Update

Last week, Earlybird offered us a ride in their helicopter to look at our fields from the air.  It was a beautiful day to fly, and a great way to scout the fields and check the crops.  We were cruising at about 500 feet altitude and about 90 mph as we traveled from farm to farm.  Then we'd fly lower and circle each field.  Overall, I thought the crops looked better than I expected.  I hope the yields prove me right.

The cockpit.

Our farmstead from the air.

In 1993 we bought a Jayco pop-up tent camper.  Over the next 15 or so years we enjoyed many camping trips with our children.  Many good memories were made all over the country in all types of weather.  We outgrew it when all of our children became adults, so we haven't used it in at least 4 years.  So on Labor Day, I set it up to prepare it for sale.  I discovered that water had leaked in and molded through the canvas in several spots.  In my opinion, the whole tent needed to be replaced rather than just patched.  The cost would be $850 plus my labor, so I decided to see if I could sell it "as is" at a cheap price on Craig's List.  It was gone in 3 days!  That saved me a lot of work!

The camper before it left the farm.

Last weekend we headed to Kansas City for nephew Scott's wedding.  We didn't leave until Jake got home from work Friday, so we didn't reach our final destination until early Saturday morning.  We stayed with Galen and Shannon and their girls, along with Bob and Jenny, and we enjoyed our time with them.  Bob and Jenny had a flat tire on arrival Friday night, so we took it off in the morning, dropped it at Walmart on the way to the wedding, picked  up the new tire on the way back, and had them up and running again by late afternoon.  The entire family except one nephew made it out for the wedding, so it was good to be all together again.  We made the trip in 6 1/2 hours each way.  I think that is a record for us.

One view of Galen and Shannon's house with Bob and Jenny's wheel missing car.

Last night, Matt and Lena, and Nathan and Michelle came over and we made apple cider.  Because of the recent heat and dry weather, the apples are maturing earlier than normal, and falling from the trees.  We made about 8 gallons of cider from about 5 bushels of apples.

The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.
Joel 1:12