For those of you who were wondering how I could make it to Nashville and back all in one day…it was Nashville, Michigan! The Michigan Junior Holstein Association sponsored a Dairy Fun Day at Mooville Creamery owned by The Westendorps. It was a great day and around 90 kids showed up for it. There were educational stations set up for all age groups and we had donuts for breakfast, pizza for lunch and ice cream sundaes. They also had farm tours set up in the afternoon. We skipped the farm tours though, we had to get back because I had to milk, Sarah had a ballgame, the cattle from Nebraska that are being sold in our District II sale on Friday had arrived at the fairgrounds and JW and Luke had to help milk and wash them…so it was a very busy day.

When we got home I had to go get basketball shoes for JW, he had practice last night as well. So let’s see, Luke was out at the fairgrounds, JW and Jake stayed home to help me milk, Bobby went after hay and Sarah caught a ride to her ballgame in Waldron. After we got done milking, I took JW up to the school, Bobby got home and we washed the pipeline and let the cows out then hopped in the truck and picked Luke up from the fairgrounds and headed to Waldron to catch the last hour of Sarah’s game. They ended up losing and we came home, JW had to get a ride home from practice and when we got home Bobby and I went out to the barn and finished up what chores we left so we could see Sarah’s game. At 10:30 pm we were all visiting about the day and then retired for the night.

That’s not even close to my day from Monday, but since Bobby isn’t fully recovered from his surgery, I have to head back out and clean gutters with Luke so Bobby can just lay down for a while. I’ll write more later. Oh… a wonderful blessing from yesterday was that the cow that was calving when I left for Nashville…had a heifer calf! Her name is Pontoon…don’t ask me!

Jake, Sarah and I are headed to Nashville for the day. We’re going to help educate kids about the dairy industry. I think I need a revolving door on my house after yesterday! And today isn’t much better. When we get home, Sarah has a ballgame in Waldron…hopefully I’ll be able to attend! More later on the day of days…yesterday!

P.S. Pami’s water broke while we were milking this morning….a baby will arrive soon! Hopefully it’s a heifer…she is one of our best cows. But the real delivery will be next week when Holly is due to calve…can’t wait for that one!

Today is my youngest son, Jake’s birthday. He is 10 years old. Now all of my children are in the double digits. Of course, I don’t have his present yet, I will stop at the John Deere dealership on my way to the hardware and pick up something for him. You can never have too many pieces of farm equipment…and I need more to trip over! I will bake his cake today and we’ll celebrate his birthday this evening with Gramps and Grandma when they come down for his game tonight.

It’s an amazing thing to have Jake turning 10 today. Just 8 years ago, Bobby backed over Jake with the skidsteer and he ended up in the hospital for over a week. It was a scary time and God performed a miracle that day. Jake shouldn’t be with us, but God decided to spare Jake and show his power to us. Jake ended up with a broken femur and was in a body cast for eight weeks. Although it was awful that Jake had to endure that, it was a very special time for our family.

Today is my youngest son, Jake’s birthday. He is 10 years old. Now all of my children are in the double digits. Of course, I don’t have his present yet, I will stop at the John Deere dealership on my way to the hardware and pick up something for him. You can never have too many pieces of farm equipment…and I need more to trip over! I will bake his cake today and we’ll celebrate his birthday this evening with Gramps and Grandma when they come down for his game tonight.

It’s an amazing thing to have Jake turning 10 today. Just 8 years ago, Bobby backed over Jake with the skidsteer and he ended up in the hospital for over a week. It was a scary time and God performed a miracle that day. Jake shouldn’t be with us, but God decided to spare Jake and show his power to us. Jake ended up with a broken femur and was in a body cast for eight weeks. Although it was awful that Jake had to endure that, it was a very special time for our family.

My sister, Ginny, lives out in Montana with her husband Lars and her five boys, Tim, John, Tom, Aaron and Raynor. She has homeschooled them all their years and has graduated two of the boys and they are now in college. None of this surprises me, but what does surprise me is this picture of her on her horse. She grew up on the same dairy farm that I did and never took a liking to horses. But now she has her own brood of Missouri Fox Trotters. She breeds them and breaks them and trains them. Now, my sister is one of those people that when she puts her mind to something, she gets it done and gets it done right. It doesn’t surprise me in the least that she’s successful at breeding and breaking horses, but what does surprise me is her affinity for horses. Now I see her in this picture on a horse, with leather gloves and her long pony tail hanging out the back of a baseball cap??? Who is that? She’s always been the more feminine of the two of us and now she looks better in a baseball cap than I do! She’s one amazing sister!

My sister, Ginny, lives out in Montana with her husband Lars and her five boys, Tim, John, Tom, Aaron and Raynor. She has homeschooled them all their years and has graduated two of the boys and they are now in college. None of this surprises me, but what does surprise me is this picture of her on her horse. She grew up on the same dairy farm that I did and never took a liking to horses. But now she has her own brood of Missouri Fox Trotters. She breeds them and breaks them and trains them. Now, my sister is one of those people that when she puts her mind to something, she gets it done and gets it done right. It doesn’t surprise me in the least that she’s successful at breeding and breaking horses, but what does surprise me is her affinity for horses. Now I see her in this picture on a horse, with leather gloves and her long pony tail hanging out the back of a baseball cap??? Who is that? She’s always been the more feminine of the two of us and now she looks better in a baseball cap than I do! She’s one amazing sister!

It’s another sunny day here on the Knolltop. But last night wasn’t so sunny for Luke and Sarah. Luke’s team played Reading in a double header. They won the first game and Luke played catcher, then in the second game they lost, Luke pitched and he didn’t think he did such a great job. Sarah’s team also got beat up by Reading. She was actually upset, she never gets upset about losing, usually she’s just happy to be alive. But the real winners were Bobby and I because we left the chores to JW and his friend and they were very successful in not only getting everything done, but getting everything done correctly! I was able to watch Luke’s first game and then head back to North Adams for the remainder of Sarah’s game. I told JW this morning how much I appreciated his efforts and what a great gift he gave to his Daddy and I in allowing us to watch the other kids play ball. (I made Luke and Sarah thank him too.) Today the three boys are down at the neighbors cleaning out a corn bin. I’m going to work in my garden today and plant some flowers.

Yesterday while doing Rural Route, the rooster was crowing outside the window and Kyle and Trent were asking me about my chickens. I told them I only had one hen left and that I had no idea what happened to the other one. Later on in the afternoon, I went across the road to the barn to mow and Bobby informed me that we had 14 new baby chicks! That’s where the other hen was all this time. They are absolutely the cutest things you have ever seen! Mama has her hands full keeping track of all those babies. I hadn’t seen them yet this morning, she’s got them well hidden. The last day of school is today so I will go in and watch the awards ceremony and then head to the store for some much needed food…so I’m told!

Yesterday while doing Rural Route, the rooster was crowing outside the window and Kyle and Trent were asking me about my chickens. I told them I only had one hen left and that I had no idea what happened to the other one. Later on in the afternoon, I went across the road to the barn to mow and Bobby informed me that we had 14 new baby chicks! That’s where the other hen was all this time. They are absolutely the cutest things you have ever seen! Mama has her hands full keeping track of all those babies. I hadn’t seen them yet this morning, she’s got them well hidden. The last day of school is today so I will go in and watch the awards ceremony and then head to the store for some much needed food…so I’m told!

Last evening after leaving the remaining chores to JW, I went into town and enjoyed watching a little bit of Jake’s game and then ran down the street to Sarah’s game and they both ended up winning! In fact, they both smoked their opponents! Gramps and Grandma made it down but they were a little worn out since they had spent the night before at Oldsmobile Park watching their hometown baseball team, Fowlerville, play in a tournament. Fowlerville almost pulled it out in the championship game, but came up one run short when the last out was made. Today is supposed to be hot and windy…a great day for hanging out laundry. I’ve got to mow the rest of the lawn but before I can do that I will be doing Rural Route Radio and then I’ve got to write a couple of columns. I think I’d better have an extra cup of Joe for this line up.