Our very local plumbers...

One of the projects the guys have been working on the last few days (besides one more grain cleaning job and keeping calves alive and running to town for parts and fixing 4-wheelers and talking to the banker about a future project and...) is getting the sewer pipes put down for the new house. 

 They first had to dig the trenches...

 Working on getting that wood post out of there...

 Glad that Dad knows how to do so many things!

Putting the extremely toxic-smelling purple primer on...

 Then goes the stinky glue... You have only a matter of maybe 5 seconds to get it angled just the way you want it before the glue bonds and you will NOT be moving the pipe any further.

 Phone call...

 The holes left after the removal of the wood post and other pipes. 

Remind you of a certain cartoon character?

 ...

I was helping with a few odd jobs over there last night and they got it to this point. Today they worked on getting it sloped just how they need it to be and packing dirt under and around it.

 Andrew spent some of his hard-earned money on a fancy machine today...

 (It's a conveyor for grain.)

It was really funny to watch him "drive" it to it's parking place!!

Oh, and here are 5 of the 7 pies I baked yesterday. I put them in the freezer so they last until Sunday (my dad's birthday party).

Tomorrow, we're getting a bunch of noisy things in the mail. Can you guess what they are???

Mother's Day...

OK. Who was praying for snow on Mother's Day???????  

The nasty weather made it kind of nice, as we took the day off and did what Mom wanted to do....things like, opening a red and white present. :)

(Playing piano duets and watching movies was on the list too.)

 It wasn't so nice for the cows who are calving and the fairly new babies. We lost 2 calves that we didn't see.

 But, today the sun was shining again and I was out picking rhubarb for pies.

So goes life.....

More new babies...

With the rain coming (low pressure and all), there were several new calves today.

Another of Andrew's...

 Another of mine...

 ...and we had to help this big baby bull into the world this morning!

 I just got in from checking cows while my dad was feeding them silage. The calves were so funny to watch as they zipped around the pasture while their mamas were busy eating!

Our lovely Spring seems to have disappeared. It's a cold day, and there is talk of SNOW. :(

Oh, and if anyone reading this has been trying to text me today, I did NOT receive it, as my phone is on the fritz I think. I can receive phone calls though. :)

Mamas and babies...

I took some pictures of a few of our ever-increasing number of cow/calf pairs (2 new calves today again) when I went out to check the cows this afternoon.  All of these ladies need a good home yet. We've sold about half the herd so far and had another call this evening from a guy who's interested in 20+ head, so we'll see where that goes.

One of Andrew's pairs...

 One of mine...

 One of dad's from last night?  Calving this time of the year has been so much easier than calving the end of March through April.

 The chickens really enjoy spending their afternoons scratching around outside.

My dad did 2 grain cleaning jobs today and said that he is finally officially done with the cleaning season. :)

It's been a very busy week and I'm pretty sure next week will be every bit as full, so I'm very glad that we can just rest tomorrow---maybe even sleep in a little? It has been very interesting watching how God is opening and closing doors as we seek out His direction for our lives in this busy year of changes!

RAIN!

The last 2 days have been misty/rainy. We've had about half an inch total, and it is so nice to see mud again. Plus, the guys have all of our wheat and oats planted, so it's wonderful having all those seeds getting watered.

 Yesterday, we had another guy from Velva, ND coming to buy cows, so I asked my mom if she'd like if I brought the Littles over and she could watch them and I'd help with the cows, and she said that was what she preferred.  So, after getting everyone ready...

 (Johanna putting a huge sock on Tracy Jo's foot)

 ....we went over to "Tora's" farm.  The girls always love getting eggs, and Tracy thought she'd feed the chickens some wheat too.

 While Mom watched the children, I helped the guys tag the new calves...

 Awwww, so cute!

 The buyer wanted 19 head, so it took a couple hours to get the cows in; wait for him to pick out the ones he wanted; and to get them sorted off and finally, loaded.  We were waiting for a trucker to come for the 12 heifers and their babies, but he was delayed or something and said he'd come this morning at 9:00.

 We were wondering if the trucker would get stuck in our yard, but thankfully, that didn't happen. This trucker thought we lived over by Pingree, so he was 2 hours late when he finally arrived here this morning. But, the heifers and calves all loaded well and they should be settling into their new home by now.



















This morning, while we were waiting for the trucker, my brothers and I went to Napoleon as we all had business to do: getting brand release paperwork to the salesbarn; putting very nice deposits in the bank; Andrew paid off the loan for his home, so it is now HIS!; Jacob made a payment on the grain-cleaner he's buying; and I went grocery shopping and stocked up on cake-mixes, as they were on sale.

This afternoon, my parents went to Bismarck to run a bunch of errands and pay off some bills. They said they'll be late tonight, as they were going out for supper too.

My brothers and I got down the Summer clothes from the attic and started switching our Winter/Summer clothes around. I went out to the garden and planted most of the flowers (bulbs and plants) that arrived in the mail yesterday. That was a muddy job, but I wanted to get them in.  Afterall, it is SPRING and time to plant!

Another catching-up kind of post...

 The weekend was a busy, but mostly pleasant one. Having Michael here made it especially special!! 

Here, we were playing a game of Scotland Yard.  "Mr. X" got caught. :)

 Sunday morning, we tagged about 25 calves. It was a bit of a rodeo! It was great how Michael just jumped right in and made some great calf-catches. :) I didn't get very good pictures of that time, as I was kept busy making tags and keeping the tagger "loaded".

 Around 10:00am, my mom, Michael & I got to the Braddock Hall to set up a table to sell soap at the craft fair that was being held from 11:00 to 3:00 that day...

The coffee soap; tractor-shaped soap; and lime soap were the best sellers. Oh, and the rubber ducky soap was all sold out too. :) 

Michael & I stayed until a little after noon, then headed home so I could make something to eat for the rest of the family and then we were going to be around for if a guy came to load out cattle. The guy did come, but is sending his truck for the cows on Wednesday or Thursday.

Wanna buy some soap???

 "Oh, we're supposed to look at the camera? :)"

 While waiting for the potential cattle buyers to arrive, my dad went and finished planting a neighbor's field for him and the rest of us (my brothers, Michael, and I) went out to a couple of our fields around the farmstead here and picked random small rocks we found.

Jacob fired up a dirt-bike for Michael to have some fun with...

 Andrew also dug out some MONSTER rocks with the backhoe attachment. He then had to get his tele-handler out there to pick up a couple of the giant rocks he dug out, as the tractor couldn't lift them.

Time that I had left with Michael here was ticking away, so we took some time to sit in the sunshine and talk and read in a book we're going through together. After supper, he had to say goodbye and head for home (about a 5 hour drive). I sure miss him when he's gone!!

 Mom asked me to take a plate of supper down to Jacob who was putting down fertilizer (the other two guys were digging a trench across the road for the new house's sewer)... 

I spent most of today over babysitting the Littles, although I did plant the potatoes Michael gave me 

(all 8 kinds, including blue and purple spuds!). 

While I made a meal, Johanna and Tracy were out on the deck steps, playing with a kitty...

 Guess what?  

This adorable baby that I care for is actually sitting now, so it really was a day of "BABY-SITTING"!

 It was a beautiful afternoon, so the Littles and I spent a few hours outside. The wagon is getting to be more and more of a workout for the person pulling it these days! ;)

Johanna seems to be wondering what she can do about that baby who is squishing her, and Tracy Jo was complaining about him kicking her. He just won't sit still for long these days. 

He sure is a sweetie-pie!

Between the two of them, Dad and Andrew got a field of oats planted today. Jacob was gone working for Roger, and my mom did mountains of laundry, as we had water, due to Dad hauling some water in for the cows.

There, now you're mostly caught up again. 

Thankful~

There is so much to be thankful for! 

For instance, Thursday night, my dad and Andrew put an ad on BisManOnline for our remaining herd of cows. The next morning (yesterday), bright and early, the telephone rang and a guy from Velva, ND was wondering if he and his son could come look at our cows. Of course, Dad said they could. By yesterday afternoon, Dad had found a trucker and a chute to load out 37 head. :) 

 My dad, giving directions to the trucker...

 Jacob was away working for Dave and I was gone babysitting, so my parents and Andrew took care of things this time. Thankfully it went pretty well, except for one of my young cows who made a fuss about loading onto the trailer, but even she eventually went in.

Tomorrow, another guy from Velva, ND (who also saw the ad) is coming to look at Arlen's heifers and possibly 15 cows too. Please pray that that all goes well.

Vonn is getting to be SUCH a big boy. He puts everything in his mouth these days, so we have to watch carefully. Here he's enjoying a banana treat designed for beginning eaters...

 The girls and I baked a "welcome home" cake for their mom. 

Johanna had the idea to make it a "tower cake"...

 I saw this badger on the way over to Lauretta's last night. He stared at me and I stared at him. It was quite interesting, I assure you. :)

The happy news of this day is that----wanna guess?

MICHAEL CAME!!!  He had been on a fishing trip with his brother, uncle and cousins in North Dakota and decided to leave early to come visit me (and my family). :)  He even brought us a bunch of fish!! He's spending the night and will need to leave tomorrow to get back to work at farming at his place. It is SO wonderful having him here again! I think I'm getting spoiled with seeing him so much here lately...We played volleyball this evening and he and I sat on the swings for a while and thought back to the time when we first met last August, when we sat on the swings and talked--nervously. :) I'm so glad we can talk freely now. 

I'd better get some sleep. It's going to be a busy new week! I pray that God directs and blesses us all.