Picnic Grounds

 Goodness, time has gotten away from me!  It's been a long time since I entered a post.

This past weekend we launched the SS Rolinco for a family camping trip at the Mielke picnic grounds.  This trip was originally planned for a late April weekend, but farming and cold weather got in the way.  Anyway we thought, it will be warmer towards the end of May.  Not so much!   We had a grand time nevertheless.  Alicia picked up a nasty head cold earlier in the week (not covid!).  She and Matthew joined us for the afternoon and through dinner on Saturday, but camping in the cold didn't seem like such a good idea. 

A few highlights from our time together.

Roasting marshmallows for 'smores.

So yummy!

Let's go fly a kite.

Never a lack of wind in our region.

Found a nest of ants.  They are so interesting.

Always explaining something.

Climbing a tree!

Made it up to dad, with a little help from mama.  

Chilly Saturday morning.

Driving the SS Rolinco.

We kept a fire going most of the time, for cooking and for warming up.  

  

Hurry up and wait

 This is a hurry up and wait spring!   Last week Alicia and I finished spraying an aid to tillage rate of Round-Up on the stubble ground.  It was a full week before the weather cooperated for one day so that Matthew and Reynald could apply herbicide to the remaining winter wheat crop.   There's still 320 acres to do but they ran out of daylight.  Back to wind and a spit of rain here and there's no spraying for a few more days at least.

As a wonderful consolation to not being able to do the field work that we want/need to do, the sky is giving up some spectacular views!  

Snow, Wind and more wind

 Last week it was cold and windy and cold and windy and cold and snowy and windy!  We're back in the field, on schedule to finish seeding by week's end.  At least the snow provided some much needed moisture!

The second snowfall event last week!

Poor little grape hyacinth bravely blooming despite the cold.

Daffodils and snow!  

A dramatic late afternoon sky and Baxter.

Seeding spring wheat, sans snow!

Equipment line up and such a pretty sky.  I took this photo after I parked the coil packer at the end of the line.  My best attempt to keep it even with everything else! 

Easter Egg Dye and Hunt

 Sunday we gathered at the Funk family residence to dye eggs, enjoy a delicious brunch prepared by David, Roni Jo and Ryan, and then hunt for hidden eggs after nap time!  A great time was had by all.

Taking it all in before he decides to help.

Helping Auntie!

Matthew and GG over seeing the egg dyeing.  

and one more thing grammy......

Some eggs were relatively easy to find.....

and some were cleverly camouflaged!    

Snow Delay

 We woke up to about a 1/2 inch of snow this morning.  After a short break, it began to snow again, and continued most of the day.   At times the ground was white, but mostly it melted as it fell.  Needless to say, we did not seed today!

The poor daffodils are bent over from the cold, cold nights.

This clump is particularly sad and the peony that is trying so hard to grow is bent over as well.

Everything in the yard has had a rough go this past week.  

This is about as white as it got here at our house, even with snow falling most of the day.

The drills are parked for the day.

Kal the tractor is waiting for warmer weather just like the rest of us!

Freshly seeded spring wheat field.  We won't be seeing new sprouts any time soon with this cold weather.

Summer Quilt

 Continuing with the seasonal quilt theme for each bedroom...... I'm nearing completion with just two more to go.  This will be a summer quilt.  I bought the print fabric so long ago I don't even remember where or when it happened.  This past fall I purchased the white background at One Sister Designs, formally The Buggy Barn. It has taken me this long to come up with a plan for the prints.

Laying out the print fabric to get an idea of what this will look like.  

I decided on a vintage look with a 16 patch checkerboard block.

Pressing the four patches so they can be worked in to the 16 patch.

This is a neat way to press the seams so that they lay flat where they meet.  

Finished piecing the top and ready to go to Nicki for quilting.  

A close up of the quilting by Nicki

On the bed, just to see how it looks.  I'll wait until the first of June to put it on for the summer season.

Sheep Skin Renovation

 Several years ago I purchased this sheep skin from Alicia Funk, David's aunt who lives in New Hampshire and has a small flock of sheep.  When they butcher they not only use the meat but process the skins to use and to sell to appreciative customers.  

My skin has seen considerable use.  Roni suggested that I brush out the wool with Baxter's brush to revive and clean.  It worked!  It looks new again and is super soft and cushy.  I'm so happy with the result.