Fam Vac

 The annual family vacation was held in Grabill again this year at Loren and Rita's. I was unable to attend the last time it was in Indiana, but was present all four days this year. I listened to a Hank the Cow Dog CD on the way out.  I haven't done that since we traveled with our kids!  The weather was pleasant, and over 70 of us were able to be there at least part of the time.  We utilized two houses, four campers and six tents to sleep everyone.  The food was great as usual, and there were lots of recreational activities. Kacie put together a slide show of her trip to Africa to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and go on a Safari.  I lost my first match in the pickle ball tournament, but it was only the second time I have played.  I also went kayaking on the St. Joe for a while, read a little, but mostly watched grandkids.

 The portable pizza oven was back again this year.  Always good!

Swimming, pickle ball and 4 square in the barn, volleyball, jet ski, fishing, paddle boards and kayaks, Gator rides, tubing, and Rook.

 

After we got back home, the sweet corn was ready.  We also had a week of high heat, so the sweet corn matured fast and didn't last as long as some years.  I ate my fill and along with the daughters and daughter-in-law, we put up a bunch of corn.  Our peaches were also ready that week.

The center sump in the grain bin that I had been pulling corn out of for hog feed got plugged.  I rented a grain vac from the local elevator to pull enough grain out so that I could get in the bin and fix the problem.  Since it was such a hot week, working in the grain bin was almost intolerable.  I could only work in the mornings, as the afternoons were too hot.  Fortunately, it only took two mornings and I had all the grain moved and the problem addressed.  Dragging an eight inch vacuum hose around inside a bin is a job even in cool weather.

The next project that I tackled was hauling liquid manure onto the wheat stubble.  The manure is sucked into the tank with vacuum and unloaded by reversing the pump and filling the tank with pressure.  I was able to get the two fullest pits empty and started on the third pit when the vacuum tank imploded. Not a good day!  This is the second time in my career that this has happened to me.  Basically a very necessary and useful piece of equipment is turned into salvage scrap in seconds.  It would cost more to fix than what it would be worth after it is restored.  So, I'll get some insurance money, sell the tank for salvage, and then rent a tank to finish hauling manure after harvest.

I pulled the honey off of the one hive that I have that produced this year and I got about 40 pounds.  I tried to drive the bees out of the honey super before I pulled it off of the hive, but a lot of bees were still in it when I got it home.  I put it in the air conditioned shop office for a few days until I had time to extract the honey, and the office filled with bees.  They were disoriented and out of their element, but for some reason they were not hostile at all.  I was able to remove the honey and spray the room without getting stung.

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