Story of the newest grandchild (#10)

KT had her 2nd child last Friday. I drove the 3 hours to their town to baby sit 2 1/2 year old Wiley. They said he didn't eat much, but I beg to differ. He started his day with a breakfast of grapes and apples...

...as his Mom and Dad headed to the hospital at 9:30 A.M.

I would get the occasional texted photo with status update. 

Meanwhile, back at the house, Wiley and I watched 30 old Looney Tune cartoon episodes that his Dad got the night before. They were great! We were both entertained for a few hours, taking frequent breaks for more food - usually cheese sticks and the odd peanut butter and homemade strawberry jam sandwich, washed down with chocolate almond milk or water. 

The birthing process finally reached the 10 centimeter point, which means things are about to get action packed.

I took Wiley outside a few times to let their dog get some exercise and potty breaks, and Wiley did some rock wall climbing before we settled in for a late night movie. He went to bed at the same time I got the last text...

...informing me of the arrival of Wiley's new little brother, Tyler, at 10:19 P.M. Mom and child doing well. They ordered pizza because they were all hungry, as well as tired. Dad and Grandma got back home at 12:30 A.M. after a long day, and I got some cold  but good pizza.
THE END

Missouri skies

It has been a great summer with mild temperatures, although we could have used more rain the last month

I often see grand sunsets, but don't always have my camera handy. I did on this evening.

I was driving to Columbia on Wednesday, and saw this beautiful cloud formation. I was on a two-lane road and had to find a safe place to pull over, and used my iPhone.

Yes, I know, no sky shot, but I had to squeeze in this photo. K5 came up for a week in each of July & August. She and K7 did some farm work. 

The good life in rural America

Another beautiful summer day on our farm in the Ozarks - green pastures and trees, blue skies with white puffy clouds, and our red buildings.

Time to spoil the cattle with grain and minerals, and a chance to spray them to help control the flies that pester them.

Clearing the banks of brush has gained us more grazing land for the cattle and has improved the views. I now have to remove a few stumps and boulders this winter, so I can get the tractor and bush hog in to mow down to the water line.

One of my favorite views is this giant red oak tree that fell in a mighty storm last year and gives us a bridge across our stream. The rock bottom stream is spring fed and cuts our 40 acre farm in half. It's the dividing line between our flat pastures and house to the right of photo, and our hill pasture and forest to the left of photo. 

The view from the oak bridge back toward the county road and our concrete bridge. Have not seen any copperhead or cotton mouth snakes along stream this year, and saw only one non-poisonous snake in the hill pasture while mowing last month.

"Red" and part of his harem.

Attended the Texas County fair last week to hang out with friends who were showing animals at the fair. Besides having a good time, we also had good food - delicious homemade ice cream for dessert after eating brauts or BBQ!

K7 decided to stay all day with his good friend Forest who was showing and selling his pig.

Forest had good reason to smile as his pig sold for $580. K7 and K8 were so impressed that they both want to bring animals next summer. Some of the sheep sold for $500, and beef steers were selling for $3,500 - $4,000. A small Dexter steer sold for almost $2,000! The boys started getting dollar signs in their eyes and asking if they could each have a steer from our herd...Good way to raise money for Missions and college.

Getting some Wanch work done

I brought K8 and a few of the older boys home from Scout camp during lunch time last week, so K8 could castrate our last bull calf. We should have done it when it was younger and smaller, but I toyed with the idea of selling it with his momma, Nutella. With the price of beef increasing, we'll now keep this guy and sell him by the pound next year.

All three boys are Life Scouts, and all three live on farms that raise cattle. All they need is a sharp pocket knife, a bottle of iodine solution, and a can of fly spray. It took them longer to catch the calf than it did to castrate it.

K8, Taylor, and Daniel. Another day of fun in the sun.

David, in the middle, helped chase the calf from the pasture into the corral, and served as the cameraman.  After a quick bite of lunch, back to camp. You may be wondering where K6 and K7 were during this operation...

Not to worry, they also were accomplishing a bigger chore, working up on the hill, painting the last of our steel fence posts. This is our southwest corner boundary. Can you figure out what kind of tree is to the right?

From here, they travelled along our entire fence line painting any posts that were missed last year. All they needed was bug spray on their legs and shoes, rubber gloves, a brush and can of paint. They also carry machetes with them to cut out brush and poison ivy, and to kill snakes. They can now scratch off another chore from my long "To Do" list. I am happy each time the boys get these tasks done, because it means our farm continues to improve in functionality and looks. With school starting back up in a week, we'll get fewer tasks done. 

Arms and the Man (title borrowed from George B. Shaw's play)

During Scout camp, K7 challenged some of the older guys to arm wrestling.  I'm only including pics of the matches against K8. K7 is two years older, so who do you think will win?

It was hard fought, but K8 didn't look worried...

...and he finally won. K7 must have forgot about all the PT K8 has been doing the past year in Marine JROTC. What to do now?

Why, switch arms, and see who has a stronger left arm of course! 

K7 won this match, and immediately wanted a re-match with the right arm...

Oops! Should have been happy with a draw. Not only did he lose, but he got a muscle strain that was quite painful. Had to take him home to doctor him - bag of ice and lots of luna rich capsules.

A week later, he is healed and back to training for his next match by loading 50 pound bags of grain. He is determined. Oh, yea, he is also signing up for Marine JROTC this school year. Next year's final match at the end of school should be epic!

Boy Scout Summer Camp

Because regular BSA camp is too pricey for most of the boys in our Troop, and because some of our parents won't allow their boys to attend Council camps, combined with we are not allowed to do fund raisers, our Troop committee set up our own summer camp on a local farm. Instead of the traditional $225 per boy at a Council camp, our Scouts paid $50 each. We offered many of the traditional merit badges along with several Eagle required ones. 

Shotgun MB was popular among the older boys. We had two shooting stations with one adult and an Eagle Scout behind each station to ensure safety and to coach the boy shooting.

K7 was the acknowledged top shooter. He earned his Shotgun MB years ago in Texas, but he hasn't forgotten how to do it well. He busted all of his clay pigeons.

He also personally coached the other boys so they could earn the MB. Everyone passed the class and earned the MB.

K8 had not previously taken Shotgun class, but he was the 2nd best shooter right behind his brother. The boys all took turns rotating from throwing clay pigeons, to shooting, to watching, then switch stations and repeat using a different type of shotgun.

Our camp also offered some unusual merit badges that our boys loved, and which will prove practical since most live on farms - Welding and Farm Mechanics. K8 earned both...and I donated our tractor for them to work on, so we got some maintenance on it.

Three boys were welding at a time under the supervision of our Scout Master, using different type rigs.

The boys had fun in a large pond every afternoon on kayaks. K8 is 2nd from left, standing on his boat. It got even more fun when they learned how to play kayak rugby. Weak swimmers were not allowed on the water without a life vest. The younger boys also earned their Fishing merit badge around this pond earlier in the day.

K8 and some of the older boys finished the Wilderness Survival MB by building and spending the night in home made shelters. This was K8's. I was really hoping it would have rained that night, but no luck. He was still in bed when K7 and I arrived early next morning with the pellet rifles for Rifle Shooting MB class. Camp was very successful - nobody got hurt, everyone had fun, and everyone earned lots of merit badges. K8 earned a total of 5 merit badges last week, which brings him up to about 30 total...just a few behind K7. K8 is scheduled to do his Eagle Project in September.