Mom and Dad are here!

Mom and Dad have arrived! We are having a great time with them here. They are a tremendous help, and we enjoy just spending time with them. They will be here until mid August, take a couple of road trips, and then return for a time before the snow flies.

Mom has really been a blessing to Sheryll, and Dad has really been a blessing to me both at the pole barn and here at the farm. Today we poured some concrete patches on the foundation where we will build our barn. Tomorrow we return to the pole barn to get the rest of the rafters and the tongue and groove 2X8s that form the manure wall.

Here are some pics of our progress taken at the end of days 6, 7 and 8 (I think?)

Pole barn dismantling project

The pole barn is 40X80. The tin on the end walls is in pretty good shape, over half of the back wall is in good shape, but most of the front and the roof tin is damaged. There are quite a few 2X6s and tongue and groove 2X8s, so hopefully the material will be worth our time. Tomorrow we should find out how easily the 2X6s will come off of the poles.

Trevor getting some tin off the back wall. Now that I'm in the old upper 40s, it sure is nice to have a teenager to help with this kind of work!

Tucker pitched right into the effort as well. He has great eyes, and was a great help in finding all the nails we dropped. I promised the owner we'd do our best not to leave any nails for tires or cows to consume!

The back wall when we were about halfway finished.

It's a big project!

The hay is in the barn!

We now have 770 square bales stacked in the pole barn. It is a great feeling knowing that our animals have feed for the winter. We should get at least one more cutting this summer, and possibly two more. I'm told that the first cutting is best, and that together the second two cuttings probably won't equal the first. It's a good year for hay.

It was great to be baling hay and watch Tyler, Trevor and Tucker getting the hay loaded onto the trailer. I was very thankful for their help.

This next week I will start dismantling a pole barn on a farm about 20 miles away that had the roof collapse this past winter under the weight of snow. We should get enough good material to build at least half of our barn. I'll be building on an existing foundation of the barn that burned down here in the mid 70s. That will put the tractor inside, get the animals much closer to the house for the winter, and allow me to get electricity to the barn as well.

We now have 50 dual purpose chicks. We'll butcher the roosters and keep the laying hens, once we can tell which is which.

We also went to a gathering of like minded folks on a farm down by Bismarck, and came home with 75 meat chickens that we will butcher the end of this month.

At least two of Trevor's rabbits kindled, so we have little bunnies added to our farm.

All in all, June was a good, productive month.


Tyler came for the weekend and we put him to work. What a great help!

The baler worked like a champ!

Mowing the road ditch with the mower/conditioner.

Patches with her two kittens she had last night. She had four more today. I will try to post pics later when I can get them all...right now they are all lying all over each other.
Tucker & Courtney helping Callie ride our miniature horse, Misty.

Bob helping Titus have a ride.

Bob helping Tanner ride.

Some of the boys checking out the new 4-wheeler.

New Equipment & vehicles

Bob's new (to him) John Deere tractor...a dream come true!

The 4-wheeler that Trevor, especially, has been waiting for!

Bob driving the 4-wheeler off of the trailer.

Bob's farm truck... a 1993 Chevy

Sheryll's going-to-town car...a 1997 Honda Civic

You can see the back corner of the Nissan Stanza that Sheryll felt the NEED to replace with the Civic. I just couldn't handle the Stanza. It has no A/C and it's all torn up and stinky inside. Sorry, I guess I AM a snob. I'll keep praying about that.

Dad is gone (as in back to Texas)

We took Dad to Carrington, ND this week and met my Aunt Arlene at my cousin's house there. She took him on to Fargo so he could fly out to join Mom at my nephew's graduation in Virginia, and from there will fly back to Texas with Mom. He's been with us since we left Texas, driving the Uhaul most of the way, and pitching in wherever needed. I miss having him here! He was an amazing help, and I miss being able to bounce ideas/plans off of him.

This story is an example of the gift of his wisdom. I was just finishing up my first attempt at an electric fence, and Dad said, "Now Bob, before we open that gate, we need to put a rope on that pony." So I went and got about an 8 foot nylon rope, but grabbed a 100 foot one as well. I handed him the 8 foot rope, and he said, "No, we should use the long one." We had a tough time just catching the pony to put the rope on. She seemed to enjoy the game. After we got the rope on, we opened the gate, and as the pony investigated the fresh grass in the new paddock, I discovered I had the fence just a little high. The pony made it halfway under the wire before she touched the wire in the middle of her back. She took off like a shot right out of the paddock.

I have no idea what would have transpired if I had not listened to Dad, and I'm glad I didn't have to find out. One thing I do know...putting a rope on that pony never crossed my mind.

Trevor and I were working in the UHaul today, and he said, "OK, how are we doing, and why are we doing so good?", which is a classic Dad line. Then he said, "I miss Grandpa!" We all do, and trust it will not be too long until he returns, and this time with Grandma along!

Tyler's first visit to Minot

Tyler, Tucker, Courtney & Trevor canoing on the river.

Getting the canoe out of the river was quite a chore.