Fam Vac

We spent a week at Shawnee Bay Resort for the big family vacation.  We've been here before and it works well for our family, except this year some of us had to come Friday to Friday and the rest Saturday to Saturday.  We drove the Patriarch and the Matriarch down with us on Friday and had a smooth trip.
I was skeptical when we brought lawnmowers with us, but as it turned out they were well used and at times we could have used a couple more.

As usual, I spent my time eating, sleeping, reading, and babysitting.  With a heavy emphasis on babysitting.  It was a fun week.  It rained one day, so I found a bookstore and Gander Outdoors in Paducah to kill some time.  We also went to the Hitching Post to purchase a sampling of their exotic and historic soda pop flavors.  I read two books, the first was Tom Zobrist's book, Look What God Can Do, about raising his (Eureka native) son Ben who ended up as World Series MVP with the 2016 Champion Chicago Cubs.  The second book, My Story, is Elizabeth Smart's story of her 2002 kidnapping at the age of 14.  It tells of her nine month imprisonment by a religious fanatic and his wife and the awful treatment she endured.  I was impressed with her courage and faith through the trauma and how she has dealt with it since her rescue.  Both good books.

At the Beach

Following a turtle.

A little quarteting one evening.

Last week we spent catching up back home.  Also, the contractors showed up and repaired our fire damaged hog house.  We are now working on the plumbing and wiring, most of which we will do ourselves.

Yesterday morning as I was sitting at my desk at about 6:15 in the morning, the house shook from an explosion.  I ran outside and looked around and didn't see anything wrong or any smoke in the sky, so I went back to my morning routine.  An hour later my brother texted a picture of our local grain elevator where the explosion had taken place.  There is extensive damage and with harvest only a month away, great concern with what to do to handle a predicted bumper crop.

And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
Luke 12:18

Short Break

We took our kids and grand-kids to Mark Twain Lake in Missouri for a 3 day mini vacation.  We had stayed at Timber Ridge Resort fourteen years ago on our big family vacation.  They still remembered us (in a good way!), especially the oldest farmer.  They still have our family picture posted on their website.  D#1 brought me a popcorn cake as a gift!  It was a very hot weekend, but we had air conditioning and water, and lots of good food, so it was a good time.  We stopped in Taylor for church on our way home Sunday, and though is was a very small group, we enjoyed the fellowship.  We have lots of long term relationships and memories there.

Escape room game.

Some Grandma time.

Lining up the equipment.

We were able to get the wheat harvested after we got home.  We also got our double crop soybeans in right behind the wheat, and the straw baled.  The road was looking much worse for the wear, as the truck and equipment tires picked up the tar because of the heat. 
I had a coyote watch me off and on one afternoon.

Fourth of July evening sky as I was putting equipment away.

D#2 brought me a coconut cream pie one day this week.  Life is good.

I had to drive to Kewanee for some feed auger parts one day last week.  I took our van and was able to catch these pictures as the odometer turned.  Hopefully, we can get a couple more years out of the van.

This past weekend we had a reprieve from the heat and humidity, but we are now back to three shirt days.


And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;
Genesis 18:1

Meanwhile . . .

Lots of stuff has been happening.

We had a volunteer cleanup day after the fire.  About 25 men, friends, neighbors, and relatives, showed up to help the Thursday after the fire.  We filled a large roll off dumpster with trash and the truck with recycle aluminum.  It only took about three hours with all the help to clean up what needed to be done!  Of course it was followed by lunch and fellowship.
Now we are waiting for the contractor to start the rebuild.

The following weekend was special, as it was Clayton's testimony and baptism.  A lot of family was in town, so it was a blessed weekend all around.  We enjoyed having Randy and Karen stay with us.

The Saturday before Father's Day was our annual outside work day at church.  We didn't have a large crew, but we accomplished all that needed to be accomplished.  We had to take down our two big Ash trees because they were dying from the Emerald Ash Borer.  They were planted nearly forty years ago shortly after the church was built.

We spent a small Fathers Day at home with ribs and brisket.  We took a four generations picture.

May was one of the hottest Mays on record, and June has proved to be hot also.
The old farmer and his lovely wife had a date night to Normal for a benefit used book sale.  We each came home with a pile of books to add to our collections.  While dining at Culver's, a bus load of special needs folks and their chaperones from northern Illinois surrounded us in the area we were sitting in.  They had spent the hot day at the Special Olympics at the ISU stadium.  The athletes were excited about their events and performances, but the chaperones were looking exhausted.  And they had to go back again the next day.

One of those hot days, our AC condenser fan caught some loose wires and cut them.  I couldn't find a wiring diagram, and the colors didn't match, so I decided not to try to fix it myself.  Fortunately, a repairman was able to stop by the next day and had us running again shortly.  Thankfully we were only out for 24 hours.

On the 25th, the oldest farmer and his wife celebrated their 68th wedding anniversary.  We took them to a new restaurant in town for supper.  When the owner heard how long they have been married, he gave them their meals free!  And roses!

The old farmer and the wife of his youth also celebrated our 35th anniversary last week.  We were blessed to spend the evening at Rejoice Recording Studio singing and recording for the Zion's Harp project.  We were able to practice and record four hymns in two hours, along with enjoying good fellowship with the group that was there.

Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.

Deuteronomy 32:7