Right Of Passage

All summer long the boys have been eyeing the many bucks who have been foraging in our fields and pastures. Opening morning Lukas filled his tag with this big bodied fellow. It was an exciting event as well as a great excuse to miss a half day of school!

Levi filled his tag closer to the end of the season.

We are truly blessed to enjoy God's creation with the abundance of wildlife in our area.

SEWAC Champions~A photo journal of Levi's 8th Grade Football Season

SEWAC consists of the following teams: Burns, Lingle, Lusk, Pine Bluffs and Southeast.

After losing a non-conference opener against Wheatland, the Jr. High Broncs put it all together to end the season undefeated against their conference opponents. It was fun to watch the team develop throughout the season. Levi made ten touchdowns due to a sweet little play where the line created a hole for him to slip through and bust wide open to the end zone. Everyone executed their jobs well so he could gain the yards. This is a great bunch of kids and I'm looking forward to watching them compete in the years to come.

~Mike and Levi~

~The following are my favorites of the season~

~Fall~

Each day Lucy delivers at least one mouse and two moles for her youngsters--she has seven of them! Some days she changes things up a bit with a bird.

We haven't had any measurable moisture since the Fourth of July. Today, September 28th, it was 90 degrees. We're drying up again...the extremes of Wyoming.

There's Always Someone Who Does Things Different

When the boys headed back to school I finally realized that I never ran the 4 wheel drive tractor to work summer fallow and I never checked cows all summer. Lukas and Levi took care of quite a bit. School and football schedules now keep them busy. The cows are still out to pasture so now I get to check salt, mineral, water and fences.

This ol' gal has been with us 15 years. Every year she produces a fantastic calf and looks like she's in great shape to head into the winter.

A sample of our heifers that might become replacements.

S-L-U-R-P

Congregating at the salt feeder.

The Code Of The West
Levi killed these rattlesnakes a couple of weeks ago. It's a final statement to leave the carcasses to rot and dry in the sun. His action certainly gave me a chuckle when I saw them slung on the fence next to the gate that I needed to open!

Drill In The Dust...And The Bins Will Bust

Farmers from years ago used to say' "Drill in the dust, and the bins will bust." Well, Mother Nature's sprinkler system has shut off and we are back to being too dry. There's great concern as to whether the seed is getting drilled deep enough to moisture and...there is plenty of dust. Once again, we do what we can do and rely on our faith and trust in God to sprout the seed, have the young shoots survive the rampant grasshoppers, and make it through the winter to provide a harvest once again next July. We certainly send God many prayers!

Mike is filling the drills from a truck load of cleaned seed wheat. Pre-drilling we took a semi load of wheat to a cleaning mill where it goes through a series of screens and fans to clean off the chaff and sort off the small kernels leaving us the big plump ones.

There's a lot to keep track of...the depth of the drill; how many bushels to the acre one is seeding: are there any plugged spouts; and driving straight.

I believe the ability to drive straight is a genetic trait. Hogan Romsa passed it on to Howard; Howard to Mike; and Lukas and Levi can do it as well.

Since my last post we also put up the second cutting of hay. Rain was not an issue this time; however, the lack of dew to put up the alfalfa was our challenge. At night the humidity would only be at 13%...when it is that dry the leaves fall off docking the quality of the hay. The processes of windrowing, raking , baling and stacking are complete. Waiting now for round three!

AND...school started. Needless to say we are missing our ace help!

Levi is playing Junior High Football.(He's the one in front with the white legs to match the white helmet and the white jersey!) His first game is September 9th in Wheatland, WY. After last year's C5 nerve injury, as a family we opted to not have Lukas play football this year. It is a bummer for his Senior year but we felt the risk was too high.

August 25th was the last-first day of school for Lukas. I managed to get my "mom" photo of the day. I can remember Lukas's first day of Kindergarten. He came home with so many things to tell us. ("We had pineapple for lunch!") How time marches on...not so much to want to share...wanting independence....and school lunch isn't all that great anymore! In five more years it will be Levi's last-first day of school.

Grasshoppers

Walking through a field, these insects fly up in biblical plague like proportions. Currently they are mowing pastures, alfalfa and bean fields. We will once again spray the edges of our wheat strips when the young shoots emerge after drilling this fall--otherwise there will be nothing left

The birds await a disruption to the grass until the hoppers fly up. They are getting fat and haven't made a dent in the population.

Today we burned the stubble off a circle so that it can be plowed and planted back to wheat in a few weeks. The straw market this year was not worth the fuel and twine to bale it up.

Within 20 minutes, this field had burned to the fire guard that Howard had plowed.

A random photo from today. I have observed this beautiful Mule Deer all summer and finally was able to get her picture.

Wheat Harvest

~Hard Red Winter Wheat~

~On July 22 we began our harvest. This marks my 25th one! Some have been sparse and others have been bountiful...and through them all God has blessed me. I get to enjoy His creation, work side by side with Mike, and watch my boys become men.~

Zoom Goes To School...And Back To The Farm

~Summer after summer has gone by and Zoom kept getting another year older without being broke to ride. He became my project for this summer and after 30 continual days of training he's proved to be a nice fellow to work with. Mike had to remind me that I am not 18 anymore. So Levi got to be the first guy to give him a whirl. The first ride was uneventful and Zoom's training is progressing. However, he got this week off since we were trying to wrap up the wreck of putting up the first cutting of hay. Two inches of rain on the 4th of July set us back not to mention ruin the quality of the hay--but that's how it goes! Levi has been busy working summer fallow and I've been on the baler. At any rate, Zoom is on his way.~

~ Lucy's early spring batch of kittens. She looks like she's got another load on board.~

~I was down at the garden and this robin was literally hopping mad at Hank and me.~

~Wyoming -where your wranglers dry in 15 minutes~

Temperature 90 degrees and 9% humidity

Lukas and Levi changing cultivator points....again

Ready for the field!

~The Best For Last~

~Wunderschon Gastfreundshaft~

(Wonderful Hospitality)

For nine fantastic days Regula showed me her life, her family and her culture. She really knows how to roll out the red carpet! Thank you, Regula, for taking the time and being a great hostess! The photo above is from the evening she prepared fondue for me. Fondue is usually a meal enjoyed in the fall but since I was there we enjoyed it in the spring on her balcony!

Regula and her parents, Ruth and Erik and Ruth's cat with personality plus,"Teemo"(sp?). Ruth and Erik prepared a Sunday Brunch feast for us: five kinds of breads, four kinds of homeade jams, eggs, hams, fruits....and more!

Regula's boys: Ivo (standing) and Leo (sitting). My last day there Leo celebrated his twelfth birthday! I got in on several party celebrations on his special day!

This photo sums it all up...gemutlichkeit...the best time!
Hopefully, it won't be another 27 years until my next visit.
Vielen Dank, Regula, Ruth, Erik , Ivo and Leo!