July 29 Evening

Tonight I enjoyed the sight and sounds of a beautiful Iowa summer evening in the country plus great conversation! Sorry, I can only provide the “sights”, I can’t post the sounds (movies).

July 28-29 Treynor, Omaha

Such a fun and full day enjoying being around newborn Dawson and enjoying time with my buddy Bennett 2 years old. With lots of changes, adding a new brother, Bennett was a little slow warming up to Aunt Karol, but that’s OK I knew it would happen! And it did after he woke from his nap! We played with blocks  building towers and fenced off pastures for the cows, horses and goats. Sometimes we forgot to close the gates and then all the animals would get out and we’d have to go round them up. Thankfully we didn’t loose any! We played with combines, tractors, bulldozers, excavators and tractors hauling bins of imaginary silage. And he was so excited to wear his new tractor shirt from Aunt Karol! In fact this morning that’s what he wanted to wear again! 

If you know me at all, you know I like to come alongside and be helpful in anyway I can, whether running an errand, doing laundry, cleaning up the kitchen, emptying the dishwasher, watering plants or playing with children! All brings such joy to my heart! And then there are the precious conversations in between.

So glad to join the Rehm family at Thomas and Chalee’s for a birthday dinner and party for 3 year old Naomi at their home in Omaha. Thomas and Chalee have 4 children Jonathan, Vivian, Naomi, and Henry. Meeting some of Chalee’s family was a bonus! Again it was the times of conversation that warm my heart and seeing the cousins delight in being together. Brought back memories for me as a child getting together with my Iowa cousins with squeals of delight and yes  occasional hurt feelings! Throw in the mix the severe thunderstorm warning with hail the size of marbles, thankfully NOT the size of golf balls. It was a small intense cell that quickly dissipated. Another day of my Kross Kountry adventure living up to beyond my expectations!

Yesterday as I left the farm in Treynor my interior temp in the car said 103! This morning @ 10 it is a pleasant 77 degrees with a nice breeze. I’m sitting outside for a few minutes reading, writing my blog but mostly enjoying the sights and sounds. Speaking of ‘sights’ yesterday I had a first! The first time of seeing a field of beans move like rolling waves as the wind blew through the field. It was amazing! I’ve never been above a field to see it happen! Or the right wind direction and height of the beans for the wind to roll through. Oh the sight and sounds God has so blessed us with IF we only open our eyes and ears to appreciate His creation!

This morning Bennett and I went on a hunt for mulberries! I’ve never had mulberries before!  Very tasty but also very messy! He loves his mulberries!

Thank you for joining me on my journey!

New mode of transportation!

I always said this was going to be a grand adventure and it has gone to a new level! I thought the attached picture would be a super fun way to travel through the State of Iowa! If you live in Iowa watch for me to come through your town! 

July 27 - Milford > Council Bluffs > Treynor

 Headed out from the Wissmann family this morning at 9 and spent the day will Julia and Peter, Adler (3), Athena (17 months). Adler and I had great fun building with Legos, using out imaginations, while Julia and I chatted away. Athena loved to be held and enjoyed the simpler pleasures of making silly sounds and blowing at each other. When Peter got home we enjoyed time catching up, my learning of his journey to becoming a plumber. After supper we finally got to go to Doozies for homemade ice cream which Adler had been looking forward to all day long! My choice: butter brickle and salted Carmel! Mmm mmm good!

Then it was as off for a 20 minute drive to Anna and Aaron’s to see big brother Bennett and the latest addition to the family Dawson Lee coming into this world July 25 at a whopping 10 pounds! I’m hoping Bennett and I get to spend some special quality time together over the next 3 days! 

Loving this retirement adventure!

July 26 - Multiple Choice Sort of a Day

What would you choose? On a day that was going to be in the high 90s. Would you…go to an air conditioned mall? Outdoor swimming pool? Or the Lincoln zoo? Only one obvious answer when you are hanging out with 4 kids (3,7,11,13)…go to the zoo cuz it is all about making memories! Great fun! Except for the heat, at 2:30 when we left the zoo it was 95!!! If you know me, I don’t like heat or sunshine! But it was a must and a memory maker, periodically getting to go inside and enjoy some AC! Attached pictures say it all!

At our last AC stop I asked each of the kids individually what they would like to do after the zoo? Yes another multiple choice question! 1. Go home and take a nap, 2. Go home and run around the house 20 times, 3. On the way home stop for ice cream! The 3 year olds response was priceless! He had been pretty bored with the first 2 options and when I finished option 3 his face light up like a light bulb! Ice cream!! However after ice cream when we were driving home I did have a special request, that Aunt Karol “really needed a one hour “time out” and thought it would be a good idea for all of us to take a time out when we got home…no arguments, so we did.

What a wonderful time with Abi and the kids this week. Tomorrow it is on to visit Julia and her family in Council Bluffs Iowa, a little over an hour drive and in the evening on to Treynor Iowa.

July 25 - Milford, NE

 Fun day with the Wissmann family! The day started with homemade sourdough pancakes! Followed with Joanna (13) and I going out for my favorite 1-1 time and enjoying peach and mango smoothies and stopping at Main Street Market with a lovely gift shop, homemade products, just a fun place to browse! Then home for a bit of coloring Scripture pages and out for my next 1-1 with Jenny (7). Our time together included a stop a Dollar General. WalMart and finally for soft serve twist. Such fun memories in conversation and looking. This afternoon Aunt Karol placed herself in ‘timeout’ while mom took the kids to the community outdoor pool. Games after supper and it was time to call it a day!

Tomorrow more memories…the Lincoln Zoo!

July 24 - Milford with Kids

Most of you know I’m a kid at heart and if I have a chance to spend a day with 4 delightful kids…that equals a day of blessings! Our day today was filled with:

• Andron bringing “joy” to the backhoe driver that went back and forth down the street every 5 minutes as he waved and delivered a big smile and sometimes a yell to the worker. Every time a smile and wave was returned!
• Aunt Karol at her favorite spot: doing dishes with the kids…absolutely the best place for good conversation! Even arguing who got to do dishes with Aunt Karol!
• An hour at the new spray park just down the block, attempting to cool off.
• There was time for puzzles, bike riding and games. 
• The surprise activity of the day? Unbelievable! Crocheting scrubbies!!!
• Topped off with Mom Abi and Aunt Karol going out to dinner for uninterrupted conversation and the icing on the cake! Creamery ice cream! (Salted Carmel and chocolate cookie crunch!)
• Almost forgot! I got to share one of the special traditions of car travel with the kids as I opened one of my travel bags put together by Lindsay Steele: I got to open it because the instructions said “open when hungry for a nostalgic treat! Pink and white frosted animal crackers with sprinkles! That became a quick favorite by the kids! They wished they lived closer so they could have experienced Aunt Karol’s famous dolphin cookie jar!

What a fun day with the Wissmann’s!

July 22-23 2 more days of memories

 Wonderful two days at Cambridge Nebraska with Krayton and Bekah making memories and intentional conversations. Yesterday included Farmers Market at Cambridge with fresh produce and homemade items, an opportunity to get to know Krayton’s mom Rhonda, one of the benefits in being out in the country is you have to drive a distance to get ‘anywhere’ which makes for great captive conversation time! This morning sharing worship at two different churches, Jimmy John’s for lunch, Walmart run, then back to the farm to load up! Opps almost forgot to mentioned squeezed in one more stop at Scoops in McCook! Then it was time to say goodbyes for now.

Left about 2:30 for a 3 1/2 hr drive to Milford to be greeted by Josiah and Abi Wissmann and their four children Joanna (13), Asher (11), Jenny (7)and Andron (3). Such an excited, energetic and warm welcome! 

My head was on a swivel trying to see who was talking and had something they wanted to tell Aunt Karol! We started with a great corn shucking “party”, cuz anything with Aunt Karol can be made into a party! After a delicious supper of hamburgers and fresh corn, it was time for me to take my Aunt Karol ‘spot’ helping with clean up and dishes with oldest Joanna washing and Aunt Karol drying! Besides 🚙 travel conversation, the next best is at the sink doing dishes conversation! What a joy to do it with the next generation!

Then it was time for enjoying the outdoors, it was still very warm outside but took time to unload things needed for my overnight stay with the generous help of Joanna! 

Sites along my drive today: 10 Texas longhorns and a crop duster that did his last run parallel to my driving immediately out the right window of my car, seeing pivots all along the drive. I think the most sections I saw connected were 8! They were massive! Didn’t know what a pivot was until 3 days ago when Krayton was gracious enough to explain it to me! Google it! pivot farming equipment! Google says: Pivot irrigation systems allow water to be delivered to crops in a targeted way. Water is delivered to plants on a regular basis, and you determine how much and how often plants are watered. Pivot irrigation uses low-pressure application. This means less water is wasted compared to other irrigation systems. Now you know!!!

July 21 - Never a Dull Moment!

Never a dull moment on the farm! Today the plan was to clean the chicken coop as one young chicken died a couple days ago and several had a nasty cough and didn’t look too good. We were preparing to clean, step 1 gather the eggs. Opps! Pause. The first blue egg laid by this years chicks! That was great news! The next moment “what are those tiny black spots?” Ewe! They move! Next call the vet! Vet report: your chickens have chicken mites? Double ewe! How do we treat it AND how do they affect humans? Clean the coop, sprinkle with Garden and Poultry Dust, spread wood shavings in the back part of the coop (learned the chickens will spread it around), sprinkle with more “dust”, stuff straw  in the nesting boxes, sprinkle with dust. Then tonight when they roost we will go out and sprinkle them with dust! Wow! And...mites don't live on people. An adventure extraordinaire! 

Remember all the time I’ve talked about Poultry Dust? Well you have to "have" Poultry Dust in order to spread it! So Bekah started making the calls to Bomgaars and Tractor Supply stores within a 45 mile radius. One place had one container, “please hold it for us!“ Two more didn’t have it any. But the good Swedish town of Gothenburg had 3 canisters! "Please hold, we are on our way!" Off we went, driving gravel roads, black top, more gravel, temporarily slowed by a road grader at work! Several hours later we are back at the farm to continue our project. 

 This morning we cleaned the coop, we were hot and sweaty, feeling we had critters crawling on us. When we finished cleaning we headed to the house, immediately stripped our clothes and headed straightaway for showers to make sure we didn’t have any critters crawling on us.  Before heading to pick up the precious dust, it was time for lunch. After the morning we had, the perfect lunch was homemade peach ice cream made last night! So refreshing!

We were about to start the restoration process upon our return when Bekah said “Aunt Karol, don’t step backwards. There is another dead chicken behind you!” I started sprinkling the dust while Bekah took a hike to the pit of death...far far away. She was back 10-15 minutes later and we had one in a corner start flapping its wings and watched as it kept flapping, flopped on its back and bit the dust! I kept sprinkling dust and Bekah headed back out to the pit of death. 😢 

Just in case you are wondering! It is NOT the bird flu! Just want to be crystal clear.  Several hours later Bekah went to check on the chickens again, AND...another one bites the dust! All of the chickens dying are young ones from this year.

It is nearly 7pm but we still have yet to make some homemade pizza (made with sourdough starter), dust the chickens, play some Farkle (dice game) and I'm sure there is another bowl of homemade peach ice cream coming later tonight! (Late breaking! Yes, more peach homemade ice cream!)

Tomorrow...Farmers Market, pick up more "dust powder", pick up Bekah's car and...the unknowns of farm life!!!

July 20 - A Day I’ll Never Forget!

Morning began with the normal Midwest wind and a comfortable 68 degrees with 84% humidity, so pretty damp out and 60% chance of rain today, but looks like that isn't coming until evening...that's not good for harvesting wheat but probably good for the corn and beans. The above was the only ‘normal’ thing that happened today! Everything else was a CRAZY ADVENTURE today!

Driving 30 minutes to the nearest vet for meds for the chickens experiencing a cough, sick and one deceased. 😞

Driving 4 wheelers to check the cattle water tanks that are solar powered, almost tipping my 4 wheeler a couple of times! Let’s just say several times along the trail I was white knuckling it and just a bit tense, not in control of my vehicle! Got back to the house for a quick bite to eat and realized I didn’t have my phone! And after looking throughout the house and car 4 times realized my cell phone was not on the farm. For those of you who are going to suggest I have the Find Me app activated, it only works if you actually have cell service which most places in this area you don’t. So we headed back out to where we had found and left the 4 wheelers to retrace our drive. I had my phone when I got off at the watering tanks to take a picture so I had to have lost it the return ride. We started our search in the tall grass and I thought “this is not looking good!” And my drivers license and credit card were with my phone in carrier wallet!!! We got through the tall grass to where it was more open on the trail and came to one of the last challenging spots where I was bouncing wildly on the 4 wheeler and Bekah yelled “I see it!” Whew! Thank you Lord!

Next was the adventure of riding in the combine harvesting wheat, a John Deer S670. But before doing that we had to “find” the field Krayton was harvesting. Followed GPS to his phone location and there were no wheat fields nearby. After a quick phone call getting a correct location off we went. Bekah was driving one of the trucks with a 4 wheeler in the back and as we drove down the path that had been recently cleared of weeds, somehow they were all piled in the center. About the time Bekah was commenting perhaps we should move over and drive on the side we came to a dead stop. Yep! We high centered and we weren’t going anywhere! Did put it 4 wheel drive high and low and it didn’t budge! Was not looking good! Thankfully besides a 4 wheeler in the back there was a shovel! Bekah got on ther hands and knees and started shoveling under the truck, then pulling weeds out with her hands. Then it was time to get back in the truck and see if we could clear the center. After a prayer, holding our breath, Bekah gave it a go AND we were able to clear the middle and to one side! Another sigh of relief!

We did find the correct field, did find Krayton in the combine and I did get my ride! That was amazing to watch the combine work, to watch Krayton maneuver such a large piece of equipment, work all the controls and all while my asking him my 1,001 city slicker questions! Certainly a special time for me learning a little about harvesting wheat, but a lot about Krayton. Thank you Krayton!

After all that excitement it was time to head back to the farm and make supper, topped off by making homemade peach ice cream. The evening concluded with Krayton, Bekah and I just hanging out together chatting. 

This is a long post and only covers a little glimpse of the events of the day.

This has been a rich day of blessing! 

End of the day weather report: day was a pleasant 79 degrees and rain showers held off until this evening!

July 19 - Arvada to Cambridge

 Today was a “drive” day from Arvada Wyoming to Cambridge Nebraska, from one no cell phone zone to another! Staying in some pretty remote farm/ranch locations!

Up at 6, on the road by 6:45! Met up with Bekah at 5 for errands, supper, stop for ice cream treat and then head out to the farm. Had a little bit of rain and thunder and lightening on the final leg of the drive, typical Midwest late afternoon in the summer.

Once at the farm I “tagged along” for the evening chores of meeting and feeding the 6 horses. Getting Judy to “smile” for the camera (see pictures!), collect eggs, water the garden, though I think I got as wet as the plants! Give some TLC to the 3 kittens, play fetch with the ball with Cinch, while Daley preferred being scratched behind the ears.

Then Krayton got to experience for the first time “questions by city slicker Aunt Karol!” Information overload for this retired lady! I should have been taking notes. Did learn that Krayton works fields of beans, corn, and wheat. The wheat is ready to harvest but has been too damp/wet to be able to get out in the fields. Maybe tomorrow!

Long day of driving so heading to bed! Have to get up for morning farm chores! I love the farm!

July 18 Arvada, Wyoming

How do you get in over 8,300 steps when you ride in the car for 5 hours? Spend 2 hours in the morning mowing! 

My day started with breakfast of champions of homemade waffles, bacon and homemade grape syrup prepared by chef Jonathan Williams. Then it was time to work off breakfast mowing!

About 11:30 Lorraine and I went out to check 5 of 10 stock wells/tanks were functioning properly, to check the overflow operations, looking for possible improvement needs for the wells. These were spread out over 7,000 acres on the Kuhn Ranch which runs on the east and west sides of the Powder River. Much of the driving was on rough one lane road, some just a rutted out path! Another 1,600 acres in the mountains of the north fork of the Powder River. This ranch goes back 3 generations to 1906 when Lorraine’s great grandfather  homsteaded the land. In 1917 her grandpa came to the US from the Basque Country, worked near Buffalo, eventually meeting her grandma when he leased land for his sheep from her grandma's family. I learned many of the Basque people took up sheep herding.

We did take a break for lunch at the Arvada Bar and enjoyed a tasty cheeseburger and homemade chips with some of the locals.

Then it was time to inspect more stock wells/tanks. We left the house at 11:30 and returned at 5. Also checking thistles sprayed had been killed, unfortunately many had not…that’s a problem and challenge. 

Live animal sightings today include lots of antelope and prairie dogs throughout the day, plus deer and my bunny friends!

I learned so much today…thank you Lorraine!

Need to still finish reading my book I started yesterday then to bed hopefully by 1am!

Up early to start a 9 hour driving day to Cambridge Nebraska to see Bekah and Krayton. I’m excited for the day tomorrow!