Room for one more dog on the Wanch

Meet "Ruby", our newest canine. The timing was right. A friend's German Shepherd had pups, and I have been thinking of getting another big dog to replace our pit bull, "Boy", when he moves with his owners, KT and Danny, in January. I wanted a female, black and tan shepherd, and the price was right - free! 

She is cute and sweet. As a pup, she sleeps a lot - on the front porch. No, she will not be an indoor dog.

Going back to where it all began

While in Orlando, Florida, I decided to look for the first house I ever lived in, since this was the first time I returned to the city of my birth. I knew the street name, unfortunately... 

...the short street no longer has individual homes, just businesses. 

But not all was lost. My family moved a few months after my birth to a nearby neighborhood.

Today, it is a beautiful neighborhood.

I found the house at the end of this street...

....just not sure which duplex it is! Right or left?

Florida Trip

"S" and I had a business conference in Orlando the past week. Stayed at the Peabody Hotel on International Blvd - it is all of these buildings you see combined. Great place. Didn't spend a lot of time in our room, but...

...it had a TV in the bathroom mirror! Yes, I did use it - watched a few minutes of "Terminator Salvation" while shaving, which meant I had to go real slow. I'll have to finish the movie some day, but not in the bathroom.

No, we did not visit Disney World, Epcot, Sea World, or any of the other tourist hot spots. We did pop into the Wonder Works upside down building for a quick look, which was two blocks away from the hotel. 

Wonder Works from a different angle, which shows the "dirt" the building was ripped up out of, along with upside down palm trees, power pole and Fedex box.

On the way home we stopped at Miramar Beach near Destin, FL, to visit the white sand and warm water. The beach was packed as far as the eye could see. I was standing in the surf getting wet when I remembered that I had both my camera and phone in the pockets of my shorts - oops!

We didn't stay too long out in the sun for fear of being fried, so we drove the 20 mile stretch along the beach front, but had to turn around and head back to the hotel due to...

...this large storm front moving ashore. Notice most of the boats heading back in? The storm was much blacker and larger off to the right. It was moving fast accompanied by strong winds. We got to the hotel just as the rain hit. Talk about muggy weather.

This is storm #2 arriving early the next morning as we headed out on the final drive home. 

It was a little brighter on the right hand side of the bridge, but...

...it rained and blew within minutes. Had a fun and safe trip. Next year we plan to take the boys to Disney World and Destin beach.

19 July Update

Since K8 learned how to replace the tractor's water pump, I figure he can handle the regular maintenance like changing the oil and filter.

The boys moved sheep and cattle to different paddocks...

...but the trick was to move them quickly through the corral, where we have 24 large round bales of hay, without the animals stopping to eat the hay, which is being stored so we can feed them this winter.

Oops! Someone forgot to close a certain gate...

Took a young cow, "Sandie", to the Vet's to have her artificially impregnated. 

She wasn't happy, and we might have been off one day in our calculations of when she was in heat - may have to repeat this process in 18 days.

Our Church had a fun night last weekend with a combined dinner and talent show. K7 is third from the left (and the only guy in shorts).

"S" was talking to one of our daughters on the phone last week. She walked into the house still chatting, and I kid you not, she asked all of us if we had seen her phone! She was serious. The boys and I looked at her and said,"It's in your hand next to your ear?" Yes, the modern iPhone technology is great when it makes you think you are talking to someone in person! 

Work on the farm

Work on the Wanch starts indoors. Here, K8 is cleaning a high air intake vent after changing light bulbs in the ceiling fans.

K7 sweeping floors. They also do dishes, laundry, clean bathrooms, and dust. Dad actually cleaned the grass doors and windows this week.

Fixing the water gap fence, west end of stream after a heavy rain. The east end is a piece of cake, but this west end is a bear. K8 has to go into deep water to retrieve the fence.

Team work - many hands make light work.

Heave, ho...

K2 devises a temporary fix to attach the fence to the post up on bank. We will be replacing this water gap in a month with a heavy duty one using aircraft cable and cattle panels, which should hold up much better in rain storms.

It was hot and buggy at this spot yesterday.

This was a surprise - the only chick to be "naturally" hatched by a momma bird this year. We thought we had collected all the fertilized eggs, because all other chicks and turkey polts came via S's egg incubator.

The roses are working too.

Resting while waiting for a stranger to come by before they do their work and go into action.

4th of July X 2

We had a fantastic 4th of July show at the Wanch this year, and because K7 was away all week attending Especially For Youth at the University of Missouri, and his 16th birthday was July 7th, we had TWO great fireworks shows, one on Thursday and another on Sunday! 

You can't see them in far background, behind the little "Junebug" candle, but K2 and K8 had a roman candle duel in the front yard. Who won? Not who you would at first think...

We spent a little more on ordnance this year, and bought some bigger boxes of mortar shells.

But it was worth it! The bursts were just above the trees, and you almost felt you were part of it, without getting singed. 

K2 and I are already planning a bigger show next July by inviting other families to buy fireworks and combine them all at a big show up on our hill top pasture. Can't wait!

Assorted updates on family and farm.

K1's latest family photo 

The house seems a little quieter while K3 and her family spend this month in Texas and Costa Rico.

This is hopefully our last batch of baby chicks to be brooded this year. This batch is in our living room while waiting for the last batch to move from dairy shed into the coop with the big flock.

K2 regularly plays with the chicks. He has his favorites, and they come to him.

K6 took this beautiful photo from our back, upper deck with his iPhone before moving to Utah.

Mom just returned from 2 1/2 weeks helping deliver K4's fifth child - our ninth grandchild.  His name is Samuel.

K8 spending his hard earned money on things that go "boom" on the 4th of July. Half of his income goes in the bank, and after he pays tithing, the rest is his to spend as he sees fix.

How does he earn money? This week it was by helping our friend Brian repair our tractor. While waiting for parts, he did preventive maintenance by greasing all around and under the tractor.

Brian came over to diagnose the problem with the tractor. A month ago it started making a horrendous noise under the hood. The two tractor repair shops in town were backed up because it's haying season, so I am very thankful he came. Turned out to be the water pump. He did a great job patiently teaching K8.  

Once he explained things, he put the tools into K8's hands and guided him. K2 helped one day. Once the parts arrived from the John Deere dealer, it took 3 evenings to complete the work, because Brian was coming over after he got off work. Now I can get back to moving hay bales into the corral for storage, and bush hogging the hillside.

Where was K7? Getting ready to attend a week-long Especially For Youth session at the University of Missouri. He and other friends worked on three skits in preparation for a talent show at EFY. Sorry for the blurry pics. My camera does not do well with moving targets. I wish I had K3's nice DSR camera, but she took it with her to Texas!

When I drove them to Columbia for EFY, they had one large suitcase that was full of props for their skits. A week after they return home, they will put on their skits again at Church during a cook-out and talent show.