Bees, cats, and dogs

The warm 60 degree temps yesterday caused the bees to start flying, so I had to make a batch of sugar syrup to feed them since there are no blossoms out yet.

Note: The cat photo is out of order due to a miscue of the blogger.com uploading, and with rural internet speed almost as slow as dial-up, I am not reloading all these pics!

K6 cleaning the dairy shed. We like to keep the floor covered with fresh hay or straw, and remove the occasional manure to keep it nice and clean, both for our noses and our shoes. The cats keep it clear of mice.

The sugar syrup in place. The bees are active and plentiful.

K2 and K6 got "Boy" the pit bull and "Dandy" the English Shepherd to play tug-a-war with a stick. "Jack" the Westie is jealous of anything "Boy" does.

The stick battle actually lasted longer than we thought it would go. They maneuvered from the pond bank over to the parking area.

After a spirited battle, "Dandy" ended up the winner on this round. To be continued...

Big bird vs little bird

The little guy is a bantam Silver Sebright chicken and he actually gets along okay with our big turkey Tom, who is a Royal Palm.

We put this small gate in between the corral (on the left) and the chicken paddock (on the right) back in January. It makes life easier for moving cows in and out of dairy shed.

Brush hog safety

My brother-in-law was doing some welding down the road from the Wanch, so I took the brush hog to him  for a vital safety upgrade - attaching a chain safety curtain along the front opening to protect the driver (usually me) from getting stabbed in the back by flying giant splinters (caused by running over large bushes and small trees).

The completed job being inspected by Lizzy. Now I can finish mowing the heavy brush up on our hill side next week.

The Monday morning moving company

We had an opportunity to help a family move last Monday. It was freezing and blowing snow. K2, home from Law school on spring break, dressed appropriately. But K7 and K8 must have thought they would be working indoors. 

K2 and K7 had to muscle this heavy roll of metal out of the truck. Where's K8?

Working his muscles in a different way, but not helping.

He eventually helped.

The last item.

Headed home after several hours. 

The last snowball fight of winter...we hope!

We received over 6 inches last week, but it melted fast. K8 and K7 made good use of the last remnants of the snow.

It didn't last too long...

...just long enough for K8 to score a direct hit on K7.

An English farmer?

No, just K6 over dressed one day last week.

He was firing a shot gun to scare the birds away from our newly seeded pastures.

The Rock Cafe

I saw this place featured on an episode of "Diners and Dives", so we made a pit stop for lunch last Friday.

According to the notes written on posters, it was an inspiration to the artists who made the movies "Cars" and "Monsters, Inc".

The food was great. K3 and I split an Indian taco, and S and I split the best Reuben sandwich we have ever had.

Family gatherings

K4 and K5 with their Aunt Gail. K5 is holding Joseph.

K5, K3 and K4 with their cousins Holly and Diana.

S with her parents a few siblings, K3 and Wiley.

Newest member of the family. A vehicle for the boys to drive. All I needed to hear was Toyota and 38 miles per gallon!

Second newest member of the family - we had to replace 3-year old malfunctioning G3 iPhone with G4 Siri.

Grandma holding great grand child number 8.

Rex's Celebration of Life

Lt David Swanson, Rex's platoon leader and very close friend, escorted him home from Afghanistan and was the main speaker. He did an awesome job of keeping us smiling and remembering the best of Rex.

Rex's Grand Father and Mother said a few words and thanked everyone for attending.

The U.S. Army did a wonderful job supporting our family, and was represented by a large contingent, led by Brigadier General McKeirnan. 

I can not say enough good things about the Patriot Guard, a national motorcycle group comprised of military veterans who have a unique way of still serving and honoring a military hero.

There is another empty cot in the Army barracks tonight...another warrior has gone to Valhalla

Part way down Monday night's Washington Post's web page you would have seen this small banner:

"2 U.S. troops, 5 Afghans killed in ‘insider attack’"

You can read the story here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/2-us-troops-and-5-afghans-killed-in-insider-attack/2013/03/11/43c5289c-8a50-11e2-8d72-dc76641cb8d4_story.html

To many folks, these 2 U.S. soldiers and 5 Afghans have already become numerical statistics to be filed away - data to be used in debates about what they think is right or wrong. 

But these 7 beings are real people. They have names. God knows and loves each of them personally. 

One of them was Staff Sergeant Rex Schad, from Oklahoma. I know all of his family on his Mother's side. 

He was raised by his single Mom with the help of his maternal grandparents, and joined the Army right out of high school. He adapted well to military life, advancing rapidly up the ranks. I borrowed this photo from his facebook page.

I borrowed this photo from my daughter's blog. As of Monday, Rex had not quite reached the halfway point of his second combat tour in Afghanistan. He was happy and successful in a challenging career, that he voluntarily chose, as a professional soldier. After this deployment, he looked forward to marriage, and the options of being commissioned an officer or getting out of the service and going to college - the sky was the limit! That all changed Monday. As a child of God, Rex's time on earth ended, far sooner than many expected. There is great shock, grief and mourning in the hearts of those who knew him. But after being physically, mentally, and spiritually "numb" for several hours this evening, I find great comfort in the knowledge of Jesus' atoning sacrifice and the Plan of Salvation. I know that Rex is in Heaven with his maternal Grandmother, "Nana" (my Mother), his aunt Tina (my sister), and all our ancestors. As much as we mortals miss him at this moment in time, we will all be reunited together in the future, and Oh, what great joy and happiness that will be!

Last photos of Portland, OR trip, I promise!

K1 just emailed these photos taken with her super duper Canon Rebel EOS camera during our visit with her family - Mike, Sadie, Lydia, and baby Trevor.

Sunday, 3 March, was a beautiful, mostly sunny afternoon. This day was the main reason we travelled 2,032 miles. To attend Church on the day our newest grandson, Trevor, would receive a Name and a Blessing. My first visit here, but not my last. 

The beach at Seaside, OR, on Friday. The rain stopped and the sun came out for about an hour. Great little town, just the wrong time of year if you want to get a sun tan.

Seaside is famous for being the end of the trail westward for the Lewis and Clark expedition. Hence, the nice statue of them.

Checking out the special dessert K1 made for supper after Church. She also created a tasty beverage - look at the large glass dispenser in the background on the right. It contained water, ice, with strawberries and cucumbers! Yes, I said cucumbers. Very tasty and healthy!

Yes, these cup cakes tasted as good as they look. She did something special with the cake mix, made her own frosting, and she painstakingly handmade the chocolate moustaches Saturday evening. As you can guess, there were no leftovers.

Seed, seeding, and seedlings

Let me guess - K6 is doing warm-up exercises, or some kind of silvan ballet? No, he is...

...helping with a family farm chore, in this case, over seeding our pastures. As you can see in the bed of the truck, we had a lot of seed to spread - orchard grass, timothy grass, oats, white clover, and sweet yellow clover. I had hoped to spread it on the snow last week, but the snowfall stopped about 15 miles west of us. Now we had to get it spread on the lower six paddocks, this strip between paddocks and the stream, our hillside pasture, and my brother-in-law's pastures before the rain forecasted this weekend. Where are the other boys? K7 helped Friday afternoon and Saturday, then headed to the Stake Super Saturday youth activity in Rolla. And K8?

He was with us, and in charge of spreading the expensive clover seed.

Fly away home...

K1 with Trevor in her arms, and Sadie and Lydia, saying "Goodbye" as we reluctantly end an awesome vacation. I told you I would get a family shot before we departed. You can see Mike in the car's rearview mirror. He drove us to the Portland airport Tuesday morning. Can't wait to see them on the farm this summer.

Flying over Colorado and the Rocky Mountains. We had a safe and uneventful trip back to Kansas City, where we retrieved our vehicle and had supper with K2 at an Indian restaurant before driving the 4 hours home.

Home sweet home. Resting in the recliner and reading a book I purchased at one of the best bookstores in America - "Powell's Books" in Portland, OR.

My, what big blue eyes you have Wiley.

Yes, he is only days away from letting go, and walking on his own.