy day, Sarah and I left for Dearborn, a Detroit suburb, for Volleyball and were gone all day long. The advantage to this was, the tournament was right across from a huge shopping mall, so of course I felt obligated to show her the shopping ropes. The girl had been deprived, she’d never been to a shopping mall with more than one level and “those really cool couches in the middle” as she put it. So we took a spin around the mall and found a couple of bargains but she was too tired to stay very long. I was just hitting my stride when she complained of her feet hurting and being tired. Oh, boy, does that bring back memories, my mom could always outshop me and my sister! We’d be dragging behind with blisters on our feet because we wore fashionable shoes instead of comfortable shoes. She had plenty of pep in her step and was on her second wind while we were total wimps! Funny how history repeats itself!

JW’s team played in Tekonsha, they won their first game but lost the second. Then Jake played in his tournament with the same results. On Sunday, the kids and I went to church while Bobby and Jake went to Hudson for one last game. They lost, but it was a pretty day for a ball game.

Today I’d like to get some work done in my office then head out to the garden. I need to get some more things planted before the rain tomorrow!

I now have the official Pinehurst Dispersal Sale Average! Dallas Burton just called and quoted on 57 lots the average was $7281.34. I’d say that was another successful sale for Burton-Fellers Sales, Inc.

By the way, this picture is at the Bull at Pinehurst Farms Golf Course, the site of the sale. I can’t wait to hear all about how the cows were presented and the really fun and important stuff, like who was there, what the sale staff wore and how the ring was decorated! You know, the stuff that makes a successful sale and sets it apart from all the other run of the mill auctions!

More details as they come!

Imagine my surprise when begrudgingly I went into the Senior High awards ceremony yesterday and JW received the Citizenship award just like his brother Luke! Wow….I’ve got to citizens in my household! I was so very proud of both of them. JW also won a Spanish award and the top grade in History!

We had a busy night last night with JW in the play again, Luke and Sarah had practices and Jake had a game. I tell you what, I don’t know what we’d do if it weren’t for great parents who are more than willing to give our kids rides here and there! Jake rode with a team mate to the game while Bobby and I finished up chores. Then we headed to Jake’s game where they tied (don’t ask)and then got back to the school just in time to see JW sing his song one more time. Then we made our exit and came home to stuff bags with got milk? erasers, pencils, magnets and other fun stuff to give away to the kids at school today.

Yes, today there is a field day at school and it is a country theme….so guess who is supplying the animals, tractors and straw? Yep…us. JW and Luke took our tractors to the school early and then they loaded up some straw for a straw maze for the kids. We are giving away goodie bags and ice cream to the elementary kids. It should be a fun day! Yes, I will take pictures….I hope.

Now on to some other news, the Pinehurst and Fieldstone dispersal in Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin was held last night as David Bachmann dispersed his historic herd of Holsteins and a boat load of memorabilia. It was held a The Bull at Pinehurst Farms Golf Course, so you know it was a fun event! My source, Dallas Burton of Burton-Fellers, Sales, Inc., called and gave me an unofficial sale average, so I will wait until I hear the “official” average, but I hear it was a great sale!

On a very sad note, Holly, you know, the cow that Bobby loves more than me, aborted last night. She was five months along with a Dundee calf and was due in September. We were so excited about this calf. But last night as we milked she looked unsettled and was jumpy. She just wasn’t herself. As I stood there and looked at her I thought to myself, ‘I wonder if she’s trying to abort that calf?’ Then I convinced myself that wasn’t the case. But this morning when she walked in the barn she had afterbirth hanging from her. The bright side is, we will try to flush her, which is what I wanted to do before she got pregnant.

Calling all prayer warriors!
And, one more note…please pray for my dad. He’s indisposed right now with a back injury. He was working on his equipment last week and whatever he was prying gave way and he fell right on his behind. After a trip to the ER he is now on pain medication and can’t do anything. So, please pray for him if you would. Thank you! And I’ll keep you posted! Oh, yes, and pray for my mom as well….you know what it’s like to take care of a man….who isn’t the best patient in the world….who is also a farmer…..who has hay that needs to be bailed…..this prayer request is getting more serious by the minute! Thanks again!

It’s one more beauty of a day here on the Knolltop. This morning has been too busy already!

After I came in from chores, we had to get cleaned up for Jake’s student of the month assembly. Then after we heard about what a great kid he was, we went down to the other gym and watched the Jr. High achievement awards. As the awards progressed I was surprised at how many Luke received. When he handed me the bundle of certificates and pins I looked them over and saw that he got an award in every subject! But the one that means the most to me was the citizenship award. One boy and one girl from each grade is picked and voted on by the teaching staff based on the kids attitude, their success as a student and going above and beyond in the school whether it be helping with something or just being cooperative. Luke received that award last year too. This is the award that makes me the proudest. It’s so important for our young people to be responsible citizens in their community, regardless of their grades and athleticism.

JW will have an awards assembly this afternoon…so I’ve got to get my column written before then!

Speaking of the ‘Dub’, last evening we went to see the high school drama club present “Grease.” Acting as Vince Fontaine, JW got to sing Hand Jive. He grabbed that mic stand and went to town singing. Okay, so I’m bragging here….but he didn’t miss a note and acted the part perfectly! He wasn’t afraid to just lay it all out there and have a good time. I was very proud of him!

He will perform it tonight if he remembers….last evening after baseball practice he got home at about 6 pm. The play was at 7 pm, but I figured he came home to get something or to eat. He and I were visiting about practice and he was so excited because there was an ex-baseball player there who was giving him advice on his pitching. So all he was thinking about was baseball. At 6:25 I asked him if he should be at the school. His eyes got really big and he turned into the Tasmanian devil in a whirl of motion all the while saying, “I forgot about the play! I was too busy thinking about my pitching…Oh crap! I gotta get over there!” And he was out the door in a flash!

How do you forget about something you’ve been rehearsing for weeks? I just stood there and doubled over with laughter. That is quintessential “JW!”

Better get to my writing!

Good Morning from the sunny, 40 degree Knolltop!

Let me address the skidsteer comments from yesterday and then we’ll get into today’s ranting and raving by the redhead! First, P and F…..what are you going to do with two skidsteers when all the cows leave the farm this fall? Open your own landscaping business? Give free rides to the neighborhood kids? Use them as gardening tools?

And threecollie…you said you’re too chicken to learn to run the skidsteer…this is good, very, very good. NEVER learn to run that piece of machinery and you’ll save yourself from taking on another workload! Besides, what did we have kids for if it weren’t for working on the farm? (JOKE!)

Now, on to my latest venture. A couple of weeks ago, I was told of a Christian writers group where they discuss how to get published, how to write books, where to search for publishers, grammar, style, everything a writer loves to learn about. There were two groups, a beginners group and an advanced group. Well….of course, because I was a 10 year veteran of the writing world I naturally thought I would join the advanced group. So, I filled out the application and then waited to be invited. NOT!

When I received a rejection notice in my email I about died! WHAT? They won’t let me in the advanced group? Who do they think they are? They had invited me to join the beginners group. After taking total offense to the notion that I wasn’t good enough to be a part of the advance writing group, I decided to join the beginners group convincing myself I would be such a great encouragement to these fledgling writers.

I joined and was accepted and began to receive daily emails about a daily topic. The moderator would post a question and everyone was expected to answer. When I began scanning through the postings I soon figured out why I wasn’t accepted in the advance group. I didn’t even know as much as the beginners group! They discussed passive voice, argued the definition of literary fiction and offered tips on how to get rid of unnecessary words.

Oh my, since joining this group I’ve not only learned a ton, I’ve also learned how much I didn’t know! Some of these writers in this group have published books or are working on a book. They’ve been to writing conferences, are searching for publishers, asking how to find the right editor and all of them have a blog!

I’m glad I’m a part of this group, they are teaching me a lot. About the only thing I have to offer them is the knowledge of where milk comes from!

Is there anything better on the farm that a skidsteer?

It’s a cloudy morning here on the Knolltop and getting cooler by the hour.

I just came in from witnessing one of the best inventions ever created for the farm: the skidsteer!

Cleaning a calf pen was an essential task this morning so we could take back control of pen maintenance! Bobby runs the skidsteer and I stand by and move gates, clean out the corners and help put the calves back where they belong. I’m really just the support crew. It was sheer delight as I watched him come in to the pen and leave with a big scoop of manure! And the best part was, I just stood there. I didn’t have the back breaking task of pitching the whole thing out by hand like we used to do when we first moved on the farm!

And in a matter of minutes I had a clean pen with calves bouncing around on clean shavings! It is a glorious sight and a very good feeling knowing your livestock have a clean, dry place to live! And for those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about be glad, that means you have no calf pens to clean!

Over the weekend, Luke played in two 3 on 3 tournaments. An eighth grade tournament on Saturday and because they were feeling especially strong and competitive, they went back on Monday and played in the high school tournament. They got banged around a lot with those big boys, but loved every minute of it! They lost all but one game and had a great time doing it!

Tonight JW plays at home against Camden and Jake will have his season opener against Pittsford tonight. He is so excited!