Well, since we don't have our Socs dog anymore, we thought it would be safe to bring some cats back on the farm. Socs thought it was his job to rid us of felines, so when the last one was gone 3 or 4 years ago, we didn't replenish the population. We didn't want the Labs to learn to kill cats. It ruins them for retrieving birds. After we lost Socs this summer, Dave said he thought we should try to bring some cats back on the farm, to help control the mice. (Oy!! The mice have really become a problem.) So after going to the farmer's market with our pumpkins we met a young couple looking to give away their half grown kittens. They brought them to the market last Saturday, 10/4, and I could tell that the wife was kind of attached to the kittens. She brought bottled water and a full bag of cat food and used a good bath towel for their bed in a pet taxi. I told Dave I didn't want to have to lie to them when we go back this weekend and they ask how the kittens are doing. They even gave us their cell phone numbers. We still have 4 dogs, 2 Labs and 2 mini Dachshunds. Precious, a doxie, has proven to be the most threatened of them all. She is insanely jealous, and I don't like the look in her eyes when she observes me holding the kittens. So I kept her inside while I allowed the kittens to acclimate to their new environment. They spent Saturday afternoon and evening either on top of awning over the deck or back in their kennel, while the dogs were out and about.
After we put the big dogs to bed in their kennels, I opened the cat kennel and let the kittens run freely around the deck. They ran around and investigated and played on the deck all night long. They are so cute. Sunday morning I let the dogs out one by one and let the kittens get used to being around them, but from a safe distance. I spent most of the day on the deck with all of them. I arranged and rearranged the deck furniture and the kittens and big dogs spent the day getting getting to know each other.
The little dogs stayed in the house most of the day. I just don't trust Precious. I was right not to trust her, because that afternoon I was getting ready to mow the lawn and she and Oliver, the other mini doxie, came out with me. Precious made a B-line for the backyard and went straight to the deck where the kittens were hiding.
I heard her start barking and then yelp (obviously got too close to a kitten). Then the scuffle erupted. The big dogs ran around to the deck from the garage and I could hear them going after the kittens. (All of them except Oliver, of course, who made sure I could see him with me in the garage and not in the middle of the fight.) By the time I got back there, I found Mac, the black Lab, in the trees and Precious and Ike, yellow Lab, beside him and heard a kitten crying. I got the dogs away and found little Boo, the black kitten. She was scared and hissing and clawed at me when I picker her up. Her breathing was rapid and raspy, but she wasn't bleeding anywhere.
I brought her in and kept her in the cat kennel over night. She slept a lot and spent most of Monday just sleeping in the kennel. Then Monday afternoon she scratched at the door to get out and I took her out to the garden where she relieved herself. But she wouldn't eat or drink yet, so I kept her in the kennel another night. Good thing too, because the temp dropped to 29 degrees and I think she would have frozen to death. This morning, Tuesday, I took her outside again and she pottied. She wanted to stay in the trees with the other kittens, but when she attempted ot climb the tree, she couldn't do it. She doesn;t have enough strength.
I brought her back in the house and when I offered her food again, this time she ate. Now she is purring and feeling quite at home next to me on the sofa, even though Precious sits on the other side of my lap. They are safe as long as I am between them, but I don't dare let either of them out of my sight.
I am hopeful that these kittens can survive the dogs as well as the winter. We might get some snow this weekend already, and last night was the first freeze of the season. Who knows what kind of winter it will be.
Pictures of the kittens below

Itty


Bitty


Boo



Ike, Mac & Boo before the mishap

I broke the tractor

So Dave needed help getting the field ready for wheat drilling. He asked me to do a bit of sweeping for him. He took me out and showed me how to get started and the next morning he left to call on insurance claims and I drove out to the field to do the sweeping.
Things were going great guns. I finished the first strip he asked me to do and was just about to finish the second strip. I was on the last swath down the middle of the field, running straight down the strip and thought to myself that I could possibly get used to this and wouldn't mind driving the tractor more often.
Then the inevitable happened. I knew I was feeling way too confident. All of a sudden there was this horrible grinding noise coming from beneath the tractor tire. I stopped quickly, got out and looked for something I might be dragging. Nothing. I got back in and tried to go again. There was the same grinding noise.
I got out again and looked around the whole tractor, and finally noticed that the tire had slipped clear across the axle and was sitting next to the hub. I couldn't move the tractor anymore.
So there I was, stuck in the middle of the field, and broke down. I called Dave and told him what had happened. When I described what I had found, he said "Well, that is probably the end of the tractor."
I told him I wasn't cut out for driving big equipment. He shouldn't have put me in there. and I went home and left the tank in the middle of the field.
Then along came my inlaws to see how I was doing. Dad already knew I had broken down, and was going to fix it.
Now here we are, a 50 year old woman, with no smarts when it comes to big equipment. My father in-law, 82, suffering from Parkinsens and amazingly recovered from a broken neck a year and a half earlier, with his 82 year old wife.
Dad was sure we could rectify the situation by taking the Sweeps off of the crippled tractor and putting it on a different tractor. But we aren't talking about toys here. This is stuff that deals with hydrolics, and heavy equipment and jacking up heavy equipment in soft ground.
Suddenly I was not so sure I liked tractors anymore. My confidence level in handling this stuff had fizzled me to a frightened wimp. But my father-in-law was determined to get the equipment changed around.
We made several trips back and forth from the field to the farm, locating a jack, and various other bits of tools to make this change, including the other tractor.
After attempting to jack the sweeps up, and move the broken tractor away, we realized that the ground was too soft to hold the sweeps above ground. Most experienced farmers would have known to put something under the jack to keep it from sinking. I did not do well in physics, so this would be my first lesson.
We raised the sweeps, but it was hard to raise it enough to remove the pin. Another mistake, we finally raised it enough and removed the pin, and the jack began sinking in the soft ground.
At this point I was ready to leave it till my husband could fix it. Did I say my father-in-law was determined to get this done?
He went back to the farm and found a post to use as a lever and a board to set under the jack. Then he told me to place the board under the jack, that was holding the sweeps up, after he lifted it with the post as a lever. I can't even lift a 50 lb. sack of dog food without a great deal of effort.
Amazingly, the plan worked and we were able to get a board under the jack, get the tractor pulled out of the way, and back the other tractor up to the sweeps.
It did not go as quickly as I can write about it. In fact it took the better part of an afternoon to make the change. Mom and I were two frightened women, and Dad was one determined fellow. I was sure I would be calling my husband's sisters to explain whey their father was back in the hospital, but God protected us all and allowed everything to end well.
I told my mother-in-law that I didn't care much for driving tractor after all, if things were going to break.
That tractor sat in the middle of that field for the next couple of weeks, until our mechanic could come out and slide the wheel back to it's rightful position. I learned that it was a broken C-joint that caused the tire to slip, and the grinding noise was the gears being sheared as I tried to move the tractor. It was repairable, and our mechanic was able to make it work again.
I thought that would be the end of my tractor driving, but I was wrong. One month later I found myself back in the same machine, only this time I was planting wheat.
Once again Dave set me in the tractor showed me a few things and said, 'You're good to go!" Then he left!! And I was left to go it alone again.
I drilled that wheat into the ground, picked up a rock, (a huge rock!) and couldn't get it loose. It was really more like a boulder. I pounded it with a hammer, and only succeeded in wedging it tighter between the drill wheels.
I called Dave and he said he would be right out, but he wasn't or I wasn't patient enough. So I thought I could just back up a little and it would come loose. It did. And that should be the end of this story, but it isn't.
Dave did show up and when he did I told him I fixed it. He looked at the drills and said, "You should have taken the drills out of the ground before backing up." Like, I knew that alright!! Now I do. The drills had filled with dirt, and a few of them had bent forward, from backing up. But hey, I got the boulder out of the wheels, didn't I?
So we cleaned the dirt out of the drills, and straightened the bent ones, and I turned around and re-drilled the ground from where I picked up the rock. Dave left again, I finished that strip, and headed for the next strip. Once again I felt fairly confident about driving tractor.
I began in the next strip and did okay till I got to the edge of the strip that is next to the road. All along that side of the strip are telephone poles, loaded with power lines. I came around the first bend and just barely missed hitting the first pole with the drills. I quickly moved away from the edge of the field and called Dave to come do the edge. I told him I didn't relish knocking power lines on top of the tractor. He came back and finished the edge for me, but I had to finish the rest of the strip.
Before he left me in the tractor, he commented that he hoped the Combiners next summer didn't think I was drunk when planting the wheat. I guess my lines are rather wavy, but hey, that's cheap help for you.
When the wheat came up, it was obvious what strips I had drilled and what strips the hired man had drilled. He clearly has a steadier hand on the steering wheel than I do. But in all honesty, if I had drilled at a slower speed, I think I would have been straighter in drilling it also. I thought I had to go faster, because that is the speed Dave set for me.
I really think that at 50 years old, this old dog doesn't need to learn some new tricks. Attached are a few pictures from these days. No, there aren't any of the wavy wheat fields. Dad says wheat grows better in crooked lines. It doesn't blow as easy. So there.

Extreme Mother/Daughter week

So the girls thought they could challenge their mothers to an extreme week of hiking, biking, kayaking and climbing. Just thought you might want to see the challenge Angie and her cousin put their mother's up to.

We all met at Angie's in Belle Fourche, SD, and biked (mountain bikes), hiked, kayaked and rock climbed. It took 3 days, and there were only minor injuries, to our fearless leader, Angie. When she got hurt, the rest of us knew what not to do.

We managed to meet their challenges and make them look forward to being fifty some day.

This all took place leading into Rally Week at Sturgis. We managed to stay clear of the bikers for the most part, since they weren't really interested in our choice of sport.
Here's the link. If you need the member name again it is cgibynanner.

Airforce Academy Graduation

For those who want to see Dave's nephew's graduation day at the Air force Academy here is a brief video that I made. Fortunately, I was quick enough to capture the hats flying and the Thunderbirds fly over at the very end. Shear luck, very little talent involved. I was sure I would run out of digital memory before the last phrase.
Click here. Type cgibynanner in the browse member box and open the Air force Academy show. It shouldn't be as long as some to download.

It was a cold, windy, misty, wet morning, but cleared off enough to get a fly over as the hats flew. They cancelled the air show due to the weather, but many were too cold and wet to hang around anyway. The cadets were disapointed, but all the same a good day. It was great to see the president stand out there in the wind and damp cold air, shaking the hand of every single cadet. Over 1000 cadets graduated, and everyone was greeted.

We had a very nice time and were honored to be able to watch Ryan graduate.

Have a good weekend, I am going to take something for this cold I picked up.

The fire

Want to know what we were doing last night? Praying our house didn't catch the wind and burn with the tool shop and shed.

The wind came up yesterday and a gust possibly arced the power lines to the shop and sparked a fire in the work shop, spreading north to the garden, storage shed on to the fuel tanks and on up into the trees. It all went up in an hour and the rage was over within an hour and a half. The shop and shed are about 30 feet from the house. The house got hot enough it broke windows on the west side of the house. Thank God for His direction of the wind, that it didn't get to the house, and it went around the fuel tanks full of $3000+ diesel.

The fire department was here until nearly 2 am watching hot spots and making sure there were no flare ups. They left a portable water tank in the yard and the dogs are thrilled to have a new pool. They spent all night jumping in and out of it, so the firefighters say.

Dave busied himself with driving a fire line with the disc and shoveling a line inside the trees. We had lots of help from neighbors till the fire trucks got here. Mostly, all I could do was wait for the flames to go down on the buildings and try to keep the house cool and wet, and watch for sparks that might land on the roof. It got very hot and broke out some windows on the west side of the house. Scary couple of hours, but God changed the direction of the wind just as it was getting close to the house. Now we clean up the mess and start planting trees. Make our lists of what was in the buildings, look for replacements and rebuild (farther away from the house).

Pictures below, and a link to the album

http://picasaweb.google.com/imnanner/Fire

And from the cynical side of me I did a video. Click here to view it.