Another Eagle Scout and farm work

Our son K8 earned his Eagle rank back in December, but we finally held his Eagle Court of Honor last Sunday afternoon, at which our Bishop (also an Eagle, but in the last century...) presented it.

We waited until Spring break so K4 and her husband Ryan could bring their six children up from Texas. K5 also drove up for two days - she took care of the reception. We had a good sized crowd, but we failed to get a group photo.

I also forgot my cable for connecting my MacBook to a large TV, so I just played K8's photo slide show on my 13" screen. Made for a cozy gathering around the screen.

On my way home next day, I was treated to this beautiful moment when a little, bright window into Heaven opened up.

Ryan helped me finish splitting up the rest of the Sycamore tree we cut down behind our house in paddock #2. You can also see the new house we are building for Grandma. 

Friday, Ryan helped K8 and me do some more farm work - burning brush along our fence line and...

...using the tractor to drag big old dead logs off the stream bank, cutting them into manageable sizes, and building a burn pile. I poured on a little diesel fuel and K8 lighted it.

Once it was burning, K8 hit it again with another bucket of fuel for good measure...

...awesome fun, and we got this area along our stream cleaned out. Then we used the tractor to pull out an old stretch of barbed wire and t-posts imbedded in a thicket of thorny brush, which Ryan and I later took to our local re-cycling center.

Then we moved to the other side of the creek to drag this giant Sycamore tree out of the water before the next storm sends it down stream to break our water gap fence. It was cut down recently by the power company. It broke into three big pieces when it fell. We had already pulled piece #1 out before this pic - this is pieces #2 and #3. Thank goodness for a tractor. I would hate to have to cut and drag this kind of stuff by hand.

While we were outside working, our son Kaidan was having fun playing with his nephews from Texas (K4 and Ryan's two youngest sons). During their week long visit, K4 and Ryan found a nice spot up on our hill, on which they plan to build a house some day. We can't wait!