Later Fall Field Work

Reynald is doing some "landscaping" with a bulldozer and the grader and I am working on running the subsoiler.  Both projects take patience.  There is no rushing with either operation.  Here's what I look at every day.  I'll try to get a few photos of Reynald's project before he finishes so you can see what he is up to!

Every day I fuel my tractor.  It's a good time for the tractor to warm up before starting in on a long day of hard work.

So these round wheels, called coulters, slice the soil, so that the shank behind will go in to the ground a bit easier.  The shank is going in to the ground about 14" deep.  The round wheels behind slightly pack down the ridge left by the shank.

And this is what I look at all day long!  

No work today in the fields.  It rained almost an inch last night!  No one is complaining!  It's so wonderful to have the soil replenished with the much needed moisture.

We used the break to do a little transit work where Reynald is landscaping.  Sure enough, his eye is true and he has leveled and graded the land so that the water will run in a very slight depression, hopefully without cutting a new ditch.  He's spent so much time this past week working on this project.  It will take most of the upcoming week to finish, but it will all be worth the time and the effort when it's finished,

Tools of the trade.  Reynald rented a wonderful D5 Caterpillar bulldozer which he loves and wants to keep.  In the background you can see Gertie the Grader, which belongs to our farm.

This shows a little bit about what he is doing.  You can see the ditch behind, yet to be repaired.

And this is what it looks like when he is finished with the repair work.  

At the end of two of the really deep ditches, is this dam that my dad put in years ago, because the land that we farm is below this dam.  The land that is being repaired, is above this dam.  

Today we made the dam a little bit higher with these boards.  The cement is still in good repair, we just wanted to add to it a little bit.

A different ditch that Reynald has fixed, than the one pictured above.  

And this is a different view of the ditch repair.  You can see more work has been done, with a side ditch that comes in to the big ditch, and a rocky side hill that he pushed some extra soil on to, so that we can farm through it.

All this work will make this field more efficient to farm and hopefully more productive.  Doing this kind of work requires skill that not every farmer posses,  I'm very happy doing my fall field project, while Reynald works on this one!  He hopes to finish by the end of this week, weather permitting.

A Perfect Fall Farm Day

We've had some much needed rain fall this month, above average rain fall in fact.  It is so welcome after many months of minimal moisture.  Friday the sun came out and it was so pretty outside.  The soil was wet, the air fresh and crisp, a perfect fall day.

I tried my best to work at cleaning up the yard.  I kept getting distracted by the beauty of the season and had to stop and snap photos more than once.  I have not had a killing frost yet, so most things are still blooming brightly.  It's late in the season for so much color from the annual flowers.  The tree leaves are turning.  That combined with the bright colors from the flower beds, made for some stunning visual stimuli.

The sweet cherry trees are dropping their leaves first.

The leaf color against the green grass was striking.

Baxter and chickens and a rose bush with leaves turning color

Mini pumpkins in the window box by the front door.

Mums in a pot.

I cut down the clematis this summer and it has re-grown and is blooming again!

Baxter is always on the look out for mice, which are abundant.  Love this purple mum!

Still lots blooming in the flower beds.

The wedding arbor will be staying in the pasture as a permanent fixture.  It was particularly pretty today with the yellow aspen behind.

The sky was so stunning against the green pasture, yellow quaking aspens and red shop.

Been working on getting the wedding mums planted.  I still have quite a few left to do!

Baxter keeping watch in the pasture.

And to top of the perfect fall day, a perfect fall sunset!

Wedding Day

We've finally arrived at wedding day!  The photos here are images mostly taken by friends and shared.  Needless to say, I put my camera down quite early in the day, so that I could take it all in.  Ifong Chen did an amazing job of documenting our day, as did long time family friend Nick Follger.  The following photos will give you an idea of what a glorious day it was.  This is far from comprehensive!

Roni Jo and Alicia getting their wedding hair do!  Ifong documenting the start of the day!

Roni having her makeup done by Shasta.  Ifong was never far away with her camera!

Jen had the most difficult job of the day, managing Baxter

Guests began arriving around 3:00pm, some by personal vehicle and some  by charter bus which transported folks that were staying in Spokane.

Neighbor Les LePere was the head parking lot attendant!

Cousin Betty Jean and husband Ed arriving by car.

Charter bus, grain bins, the 8N Ford with the hay ride wagon behind, and a few cars and a big tractor!

The crowd gathering.

Pasture seating for the wedding.

Spoknae Brass Quintet provided music for the wedding.

Roni Jo's best friend Blaine and his wife Jen, and Baxter of course!  Also Unkie Ted, who was the officiant!

Roni Jo and David.....married!

The wedding party recessing up the hill, followed by Ifong with her cameras.

cocktail hour

more cocktail hour!

Roni Jo and David!  They didn't stop smiling the whole day and night!

Uncle Mark Funk piping us over to the shop for the reception.

Some of the wedding guests following Uncle Mark, the piped piper, over to the shop,

Not "Just Married", but "Just Combined"!

Happy Couple, Happy Parents, Happy Relatives and Friends, Happy Wedding Day.  It was all just perfect!

Wedding Practice

After a bit of a break, I am back to the wedding.  The big file of photos arrived today from Ifong Chen, the photographer that graciously agreed to document this event.  There are so many terrific images!  Also photographing the day of the wedding was our good friend Nick Follger.  He photographed our wedding, our kids, our lives for the last 35 years!  But, that's another story and another blog.  Today I present a few images of the rehearsal and fun on the farm in the evening.

Roni and Alicia each consulting their smart phones which had music and lists and all kinds of information pertinent to the rehearsal.

Not sure how a wedding was ever planned before the invention of a smart phone!!

It was chilly and windy Friday morning, as you see by the bundling of everyone!

Unkie Ted putting emphasis on something important no doubt.

I love this photo!

Baxter joined in at every step.

The pretend recessional. Roni enjoyed carrying the ribbon bouquet that was made by Susan at the New Jersey bridal shower.  It was quite pretty!

Standing around trying to decide if we need to run the practice one more time!

Uncle Dave and Paul in deep discussion about something other than the wedding no doubt!

We hosted the "youngers" Friday evening for pizza and games.  So many of the kids' friends and younger family members were in town for the wedding that we thought it would be fun to provide all of them with a little extra time to socialize.  And fun it was!!!!

Kiddos that had never been to the wide open spaces of the farm, enjoyed a hike out in to the field.  They all asked if it would be ok to walk in the fields!  Made me smile.

So, if you ever need a fun food idea for an event, call these guys!  Their pizza is amazing and the service is fantastic.  They get a five star rating from Rolinco Road!

We were all in the barn eating pizza when Beth announced that the sun was setting and we all needed to see it.

Indeed, it was well worth viewing.

Folks took advantage of porch quilts and porch swings to watch the sun set.

Lots of cell phone photos taken that evening.  

What a sunset, to treat our guests from far and wide.

What an amazing end to this day, anticipating the joy of the day to come!