I’m finding out that when you have a farm boy who knows how to work…you have a hot commodity. The neighbor just came by and stole my help for awhile. I told him he’d better have him home by milking time. Another neighbor came by earlier and laid claim to the boys tomorrow afternoon because it’s a baseball free day. I think I might have to make my reservations early to keep my boys home this summer!

Yesterday a lady called me and asked if I would lead worship and do special music for a women’s retreat! I have to call her back to get the details, but this should be great fun! I can’t wait and I’m so excited that God has given me this opportunity to use His gifts!

It’s a beautiful morning here on the Knolltop. The sun is out and it’s very cool. But it’s promising to be a great day. Things are looking up at finding an Ayrshire heifer…after emailing every breeder in the country…well, maybe not quite every breeder…Palmyra Farms in Maryland finally took the bait and emailed me back. They may have a heifer but Mary is going to make some calls for me. I’m excited again. Their national sale is coming up too, so that may have a heifer or two that Matt can afford to check into, we’ll see. Another exciting event is coming up next week at Mooville Creamery. It’s Dairy Fun Day organized by the Michigan Junior Holstein Association. I’ve had a slu of emails from people wanting to sign up…I guess there are some youngsters out there who want to learn more about the dairy industry…and that’s exciting! Tonight we only have two games, Luke’s game was cancelled. I’m glad, I was going to have to miss his game but now I won’t have to. Last evening we had the spring sports banquet and JW earned his varsity letter. Now we just need to get a varsity jacket to put it on. I’d better get going or I’ll never get anything done today, even though I have all my vacuuming and dishes and several loads of laundry finished! I’ve got to mow and hoe today.

Well, last evening we tried something new. We actually left chores to our oldest son and his friend so Bobby could attend Luke’s practice and I could attend Jake’s game. It was like leaving your kids home for the first time alone. I let them milk by themselves while I bedded the heifer pens and fed the youngstock. I hung around as long as I could but I knew I had to get to Jake’s game, otherwise there would be no point in letting them milk alone. So I finally went to leave and the battery in the truck was dead! So then I called a friend who was headed to the game and she came and got me. That was all by design I think. While I was waiting around I noticed the vacuum pump was staying on much longer than it needed to be, so I went over to the barn and sure enough, they just weren’t sure on what do to after the hooked up the milkers to wash and they were discussing their next move. I gave them a hint and they immediately remembered and went on to finish up and I left for the game. This morning all was well in the barn. No dead anything….no blown quarters….everything seemed to have gotten fed and watered, which is the most important thing. Tomorrow night it will happen again as Jake, Luke and Sarah all have games. I think I might need to pray and fast! By the way, Jake’s team won!

The kids are counting down to their last day of school this week. Friday is the day. Graduation was held yesterday and JW had to play in the band for it. He said it was boring. It rained most of the day, so my garden is going great guns. This morning it’s sunny on the Knolltop with lots to do. We have a couple of plumbing repairs to make in the barn and the maunure spreader needs a quick fix too. Jake has a game tonight and Sarah and Luke have practice. I will actually get to bring all my kids home today after school, I’m looking forward to that. This morning Bobby is at school having donuts with the kids. The elementary school has a “muffins with mom” before mothers day and “donuts with dad” before fathers day. It’s really kind of fun and they always have a great turnout. Well, I’ve got to get on my day, with those repairs and then I’ve got a couple of stories that need to be written, if I don’t get moving I’ll never get anything done. Plus my coffee is perked and ready to drink!

Yesterday we spent the day at the ball field watching JW’s team play in their district game. They faced a team they had mercied twice before. But this team came to win and our team thought they had already won…and they lost. It was awful for those boys. They should’ve won both games easily, but instead came home empty handed. Although JW is just a freshman and will have three more years to win, the seniors on the team took it pretty hard. They rallied back from five runs down to score seven runs in one inning. But then they just couldn’t hold the Tekonsha Indians.

Last night should’ve been a less than hectic evening on the Knolltop. There were only two practices and no games, but somehow the night was full. When I came home from picking up JW from practice Bobby left to go to Luke’s practice. Jake, Sarah, JW and I were home to take care of chores. We began milking and the neighbor called and wanted the boys to help move some hay. I told him he’d have to wait ’til 8:00 when Luke got home. JW said he had lots of homework so I told him at 7:00 he could go in and get started and hopefully be done by 8 so he could go help the neighbor. Everything was great until Bobby called from the ball field and wanted JW to come over and pitch for batting practice for the boys. We finished milking, let the cows out and jumped in the pickup. Jake and Sarah were having a great time on the slip-n-slide so I left them home to have fun. On my way back home I noticed the neighbors on the corner were out visiting so I stopped in to see what was up with them and to ask a couple of questions. After talking over the price of corn, steers, corn bins and new pick ups I saw the other neighbor headed to my house to pick up the boys. I hightailed it home and we ended up standing around for another half hour visiting about the price of pigs, corn, corn bins and how much money we’re losing in farming. Finally Bobby and the boys made it home, Luke changed his clothes and headed out to move hay, JW decided he needed to stay home and do homework and I finished up putting hay out and washing the pipeline. Jake and Sarah were bummed when I told them to put the slip-n-slide away but it was 8:30 and time to wrap up the day! When we finally all gathered in the livingroom to download for the day, we ended up watching the national spelling bee championships, which was a lot of fun. We all decided they were smarter than us since we had never even heard of any of the words they were spelling!

It’s another hot and humid morning here on the knolltop. We’re on our way to see Sarah honored as Student of the Month. We get donuts and juice. I’ve said before they need to offer milk, but they just don’t take my suggestion. But I still offer it, what kind of dairy farmer’s wife would I be if I didn’t? I’m looking forward to this little ceremony. The teacher said she enjoys Sarah’s stories about cows and the farm. I can’t imagine what kind of things she might tell! I’m just glad she’s proud to be from a farm and that she is telling farm stories. If we farmers don’t tell the world about agriculture, who knows what unqualified person might step up to the mic!

I’m searching for someone who reads my column in the Farmers’ Advance. This person used to email me quite a bit especially when I went back to work for a short time at the paper. He gave me a lot of good advice and I wanted to contact him again, but unfortunately when my computer gave out last summer, it took all the email addresses with it! So now I’m hoping that man reads this blog and will contact me again. Thank you!

It’s been like July the past few days here on the Knolltop. But I like it. Because we live in an old farmhouse we don’t have central air. Our upstairs gets really hot during the day and as the kids climb the stairs to go to bed I hear grumblings about how hot it is up there! So this morning when I woke up and walked through the livingroom to make the coffee, there were two bodies on the couches who must have overheated upstairs. I remember as a kid having to sleep in a hot upstairs. We just put a fan in the window and went to sleep. I don’t remember it being that bad. Speaking of being hot, Jake had another game last night and he was sweaty from head to toe. He was the catcher and when I looked at his hair I could see little grains of dirt mixed in with the sweat from when he throws his mask on the ground to scramble for the ball. When he puts the mask back on he has to empty out the dirt, but a lot goes right in his hair. Gramps and Grandma made it to the game and Grandma was commenting about his little red face and the sweat on his nose and how he really needed to just lay down and take a break because he was getting too hot. She sprung for ice cream after the game. I think Jake likes to sweat.