Party Tree

 We missed the last three of D#2's birthdays as she was in Grabill for 3 and 1/2 years.  She decided to throw herself a Hobbit coming of age party (33 years old).  We hosted it under the party tree one fine evening in May.  Matt got the keg of root beer and brought fireworks.  Everyone pitched in to make and bring food, and we ended up with a real feast.  Baked Ham, Lamb chops, meat pie, and roast chicken graced the table.  Friends and family arrived, with many guests dressing the part, including some old and young. The weather cooperated and we enjoyed a beautiful sunset. 

  

After everyone left, we got a text to be watching for the Northern Lights.  Sure enough, we could see faint purple streaks in the night sky.  The camera exposure captured it better than the eye.

We watched the next night also, but we didn't see them again.

Our whole family spent a Sunday in Burlington to celebrate birthdays and Seth Eberhardt's open house. We enjoyed the day in Burlington church.  After church even the kids enjoyed the models and toy tractors at the open house.  In the evening we had our meal and gift opening for the birthday kids.  Our youngest grandchild turned one.

 

After many weeks of rain delays, we finally had a dry week and were able to finish planting corn.  Immediately after finishing corn, I was out replanting the drowned out spots in the soybean fields.  I think that from the time I started planting soybeans until we were able to get back in the field to finish last week, we had 8 inches of rain.  The corn that I planted last Monday was already out of the ground as we drove to church on Sunday.

Sunday afternoon, we attended my aunt Shirley's funeral in Goodfield.  My Uncle Roy's first wife (Arlene) passed away after 25 years of marriage. Arlene wanted Roy to remarry (they still had a child to raise) and gave him a couple names she approved of.  God directed him to choose one of them; Shirley.  She stepped into a difficult situation, becoming a second wife, a mother, and a grandmother at the some time.  She faithfully fulfilled her duties and was a blessing to the family and the rest of us.  It was good to be at the Dells cemetery again, and we would have liked to spend more time walking around to visit the graves of so many relatives and people we know.  Funerals and cemeteries have a way of putting life back into its proper perspective.

And when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee;                          Mark 6:21

Delayed

 I was able to watch the partial eclipse through a welding helmet, and took some pictures with double welding helmet glass.  Pictures rarely do justice to what you see, but it didn't turn out too bad.

Ross Blair, owner of Blair's Disc Sharpening, came down from North Dakota and sharpened a couple of tillage tools for me.  His dad sharpened blades for my dad when I was a little boy.  He camped overnight in my yard in his converted bus because of how late he worked.  I enjoyed his stories about living and working along the Canada border.  You would think that living in the middle of nowhere along the border, it wouldn't be a big deal for a farmer to cross it.  But cows getting out and crossing the border can be a major ordeal.  Or if you fall asleep with autosteer on and the tractor crosses the line before you wake up, the border patrol will show up.  There are electronic sensors all along the border, which is just a six foot strip of grass in that area.  He can see Canada from his house.

 I got started planting soybeans on April 15, and made good progress until the rains started.  I was able to work two days the last week of April and finished the beans and started corn.  Then the rains came back again.  I received 5 inches over 7 days and have not been back in since.  And we've had another 1.2 inches in the last few days.  So we got off to a great start, but now we are behind!  There is lots of ponding in some of our fields, so I know there will be replanting.

Gus helping me check the outlet of Lake Homeless Lady (inside joke).

My strong hive made it through the winter and is stronger than ever.  I installed a new package in my second hive and have a swarm box out in case my strong hive swarms.  I'm hoping for a good honey year.  The fruit trees have blossomed, but it doesn't look like it will be as good of a fruit year as last year.  My cherry tree looks to be the most productive this year.

Our old lawn mower gave us fits all last summer.  I replaced the fuel pump twice, the fuel filter once, and bought a new battery.  It has a slow leak in two of the tires.  It also spent some time in the shop with hydrostat and frame problems.  So I ordered a new mower for this summer.  Shipment was delayed several times, so I serviced the old mower and it has been working perfectly so far this spring.  Finally our dealer (Blunier Implement) found the same mower on another dealer's lot who had given up their dealership. It ended up being an upgraded version of the mower we wanted at a slightly less price! It is the old farmers wife's Christmas, birthday, and Mother's day gift!

But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his axe, and his mattock.                         I Samuel 13:20