Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend started and ended with the same activity - corn harvest.

Friday, while the boys were in school, I rode along with Ben to take a couple loads of corn to Canton. It's always an adventure to ride along in a big truck barreling down the road with a cloud of dust behind us.

The elevator at Canton has a nice system, it's just the opening to drive the truck through to unload is teeny tiny. Doesn't it seem small?

That bit of bright daylight is how much space there is between the truck and the concrete walls of the elevator. I was having trouble keeping my breathing steady - it was a bit too tight for my liking.

Saturday our family took off for Beatrice, Nebraska, aka the Good Life, for a wedding. Prior to the wedding festivities most of us watched the Husker football game - and Levi did anything but watch the game.

The wedding was at First Mennonite Church, the same one Ben grew up going to and his dad was a pastor at. It was great to be in that church again and see so many friendly and familiar faces. Rodney and Shana - the lovely couple getting married - had a beautiful and inspiring ceremony. The reception was out at the country club and started off with appetizers - Levi was pumped because he could eat all the bread he wanted. :-)

This is the whole group of friends from Bethel that was at the wedding - a fun group!

Levi snapped the group shot and then he wanted me to take his picture.

The boys were b.o.r.e.d. until the dance started, then they couldn't get enough.

The next morning we went back to First Mennonite for Sunday worship and I couldn't get out of there without snapping a photo of Tim's bust in the church library. All the pastors of the church have a bust in the library, so he's in good company. :-)

Our friend Brett is the pastor at First Mennonite now and it was great to be a part of their worship service. We joined Brett, his wife Cassie and their kids for lunch at Valentino's - one of Ben's favorite places to eat - and look at old photos.

Then we made a quick stop at Brett and Cassie's farm so we could visit, check out their farm and so the kids could play.

Our boys were thrilled with their barn swing,

and zip line!

We drove home that afternoon and then got busy with corn harvest again on Monday.

The boys and I went out to the field in the afternoon to keep the farmers company.

Then we went home and got called back out to help move the header trailer. We're always happy to have a job we can actually handle. :-) The only trouble was that it started raining!

Hard. Noah got soaked and loved it. He's an excellent helper when it comes to giving directions for backing up. He's precise and takes the job very seriously.

And with a little bit of rain, our Labor Day weekend came to a close.

Happenings...

I think the zinnias are the overall garden winner this year.  

 The rest of the garden is looking spent. Although the sweet potatoes and okra are going strong. I finally have a couple more green peppers growing - that might bring the grand summer total up to ten! Maybe. My tomatoes keep producing, but the fruit looks weird and unappetizing.

 Mr. Wilbur continues to grow. He's doubled his weight since we got him and he's half way to his full-grown weight. Earlier this week he weighed 27 pounds at the vet.

Levi struggled with an ear causing him pain so we tried ear candling for some relief.

 We had taken him to the doctor weeks earlier thinking he had an ear infection, but it was simply a build up of fluid due to allergies and the doctor couldn't do anything to help him out.

 We decided that surely Noah could benefit from it too, so one night we had a candling party.

 Noah actually found it quite boring,

 but once he could watch the Royals AND candle his ear he was in much better spirits.

 Warning: this part is kind of nasty. So you burn the candle down to the red line, then put it out and then you can unroll the candle (which is actually a coated fabric/paper). All that brown and chunky yellow stuff came out of my children's ears! Ben helped me candle my ears a couple nights later and I have to say, it was a nice experience and my ears felt really good afterward.

 Wilbur l.o.v.e.s. that blanket. We call it his girlfriend and so far his attachment continues.

 I tried out a one-hour cinnamon roll recipe and was pleasantly surprised at how they turned out. My ability to roll out dough to the proper thickness wasn't so great, but otherwise they were really good.

 It doesn't seem like it would be challenging to keep up with a garden that is only producing okra and tomatoes and a few herbs but that seems to be more than I can handle these days. I was going to cut some more parsley the other day but when I got there this is what I found!

 Oh well. Just today I canned the last tomatoes I'll can this year. My plants are still producing, but I think I'm done. Seven pints of diced tomatoes is what I did today and I feel satisfied with that.

Wilbur might look cute in this picture, but he's hiding a dead mouse under this mouth. Gross. And that's just one of many MANY reason why that dog doesn't get to "kiss" me. Yuck.