Shopscotch

There are two reasons to be happy about an empty farm shop.

1. It means nothing is broken (at the moment). Okay, so our sprayer is REALLY broken, but it is SO broken that it had to be hauled to town.

2. The fact that no equipment is parked in the shop means that there is this vast, open, level concrete space. It's really not that big, but when you're 4 or 2, the shop seems HUGE.

There is enough room to make laps on the princess bike, trike, and/or scooter.

There is enough room to draw a dinosaur.

There is enough room to play hopscotch, or shall I say, "Shopscotch".

Not only is there plenty of room to run and play in an empty farm shop, but Jeremy even made time to whip up some peanut butter & jelly sandwiches for the Wee Wilson's. A good time all around.

Wordless Wednesday: How Wet Is It?

If you were not already aware, we had record snowfalls here in North Dakota this winter. That snow melting, in combination with rain on ground that is already saturated from the wet cycle we've been in for a few years has wreaked havoc on our fields and roads. Some have even lost valuable livestock and some, their homes. Our family has been fortunate. Our home is high and dry. However, the fields we farm are not.

A question I keep getting from my friends and family who do not live in North Dakota is "how wet is it?" Here's my Wordless Wednesday response...see for yourself...

Here Jeremy heads out to attempt to plant corn. Thanking God for a few days of good weather and wind that has helped dry out the soil, but I don't know how long this will last as we're expecting more rain in the coming days.

Rain + soil = MUD, and a LOT of it.

However, the Wee Wilson's don't seem to mind. They have been busy "helping" us move trucks and equipment around as we try to find places in our fields that are dry enough to plant.

The Wee Wilson's have mastered a few new things while their Papa has been busy farming. The Wee Red Head (age 2) learned how to "take a pika uh mah hand" with my cell phone (sneaky little stinker :).

And C.W. is just about finished her year of pre-school. Look what she learned to write :)

Although this spring has been quite a challenge, we are grateful that we can seed at least some of our crop. Our thoughts and prayers are with those in other areas who have suffered flooding and other natural disasters far worse than what we are up against.

In my lifetime in agriculture, I have learned to try to maintain a spirit of gratitude and to never curse the weather, especially the rain, because it can ALWAYS be worse.


(Great Depression, Oklahoma, 1936)