Life is fragile----handle with prayer!

We were reminded today of how quickly life can change... 

We are extremely grateful for God's protection of my brother, Jacob...

 

This is why:

 

 He was on his way to work for the farmer he's been helping.  He was getting close to being there and got to the top of a hill when someone was coming from the other direction on the gravel road and was hogging the road and Jacob says he wasn't over as far as he should have been either.  Jacob moved over, of course, and hit loose gravel and fish-tailed....  He went down the ditch and landed as you see in the picture above.  THANKFULLY, he just has some bruises/scratches on his arm and his knee is hurting a little. 

The dozen eggs he was taking over for the farmer's wife doesn't look at all well! 

(There are egg shells/yolks all over the inside of the Rover.)

 

Jacob said he'll part out his Rover now and send the rest to the scrap-yard.  I was babysitting most of the day, so by the time I got home, Jacob was over the shock of it all. 

 

I just want to again thank those of you who pray for my family and I!!! 

I'm SO glad that our family still numbers 5 this evening.

OH, and PLEASE, be careful while out driving everyone!

 



Here's wishing you all....

.....a wonderful weekend!  Andrew and I are leaving shortly for "Family Fun Days" at a family's farm in MN.   My blog will consequently be silent for a few days.  I'll try to remember to get lots of pictures, for those of you who like that kind of thing.  ;)

 

God bless and guide you all, and may you draw closer to Him with each passing day!

 

 

Bismarck...and bulls.

I went up to Bismarck with most of my family today to run around town and look at things----and dream of things for the future.....  It was a very fun day!

 

When we got home, we chased the bulls across the road to the small pasture by the farm here so that they have grass to eat, and so that Sally gets a chance to be a mama again before the bulls are shipped up to the pasture to be with the rest of the herd. 

 

It rained here again, most of the morning actually.  Yay!   (We're happy about it anyway.)  The wind is picking up now once more and there is a rumble of thunder in the distance again....

 

I found this picture and thought, with another storm coming, it was a good time to share it with "Ya'll"...

 

 

This 'n that...

On Monday, my dad and brothers went up to the pasture to fix the fence in a new cell and then moved the cows there.  They tagged a few calves that have been born in the big pasture.  This is one of them: 

 

My Liza and her cute little baby!  Liza was a bottle calf several years ago.

 

 Every year, we like to put some goldfish in our cattles' water tanks so they can keep the icky green algae stuff eaten down.  The fish do well and the water is much cleaner for the cows, so it's a win/win situation.  Sometimes, the fish make it through the winter months and we don't need to restock the tank, but last winter was just too cold....  It was my job to let all these little guys go last night.  :)

By this fall, they'll be at least triple this size, if not more.

 I was gone babysitting today again (yesterday too).  It started to rain shortly before I left at suppertime and I had to drive home very slowly so as not to slip off the road, as the rain began to literally POUR down from the sky.  3+ inches later, my dad and I drove down to the range to get a picture!  The water is almost touching the top of the bottom layer of bales in that low area!!  I'm so grateful for the rain----but especially that it came now and not 3 or 4 days ago when we were shooting in this very spot!!!!!

 

 

And so, for calves, and fish, and water....I'm very grateful tonight!

 

What are you thankful for?

 



~Project Appleseed, June 14-15th 2014~

MANY PICTURES BELOW!!!

 Saturday started out with fair weather... (See--no coats!)

 It's always fun having people come back who've shot before (especially ones who have made the Rifleman score already, but want to keep practicing their skills)...

 Mae F. shot both days.  This was her second Appleseed shoot. 

She'll be a fine Riflewoman someday!

 It started to rain in the latter part of the morning---and then it POURED for a while! 

 But, the shoot must go on...

 Those who were just watching were grateful for canopies...

 It was WONDERFUL having my friend, Emmy and her family come from MN!!!!!  Sadly, one of them got sick the 2nd day and they headed for home earlier than they'd originally planned.  We were glad they could come and spend one whole day with us anyway!

 This was the first time we met Emmy's whole family

and it was the first time that they'd been to our farm...

 Soggy shooters...  Our clothes dryer was going most of the evening, with all of those blankets and other things.  We all took our rifles apart late that night and gave them a good cleaning too.

 So neat seeing the range full of cardboard for targets this time!!!  

There were 28 shooters on the range on Saturday.  :)  A couple less on Sunday.

 Our friend, Josephine...

 Look at those clouds!

Looks like it was time to put up new targets?

Yes, that must be what we were doing...

Most of the shooters on the south side of the range were related.  What a neat way to spend the Father's Day weekend together as a family!

Oh, and yes, I did shoot for a while on Saturday... 

Thanks to Emmy (although my mom may have snapped this with Emmy's camera?),

I have picture proof.  :)

The "Northerners"...

...and some of the "Southerners"...

And most of us together!!!

 

 Brother Andrew---in his orange hat...

 Andrew did a lot of the history portion of Appleseed, as he was being tested on it...

 

 

 We all went up to the (heated) shop for the noon meal and for a portion of the history lesson, 

as it was still raining at this point.  It felt good to be dry and warm for a while.  Here is Emmy and her dad.  She took several pictures--some are included in this post... (Thanks for sharing, Emmy!)

Glad we have a shop this size!

 

 After the shooting was done for the day, we shared a potluck meal in the shop, some did chores, and then had lots of fun playing volleyball well into the dark and swinging and visiting, then sitting around the campfire for a while.....  

 

Me, feeding my bottle calf...

 Peter and Jacob seemed to enjoy each other's company a lot...

 Yummy!!

My dad and Andrew T...

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning was cool and breezy, but the sun came out from behind the clouds eventually and some of us came away with sunburnt faces even!  It did sprinkle again mid-afternoon, but overall, it was a much more comfortable day for target practice.

 

Here, Instructor Tom is making sure everyone gets their Appleseed T-shirt....

 

This was Lauretta's first time as an Instructor In Training (IIT).  She did well!  :) 

 

This was also our first time of meeting our Shoot Boss, Alex T. (middle). 

 (He's also a skilled volleyball player!)  :)  

Getting instructions...

 Paul F. shot the 2nd day with 2 of his children...

 Lauretta and Tom (standing)...

 

Our parking lot...

Some of the line on Sunday...

 

Checking for progress...

We had 3 "Andrews"  (and 2 "Pauls") over the weekend.  Here are 2 of the Andrews...

Just had 1 Thaddaeus though...

Andrew, helping our littlest shooter, Katie...  She was fun to watch!

Shooting from the prone position is often people's favorite...

Alex, explaining the course of fire...

Clouding over again...  Isn't that sky pretty?

Standing...

Sitting...

......

Checking (maybe changing?) the targets again...

It was great meeting our new friend, Andrew T.  (Yep, one of those Andrews...)!  He's a good shot!

Josephine and another one of the Andrews...

 My mom shot for a while on Sunday...  :)

The shooters going down range to view/retrieve their targets---"Quickly".

 

My dad also shot some on Sunday (Father's Day).  :)

Lauretta---one of my truest friends...  I SO very much appreciate her!!

Officially adding up AQT scores.........Did Paul F. make the Rifleman score???  Hmmmm.

Pickin' up brass...

Adding up more scores...

YES----Paul F. DID earn his Rifleman badge!!!!!    Look at that smile!  :) 

It really is harder to do than it sounds.

AND, so did Bill (this was the first time we met him, 

but hopefully he'll be helping instruct future Appleseeds in ND)...  :)

Then came the time that our Andrew's  been working towards for a couple years already----he was given his red hat, as he passed the test to be an Instructor!!!!!!!!!!!  :)  We're all SO happy for him!

Andrew then gave an orange hat to Bill, welcoming him aboard the Appleseed team...

"Thank you all for volunteering your time and energy to teach others!!!"

Left to right:  Lauretta (ND), Tom (CT), Alex (MN), Andrew (ND), and Bill (ND).

The only pictures I have of myself from the weekend are ones from Emmy's camera...  It was SO great to get to know her better (even if we did stay up pretty late talking and felt a little out of it the next morning).  ;) 

 So, there you have it---the story of the weekend in pictures.

 

We're once again grateful to God for His protection for all as they shot, traveled, and played volleyball ;), and are very happy that so many people took the time, money, etc... and made the effort to come! 

 

We hope to see many more at future Appleseed shoots

(July in Jamestown and September here at the farm)!!!   Here's the link to preregister:

http://www.appleseedinfo.org/search-states-display.php?qstate=ND&statename=North Dakota .

 

We'd LOVE to have you!