Well we are in full swing of the fall crop season. We have been so blessed by the Lord with an abundant 3rd crop. It is such a neat thing to watch the Lord bless in so many ways. May I always be thankful.

Football has started up again, we have had one scrimmage and an exhibition game. Both being victorious but not real pretty. I suppose these boys have some big shoes to fill and are just trying to see where they all fit in. Tyler is doing well, he switches in and out with the center and he also plays alot of defense.

Tyler is the one over the ball, playing center!For those that don't know Tyler is # 70 in the center of the pic- Making the tackle! You go Ty.

Anyway we have all got a cold and are feeling nasty. We took yesterday to just rest and relax. We caught up on some sleep, we fixed some fence because you know there is no rest for the weary. It didn't take that long we just felt yucky by the time we got done.

Ryan has been camping all weekend with some church friends, I hope he has had a great time, he should be home some time today.

I guess that is all for now.

Happy Day!! WE finished our 2nd crop of grass today. We are scheduled to go camping on Sunday for a week with the kids. We of course will travel back and forth to milk but all other work will wait till we get back. I have already told the cows to wait and calve after we get back from camping

I am trying to get my head around what we need to bring and organize all that. I got together a menu and made a grocery list so now I will wait till Sat. to go pick that up so no one will eat anything I pick up special. That always happens. I pick up special things and I turn around and someone has eaten it before I can make what I want.

I have to admit I have been enjoying our garden this year, we have had a slew of broc. and cukes, zuch. and some greenbeans. I planted them a little late so I know I have more coming. My potates are doing good. The pumpkins we put in the old pig pen are doing great. There will be alot for the fall. The boys will be glad of that.  OUr squash plants have almost overtaken the garden, crawling all over the place. I should go check the sweet corn, maybe that will be ready to take with us. I checked on the blackberries and they are slowly getting ripe. I hope to take some of them with us as well. By the sounds of it I will need  a bigger fridge.

Well that is all for now I guess.

I know, it has been forever since I was on. Last week we had VBS at church and so I was busy with that in the morning. Milking in the afternoon. We averaged 45 kids all week which is low from what we usually have but God knows the kids that need to be there. 7 kids made decisions for the Lord last week. Thier offering that they brought in was going to an orphanage in AFrica, a girl that used to come to our church when she was younger is now a nurse on Mercy Ships and she works in Monrovia(sp) and there is where the orphanage is. Any way the kids brought in thier loose change and it was boys against girls and we would weigh the offering buckets each day to see who brought in the most in weight. Girls rule!!! They raised $600 during the week, then at the closeing program on Sunday night another 400 came in. $1000 dollars, how God blessed that week.

This week we have been dodgeing rain showers trying to finish up our chopping so we can go camping. Not much chopping got done but the ground that we have chopped is all covered with manure so that is good. Doesn't smell to good but that is part of farming. I now have a ton of flys all over my screens trying to get in. I hate flys

Last night we had Kyle's 18th B-day party. For his combination graduation and birthday present I redid his room up to the trailer where he is moving to. It is all John Deere. I will try to get pics today so I can post them. It  looks real nice. He was surprised, I wouldn't let him see it till we finished it. Den and I went and bought him a new bed for it yesterday. Now he just has to move in his clothes, which are all in the laundry because he wants them clean so he won't have to do laundry right off. He is in for a rude awakening!!

Today since it is raining Dennis decided to take the boys to Cabela's for a guys day. Lyns and I are having a ladies day and we get to drive Ryan's truck!!

Prayer request: Please pray for a friend of our family- he used to be my pastor when I was younger- his name is Vondel Allen- he has had some health issues this last year with his heart, he is diabetic, he is not strong enough for surgury but at this time he has been having issues with his left leg not getting any circulation and now they are going to amputate his leg. At first they told him just his toes, now it is his leg. He also has colon cancer and needs treatments for that but they were waiting for him to get stronger. I guess they have started that as well. There is alot going on so just pray for his family, for strength for what is to come. God is great and can choose to heal if that is His will. That is just a short summary of all that is going on but it gives you an idea of the urgencey that is felt by his family.

Well I guess that is all for now.

I finally figured out how to change the pic. on the top of my blog. My Dad called the other day and was belly aching that I needed to take that antique tractor off and put a modern tractor in its place so I have been working on that for 2 days. I tried to put one of our own on there but I couldn't figure it out so I resorted to doing a search for one. Needless to say it is done, I hope you enjoy it.

We don't have a tractor quite that big but he guy in the tractor looks like my hubby sitting there. Lyns said"Hey that looks like Dad" so I chose that one.

We went to an auction on Sat. in search of some heifers that are due to calve this fall. There was a big fancy sale down in Turner so we thought we would go check it out not knowing if anything would be in our price range. It was quite interesting, the top seller went for $123,000. We knew we were in for a long day. We got there early and scouted out the heifers and circled a few that we liked, Kyle picked a red one of course, they always seem to go a little higher than a regular holstein but we circled her anyway. Ryan picked out this big brute of a heifer, she looked really nice and had a good pedigree behind her. Needless to say they didn't go to the ring till near the end so we stayed all day. When these cows were coming in and quickly starting at 5 to 6 thousand dollars we were thinking that we would be out of luck. The first few that we circled we didn't bid on and Kyle was getting a little frustrated wondering if we were ever going to bid. Patience is not one of his strong points. He brought Alonia with him and she was warned not to raise her hand during bidding but she forgot and thought she needed to fix her hair while they were bidding. I was watching Dennis and his eyes were watching the guy in the ring and he kept looking back in our corner so he scanned over to see who was bidding, he hollered " Alonia, put your hands down!" the cow was up to $9000 at that point. She went on to sell for over $20,000. Kyle would have been in debt for quite a while. Needless to say Alonia sat very still the rest of the day.

We did end up buying 5 heifers and did quite well with them. God is good as always, there was a reason those that we chose were at the end of the sale, most of the bidders left so we got some nice heifers for very little. Yes we did get the 2 the boys chose and they were both very excited. It was a good lesson for Kyle to see that waiting is a good thing sometimes.

It is supposed to be close to 90 today and humid, we sqaure baled a small field yesterday for junk hay and now the boys have to put it away this morning. They are not looking forward to that. We should be chopping by Thursday if all goes well. They are supposed to come out and put the chopper back together today but they are not always prompt in getting here when they say they are coming.

I guess that is all for now

We had an impromtu get together today that we just threw together yesterday. It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm. Some of the McKeen's got together and here they are:This is a meeting of the minds or a mindless meeting.I'll let you decide. Those that don't know who these handsome guys are in the yellow hat is Kyle, next is Kevin, he just got home from living in Ecuador as a missionary with his parents, Dan and Diana. Lastly is Tyler. This little beauty is my great neice Emma, she was born on my birthday!! She has a cutie little sister that was born this past March, her name is Julianna(sp)Great Grammie Jean is holding Julianna, what a sweet baby. Aunt Aggie was there as well, she is Dennis' Aunt. This is one of the yummy desserts that Karen made. It tasted as good as it looked.Well Dan last but not least Dennis wanted you to see our "knee high" by the 4th of July corn. This is down by our house. He is pretty impressed with this brand of corn. Pioneer. I would have gone to stand in it but you probably would not have seen me. God has really blessed us this year. We are so thankful for the good crops that we seem to be getting.

Well I guess that is all for now.

We went camping last weekend with my brother and his wife up to Blue Hill Fairgrounds.

There was a Southern Gospel Jubilee that was being held and Jim and I love Southern Gospel harmony. The first night the big draw was Karen Peck and New River. If you have never heard them you need to, they are terrific. The song you are listening to is from them.

She and her sister have such sweet voices and they love the Lord and give him the glory for their singing. The young fella there has an amazing voice as well. He would do well on his own but who would leave this group, they are #1 in S.G. music. They have mulitple Dove awards and were also nominated for a Grammy this year.

The next night we heard another great group, Jim was in heaven. The Dixie Melody Boys

They sang the old favorites with barber shop quartet harmony. It was great. We definately had a wonderful time and look forward to hopefully doing it again next year. Besides it is always good to get away and fellowship with other christians.

Monday, Debbie and I took Mom and Dad over to see Mom's stepmother( who is 96 or 98) I know she looks good that is for sure. I remember going over to the farm when I was little where my grandfather, a very small man, had a woodworking shop in his barn which was huge!! Debbie and I went into the barn the other day and boy has that barn shrunk! I don't understand it. The huge bin with wood dowels in it still had some in it but I remember the pile much bigger. It is amazing how different things look when you go back after you have "grown-up"

Things on the farm have slowed down for a bit, they are going to mow for hay today. We don't put that much 1st crop hay up ourselves because we put most of the grass in the silo. We will probably buy 200 bales from a friend of ours when he cuts. We will pick it right up in the field.

The kids (Tyler and Lyns) are doing their testing today and tomorrow. We wait till summer so the teacher can do it in a relaxing atmosphere in her home. She makes a big deal about getting strawberry smoothies while they are there. All she said to Lyns Sunday was "Strawberry Smoothies at my house Wed. morning " and Lynsey has been looking forward to that all week.

Well that is all for now.

I was challenged by my friend-Dixiecajun- to pay tribute to my husband on my blog today. I will willingly take up that challenge. We have been married for almost 21 years and I thank the Lord every day for the man he chose for me.

Way back when I was in high school(many moons ago) my mother was consoling me after I was convinced I was never going to find a good husband. You know how dramtic teenage girls can be anyway she asked me if I had ever prayed specifically for the husband I wanted. I said No I guess not so I began to pray specifically. A man that loved the Lord, worked hard, dark hair and a beard and mustache, athletic, liked to do outdoor things. He gave me exactly what I asked for, a Christian man that played football, had his own dairy farm, works hard and loves to do things outside. Be careful what you ask for - you just might get it. Thanks Mom for the great advice.

My hubby is a loving and attentive husband, keeping me in my place with loving reminders when needed, I know Dad you thought that was impossible! He is a great Dad to our 4 children. He had taught my boys to be hard workers, consciencious(sp) about their work. I pray they are as good to their future wives as he is to me.

Don't get me wrong we do have our disagreement- which he promptly says "Don't you have dishes to do?"( My Dad says that to my Mom all the time!) But nothing has ever been so bad that it hasn't gotten straightened out in short order. Which from what I understand is unusual when a couple works together 24/7 like we do. I can't imagine him having a job where he would be away from the house or where we couldn't go be with him all day. I think I would be lost.

My husband lost his Dad when he was 14 to liver cancer so he had no man in the house to guide him during some very important years of his life but I know he had learned alot from my Dad since we have been married. He looks to my Dad as if he was his own and loves and respects him. I am very thankful for that because my Dad means alot to me as well. Of course being the baby of the family and the last one to leave may have something to do with that. Now if only he could remember my name!! I am Rebecca not Deborah!! Love you Dad. Whatever he calls me he is still my Dad and I love him very much.

I guess that is what I wanted to say about my husband. Love you honey!

Chopping is done for now till later in July when second crop will be ready. Now the last packing needs to be done. They usually pack it back and forth then side to side and back and forth again to make sure the pile is tight.Before any plastic can be rolled out we have to put piles of tires on the top of the pile to hold down the plastic.These are driven to the top of the pile and dumped to be spread out later. Next comes the plastic

Don't they look excited?? They would probably rather be anywhere but here. This is the nastiest job I know.

As you can see the process begins. About 3 hours later they will finish and the plastic will stay on till 3rd crop is ready. We put our second crop in a different silo. Once third crop is done we go right to corn. By that time the pile will be way over the edges of the cement walls. To high for me!! Everyone has their own job during this time. It makes it go faster

Kyle called me yesterday morning very anxious for me to come to the field where he was mowing. The bad party was I was out to town so it was about 20 min. before I got home. He wanted me to come see this:Actually when he called the mother was in the field nursing and she wouldn't leave so he could mow. When I got there she had gone and Kyle couldn't find this little one. so I just left the camera with him and when he finally found him he got this pic. He then moved him out to the part where he already mowed so he wouldn't hurt him.But this little fella had other ideas, his mommy taught him wellIt was bleating up a storm at Kyle and he was afraid the doe was going to come out and attack him. We were on the phone with Kyle and you could hear the fawn bleating and Kyle laughing. After a while the fawn got wise and headed for the woodsCan you see him running. A little while later Kyle saw the mother again. She was out eating in one of the rows of grassOr so he thought there actually 2 fawns and he hit one with the mower. Kyle said he watched this doe nudge the fawn trying to get it to get up. Kyle got"a little" emotional. He felt so bad. Well I told him that at least he saved one. There is a sensitive side to my big boy!!Finally she took off but she kept showing up all day trying to coax that one up. I guess that was the hardest thing to watch.

In the afternoon right before I left for the barn we got a call from the post office out in Waterville that they had recieved our chicks that we ordered and if we couldn't get them they would be shipped to Albion in the morning. Well with it being so hot and humid we were concerned with them being in the box all night so my m-i-l went out to pick them up for us. Lyns and I were milking so I couldn't go. I ordered 25 and they sent 26 and we lost 4. We still have one that is kind of shakey but we are watching her carefully. In 9 months or so we will be having fresh eggs!!!

Well we pulled another party off. There were about 50 people here last night and I would say everyone had a great timeThis is Kyles Diploma, I printed this up and decorated up the matted frame before putting it under glass. And of course no party is complete with out cake.Isn't that beautiful! It was a marble cake and it was delicious.There were alot of friends and church family that were here to celebrate with us.We had lots to eat, hamburgs, hotdogs, BBQ meatballs, Chili, chips, watermelon. There was nothing left at the end of the night. They were a hungry bunch. These are the ones that didn't want to play but just visit.The guy in the dark green shirt facing you is Tom Bucklin, many of you prayed for him when he was going through his heart transplant. As you can see it was a success, we are very happy to still have Tom around.

It has been raining off and on since yesterday afternoon so we did not chop today. That is ok because we had a "To do list" that needed some attention. I steam cleaned 12 calf stalls today so we would be ready for all our sexed semen heifers that are coming this summer. Ryan welded some stalls that had broken and Kyle and Dennis replaced a post that had been knocked out earlier.

Before lunch we had to run and get a load of feed because we ran out before we could load up this afternoons feed. Dennis and I went for it and I brought my camera along to take a pic of this tractor

Grampie this is just for you, Did you ever think you would see a RED John Deere. My Dad is always telling my boys that they need a red tractor on the farm to make it a real farm. He used to sell Massey Fergason many moons ago. Yeah I know.. a what? The last time I saw a Massey Fergason was when Kyle came home from Ecuador with pics of one on the back of a truck. They sent them all to a third world country because no one was using them here!!! Well Gramp this is as close as you would get to getting us to have a red tractor on our farm.

These next pics are Dennis getting feed at the Tozier Farm where we have been buying feed for a little over a month.

Well we had high hopes to chop today, we sent Kyle out at 6 am to mow ahead then after breakfast the clouds rolled in and it rained off and on till noon. My m-i-l(mother-in-law) and I went to Sam's club this morning and when we arrived home we found the boys all playing basketball. The saying goes"When the cats away the mice will play." We caught them in the act! Needless to say they were covered in mud but they had a good time. As my favorite saying was as my boys grew up" They will wash" and so they did when they came home for lunch. Which was meatloaf, rice and broccoli.Yum.

The boys were chomping at the bit to get chopping after lunch but Den was firm- " I am not chopping wet feed" so Ryan and Tyler are milking tonight instead of Lynsey and Ty. Ryan wasn't happy about that.

I went and picked up the food for Kyle's party this weekend. I have his cake ordered now I just need to keep praying for good weather. I don't know what I will do if everyone shows up and it is raining. I guess I will sit them on the floor.

Well I guess that is all for now. I should be getting some house work done. Laundry all caught up and now on to the dishes. Ugh!